George E. Johnson, An Entrepreneur Who Revolutionized The Haircare Industry, Passes Away At 99 Years Old – AfroTech
George E. Johnson’s family is reflecting on the legacy of the late entrepreneur who broke barriers.
Johnson, a Mississippi native born in a sharecropper’s shack, moved to Chicago at age 2 and had his first job at age 8, according to The History Makers. He attended high school for three years before dropping out. He worked as a busboy and at a bowling alley before becoming a production chemist for the Black-owned cosmetics company S.B. Fuller in 1944.
“I was 17 when I went to work for Samuel B. Fuller in Chicago, who owned a cosmetics firm and started his business in 1936 in the middle of the Great Depression with $25,” Johnson told AFRO American Newspaper. “It took him a while, but S.B. Fuller eventually opened up a store, and he took me under his wing,” he said. “I don’t know where I would be had it not been for his mentorship.”
A decade later, Johnson co-founded Johnson Products Company with his then-wife, Joan, according to NBC News. The company became a leader in Black hair care and cosmetics, capturing nearly 80% of the Black hair care market by 1960.
It also started with a $250 loan he received from a white loan officer after he told the officer the money was for a family vacation, NBC News reported. He also received another $250 from a friend, according to AFRO News. The company launched a line of products under the Afro Sheen and Ultra Sheen brands, which the Johnson family described as “a source of pride throughout Black America,” according to ABC.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited the company’s headquarters, as he was also preaching the message that “Black is beautiful” back in the 60s. According to AFRO News, when asked what he thought about the headquarters, King replied, “This is Black Power.”
Johnson Products Company also made history in 1971 as the first Black company to be listed on the American Stock Exchange, Ebony Magazine reported.
The company was also a sponsor of the television show “Soul Train,” and by this time he had also co-founded Independence Bank in Chicago.
“We started in October 1971 when Johnson Products Co.’s sales were reported at $11.2 million,” Johnson told The AFRO. “In five years, our sales had increased to $37 million. ‘Soul Train’ proved to be an answer to my prayers.”
In 1989, Johnson divorced and the company’s ownership changed several times. Then Black-led investment firms acquired it from Procter & Gamble in 2009, The New York Times reported.
Johnson died Monday at age 99. He is survived by Madeline Murphy Rabb, his second wife, and children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, per ABC News.
“George was a visionary business leader who built a haircare empire, broke barriers on Wall Street, and helped fuel the fight for civil rights,” Johnson’s family said, per ABC News. “Above all, he was a devoted family man whose example inspired generations and whose legacy of entrepreneurship, community leadership, and philanthropy continues through his descendants today.”
