New York, N.Y. August 9, 2005- "Black America, and America as a whole, owes John H. Johnson, the founder of Ebony Magazine and the Johnson Publishing Company empire, an incalculable debt. Beginning in the early 1940s, as newsmagazines began to re-shape the way news was covered in America, John Johnson covered the life of both ordinary and extraordinary African Americans in what was then a revolutionary fashion for most American media: as human beings. Johnson's publications reached further into Black America than black-owned newspapers and, being a national publication, forged a much broader readership. In this way, Johnson both helped stimulate the fledgling Civil Rights Movement then taking shape, and signaled White America to prepare for the "New Negroes" coming to claim their full American citizenship. Johnson himself was a wonderful example of that hardy breed-the entrepreneur-who sees a consumer need and moves shrewdly to fulfill it - in a way that benefited the entire nation. Born in poverty, John Johnson became enormously wealthy. But it's America that is much the richer for his talent, determination and grit. On behalf of the Urban League movement, we thank John Johnson, and extend our condolences to the Johnson family."

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