Last week the U.S. Postal Service previewed a 2012 Black Heritage stamp honoring pioneering publisher John H. Johnson.
Johnson was the trailblazing publisher of Ebony, Jet and other magazines as well as an entrepreneur. In 1982, he became the first black person to appear on Forbes magazine’s annual list of the 400 wealthiest people in America. His magazines portrayed black people positively at a time when such representation was rare, and he played an important role in the civil rights movement. President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996.
The mastermind and patriarch of the family business died in 2005.
The Johnson image will appear on a “Forever” stamp, which is to remain equal in value to the current rate for first-class mail, regardless of future price increases.
His wife Eunice is also deceased, but their daughter, Linda Johnson Rice is holding the reins tight as her father once had in media and in his successful beauty product line, Fashion Fair.
Source: www.eurweb.com
