They were high school sweethearts who went on to become one of America’s first Black Power couples. Joan and George Johnson, Founders of The Johnson Products Company, were true Pioneers, paving the way for a new strategy that transformed Black-owned businesses into Wall Street darlings.

Born 1927 in Richton, Mississippi in a 3 room sharecroppers shack, George’s mother moved the family to Chicago after his parents separated, when he was 2 yrs old. While attending elementary school, he began working as a shoe shine boy at the tender age of 8. He eventually quit High School, leading him to work for S.B. Fuller Products as a production chemist.

Born in 1929, Joan was raised in Chicago, she met her soulmate George while attending Phillips High School. The couple married in 1950, and eventually had 4 children together (they divorced in 1989, but later remarried in 1995).

In 1954, encouraged by a colleague, George, borrowed $250 to finance a venture focusing on Black Men’s hair care products. In 1957, together they founded The Johnson Products company, and their 1st product, Ultra Wave, was a revolutionary hair straightener for black men. After noticing that Black women spent long uncomfortable hours at the Beauty Salons undergoing a hot-comb process for hair straightening, Mr. Johnson modified it to Ultra Sheen for women. The company then introduced Afro Sheen, among many other products. Currently, The National Museum of American History has an original Afro Sheen Blowout Kit in exhibition.

The Johnsons’ were true Pioneers, with George being the public face of the company, while Joan was active as C.O.O. as well as serving as the company’s Treasurer. They created a path where none existed. By 1970, annual sales totaled $12.6 million, which is the equivalent purchasing power of $94 million today.

By and large, Black-owned Businesses were independent and privately owned by the 1970’s. But in 1971, the Johnsons’ took a monumental leap by going public, thus making them the first Black-Owned company traded on the New York Stock exchange. Over the next several decades, Johnson products weathered diversity in hair care, as well as tough competition from larger companies like Revlon and Avon, that later tried to capitalize on the Black hair care market. But then, in another unprecedented move, JPC became sponsors of the uber popular TV Dance show, ‘Soul Train’ hosted by Don Cornelius and it was that partnership, that prevented larger white companies from gaining the monopoly on Black Hair Care. The move also solidified JPC legacy, making history (yet again) to become the first Black Company to sponsor a national television program. In 1976, JPC annual sales had grown to $40 million, (the equivalent purchasing power of approximately 2.2 billion today) and had 500 employees in Chicago and a factory in Nigeria. In 1993, JPC was sold to Ivax Corporation, which then merged JPC with Flori Roberts. That sale ended the company’s control by Black Investors.

What fascinates me most about the Johnsons’ is their willingness to venture into unknown territories. Obliviously, America had had it’s share of Black millionaires by the 70’s but by taking their company public, they opened up opportunities for other Black Entrepreneurs to meld into the Global American Capitalist power that helped to decrease racism and poverty in the U.S. I’ve always maintained that there is absolutely no Black Power without capitalism. And as far as I’m concerned, The Johnsons are akin to Moses parting the Red Sea.

XOXO,

Leslie

Above shown the Johnson Products Company original Afro Sheen Blowout Kit, at The Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington D.C.