Auto news on Youtube Aug 30 2018

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.