Fee-free tours at area museum

Friends of John H. Johnson Museum will offer free virtual tours of the historic John H. Johnson Museum and Educational Center at Arkansas City in observance of Black History Month.

Johnson is the late founder of Johnson Publishing Co., which published Ebony and Jet magazines.

During February, the virtual tours will guide visitors through the museum named for the Arkansas City native, according to a news release.

“The museum is a replica of Johnson’s boyhood home, which reflects a three room ‘shotgun’ house,” according the release.

“A shotgun house describes a residential structure with rooms arranged one behind the other and doors at each end of the house. It was a popular style for a house in the Southern United States from the end of the American Civil War through the 1920s.”

Features of the museum recreate the original structure built in 1906.

An addition, the legacy room, was built to give the audience a glimpse into Johnson’s family and Johnson’s publishing company.

Located at 604 President St. and Courthouse Square at Arkansas City, the museum is a partnership between the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Desha County and the city of Arkansas City.

Johnson founded his publishing company in Chicago in 1942, eventually making it the country’s largest African American-owned publishing business, according to the news release.

“Besides Ebony, Jet, and Negro Digest magazines, the company’s properties included a book division and Ebony Fashion Fair Cosmetics.”

The release contintued: ”Among his many honors,

Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and was the first African American to be named to Forbes Magazine list of 400 wealthiest Americans.”

Friends of John H. Johnson Museum aim to foster positive collaborations honoring, observing and celebrating John H. Johnson’s life and legacy through an annual statewide holiday, John H. Johnson Day, on Nov. 1 as well as through a curated living history museum.

In 2012, Johnson received one of the nation’s highest honors when the U.S. Postal Service presented a commemorative stamp for Johnson, who died in 2005.

He became the 35th recipient of the postal service’s Black Heritage stamp series.

For details on the tour, visitors can send an email to info@johnhjohnsonmuseum.org, and they will provide a direct link.

Details: www.johnhjohnsonmuseum.org.