John H. Johnson & Ebony Magazine

When businessman John H. Johnson died in 2005, Ebony Magazine, the monthly photo-editorial magazine that he launched in 1945, reached an estimated 10 million readers. Under the direction of executive editor Lerone Bennet Jr. for several decades, Ebony helped shape Black culture and perceptions of Black history. Johnson Publishing Company helped shape Chicago history, too, when they opened their Loop location in 1972, at 820 S. Michigan Ave. The now-iconic 11-story, 110,000 square-foot building was the first major downtown building to be designed by an African American architect, John W. Moutoussamy, and the first skyscraper owned by an African American in the Loop. Joining me this week to help us understand more about Johnson Publishing is Dr. E. James West , a Lecturer at University College London, co-director of the Black Press Research Collective, and author of Ebony Magazine and Lerone Bennett Jr.: Popular Black History in Postwar America , A House for the Struggle: The Black Press and the Built Environment in Chicago , and Our Kind of Historian: The Work and Activism of Lerone Bennett Jr . Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag , composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeo…