Black Fortunes: The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires

One of Ebony Magazines True Read picks of 2018 By telling the little-known stories of six pioneering African American entrepreneurs Black Fortunes makes a worthy contribution to black history to business history and to American history.Margot Lee Shetterly Author of the New York Times Bestseller Hidden Figures The astonishing untold history of Americas first black millionairesformer slaves who endured incredible challenges to amass and maintain their wealth for a century from the Jacksonian period to the Roaring Twentiesself-made entrepreneurs whose unknown success mirrored that of American business heroes such as Henry Ford John D. Rockefeller and Thomas Edison. While Oprah Winfrey Jay-Z Beyonc Michael Jordan and Will Smith are among the estimated 35 000 black millionaires in the nation today these famous celebrities were not the first blacks to reach the storied one percent. Between the years of 1830 and 1927 as the last generation of blacks born into slavery was reaching maturity a small group of smart tenacious and daring men and women broke new ground to attain the highest levels of financial success. Black Fortunes is an intriguing look at these remarkable individuals including Napoleon Bonaparte Drewauthor Shomari Wills great-great-great-grandfatherthe first black man in Powhatan County (contemporary Richmond) to own property in post-Civil War Virginia. His achievements were matched by five other unknown black entrepreneurs including: Mary Ellen Pleasant who used her Gold Rush wealth to further the cause of abolitionist John Brown; Robert Reed Church who became the largest landowner in Tennessee; Hannah Elias the mistress of a New York City millionaire who used the land her lover gave her to build an empire in Harlem; Orphan and self-taught chemist Annie Turnbo-Malone who developed the first national brand of hair care products; Madam C. J Walker Turnbo-Malones employee who would earn the nickname Americas "first female black millionaire;" Mississippi school teacher O. W. Gurley who developed a piece of Tulsa Oklahoma into a "town" for wealthy black professionals and craftsmen" that would become known as "the Black Wall Street." A fresh little-known chapter in the nations storyA blend of Hidden Figures Titan and The TycoonsBlack Fortunes illuminates the birth of the black business titan and the emergence of the black marketplace in America as never before.