George E. Johnson Sr., founder of a pioneering Black hair care business, dies at 99

CHICAGO (AP) — George E. Johnson Sr., a pioneer in Black hair care whose multimillion dollar business was the first Black-owned company to be listed on the American Stock Exchange, has died at age 99, according to his family.

Johnson died Monday at his home in downtown Chicago. A cause of death was not released.

Johnson and his late wife, Joan, started Johnson Products in 1954 on Chicago’s South Side after securing a $250 loan. It grew into a hair care empire catering almost exclusively to Black people, with brands like Afro Sheen and Ultra Sheen.

Johnson Products also was a national sponsor of the hit 1970s music and dance television show “Soul Train.”

“Johnson Products became a fixture in homes and salons around the world and a source of pride throughout Black America,” his family said in a statement.

Johnson’s memoir, “Afro Sheen: How I Revolutionized an Industry with the Golden Rule, from Soul Train to Wall Street,” was published in 2024.

“I had an epiphany,” Johnson said in a statement released by the book’s publisher, Little, Brown and Company. “In that experience, I clearly heard five words: ‘You must tell your story.’ I believed it was the voice of the Lord. I made a 180 degree turn and immediately sought a writer.”

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Johnson was born in 1927 in Richton, Mississippi, and moved to Chicago as a child with his family. Their move occurred during what’s called the First Great Migration, between 1910 and 1940, when tens of thousands of southern Blacks moved to northern and midwestern cities for jobs and to escape racial oppression.

To help the family financially, Johnson shined shoes, cleared tables in eateries and set up pins in a bowling alley.

“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 later would found Independence Bank, and he became the first Black person to serve on the board of directors of the Illinois electric utility Commonwealth Edison. The George E. Johnson Educational Fund awarded more than 1,000 college scholarships.

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Williams reported from Detroit.