Mahlon Martin, the first African American president of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1945. He received a degree in business administration at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas, and took graduate courses at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School … Read MoreMahlon Martin (1945-1995)
George Ellis Johnson, Sr. was an African American entrepreneur and founder of Johnson Products Company, a hair care firm, and Independence Bank in Chicago, Illinois. Johnson was born on June 16, 1927 in Richton, Mississippi to Priscilla Johnson. He is perhaps best known for being … Read MoreGeorge Ellis Johnson Sr. (1927- )
The C.R. Patterson & Sons Company was a carriage building firm, and the first African American-owned automobile manufacturer. The company was founded by Charles Richard Patterson, who was born into slavery in April 1833 on a plantation in Virginia. His parents were Nancy and Charles … Read MoreC.R. Patterson & Sons Company (1893-1939)
Marjorie Judith Vincent, the fourth African American to be crowned Miss America, was born on November 12, 1964 in Oak Park, Illinois. She was Miss America 1991. Vincent is the daughter of Lucien and Florence Vincent of Cap Haitien, Haiti. Vincent’s parents migrated to the … Read MoreMarjorie Vincent (1964- )
Arthur George Gaston, wealthy businessman and civil rights activist, was born on July 4, 1892 in Demopolis, Alabama to Tom and Rosa McDonald Gaston. He was raised by his former slave grandparents Joseph and Idella Gaston. In 1905 Arthur Gaston moved to Birmingham where he … Read MoreA. G. Gaston (1892-1996)
Entrepreneur Robert Bogle was the first of many African American caterers who served nineteenth-century Philadelphia’s white elite. Born in 1774, the 1810 federal census shows Bogle and five members of his family in Philadelphia’s South Ward, where the majority of the city’s African American residents … Read MoreRobert Bogle (1774-1848)
John Henry Merrick—insurance agent, entrepreneur, business owner—was born in Clinton, North Carolina on September 7, 1859. Merrick was born a slave; he lived with his mother Martha Merrick and a younger brother. With the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation his family was freed. When Merrick was twelve … Read MoreJohn Henry Merrick (1859-1919)
Christopher Paul Gardner—entrepreneur, inspirational speaker, and writer—was born on February 9, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Gardner, never knowing his father, lived periodically with his mother, Bettye Jean Triplett, as well as in foster homes. After high school, he joined the Navy and then moved to … Read MoreChristopher Paul Gardner (1954- )
Jesse B. Blayton, Sr., was a pioneer African American radio station entrepreneur. Blayton founded WERD-AM in Atlanta, Georgia on October 3, 1949, making him the first African American to own and operate a radio station in the United States. Jesse Blayton was born in Fallis, … Read MoreJesse B. Blayton, Sr. (1897-1977)
Christopher J. Perry, a pioneering black businessman who championed racial equality, established the Philadelphia Tribune in 1884. The Tribune is the oldest continuously published African American newspaper in the nation. Perry was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 11, 1854 to parents who were free. … Read MoreChristopher J. Perry (1854-1920)
