Summary
Earl G. Graves Pres and CEO Earl G. Graves - Includes related article - Cover Story
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Extract
Memoirs of a serious player.
What it takes, and what it means, to succeed - in business, in the boardroom, and in life.
When black enterprise first appeared in 1970, there were only three black people among the 3,000 serving as directors on the boards of the Fortune 500 companies. They were Clifton Wharton at Equitable, Thomas Wood at Chase Manhattan Bank, and Robert Weaver at Metropolitan Life Insurance. Even before these pioneering black professionals came on the scene, a long tradition of black entrepreneurship had been established in this country. It began with the slaves who operated farms or mined salt on their own time to buy their freedom and the freedom of their families, and it evolved into major retail centers operated by black merchants and patronized by residents of thriving neighborhoods populated by working-class and professional African Americans. Every year that I am in business, I have greater admiration and respect for these courageous and indomitable early black entrepreneurs, as well as those who came later: people such as...See the full content of this document
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