Visionary businessman Onie Burnett Granville, a Los Angeles, California Realtor, founded two black-owned and operated state-chartered banks in the 1960s, the Bank of Finance in Los Angeles in 1964 and the Freedom Bank of Finance in Portland, Oregon in 1968. Both banks were the first of their kind in their respective cities and among the … Read MoreOnie Burnett Granville (1916-1998)
Leonard Bailey was an African American inventor and businessman in Washington, D.C., in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in 1825 to an impoverished free black family, Bailey rose in status by becoming a journeyman barber. Through this success, he eventually came to operate and own many of the … Read MoreLeonard C. Bailey (1825-1918)
Police official, business leader, and civil rights advocate Elbert T. Hudson was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on November 16, 1920. Three years later, his family moved to Los Angeles, California. In 1924, his father, H. Claude Hudson, became president of the local chapter of the … Read MoreElbert T. Hudson (1920-2017)
“Image Ownership: David Eskenazi Collection” Fred Brown, who is also known as “Downtown Freddie Brown,” is a retired American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Brown played for the University of Iowa before being drafted in 1971 by the Seattle Supersonics with … Read MoreFred “Downtown Freddie” Brown (1948– )
Born on June 22, 1866 in Kaufman County, Texas, William Madison (Gooseneck Bill) McDonald’s parents had been slaves. His father, George McDonald, was born in Tennessee and his mother, Flora Scott McDonald, in Alabama. His mother died when he was five, and his father married … Read MoreWilliam Madison McDonald (1866-1950)
