JOHN H. JOHNSON

 The late business legend built his Chicago-based publishing, media, and cosmetics conglomerate into the first Black-owned global powerhouse, distributing worldwide name brands such as Ebony, Jet, and Fashion Fair. For more than 60 years, Johnson’s products touched the lives of millions of African Americans. His profitable line of publications communicated to white advertisers the viability of the Black consumer market and, at the same time, shattered social and commercial barriers through the exposure of African American trials and triumphs. Moreover, Ebony Fashion Fair, the national fashion event that ran from
1958 to 2009, financed the education of generations of HBCU students through donations to UNCF.