Beverly Johnson, Pioneering Model and Entrepreneur 
EBONY magazine was in every African-American’s house. Yeah, there are the Obamas, but if there was ever royalty, the Johnsons were the first. They were [African-American] royalty, at least for me.

The Johnsons had their own store where they did it all. I was working for other people. They had their own and worked for themselves. They had their own publication.

She was that first lady. She was that first beauty, couture, sophisticated woman. She was cultured. That’s how I saw her.

I was on EBONY’s magazine covers and [featured] in stories. We conversed about Ebony Fashion Fair and being in the fashion industry. I always had a great admiration for her and what she was doing in fashion.

When you think of high fashion and couture fashion, she brought it to the African-American community. She was the one who let us take a glimpse of what they were making in Paris. She showed us what really high-fashion couture was all about. She was the one. Otherwise, I know myself, I wouldn’t have known. She did that.

She was absolutely the one who gave some of us permission to dream in that high-fashion world. She presented it to the everyday African-American family. That’s big.

I know that Linda [Johnson Rice] has picked up the torch. It’s comforting to know that it will live on. Eunice Johnson will live on.

—As told to Margena A. Christian

Isobel Neal, Longtime Friend
Art curator Isobel Neal first met Eunice Johnson some 40 years ago, while volunteering at an Ebony Fashion Fair show. At the time, the dresses were on display after the show and there was usually a sale, says Neal. The two ladies were also members of the Northeasterners, a social club for the Black elite. And as a member, Neal was flown out to Johnson’s Palm Springs house. Those were high times, Neal remembers.

“She hosted a meeting there in her home. She was a very generous person who loved to have people in her home,” says Neal, 76, of Chicago. “She put all of us up in hotels. She flew us out there. It was a wonderful event. We went up to Bob Hope’s house.”

[Neal and Mrs. Johnson] did not spend a lot of time together since they both had familial and work obligations, but when they got together, it was time well spent. “I remember her reaching out to me being concerned about me. I had some personal things going on at that time, so it was nice that she did it. It’s nice to know a person is behind you.”

Mrs. Johnson also helped Neal’s gallery by being one of the first patrons to purchase artwork. “She came to my very first opening and bought a painting. It was very important to me. There is a picture of us standing together at that first opening night. … She made her contributions to society. She had her private life and her public side. And she carried herself well in both.”

—As told to ASG

b michael, Fashion Designer
Eunice Johnson first embraced me when I started my career as a hat designer.  I remember when she photographed one of my hats and used it for a Fashion Fair cosmetics ad campaign.  Shortly afterward, our New York showroom received record-breaking calls. That moment literally marked my coming out. Today, that ad is framed on my studio wall. Ten years later when I showed my first couture collection as part of New York Fashion Week, one of my first orders came from Mrs. Johnson. She invited me to attend one of the Fashion Fair Shows in New York and sit with her as her guest. I felt so special! When in Chicago, I would call Mrs. Johnson to say hello and she would always invite me to come to her home.  My most special memory was the honor of being the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson for the first inauguration of President Bill Clinton.  The lesson in it for me was the respect Mrs. Johnson and her team showed designers.  To see the photos of Mrs. Johnson with such designers as Yves Saint Laurent was very exciting and really helped form the way I saw myself as I came into the industry.  She was a world-class pioneer in the fashion and media industries.  I was so proud to know such a woman existed.  A big thank you to Mrs. Johnson for sharing with us and leaving the legacy that helped to globalize fashion. 

—As told to Elaine Welteroth

Lynn Norment, Former Managing Editor, EBONY
As managing editor of EBONY, I worked with Mrs. Johnson very closely on her fashion articles. I also helped her with a few speeches and the Ebony Fashion Fair program book. I worked with her [on] things under her name.

I found her to be easy to work with once you understood her. She was a lovely lady with a great sense of humor.

Her undeniable fashion style was incredible. She was her own person. She championed education. She went back to school and got her master’s at Loyola. She was deserving of all the many honors bestowed upon her.

She was always proud of her parents and grandparents, who were educators and doctors. She talked about them often. I worked with her closely on her family history and life.

She was pleased and proud of her family’s accomplishments. She was devoted to the fashion show until the very end. That was her baby.

She had a generous, philanthropic heart. She was caring of other people and she was a very smart lady.

She was out there doing things as an independent woman back in the ’50s when women were not doing them, and when she didn’t have to do them. She wanted to do her thing and make her own mark and not just be the wife. She wanted to be Mr. Johnson’s partner in business as well.

I admired and respected her so much for her contributions. Working with Mrs. Johnson truly enriched my tenure at EBONY. She was a grand lady.

—As told to Margena A. Christian

Victor Skrebneski, 80, Friend/Photographer
In our early careers we had a lovely time. I took pictures for the magazine, for Eunice and for John. I remember the wonderful pictures when Linda came of age. I had photographed John [H. Johnson] and Linda with other celebrities at that time for Town and Country magazine. There were maybe 10 pages of people. It was a beautiful spread. Everybody liked the Johnsons. I feel like I’ve known them all my life. They’re so easy to be with. Eunice was warm to people she liked. Her whole life made sense. Everything she did made sense. In those times it was very important since you had to do the right thing. You know how they got to where they [did]? Because they knew what to do. It was always a nice, warm, wonderful feeling when we met.

—As told to Adrienne Samuels Gibbs