CHICAGO —
On Nov. 1, 1945, publisher John H. Johnson released the first issue of Ebony, creating a national magazine that centered Black achievement, culture and everyday life.
Johnson had founded Johnson Publishing Co. in Chicago in 1942 after securing a $500 loan backed by his mother’s furniture. His first publication, Negro Digest, showed that a large audience wanted journalism made for and about Black readers.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s history of Johnson says he modeled Ebony partly on the visual storytelling of Life magazine while pursuing a different editorial purpose: showing Black weddings, business success, fashion, public figures and family life that mainstream publications often ignored or distorted.
The first issue had a press run of 25,000 copies. Over the decades, Ebony documented civil rights struggles alongside accomplishment and joy. Its photographers and writers built an expansive record of 20th-century Black America, from politics and business to music, sports and style.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture notes that Johnson launched the magazine to chronicle African American lives. The publication grew from those first 25,000 copies to reach millions of readers.
The anniversary marks a publishing milestone and a lesson in the power of ownership: Johnson did more than enter an existing media market. He changed what the country could see about Black life.
Sources: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
