BLOG |
Negro Digest offices, State Street
Ebony magazine, 1992
Ebony magazine, 1992
BLOG |
A fun find here from the early 1960s. As part of the United States Information Agency's "Personal Report" series, Michael Kubeyinje, a student in Washington, D.C., conducted a report on Johnson Publishing Company. "Personal Report" was inaugurated by the U.S.I.A to familiarize Nigerian audiences with aspects of American culture - one small part of America's Cold War cultural and educational projects on the African continent. Kubeyinje's report offers some rare and valuable footage of the interiors of Johnson Publishing's offices in both Washington, D.C. and its main headquarters in Chicago. We also get to meet some prominent JPC staffers, including Simeon Booker, Era Bell Thompson, Herbert Nipson, and Lerone Bennett Jr. I'm a little late to the party with this one, but the New York Times magazine ran a major feature earlier this year on "The 25 Most Significant Works of Postwar Architecture," which included the former Johnson Publishing headquarters at 820 South Michigan Avenue. The list was a collab between journalists Michael Snyder and Kurt Soller, architects Toshiko Mori, Annabelle Selldorf and Vincent van Duysen, designers Tom Dixon and Es Devlin, and regular Style contributors Nikil Saval and Tom Delavan. While the list is obviously subjective, its an interesting take on the question of what makes a building "significant." The inclusion of the JPC building was clearly influenced by their efforts to be mindful of the field's historical inequalities and intentional effort to include work by women architects and Black architects. After all, much of what is significant about 820 South Michigan Avenue is less about the building's actual design and more the result of its contextual/cultural significance. Here's what the New York Times had to say about the building: "THE FIRST HIGH-RISE BUILDING IN DOWNTOWN CHICAGO DESIGNED BY A BLACK ARCHITECT, THE JOHNSON PUBLISHING COMPANY BUILDING...HOUSED THE OFFICES FOR EPOCH-MAKING MAGAZINES LIKE JET AND EBONY, WHICH REFLECTED AND SHAPED THE TASTES OF COUNTLESS BLACK AMERICANS... As the piece rightly notes, the significance of the Johnson Publishing building continues to be shaped by just how few high-rises by Black architects have been constructed in the half century since it was unveiled to the public during the early 1970s - a testament to "just how far the profession still has to go." The piece is accompanied by a nice shot of 820 South Michigan Avenue taken from the Hedrich-Blessing collection at Chicago History Museum. There are some great shots of the interior and exterior of the Johnson Publishing building which are available to view through the museum's online catalogue - definitely worth checking out. Exterior view of the Johnson Publishing Company building at 820 South Michigan Ave.
Hedrich-Blessing Collection, Chicago History Museum Anyone familiar with the Johnson Publishing Company or its most recognizable magazine, Ebony, knows that the past few years have been a total mess. The magazine, along with sister publication Jet, were sold by Johnson Publishing in 2016 as part of a fire-sale that culminated in bankruptcy proceedings. The new owners, a Texas-based private equity firm called the CVS Group, were soon hit with lawsuits by former contributors who contended that they hadn't been paid for work on the magazine, and its print run was placed on hiatus in 2019. In mid-2020, Johnson Publishing defaulted on an estimated $10 million in loans and, after its new CEO Willard Jackson was forced out, the lendor forced the company into an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The magazine went up for sale in bankruptcy court a few weeks ago, and the winner turned out to be former NBA player turned business mogel Ulysses 'Junior' Bridgeman. A talented small forward, Bridgeman spent the majority of his career with the Milwaukee Bucks, and is perhaps best known for his part in a blockbuster trade conducted shortly after he was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975, which saw him and three other players traded to the Bucks in return for OG center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Walt Wesley. After retiring from the NBA, he turned to fast food franchising, amassing over 100 restaurants and an estimated net worth in excess of $400 million by 2016. Bridgeman's winning bid was reported to be $14 million. Ulysses "Junior" Bridgeman, c/o Journal-isms It's early days, so Bridgeman's plans for Ebony aren't clear, outside of his self-professed desire to restore the magazine to its fomer glory. Given the state of the magazine market, and of the economy as a whole, that seems pretty unlikely. However, Bridgeman's demonstrable talents as a businessman mean that he has as good a chance as anybody.
Of more immediate interest will be where Bridgeman decides to base the publication's business offices. Following the sale of the iconic Johnson Publishing building at 820 South Michigan Avenue to Columbia College Chicago, the company resided in a high-rise office complex a little further north on Michigan Avenue. A Chicago Tribune story reported that Bridgeman's love of EBONY was bolstered by childhood visits to the building, which he appreciated as a symbol of Black excellence. Given how closely the magazine's history is linked to Black Chicago, it seems likely that Bridgeman will attempt to maintain at least a nominal connection to the Windy City, particularly if it resumes print publication. The old EBONY building is long gone - now converted into upscale condominiums - but it might be possible to carve out a new space for the magazine. For inspiration on how to restore the relationship between a Black periodical and the built environment, Bridgeman could look to the Chicago Defender, which was widely applauded for returning to its roots on the South Side a little over a decade ago, by way of a former funeral home on King Boulevard. |