Howard University honors publishing pioneer: John H. Johnson: School of Communications named

HAILED as a pioneering communicator who changed the color and content of American media, EBONY Publisher John H. Johnson was celebrated at Howard University, which named its journalism school the John H. Johnson School of Communications.

An audience of educators, students and national leaders witnessed the naming, which coincided with the opening convocation of the 136th academic year on the Washington, D.C., campus of the historic institution. The principal speaker, Black Enterprise Publisher Earl G. Graves Sr., called Johnson his friend and mentor, adding:

"John Johnson was the first publisher to open the eyes of Madison Avenue to the multibillion-dollar influence of the African-American consumer market. By showing the profitability of using Black models and Black-themed campaigns, he literally changed the way American companies market their products to Black consumers. [He also] ushered into being the first generation of African-American professionals in publishing and advertising. I'm not exaggerating when I say there would be no Earl Graves without John Johnson."

Other major speakers, including UNCF President William Gray III and the Rev. Jesse Jackson St., president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, echoed Graves and urged the students to take the Johnson message of innovation and excellence into the new century.

Among the local and national leaders attending the event were former Secretary of Transportation William T. Coleman; Thomas Burrell, chairman, Burrell Communications Group; Johnson Publishing Company President and CEO Linda Johnson Rice; Johnson Publishing Company (JPC) Secretary-Treasurer Eunice W. Johnson, and JPC executives from the Chicago, New York and Washington offices.

The honoree was presented to the students, faculty and guests by Howard President H. Patrick Swygert, who said that "John Johnson is a testimony to what is possible provided that one has the courage to dream and the opportunities to make them into reality."

Earlier this year, the publisher donated $4 million to the school. Both President Swygert and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who delivered the benediction, noted that a determined and education-loving mother, Gertrude Johnson Williams, helped make the Johnson miracle possible. Rev. Jackson noted that when he arrived in Chicago, friendless and unknown, the publisher and his mother were the first persons to give him a job.

Responding to a standing ovation led by the students, Johnson said he was honored to be associated with the Howard tradition. He urged the students to dedicate themselves to excellence and perseverance, recalling the difficult day in his early years when he called his mother and told her that he had tried everything and that it looked like his business was going to fail.

"Are you still trying?" she asked.

"Yes," he told her, "I'm still trying."

"Well," she replied, "as long as you're still trying, you're not failing."

With a wave and salute to the incoming class, the publisher, who started his publishing and cosmetics empire by borrowing $500 on his mother's furniture, told the students to continue the long Howard march and to remember that "as long as you're trying, you're not failing."

The convocation was followed by a ceremony at the John H. Johnson School of Communications, which is the biggest producer of baccalaureate degrees awarded to African-Americans in communications. Dean Jannette L. Dates praised Johnson for his contributions to American media and said the school will try to instill in students "Mr. Johnson's entrepreneurial spirit, his rooted-ness in the Black community, his passion for excellence, his business acumen, his love of family, and his love of community ... "

At the luncheon "naming ceremony" in the Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library, attended by National Urban League President Marc Morial, Debra Lee, president of BET, and other notables, a taped video presented messages from Coretta Scott King, UNCF President William Gray III, EBONY Executive Editor Lerone Bennett Jr., Tom Joyner, Tavis Smiley, and Johnson Publishing Company President and CEO Linda Johnson Rice. President Rice later responded for the company, praising her father for his example and his legacy.

Frank Savage, chairman of the Howard Board of Trustees and CEO of Savage Holdings, LLC, summed up the proceedings, saying that the trail the publisher blazed "made way for Black Enterprise, Essence and Emerge."

"We are indebted to John Johnson," he added, "for he broke the barriers, he beat the odds ... He did not succeed just for self and family. He succeeded for us all."

COPYRIGHT 2003 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group