By D. Kevin McNeir
Special to the AFRO
In a world where business moguls and millionaires often take great pleasure in flaunting their wealth and power, George E. Johnson, early on, decided to assume the role of a compassionate coach.
Johnson, the founder of Johnson Products Co., revolutionized the haircare industry with his signature product, Afro Sheen, tailored exclusively for Black people so they could sport their hair in more “natural” styles.
Now almost 98, he recently spoke with the AFRO about his hot off the press memoirs fittingly titled, “Afro Sheen.” In his tell-all autobiography, he describes the path he has traveled, detailing his meteoric rise to success with God as his guide and the Golden Rule as his mantra.
“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,” said Johnson, who was born in a Mississippi sharecropper’s shack in 1927.
“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. I left school while in the middle of the 11th grade so I could work. And Fuller inspired me like no one else ever has.”
Fuller subscribed to the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” and Johnson, a willingly student and mentee, said he, too, took on the philosophy as the foundation of his life and the basis of his future business enterprises.
“It’s a sound principle; it’s powerful and, most important, it’s grounded in love,” Johnson said. “When you help others and do unto others, not because you must but because you can, they feel that love and concern and they return it to you.”
Johnson emphasized that the relationship he had with Fuller cannot be overstated.
“Without him, I would have been just another ordinary, high school dropout,” he said. “But with him, I learned more than I would have ever received by earning my diploma. He taught me psychology and religion. He taught me how to be a businessman.”
This is Black Power
In the first chapter of his memoirs, Johnson explains how he got started in business. He needed to secure a loan of $250 so he could start Johnson Products, focusing on the African American male hair care market. Initially, he was denied the loan. But as he says, “God had other plans.”
“When I got to the loan company, I was sure I would get the money because I had done business with them before and I didn’t owe them anything,” Johnson said. “But I was so excited about the success of our first product, Ultra Wave, which was a hair relaxer for men, that I told the loan officer I needed the money to start a big business and expected to make a lot of money.”
His exuberance did not go over well with the White loan officer who predicted failure and said he was “doing him a favor” by denying the loan.
Johnson said he had gone about half a block when he received an epiphany.
“God whispered in my ear and told me what to do,” Johnson said. “I returned, this time to another branch, and told the loan officer that I needed the money so I could take my wife on a vacation to California. That $250, along with another $250 from a friend, financed my initial venture. When I was done purchasing everything needed to make our first batch of product, I had one dollar left.”
From that point on, Johnson recalls that his bank account was never overdrawn.
“The Lord has had his arms around my shoulders all my life, as early as 6 years old. I believe he’s never left my side. He’s still here with me–although I have misbehaved from time to time,” he said with a laugh.
After founding Johnson Products Co. in 1954, and over the next quarter-century, Johnson would introduce a line of products from his Chicago, Illinois headquarters that, in 1971, helped him secure his position as the first African American-owned company to be listed on Wall Street’s American Stock Exchange. Afro Sheen, one of Johnson’s best-known and more popular products, was released in the late 1960s at a time when African Americans first began to embrace their own hairstyles.
Johnson had a decision to make. Fortunately, he chose wisely.
“When he started, our emphasis was on Black men who wanted to straighten their hair, like the finger-waved hairstyles and the pompadour,” he said. “Brothers wanted to look like Cab Calloway, Chubby Checker, Little Richard, Duke Ellington and Nat King Cole.
“But in the ‘60s, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders began teaching ‘Black is beautiful’ and encouraging our people to stop imitating White people’s appearance. It was causing me fits.”
Johnson said he listened to King, who even came to visit his headquarters. When Dr. King was asked what he thought about Johnson’s newly built headquarters, Johnson recalls him saying, “This is Black Power.”
But with the times changing, Johnson knew he had to expand his hair care products, particularly for women. After decades of using products to straighten their hair, Black women had begun to sport blowouts, naturals, Afro puffs, cornrows and braids.
