George E. Johnson
1927 – 2026
October 29, 2026
Growing up, I’ll never forget rise of Soul Train and its influence of syndicated music-oriented television programming. The popular American music variety show made history as a program being produced by Black people for a Black people audience. It was interesting to just learn that a huge part of the show’s success was thanks, in part, to its sponsorship by another Black-owned business, Johnson Products Company. The company manufactured Afro Sheen hair-care products, founded by George E. Johnson, Sr., who departed this world on July 6, 2026, less than a month after he turned 99 years old, according to his Wall Street Journal obit.
Known as the trailblazer of Black entrepreneurs, Johnson left behind more than a hair empire that aided in the expansion of Soul Train’s broadcast syndication. Describing him simply as a hair-care entrepreneur is a little like describing an oak tree by one of its branches. Johnson’s influence spread much farther than that. His legacy in business and finance set unprecedented milestones for the Black community.
Born in a sharecropper’s shack in Mississippi in 1927, Johnson moved to Chicago with his mother at the age of two. He eventually left high school and went to work for another pioneering Black entrepreneur, S.B. Fuller. There, Johnson learned the business and began developing the product that would become Ultra Wave. In 1954, Johnson and his high-school sweetheart and wife, Joan, launched Johnson Products. Joan was not merely watching from the sidelines; she worked alongside George and eventually led the company’s accounting operation.
Even their financing story reveals the barriers facing Black entrepreneurs at the time. After one finance office dismissed Johnson’s business idea, he obtained $250 from another bank by saying the money was for a vacation with Joan. From that tiny seed grew a company that, by the 1960s, controlled an estimated 80 percent of the Black hair-care marketing.
Then, Johnson did something unprecedented.
Having experienced firsthand how difficult it was for a Black entrepreneur to borrow money, he later co-founded Independence Bank of Chicago in 1964 and served as its chairman. He also established philanthropic and educational initiatives that awarded more than 1,000 college scholarships. His influence reached corporate America as well, and in 1999, the WSJ named him among “10 Who Made a Difference,” recognizing individuals who transformed the 20th Century entrepreneurship platform.
Johnson spent nearly a century demonstrating what happens when innovation is paired with opportunity. He did not simply find an underserved market; he helped that market recognize its own economic power. As someone passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship, I find that perhaps the most enduring lesson in George Johnson’s life is that entrepreneurship at its best is not merely about building something successful. It is about building something that allows other things, and people, to succeed.
Johnson built a hair-care company. But the ecosystem he helped create was much bigger than hair. It was ownership, representation, access, and possibility for the Black community. I find it quite amazing the generations of entrepreneurs that are still growing from the seeds that Johnson planted so long ago. Planting seeds for the future and not knowing when and if, how, and where they sprout is a philosophy I live by when teaching students in the Darla Moore School of Business. It is a lot like basic research not knowing when a breakthrough in an R&D lab will be the seed that breaks open a new scientific field. Planting seeds or spreading pollen enriches the lives of others in unexpected and delightful ways. As I once stated, “I think of us as bees, and we leave pollen and we help people blossom and grow in unique ways. My students will be my legacy. They will be out in the world, doing things differently and seeing the world differently.” (Alexis Watts, USC Today, March 30, 2023). Johnson’s legacy is so much more than the hair-care company he built.
Dearly Departed profiles are the musings of SC Innovates’ Director and SmartState Endowed Chair Laura B. Cardinal. Cardinal is an academic researcher and teaches Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation at the University of South Carolina (USC) Darla Moore School of Business Professional MBA program. Her series of courses includes the Strategic Innovation Certificate. Cardinal’s courses offer a unique fusion of innovation, business strategy, science, and technology.