Black hair care pioneer George E. Johnson Sr. dies at 99
George E. Johnson Sr., the pioneering American businessman and entrepreneur who built a Black hair care empire, died at his home in Chicago on Monday, his family confirmed in a statement to ABC News. Johnson was 99.
The family expressed their “profound sadness” after Johnson’s death and celebrated his “extraordinary legacy of entrepreneurship, faith, perseverance, philanthropy, and family.”
Johnson founded his company, Johnson Products Company (JPC), in Chicago’s South Side in 1954 with his late wife, Joan, using a $250 loan and “an unshakable belief that opportunity should exist for everyone,” his family said.
Johnson Products Company manufactured a line of hair care products for Black consumers named Afro Sheen and Ultra Sheen, which became staples in homes and salons and “a source of pride throughout Black America,” the Johnson family statement added.
The company gained notoriety as the first national sponsor of Soul Train -- the iconic musical variety TV show -- and in 1971 became the first Black-owned business listed and traded on the American Stock Exchange.
“George was a visionary business leader who built a haircare empire, broke barriers on Wall Street, and helped fuel the fight for civil rights,” Johnson’s family said. “Above all, he was a devoted family man whose example inspired generations and whose legacy of entrepreneurship, community leadership, and philanthropy continues through his descendants today.”
Johnson was born in 1927 in Richton, Mississippi, and later moved to Chicago as a child, where he worked at a young age, shining shoes and bussing tables to help support his family.
“Those early experiences shaped the values that guided him throughout his life: humility, determination, personal responsibility, and the golden rule: treating everyone the way he wished to be treated, with dignity and respect,” his family said.
Johnson is survived by his second wife, Madeline Murphy Rabb, his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
