From Negro Digest to Ebony, Jet and Em - Special Issue: 50 Years of JPC - Redefining the Black Image

Ebony, Nov, 1992

Five additional JPC magazines enjoyed a measure of popularity and temporary success but had to be discontinued because they failed over the long haul when it came to the botton line. They were Copper, a romance magazine; Hue, a pocket-size feature magazine; Tan, a romantic confession magazine; EBONY Africa, aimed at Mriean readership; and Ebony Jr!, a magazine for school-age children.

The latest magazine to join the JPC stable is the monthly EM or Ebony Man, which Publisher Johnson launched as "a new magazine with a new message for a new [Black] man" on Nov., 1, 1985. EM features information on men's fashions, grooming and fitness.

Still considered in its infancy, it has won a loyal readership and a growing circulation that stands at 250,000.

In the final analysis, the reason for the Johnson publications' unsurpassed success is as profound as it is simple: the magazines, in word and vivid photographs of Black achievement, are holding up a mirror to Black America, and Black America likes what it sees.