AFRICAN AMERICAN

ENTREPRENUERS

ROBERT .L JOHSON

He is the fonder of B.E.T Black

entertainment television .and sold it to
viacom.

LEWIS HOWARD LATIMER

He was in inventor and drafts man best

known for his contributions to the
patenting of the light bulb and telephone.

Robert Gordon

Born a slave, Gordon eventually purchased his

freedom .he invested $15,000 in a Cincinnati
coal yard and employed bookkeepers and
laborers. White coal dealers in Cincinnati in
their attempt to price Gordon out of the
market sold their coal below market rates
Gordon employed mulattoes to purchase the
cheaper coal eventually selling the supply at a
high price after the white coal dealers had
little left. he left an estate worth $200,000 $5
million.(he was a slave no picture0)

Clara Brown

An ex-slave, Brown moved to Colorado in

the late 1850s during the gold rush, and
managed to establish a successful
laundry business on top of serving as a
mid-wife, cook, and nurse maid. She used
that money to invest in various real
estate, eventually owning 16 lots in
Denver, 7 houses in Central City, and
some other property and mines around
Colorado.

Free Frank Frank McWorter

He was an American slave who eventually bought

his freedom Free Frank became a saltpeter
manufacturer and businessman. He saw
particularly high success during the War of
1812whensaltpeter was in high demand.Because
of his success, he was able to buy the freedom of
16 members of his family with many more even
after his death (his heirs used his inheritance to
free more relatives).Free Frank is also known to be
the first African-American to found a town in the
United States; in 1836, he founded the town of
New Philadelphia in Illinois.

Maggie Lena Walker

Walker was the first black woman in the

United States to charter a bank. By
pooling her communitys money, she
formed the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank,
of which she served as the first president.

Arthur G. Gaston

He was a serial entrepreneur who

established a set of different businesses
across Birmingham, AL. Beginning with a
funeral home, as well as a
burialinsurance company

Paul Cuffee

He was a successful 18th century sea

captain and businessman. His all black
crews served the Atlantic Coast and
sailed to Europe and Africa. After the
American Revolution, he helped the
British effort to resettle freed slaves.

Frederick Patterson & Charles Richard Patterson

Frederick Patterson was the first AfricanAmerican to manufacture cars. His father,
Charles Richard Patterson, cofounded the
carriage business C.R. Patterson & Son
Company and eventually bought out his
20-year partner, J.P. Lowe

Charles Clinton Spaulding, Aaron McDuffie Moore, John Merrick

The three cofounded the North Carolina

Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1898
the now-oldest and largest AfricanAmerican life insurance company in the
United States