Ebony is a monthly magazine that focuses on news, culture, and entertainment. Its target audience is the African-American community, and its coverage includes the lifestyles and accomplishments of influential black people, fashion, beauty, and politics.
Thomas Joyner is an American radio personality, host, philanthropist and former musician. Joyner is the former host of the nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and also founder of Reach Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com.
John Harold Johnson was an American businessman and publisher. Johnson was the founder in 1942 of the Johnson Publishing Company, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Johnson's company, with its Ebony (1945) and Jet (1951) magazines, was among the most influential African-American business in media in the second half of the twentieth century. In 1982, Johnson became the first African American to appear on the Forbes 400. In 1987, Johnson was named Black Enterprise Entrepreneur of the year. in 1996, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Jet is an American weekly digital magazine focusing on news, culture, and entertainment related to the African-American community. Founded in November 1951 by John H. Johnson of the Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois, the magazine was billed as "The Weekly Negro News Magazine". Jet chronicled the civil rights movement from its earliest years, including the murder of Emmett Till, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the activities of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Era Bell Thompson was an American writer and editor.
Desirée Glapion Rogers is an American corporate executive, former White House Social Secretary for President Barack Obama's office and former chief executive officer of Johnson Publishing Company (JPC). As of 2019, Rogers is the CEO of Black Opal, a cosmetics company.
Eunice Walker Johnson was an American businesswoman. Johnson was the wife of publisher John H. Johnson and an executive at Johnson Publishing Company. Johnson was the founder and director of the Ebony Fashion Fair, which began in 1958 as a hospital fundraiser and became an annual worldwide fashion tour that highlighted fashion for African-American women, running until a year before her death.
The Negro Digest, later renamed Black World, was a magazine for the African-American market. Founded in November 1942 by publisher John H. Johnson of Johnson Publishing Company, Negro Digest was first published locally in Chicago, Illinois. The magazine was similar to the Reader's Digest but aimed to cover positive stories about the African-American community. The Negro Digest ceased publication in 1951 but returned in 1961. In 1970, Negro Digest was renamed Black World and continued to appear until April 1976.
Andrew Spurgeon "Doc" Young was an American sports journalist and author. He was also one of the first African American publicists working in Hollywood. Throughout his career he received numerous honors from the National Newspaper Publishers Association.
Theaster Gates is an American social practice installation artist and a professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he still lives and works.
Ben Burns was an American pioneering editor of black publications and a public relations executive in Chicago. He was a “top executive editor” for the Johnson Publishing Company who became so well known as a “black newspaperman” – even though he was Jewish – that he was invited to submit his biography for inclusion in Who's Who in Colored America.
Ebony Fashion Fair was an annual fashion event created by Eunice Johnson, co–founder of the Chicago, Illinois–based Johnson Publishing Company. The show ran across the United States and other countries from 1958 until 2009. In addition to the fashion fair, the company also created a cosmetic line named Fashion Fair Cosmetics, in 1973. As of 2017, Fashion Fair Cosmetics are still available for purchase.
Mildred Blount (1907–1974) was an African-American milliner best known for her creations worn by celebrities, members of high society, and featured in films such as Gone with the Wind.
Ruth Attaway was an American film and stage actress. Among the films she appeared in are Raintree County (1957), Porgy and Bess (1959) and Being There (1979).
Gerri Major was an American journalist, editor, newscaster, publicist, public health official, author and community leader. During World War I, she was a major in the American Red Cross. Thereafter, she became a society columnist and editor for African American newspapers in her home city of New York as well as in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Baltimore. In 1936, a newspaper reporter said her talent for writing vivid prose, editing, and maintaining a wide circle of influential friends brought her fame and gave her "a unique position similar to that of an arbiter over the local social set." Ebony magazine attested that by the end of the 1930s she had become "one of the best known black women in America.", and at the time of her death in 1984, she held joint positions as associate editor of Jet and senior staff editor of Ebony.
Freda DeKnight (1909–1963) was the first food editor of Ebony magazine and the author of A Date With A Dish: A Cookbook of American Negro Recipes, considered the first major cookbook written by an African-American for an African-American audience. She was a pioneer for the working class, who was able to articulate an unmatched love of food. DeKnight's legacy lives on through the continued use of her cookbook.
Jean Starr was an American actress, dancer, and trumpeter who became a Chicago society figure after marrying Chicago numbers racket tycoon and Jones brothers, McKissack "Mack" McHenry Jones, and becoming Jean Starr Jones.
John Warren Moutoussamy was an American architect, best known for designing the headquarters building of the Johnson Publishing Company in downtown Chicago, Illinois. He was the first African-American architect to design a high-rise building in Chicago.
JoAnna LaSane, also written as Joanna Lasane, was an American model and arts administrator. She served on the New Jersey State Council of the Arts, and was director of the Atlantic City Children's Theatre. In 1996 she was inducted into the Atlantic City Women's Hall of Fame.
Herbert Temple Jr. was an American art director and illustrator. He worked for Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago for 54 years, first as an illustrator hired in 1953, and then art director starting in 1967.