“When Dr. King visited us in 1966, Black Power was a phrase that described a new way of thinking about ourselves,” Johnson said. “But Dr. King used the phrase as a real compliment as he assessed our several floors that were jumping with activity – salesmen, chemists, secretaries – a mostly-Black group of employees who were finding their way into America’s middle class.”
“Soul Train” – a cultural icon that takes Johnson Products into unchartered waters
The concept of television, which first took shape in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, would enter American households in the early 1950s.
Johnson, eager to expand his business and secure a greater share of the market, said he began to consider how Johnson Products Co. could capitalize on the emerging television industry.
“By 1969, I realized that TV had helped those companies who could afford to advertise to multiply their businesses, and I wanted to find a way for TV to do the same for us,” he said.
Johnson said money was not the issue, although that was the assumption which Whites espoused. What he needed to resolve was finding a way for his investment to provide a 100 percent return.
“When you buy a market on TV and pay to sponsor a show, you buy the entire market and its population,” he said. “But our products were aimed at a Black consumer market – maybe only 30 percent of the entire market. I didn’t want to lose 70 percent of my investment. And I wanted to make advertising on television as profitable for Johnson Products as it was for White companies. But all our efforts, including several variety shows that showed great promise, were thwarted because of racism.”
Still, Johnson knew he could move product and secure a greater share of the market if given a fair chance. Fortuitously, he received a call about a show that was being broadcast on TV that was similar in content to Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand.” Johnson was intrigued.
“I looked at the show called ‘Soul Train,’ and I met its host and writer, Don Cornelius,” Johnson said. “But it was only in black and white. So, I had a 30-minute pilot done in color. I saw what I wanted – the energy, the dancing.
“I was convinced, and I moved forward, setting up an LLC and providing the financing. Don had great ideas, and he was the front man, but he didn’t have any money. We worked out the details with a plan that divided the revenue 50-50. It was a win-win situation.”
“Soul Train,” the first American music variety television show featuring African-American musical acts and dancers, broadcast nationally from 1971 to 2006. It became one of the longest-running syndicated programs in American television history.
“We started in October 1971 when Johnson Products Co.’s sales were reported at $11.2 million,” Johnson said. “In five years, our sales had increased to $37 million. ‘Soul Train’ proved to be an answer to my prayers.”
Johnson explains why he finally wrote his memoirs
By all accounts, George E. Johnson has never been one to boast about his success. Rather, he attributes his blessings to God’s grace and relishes in the fact that he has a loving wife, Madeline, to whom he dedicates the book. He also recognizes that he has been blessed with loving children and grandchildren who have followed him into the business world, some finding success with Johnson Products, others founding their own businesses and achieving success.
Through it all, he has never lost the spirit of humility.
“I never intended to write a book, even though people have tried to persuade me for more than 30 years,” he said. “But while my family was gathered at our home in Jamaica, I was asked how I started Johnson Products – how God took me from rags to prosperity. Every time I began to detail my journey, I had to stop. I found myself crying. God has been so good to me that I could not finish the story. That’s when I decided I need to write this book.”
Johnson said he knew he would have to rely on his wife’s support, who read chapters to him as they were completed and commiserated with him about potential changes in the text. But before that, he needed to find a writer whom he believed could accurately tell his story. And before that he needed God to give him a jumpstart.
“On November 21, 2024, I was sitting in my chair in my family room watching TV,” he said. “Suddenly, I couldn’t see the TV. I tried to get up but I couldn’t. Then, I heard five words as clear as day: ‘You must tell your story.’ I knew it was the Lord.
“In less than a week, I told Madeline’s son Chris about my epiphany, and he recommended a writer, Hilary Beard. I wanted someone who was spiritual, talented, smart and Black. Within two weeks, she was in our apartment in Chicago. I guess you could say, the rest is history,” he said.
Johnson said his goal was to inspire others.
“I hope young entrepreneurs, or those who want to be entrepreneurs one day, will read this book,” he said. “And I hope and pray that it will give them the inspiration they need to really go after their dreams, always striving for excellence – excellence in everything they do, in every aspect of their lives.”
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