JOHN H. JOHNSON — THE JANITOR WHO OWNED THE BUILDING

One of these stories involves John H. Johnson, who owned Jet Magazine, Negro Digest, and Ebony Magazine. But I want to tell you the story of the janitor who owned the building.

According to his book Succeeding Against the Odds, his biography, which is an excellent read, in 1949 the founder of Negro Digest, John H. Johnson, wanted to move his company into a better area of Chicago. When a property owner learned that Johnson was Black, he suddenly declared that the building was no longer for sale.

Johnson had seen that a beautiful property was available, and he wanted to move Negro Digest into that neighborhood and that section. So he hired a lawyer to pose as the representative of an East Coast company and arranged for a Black janitor to inspect the property. That janitor was John himself, dressed in work clothes.

After the inspection, Johnson quietly bought the building in cash and turned it into one of the most elegant Black-owned buildings in America. He said, “I was the janitor, the buyer, and the boss, but to survive, I had to pretend I was just a helper.”