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African American
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Freedmen's Bank Encyclopedia
After the Civil War, Northern missionaries and Freedmen’s Bureau agents encouraged emancipated slaves to participate in a free-labor economy and embody middle-class values. But the South lay in ruins. It was difficult for many whites to rebound financially and for former slaves to find work, much less start enterprising careers. Freedmen, however, adjusted quickly to the demands of a free-labor economy.
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Willis Hinton (1840-1924) Encyclopedia
In spite of his illiteracy, Hinton was a successful entrepreneur. He ran two flourishing businesses when African Americans struggled for equality and respect and the chance to participate in a free market where each held his own.
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Lunsford Lane (1803-?) Encyclopedia
Born just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina on May 30, 1803, Lunsford Lane exhibited entrepreneurial talent as a child and a determination as an adult to buy his freedom. He is most famous for writing a slave narrative that included descriptions of his business activities while in bondage and his troubles securing his and his family’s freedom.
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Omar Ibn Said (1770-1864) Encyclopedia
Since 1995 when his autobiography, the only American slave narrative known to exist in Arabic, was found, Said has gained national attention. Many scholars contend Said was a devout Muslim until his death. Said, however, made a Christian profession of faith and joined the Presbyterian Church.
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Ashley W. Smith (1850?-1928) Encyclopedia
Ashley W. Smith's greatest accomplishment may have been providing an example of what a black property owner could achieve in a small town during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
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Asa Spaulding (1902-1990) Encyclopedia
Asa T. Spaulding’s educational background and achievements are significant. In 1930, Spaulding earned a B.S. in Accounting (magna cum laude) from New York University, and in 1932 an M.A. in Mathematics and Actuarial Science from the University of Michigan. But he also learned and achieved outside of the classroom. For his professional accomplishments, educational institutions bestowed honorary degrees; in 1958 Spaulding received his first from Shaw University, and then from North Carolina College at Durham (1960), Morgan State College (1961), University of North Carolina (1967), and Duke University (1969).
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Robert Franklin Williams (1925-1996) Encyclopedia
A Monroe native and an African American leader who gained national fame for advocating “armed self-defense," Robert Franklin Williams inspired Black Panthers and other groups that criticized what they considered the ineffective, less-violent techniques of the Civil Rights Movement. During the 1960s, Williams went into exile and lived in Cuba and China, where he published newsletters and produced radio programs for dissemination in the United States.
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John W. Winters, Sr. (1920-2004) Encyclopedia
Born on January 21, 1920 in Raleigh, North Carolina, John W. Winters, Sr. lived an accomplished life in the city where his “family home” had always been. Before he died on February 15, 2004, Winters started a construction company and real estate management business and became Raleigh’s first African American city councilman and one of the first African Americans elected to the North Carolina State Senate since the Reconstruction Era.
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