Hi I'm Darin Oduyoye from J.P. Morgan, and
welcome to our J.P. Morgan summer reading
list series. Now in its 19th year, our
J.P. Morgan summer reading list is a
curated collection of books that are
submitted by our clients and by our
bankers from around the world.
The topics range from everything from
digital innovation to entrepreneurship
to philanthropy, current events, and more.
One of the selections from this year's
summer reading list is "Black Fortunes,"
which explores the untold stories of six
of the first black millionaires in
America. Our own Sekou Kaalund caught
up with the book's author, Shomari Wills,
to learn more about these stories of
personal triumphs of grit and of
leadership. Here's a look at that
interview.
Sekou: Hello I'm Sekou Kaalund from J.P. Morgan,
and head of advancing black pathways: a
program my firm has developed to build
stronger paths towards economic success
for black individuals families and
communities. Today I'm joined by Shomari
Wills, author of "Black Fortunes." Shomari's
book explores the story of six
african-americans who escaped slavery to
become millionaires. It's featured on the
J.P. Morgan summer reading list as one of
our top books to read this year. This
story of pioneering entrepreneurs
overcoming all odds is truly
inspirational. Thank you for joining us.
Shomari, tell us what inspired you to
write this book on these six remarkable
entrepreneurs. Shomari: Well, I think I was
partially inspired by my own family's
history. My great-great uncle John Mac
Drew was one of the first black
millionaires in the history of
Philadelphia. He owned a trolley line
which was later purchased by septa. He
had a Negro league baseball team, and he
was a Wall Street investor as well, so I
heard about the stories about
rich uncle Johnny throughout my entire
childhood, so that was always rattling
around inside my head. And so eventually
that brought me to the stories of the
individuals in this book, and kind of
trying to tell the unknown stories or
the untold stories of the first
generation of African American
millionaires. Sekou: What do you think is the
common thread that links these
individuals ability to to achieve
success against all odds? Shomari: I think they
were fearless,
because the antebellum era, and the era
right after slavery was very dangerous
time for African Americans, let alone an
African American - decided to become
high-profile and wealthy. So they were
just fearless. They didn't cower, they
were never intimidated. One story that
comes to mind is a story of Robert Reed
Church, who was one of the first black
business owners in Memphis after
emancipation. And in 1866 there was a
terrible race riot. You know, dozens of
people were killed. Hundreds were injured,
there were millions of dollars of
property destruction, and he was attacked
by a race mob during this riot, shot in
the head and left for dead. And he came
back from that. He survived the gunshot
wound and he built a multi-million
dollar empire in real estate. So just the
fearlessness and the inability to
intimidate these folks for anything is
really something that I think stuck out.
Sekou: You said more than the biggest
challenges of writing this book was the
lack of information for African
Americans at that time. How do you
overcome that? Shomari: So the way I overcame that
is that the records for African
Americans really get better after
emancipation. They're pretty much
non-existent before emancipation, and
most of those records you know in the
1860s 1870s after emancipation they
backdate a lot of events like births and
marriages and deaths, so I was able to
get around it by finding the documents
that were available from later on. But
it's just really sad to see that you've
had this large group of people that were
not counted in any meaningful way. Sekou: What
advice do you have for African Americans
today who aspire to be entrepreneurs?
What can they learn from this history? Shomari: I
think they can learn the value of just
being aware of what's going on around
you in the business environment, even if
you're not necessarily participating in
it. A lot of the folks in this book were
not allowed to participate in the
business environment whether they were
involved in entertainment transportation,
extractive resources, whatever it may be, they still pay to
paid attention to what was going on
around them on an economic level. And so
when their opportunity came, they were
able to leverage that knowledge to
empower themselves and to enrich
themselves. So I think even if you can't
participate in you know necessarily
what's going on around you you can
always learn from it and prepare
yourself for a future time when you will
be able to participate. Sekou: Your book
shatters some of the stereotypes that
people have about black wealth. In your
mind, what does the future state of black
wealth look like in America? Shomari: Well you
know, hopefully it's broader and
more inclusive. You know, the state of
black wealth is much more nuanced than
people think. I think we think of we have
a very large, almost ubiquitous black
underclass, and then you have a few
athletes and entertainers, when the
reality is that there are
African-Americans that are doing
really well in a number of
industries, and there is an you know
they're a very large of African American
who are battling with disparities
economically, and there's a lot of folks
in the middle. So just through that
understanding to just have a more
nuanced and intelligent response to the
needs and to the disparities and to the
opportunities that exist for African
Americans going forward. Sekou: How do you feel
your book fits into the conversation of
race today in America? Shomari: Well I think
history is important. In terms
of the racial conversation, for example,
understanding the history of
disenfranchisement and grandfather
clauses is important to understanding,
you know, issues with voting you know
today. In the same way, what happened to a
lot of these characters, and a lot of
African Americans where you had
destruction of wealth, you had the
intimidation of African Americans who
were high profile, and you had in a lot
of times the plunder of wealth from
early African American investors and
monied folks, I think it's important to
understand that as we try to understand
racial wealth disparity today. Sekou: Thanks for
tuning in. To learn more about Shomari's
book and other top books on J.P. Morgan
summer reading lists, follow us on social
media or visit us at jpmorgan.com.
For more infomation >> Anna Lou Castoldi, la figlia 17enne di Morgan e Asia Argento, denunciata dall'Atac di Roma - Duration: 3:54. 
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