من تصميم George E Johnson
The inspiring and resilient story of George E. Johnson, creator of the iconic Afro Sheen and the first Black-owned company to be traded on Wall Street
You might already be familiar with Afro Sheen and Ultra Sheen, but have you heard of the man behind the company that produced these products? In Afro Sheen, George Ellis Johnson, the acclaimed self-made businessman, reveals his inspiring and captivating rise from humble beginnings to the top of the haircare industry.
At just twenty-seven years old, Johnson created the Johnson Products Company. JPC was the first Black-owned company to trade on a major stock exchange, became the financial sponsor of Soul Train, and was once considered the largest Black-owned manufacturing company in the world. At the height of its success, JPC was worth $37 million (over $225 million today).
In this coming-of-age story, Johnson uses the life skills and strong character built from working odd jobs as a teenager and practicing the Golden Rule to create a business that both nurtures and advances the Black community. Without a formal education, he filled a gap in the Black haircare industry and created a high-quality formula for straightening hair and the iconic Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen products that supported Black people in expressing their authentic beauty. For decades, Johnson has been an inspiration to Black entrepreneurs, setting an example of Black wealth and providing a safe space for Black people to work.
Afro Sheen is a timely, impassioned look at both an industry and cultural moment. Johnson's impact is finally on full display, as he brilliantly highlights how having perseverance and a daring vision can create both change and a lasting legacy.
The inspiring and resilient story of George E. Johnson, creator of the iconic Afro Sheen and the first Black-owned company to be traded on Wall Street
You might already be familiar with Afro Sheen and Ultra Sheen, but have you heard of the man behind the company that produced these products? In Afro Sheen, George Ellis Johnson, the acclaimed self-made businessman, reveals his inspiring and captivating rise from humble beginnings to the top of the haircare industry.
At just twenty-seven years old, Johnson created the Johnson Products Company. JPC was the first Black-owned company to trade on a major stock exchange, became the financial sponsor of Soul Train, and was once considered the largest Black-owned manufacturing company in the world. At the height of its success, JPC was worth $37 million (over $225 million today).
In this coming-of-age story, Johnson uses the life skills and strong character built from working odd jobs as a teenager and practicing the Golden Rule to create a business that both nurtures and advances the Black community. Without a formal education, he filled a gap in the Black haircare industry and created a high-quality formula for straightening hair and the iconic Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen products that supported Black people in expressing their authentic beauty. For decades, Johnson has been an inspiration to Black entrepreneurs, setting an example of Black wealth and providing a safe space for Black people to work.
Afro Sheen is a timely, impassioned look at both an industry and cultural moment. Johnson's impact is finally on full display, as he brilliantly highlights how having perseverance and a daring vision can create both change and a lasting legacy.
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January 15, 2025
A pioneering Black entrepreneur recounts a life of invention and innovation. Nearing 100, Johnson looks back on a long life shaped early on by the entrepreneur S.B. Fuller, whom he met in 1944, and who preached a gospel that proclaimed, "God did not intend for you to be poor." Johnson went to work for Fuller, convinced that, as Fuller said, "Anything a White man can do, so can you!" Johnson eventually developed his own product line that Fuller could have taken as competition but didn't: A specialty good in a time when natural hair was out of favor, it straightened the hair of Black men without burning the scalp, as other products did. He entered a partnership that taught him a thing or two about vetting your associates. Upon dissolving it, Johnson steadily built an extensive line of grooming products, always remembering Fuller's example: "The money I made in Chicago, I invested in Indianapolis. The money I made in Indianapolis, I invested in Cleveland. The money I made in Cleveland helped me open Detroit." That line came to include more natural products that became iconic, such as the Afro Sheen of the title, for a time the engine driving an empire that allowed Johnson to underwrite another iconic expression of Black pride, the syndicated TV showSoul Train, which "conveyed contemporary Black youth hair, music, clothing, and culture...organically conveying positive messages." The positive racial messages notwithstanding, Johnson found himself so successful that white businesses crowded into his market, so that, he writes, "according to some sources, by 1988, White manufacturers dominated more than half of the Black haircare market." In this detailed, anecdotal memoir of business, Johnson notes this detail without rancor, closing with a shrug: "As much as it pained me to witness, that's capitalism." A book full of lessons for budding entrepreneurs, wise and empathetic.COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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Starred review from February 1, 2025
Afro Sheen tells the story of a successful, principled businessman's evolution, a history of our country, and the impact of national events on business conditions. The storytelling pulses with energy, ambition, failure, heartbreak, and resilience. Readers will be drawn into the personal and professional aspects of the journey which contain a veritable who's who of Black entertainers and influencers from Afro Sheen's launch in the '50s to its sale in the '90s. Business lessons relayed over several decades of beauty product development and business building will serve entrepreneurs of today in establishing an ethical foundation from which to operate. Nonagenarian Johnson's goal with this book was to inspire; his goal is solidly met as he recounts the evolution of Johnson Products, explores respecting employee contributions with profit-sharing (even when going public), and reflects on requiring early product users to be trained in product application to ensure a satisfactory client experience. Building a business with integrity should never go out of style, and if the guidance gleaned from this realistic, rocky journey is taken to heart, perhaps it never will. Highly recommended for all library business and social science collections.COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
