Chairman John H. Johnson & CEO Linda Johnson Rice speak at University of Arkansas commencements

JET and EBONY Publisher & Chairman John H. Johnson was commencement speaker and recipient of an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. The founder of Johnson Publishing Company, Inc., the world's largest Black-owned publishing company, told the 3,000 graduating students to be persistent as they go out into the real world and to not take no for an answer.

"You need to take a chance. People can only say no. You can't take no for an answer. You have to keep trying," he said.

Mr. Johnson is a native of Arkansas City, AR, who overcame great obstacles to become the most successful African-American publisher in history. He told the Class of 2002 that if he could overcome poverty and prejudice in the 1940s and achieve his level of success then they also had numerous possibilities. "If I could do it then, surely you can do it now," Mr. Johnson stated.

Later that day, Johnson Publishing Company President and CEO Linda Johnson Rice was the commencement speaker for the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Rice spoke before a capacity crowd and to encouraged the graduates to achieve career success by employing what she called the "Be Attitudes" of Success. Rice's principles included encouragement to "Be Indispensable ... Be Bold ... Be Truthful ... and Be Relentless."