Two of the wealthiest African-American men in America live in Chicago, with its large African-American middle-class community. Because both men are named Johnson, their names and businesses are sometimes each confused with the other, aggravating both men. Each is justifiably proud of the business he has created for himself and the position it gives him in African-American cultural, social, and business life.

       George Johnson is the founder of Johnson Products Company, which manufactures cosmetics. The JohnsonProducts Company is one of the largest African-American owned companies in the United States, and it is also one of the most successful. Its founders and its corporate officers are proud of the company’s position. They also feel a certain pride because the Johnson Products Company was among the first companies to realize that African-Americans inAmerica were a distinct market group, with distinct needs, and with the affluence to buy and support products aimed at meeting their needs. The Johnson Products cosmetics are all designed for the needs of African-Americans.

       John Johnson is the founder of Johnson Publishing Company, the largest African-American owned publishing company in the nation. As an office boy at Supreme Life Insurance, Johnson was assigned to maintain a file of news clippings about the achievements of African-Americans, and he noticed that there was no national newspaper or magazine devoted to coverage of African-American news. He borrowed the printing equipment at the life insurance offices, and he raised money for advertisements by mortgaging his mother’s furniture. He knew he was going to make it when $6,000 worth of subscriptions poured in for his first issue. His monthly Negro Digest made him wealthy enough to launch a second publication, Ebony, which was even more successful than his first. Ebony has one and a third million subscribers. In fact, the company had been worth more than $60 million because the company has branched into real estate, banking, and insurance. The officers and owners are proud that this success has come from serving the African-American community, once again proving its power as a market. Life magazine, which Ebony followed in its use of large photographs, has ceased publication, but Ebony keeps rolling off the presses every week. In a word, Johnson Publishing Company is an iconic part of American and African American history .