George E. Johnson, Black Hair Care Pioneer, Dies at 99
George E. Johnson, the visionary entrepreneur who built Johnson Products Company into a Black hair care empire and became the first Black-owned company listed on the American Stock Exchange, died Monday at his Chicago home. He was 99.
Johnson died of a respiratory illness, his second wife, Madeline Murphy Rabb, told The New York Times, as NBC News reported. His family confirmed his passing in a statement, calling him “a visionary business leader who built a haircare empire, broke barriers on Wall Street, and helped fuel the fight for civil rights.”
From Sharecropper’s Shack to Boardroom
Born George Ellis Johnson in 1927 in Richton, Mississippi, Johnson moved to Chicago with his mother at age 2. He dropped out of high school at 17 and began working at Fuller Products, a Black-owned cosmetics firm where he learned the trade from the ground up — first as a door-to-door salesman, then as a laboratory chemist.
In 1954, Johnson founded Johnson Products Company with his first wife, Joan, using a $250 loan he secured by telling a white loan officer he needed the money for a family vacation. As he recounted in his 2025 memoir, “Afro Sheen,” the Chicago Sun-Times reported: “I knew this request wouldn’t rattle his belief that he was superior to me. Nor would it challenge his stereotypes of Black men as subservient or unintelligent.”
His first product, Ultra Wave Hair Culture, was a hair straightener developed with chemist Herbert Martini that wouldn’t burn scalps. The company quickly expanded, and by 1960, Johnson Products commanded nearly 80% of the Black hair care market.
Breaking Barriers on Wall Street and in Pop Culture
In 1971, Johnson Products made history as the first Black-owned company listed on the American Stock Exchange (now NYSE American). That same year, the company became the exclusive sponsor of “Soul Train,” the iconic music and dance television show created by Don Cornelius. Johnson’s sponsorship helped transform the program from a local Chicago broadcast into a nationally syndicated cultural phenomenon that ran for nearly 35 years.
By 1974, annual sales exceeded $31 million, and by 1975, revenue reached $37 million. The company’s product lines — including Ultra Sheen, Afro Sheen, Classy Curl, and Gentle Treatment — became household staples in Black America. ABC News noted that Johnson hired Black advertising firms like Vincent Cullers and Tom Burrell to create campaigns that showed positive images of Black people in professional settings and with loved ones — revolutionary for their time.
Challenges and Resilience
Despite its success, Johnson Products faced significant headwinds. In 1975, the Federal Trade Commission required the company to add extensive warning labels about lye content in its relaxers, while white-owned competitors were not immediately subject to the same requirement — a disparity that damaged consumer trust and sales.
Johnson resigned as chairman and CEO in 1988 as part of a divorce settlement with Joan, who took a controlling stake. The company was sold to Ivax Corp. in 1993 — a loss Johnson described to the Chicago Tribune as “the worst nightmare I could have ever had.” He added: “Never in my wildest dreams when I was building this company did I believe it would wind up out of the Black community.”
The couple later remarried in 1995. Joan Johnson died in 2019.
A Legacy of Philanthropy and Empowerment
Johnson’s impact extended far beyond hair care. In 1964, he helped found Independence Bank, one of the largest Black-owned banks in the country. Through the George E. Johnson Foundation and Educational Fund, he provided scholarships to minority students. His company offered employees paid sick leave, maternity leave, and tuition reimbursement — progressive benefits for their time.
In November 2025, Johnson received the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal from Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, the university’s highest honor in the field. The Daily Herald reported that Johnson also served on the boards of Commonwealth Edison, the Chicago Urban League, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and the Lyric Opera Chicago.
Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation and former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, paid tribute to Johnson in an Instagram post, writing: “He wasn’t just a brilliant pioneering business leader who broke through countless color barriers — he was a kind, generous, gentle man whose vision, hard work and determination created opportunities for all those who stand on his shoulders.” The Obama Presidential Center campus features a space named in honor of George and Joan Johnson.
What to Watch For
Johnson is survived by his wife, Madeline Murphy Rabb; sons John Edward Johnson, Eric George Johnson, and George “Petey” Ellis Johnson Jr.; daughter Joan Marie Johnson; and several grandchildren. Services are pending.
His story — from a sharecropper’s shack in Mississippi to the floor of the American Stock Exchange — remains a powerful testament to Black entrepreneurship in America. As Johnson told the Chicago Sun-Times in 1979: “Anyone given the same opportunities can get ahead. You just need the same mental attitude and motivation. My motivation was that I was absolutely poor, working two jobs at 15 hours a day. I wanted a better future than that.”