George E. Johnson Sr.

George Ellis Johnson Sr. (born June 12, 1927) is an American entrepreneur and the founder of Johnson Products Company, an international cosmetics empire headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

Early life

Johnson was born in Richton, Mississippi, in a three-room sharecropper's shack.^[1] When he was two, he moved to Chicago with his mother, Priscilla, after his parents had separated. At the age of eight, while attending Doolittle Elementary School, Johnson also started work as a shoe shine boy. He later attended Wendell Phillips High School but dropped out to work full-time jobs.^[2] During the day he was a bus boy and in the evenings he set pins at a local bowling alley.^[3] In 1944, he took a job working for Samuel B. Fuller, who owned a cosmetics firm, as a production chemist.

Entrepreneurship

In 1954, at the encouragement of co-worker, Johnson left the Fuller company and founded Johnson Products with his wife Joan,^[4] focusing on the African American male hair care market. Johnson borrowed $250 from a bank and another $250 from a friend to finance the venture.^[1] The company’s first product was Ultra Wave, a hair relaxer for men. In 1957, Ultra Sheen, a revolutionary hair straightener that could easily be used in the home, was introduced for women.

During the next quarter century, more product lines were introduced like Afro Sheen.^[1] Afro-Sheen, one of Johnson's best-known products, was released in the late 1960s, at a time when the "Afro" became a popular hairstyle for African Americans.

Over the next few decades, Johnson Products continued to grow, focusing its efforts on not only its products line but on training cosmetologists on the proper usage as well. In 1964, Johnson founded Independence Bank, and during the 1970s he became the exclusive sponsor behind the nationally syndicated dance show Soul Train.

In 1971, Johnson Products became the first African American-owned company to be listed on the American Stock Exchange.^[1] That same year, Johnson became the first African American to serve on the board of directors of Commonwealth Edison.

Awards and honors

George E. Johnson Sr. received the Horatio Alger Award in 1981^[5] and the Babson Medal in 1983^[6]

He received an honorary Doctor of Commercial Science degree from College of the Holy Cross in 1975 and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Babson College in 1976^[7]

In popular culture

A short documentary on George E. Johnson Sr. and the Johnson Products Company was produced by The Czar of Black Hollywood director Bayer Mack and released by Block Starz Music Television as part of its Profiles of African-American Success video series.^[8][9]

References