John H. Johnson was born in a black family in Arkansas City in 1918. His father died in an accident when John was six . He was reaching high school age , but his hometown offered no high school for blacks . Fortunately   he had a strong -- willed , caring mother . John remembers that his mother told him many times , "Son , you can be anything you really want to be if you just believe ." She told him not to be dependent on others , including his mother . "You have to earn success," said she . "All the people who work hard don't succeed , but the only people who do succeed are those who work hard ." These words came from a woman with less than a third --grade education .She worked hard as a cook for two years to save enough money to take her son -- then 15--to Chicago . Chicago in 1933 was not the promised land   that black southerners were looking for . John's mother and stepfather could not find work . But here John could go to school , and here he learned the power of words -- as an editor   of the newspaper at Du Sable High School . His wish was to publish a magazine for the blacks . While others discouraged him , John's mother offered him more words to live by : " _ " She also let him pawn   her furniture to get the $500 he needed to start the Negro magazine . It is natural the difficulties and failures followed John closely until he became very successful . He always keeps his mother's words in mind: "Son , failure is not in your vocabulary ." Now John H. Johnson is one of the 400 richest people in America . Why did John's mother decide to move to Chicago ? Because   _  .
John's father died in his hometown when John was very young life was too hard for them to stay on in their hometown , while life in Chicago would be better for them Negroes there were no schools in their hometown John needed more education and he could go to high school there