Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes Now usually I might copy and paste something about a person to put up for Inspiration but I felt the need to write this one myself. Oprah Winfrey is the epitome of what I try to get across on the R&G. Here is a woman who reaps all the money from her own talents. She went from someone trying to get put on as News Anchor in Chicago to ...
Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes The aroma of sausage and scrapple cooking in kitchens along the east coast of American has made it a little easier for kids to get up in the morning. With quickened steps to the breakfast table, families enjoy the fruits of the diligence and hard work of Henry Green Parks, Jr. He started the Parks Sausage Company in 1951 using distinctive, tasty southern recipes he developed for sausage and ...
Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes It was September 15, 1860 when Mrs Mary Wallace, a negro slave in Inez, Texas gave birth to her son. Mary had been sold to the O’Daniel family just three months prior. Mrs O’Daniel who was present asked, “Mary, he a handsome lad. What will you name him?” Mary replied, “Daniel. How about Daniel Webster Wallace”. While Daniel was born into slavery, he was treated much like family on ...
Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes These devices were not developed by rocket scientists, but that’s the point. We create what we need to help us perform our tasks. Many of these helpful inventions are now so commonplace we don’t think of them as having been invented at all. Often they are so simple we wonder why we didn’t think of them, or presume we could have. George W Kelley, hot food is in. Kelley ...
Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes Although small they are all significant as it reinforces that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to make a difference. All of the ideas are so simple in nature that you’ll notice their everyday functionality. Most of the inventions are unaltered to this day. The most noteworthy thing is that every one of these functional ideas were patented by their African American Inventors. Keep this in mind when ...
Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes Using the delicious dishes served in his Columbus, Ohio soul food restaurant as inspiration, William F. “Bill” Williams, along with three partners, Dan Charna, Iris Cooper and Garth Henley, launched Glory Foods in 1989. The vision for this food company, steeped in generations of Southern-style recipes and flavors, came to the table during a friendly discussion about holiday dinner preparation. Williams mentioned to friends the number of hours and ...
Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes Sarah E. Goode was born into slavery in 1850. At the end of the Civil War, as a free woman, she answered the entrepreneurial call and moved to Chicago. There she soon opened a furniture store to service the large influx of people heading to the midwestern metropolis-a viable customer base. While working hard at building her business, Goode kept her eyes open for new money making opportunities. She ...
Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes Born in Arkansas City, Arkansas on January 19, 1918, publisher, philanthropist, businessman, entrepreneur, John H. Johnson became the leading 20th Century publisher of African American news magazines. Johnson moved to Chicago in 1932 where he attended school and graduated with honors in 1936. He attended the University of Chicago and Northwestern University but did not complete his degree. Over his lifetime, Johnson received numerous honorary degrees, including five doctorates. ...
Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes Robert James Harlan was an entrepreneur, businessman and army officer who devoted the second half of his life to political and civic service. Among his many accomplishments, in an 1879 speech before Congress titled “Migration is the Only Remedy for Our Wrongs,” Harlan argued for the right of blacks to migrate wherever they chose within the United States. Within the next year, 6,000 black “Exodusters” would leave Mississippi and ...
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