Postage Stamp Forever Honors Ebony, Jet founder John H. Johnson
John H. Johnson, who died on August 8, 2005 at the age of 87, will forever be remembered for positively changing the way the media portrays African Americans. Now the late publishing mogul will forever be honored on a U.S. Postal Service stamp as part of its Black Heritage series.
A crowd of Johnson Publishing Company employees, Johnson family members, elected officials, U.S.P.S. officials and others filled to capacity the lobby at JPC headquarters on Jan. 31 as the new stamp was unveiled.
Johnson, who founded and published Ebony and Jet magazines, became the 35th African American to be placed on a stamp as part of the Black Heritage series which began in 1978. He joined such historic names as Harriet Tubman, Bessie Coleman and Thurgood Marshall who were also immortalized on postage. Further, he is on a Forever Series stamp which means its value increases when first-class letter postal rates increase.
Johnsons daughter and JPC Chairman Linda Johnson-Rice told the Chicago Citizen that the issuance of the stamp coinciding with the kickoff of Black History Month was no coincidence or small feat. She also stated that she wanted the dedication to motivate youth.
I would hope that the stamp would inspire young people to look up and see who John Johnson was and what he accomplished in the field of journalism, in the field of communications, in the field of media and maybe inspire them, she told the Chicago Citizen.
Those speaking at the unveiling recalled Johnsons historical impact.
We had very few Blacks on TV, in books at the library, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-1st, said at the unveiling ceremony. But Mr. Johnson broke through all that. He introduced us as portraits of Black successthat helped us to see what Black people could be in this nation.
Rush recently announced that he introduced a bill in Congress recommending Johnson for the Congressional Gold Medal, the legislative bodys highest honor to a civilian.
Rush was joined in attendance at the event by Congressmen Danny Davis, D-7th, and Jesse Jackson Jr., D-2nd. Also at the event were Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) and former Mayor Richard M. Daley. His father, late Mayor Richard J. Daley, was a Johnson friend.
He never knew a barrier, he never knew no, you cant do it, Richard M. Daley said of Johnson. His legacy has to be looked at, it has to be read, it has to be followed. He was willing to tell the truth about his community.
A charter school opened in John H. Johnsons name in 2010 and students from the school, located in the Englewood community, were in the audience as the postal service unveiled the stamp and people talked about his legacy.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton gave Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The new stamp brings great pride to Johnson-Rice, her daughter Alexa Christina, and the entire JPC family.
My father would love this, because now his image and his likeness and all the things that go along with that all of his accomplishments can now be all over the world, she said.
By Rhonda Gillespie
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