Cathy Hughes and Oprah Winfrey made no excuses for achieving great heights; they just did it. After turning around a struggling radio station, Cathy Hughes decided to start her own. She now owns one of the largest media empires in the United States. Oprah Winfrey came from humble beginnings, but ...

A. G. Gaston had a knack for recognizing a void and figuring out how to fill it. He began as a coal miner, but because of his vision and drive, he transitioned from selling lunches to opening funeral homes and building up the Black business district of Birmingham, Alabama. John H. Johnson gave us...

Maggie L. Walker and Earl Graves, Sr. were born decades apart, but both understood the importance of economic independence for the Black community. Maggie L. Walker, the daughter of an Irish confederate soldier, saw her opening when the Independent Order of St. Luke’s needed help with membership ...

Annie Malone and Janice Bryant Howroyd have demonstrated that it takes ingenuity, grit, and work ethic to make something from nothing. Annie Malone began her career as a door-to-door saleswoman for her haircare products. She turned that into a global operation that employed thousands of people. J...

O. W. Gurley and Reginald F. Lewis were two businessmen who turned their visions into reality. O. W. Gurley envisioned an enclave where Black people could thrive. He started Greenwood Avenue with one two-story boarding house and grew it into what would later be called Black Wall Street. Reginald ...