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John Johnson: A Pioneer's Passing

NPR | By Cheryl Corley
Published August 8, 2005 at 9:00 PM PDT

John Johnson overcame racial barriers in U.S. publishing to make a fortune on the magazines Ebony and Jet. He was the first black American to make Forbes' list of the world's wealthiest people. He died Monday of heart failure at 87.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Cheryl Corley
Cheryl Corley is a Chicago-based NPR correspondent who works for the National Desk. She primarily covers criminal justice issues as well as breaking news in the Midwest and across the country.
See stories by Cheryl Corley