Black Fortunes: The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires
Written by Shomari Wills
Narrated by Ron Butler
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
The astonishing untold history of America’s first black millionaires—former slaves who endured incredible challenges to amass and maintain their wealth for a century, from the Jacksonian period to the Roaring Twenties—self-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, Beyoncé, 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 Drew—author Shomari Wills’ great-great-great-grandfather—the 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-Malone’s employee who would earn the nickname America’s ""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 nation’s story—A blend of Hidden Figures, Titan, and The Tycoons—Black Fortunes illuminates the birth of the black business titan and the emergence of the black marketplace in America as never before.
Shomari Wills
Shomari Wills is a journalist. He has worked for CNN and Good Morning America, and has contributed to New York Carib News and Columbia Journalism Review. He received an undergraduate degree from Morehouse College and a graduate degree from Columbia University, where he was named a Lynton Book Writing Fellow. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Related to Black Fortunes
Related audiobooks
Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow (Scholastic Focus) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street's First Black Millionaire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ida B. the Queen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black History For Beginners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Accident of Color: A Story of Race in Reconstruction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings and the Madisons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Face Is Black Is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Truth Be Told: Three Classic Black Women’s Narratives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reckoning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mis-Education of the Negro Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wealth Choice: Success Secrets of Black Millionaires Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Original Black Elite: Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Rare Recording of Marcus Garvey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Wall Street: The History of the Greenwood District Before the Tulsa Race Riot Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Detroit: A People's History of Self-Determination Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Before the Mayflower: A History of the Negro in America, 1619-1962 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Willie Lynch Letter and The Making of a Slave Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Black Holocaust For Beginners Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
African American History For You
Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Invisible Generals: Rediscovering Family Legacy, and a Quest to Honor America's First Black Generals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mis-Education of the Negro Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Speeches by Malcolm X, 1925-1965: The Ultimate Collection Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saying It Loud: 1966—The Year Black Power Challenged the Civil Rights Movement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism 2nd Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5No Sweeter Sound: The History of Black Country Music Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live: Ten Weeks in Birmingham That Changed America Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We Carry Their Bones: The Search for Justice at the Dozier School for Boys Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Most Tolerant Little Town: The Explosive Beginning of School Desegregation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cross and the Lynching Tree Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Delectable Negro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism within US Slave Culture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Never Caught Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Juneteenth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Survivors of the Clotilda: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the American Slave Trade Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls' Escape from Slavery to Union Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for Black Fortunes
123 ratings18 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An audio empirically-based journey about black wealth achieved by intelligence, guile and many acts of bravery.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely amazing book. If you’ve ever wondered about how black Wall Street was started or the origins of the Harlem Renaissance and the people involved, it’s all here. The writer did a wonderful job researching and gives us a detailed account of the lives of these very inspirational people of color who endured incredible odds to pave the way for black wealth today. Excellent read.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a great book! The narrator was awesome. The history revealed here is amazing. I enjoyed this!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book had so many facts that are not included in most history courses taken in high school. The laws that were implemented during this book were designed to thwart by cessation of successful black entrepreneurship and an attempt to maintaining slavery at all cost; even to the re-enslavement of free individuals.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is an eye-opening book that provokes serious reflection on and thought about the state of Black America’s economic state in today’s world. This is a must-read for students of African American history.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A great and revealing book on the resolve and ingenuity of an enslaved people to fight against all odds to become successful. I would definitely recommend this book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great book! Super informative and inspirational. I didn’t even know about any of these people. I don’t even have the dangers they faced, and yet I haven’t even accomplished 10% of what they did! It really makes me want to work harder because look at the way they have paved.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Incredible read. The stories are so riveting and inspiring. Highly recommend!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a fantastic book which allows you to appreciate your financial endowment and motivate yourself
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent audio. This book invoked feelings of empowerment, pride, awe, inspiration,anger and hope. And still we rise and we will continue to do the same. This is a must-read for all black people as some of these names a lot of us don't even know.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5So so good! Amazing to learn about Black history that you'd never learn in school!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The stories of these first millionaires, kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end.
I’m ashamed to admit that I only knew of Madame Cj Walker & had never heard of the others.
After reading this book, I’m excited because I feel like a part of the puzzle to a much bigger picture has been found, but I’m also upset that these stories are not as widely acknowledged & publicized as the stories of their white counterparts from that era are, which I’m all too familiar with.
Hats off to Shomari for his impeccable research, I thoroughly enjoyed this book & look forward to his next work. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It often made me laugh out loud. Other times it broke my heart and moved me almost to tears. But above all, through its entirety, it inspired me.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great to have knowledge on our history ? ? ?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very educational and engaging. I'd read again to make sure I understood everything.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing book on the history of black wealth and adversity!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An amazing and necessary piece of literature that everyone should read because this is the true story of America. The grit and determination these men and women showed with all the adversity they had to overcome is the blueprint for what we can achieve today. I wish I would have known this information when I was a child.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Millionaires today are no big deal. Half of Congress is millionaires. Not impressed. But the first six black American millionaires is a terrific story. These unlikely individuals started off with huge disadvantages, from race to skin color to illiteracy to being slaves or the children of slaves. That they rose to wealth in such a hostile environment – civil war, reconstruction, Jim Crow – makes them all the more impressive. And half of them were women.Unlike todays’ millionaires who can set out to make a fortune and just do it, the first six black millionaires often backed into it. Every story is different, every fortune is different. They leveraged the mobility of America, taking advantage of the California gold rush or the Oklahoma land giveaway. They became lenders to help build local businesses that helped them rent their buildings, or in one case, became the kept woman of a white multimillionaire. Their million in assets is worth tens of millions by today’s standards, making it all the more impressive.Shomari Wills has to be a fine storyteller to fill in the gaps in these largely unrecorded lives, and he is. They come alive in his pages and their stories move quickly. Rather than profile each one alone, his book is chronological. The chapters run from the 1800s to the 1950s. The characters show up in different decades as we pick up their stories again. There is little or no interaction among the players. They were too busy living their own lives to even know about each other, unlike todays’ crop, which constantly gather and socialize.And none of them made their fortune in office.My favorite is Mary Ellen Pleasant, who took off for California to track down her man, and ended up with a fortune in real estate, securities and a prominent place in secretly funding John Brown and the Abolitionists. She totally dedicated her fortune to the cause. She was a class act.There is a shelf of these books now. They tend to make far more interesting biographies for me than the run of the mill. There’s Prince of Darkness – the story of Jeremiah Hamilton, a Wall St. finagler, who shows up in Black Fortunes too, Washington’s Mulatto Man and most recently Black Tudors, all of which I have reviewed and loved. Black Fortunes is yet another, very different and fascinating collection to add to the shelf.David Wineberg