At a time when few medical establishments would accept Black people, Black people simply decided to build their own. Provident Hospital was the first Black owned and operated hospital in the United States. Provident was founded by a Black surgeon, Daniel Hale Williams, who also founded an associated nursing school for African Americans. Provident opened […]
When TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc. reported revenues in excess of $1 billion in 1987, the world witnessed a milestone. This was the first time a Black owned company reported more than $1 billion in annual sales. TLC Beatrice was a snack food, beverage, and grocery store conglomerate, which also happened to be the largest […]
Biddy Mason was a Los Angeles real estate mogul, before the term was even invented. Mason was born into slavery in the year 1818, in Georgia. By the time she died in 1891 she’d amassed a fortune of $300,000 (many millions today) and owned a great deal of property in what is now the heart […]
Barbering can be a perfect springboard into wealth, believe it or not. Alonzo Herndon was a barber who became Atlanta’s first Black millionaire and at the time of his death, was the wealthiest Black person in Atlanta. Not bad for a barber. Herndon, however, had to work his way up even to being an Atlanta […]
Joan Johnson, co-founder of Johnson Products Company, has died at age 89. (Family Handout) Johnson Products Company is best known for having been a pioneer in the modern Black hair care industry. Ultra Sheen Cosmetics, Afro Sheen and a host of other brands were manufactured by the company. Johnson Products Company was also the first […]
The goal is to “Remove, Replace, and Rebuild.” The goal is not, as Killer Mike said, to pursue the best “master.” Black people must build our own, collectively. In his comments at the Revolt Summit, Micheal Render (Killer Mike) made a passionate plea for Black people to do our homework, learn from our great Black thinkers in […]
*Cover photo by Pro Photographer Charles Winslow, Media Relations, Ice Cube Big3* Colin Kaepernick is most definitely a hero but before he took a knee, there was Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Abdul-Rauf was a promising NBA player who lost his career because he refused to stand for the National Anthem. 20 years before Kaepernick, Abdul-Rauf took a […]
Soul Food Market will become reality because we will make it so. We are crowdfunding to produce a supermarket filled with Black owned products but this shouldn’t be strange or new to us. Black people have a rich history of crowdfunding and we’ve successfully used it to build many amazing institutions. Crowdfunding is simply us […]
