Learn how entrepreneurs and institutions built livelihoods, opportunities and communities.
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Loading image…1882–1972
John Alexander Somerville, D.D.S. (1882 – February 11, 1972) was an African American Civil rights activist, dentist, and entrepreneur. A well-known community figure in Los Angeles, Somerville was an accomplished dentist who went on to co-found the Los…
Biography
John B. White was an American insurance businessman and state legislator in Oklahoma. He served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1964. He advocated for public housing legislation.
1922–2011
John T. Banks Sr. (August 11, 1922 – December 6, 2011) was an American professional baseball player who pitched and played first base in the Negro leagues in the 1940s and 1950s. Banks began playing semi-professional baseball while still attending Camden…
1864–
John Baptist LaFargue (June 1864 – after 1937) was an American educator, school founder, principal, newspaper publisher, and editor in Louisiana.
Loading image…1973–
John F. Barros (born 1973) is an American politician, businessman, and civic organizer who was formerly the chief of economic development for the City of Boston. He also served as the executive director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative. He…
Loading image…1789–1854
John Berry Meachum (May 3, 1789 – February 26, 1854) was an American pastor, businessman, educator and founder of the First African Baptist Church in St. Louis, the oldest black church west of the Mississippi River. At a time when it was illegal in the…
Loading image…1858–1917
John Brown Bell (December 1858 – November 4, 1917), also known as J. B. Bell, was an American businessman, real estate investor, civil servant, and civic leader in Houston, Texas. In his early life he was enslaved, and eventually owned a grocery store,…
Loading image…1799–1851
John Brown Russwurm (October 1, 1799 – June 9, 1851) was a Jamaican-born American abolitionist, newspaper publisher, and colonist of Liberia, where he moved from the United States. He was born in Jamaica to an English father and enslaved mother. As a child…
Loading image…1811–1873
John C. Bowers, Jr. (February 9, 1811 – October 5, 1873) was an African American entrepreneur, organist and vestryman at St. Thomas African Episcopal Church, and a founding member of the first Grand United Order of Odd Fellows for African Americans in…
Loading image…Biography
John N. Doggett III is an American Professor of Instruction at the McCombs School of Business of The University of Texas at Austin (UT). Doggett was born in San Francisco, California on October 26, 1947 and raised in Pasadena and Los Angeles, California.…
Loading image…1902–1958
John Grayton Dolphin (April 9, 1902 – February 1, 1958), also known as Lovin John, was an American businessman, independent record label owner, concert promoter and music producer, who established Dolphin's of Hollywood, an influential record store that…
1833–1903
John William Dunjee (also John Dungy or John Dungee) (1833 – April 19, 1903) was an American missionary, educator, Baptist minister, publisher, agent of Storer College and founder of Baptist churches across the United States.
Loading image…1856–1916
John Edward Bush (1856–1916) was an American businessman, teacher, and politician. He co-founded the Mosaic Templars of America. He was a leader in the Republican Party.
Loading image…1883–1947
John E. Nail (August 22, 1883 – March 6, 1947) was an African-American real estate agent in New York City, significant for developing Harlem. His sister was Grace Nail Johnson, wife of James Weldon Johnson, both civil rights activists. Nail got his start…
Loading image…1833–1910
John Francis Cook Jr. (September 1833 – January 20, 1910) was a prominent businessman, politician and civil rights activist who was a member of the Washingtonian African-American elite of the late 19th century. Born into an established, middle-class family…
Loading image…1833–1913
John Garrison Cutler (May 10, 1833 – February 7, 1913) was a well-known African American entrepreneur and member of the New Hampshire Republican Party who hosted sitting presidents and many others at his "Cutler's Sea View Hotel" at Hampton Beach, New…
Biography
John H. Davis (1820s/c. 1831–1896) was an early African-American newspaper publisher, politician, capitalist and land speculator in Roanoke, Virginia. "He was shrewd and was quite successful in business, and accumulated a considerable sum of money, which…
Loading image…1918–2005
John Harold Johnson (January 19, 1918 – August 8, 2005) was an American business executive and publisher. He was the founder in 1942 of the Johnson Publishing Company, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Johnson's company, with its creation of Ebony (1945)…
Loading image…1916–2010
John Henry Murphy III (March 2, 1916 – October 16, 2010), was an American newspaper publisher and executive, head of the family-owned enterprise of the Afro-American newspaper based in Baltimore, Maryland. At its peak, it had nine national editions,…
Loading image…1840–1922
John Henry Murphy Sr. (25 December 1840 – 5 April 1922) was an African-American newspaper publisher based in Baltimore, Maryland. Born into slavery, he is best known as the founder of the Baltimore Afro-American (also known colloquially/for short as The…
Loading image…1846–1911
John H. Williamson (c. 1846–1911) was an African American politician and newspaper publisher in North Carolina. Born in Covington, Georgia, Williamson grew up in Louisburg, North Carolina. He served six terms in the North Carolina General Assembly from…
1910–1987
John Henry McCray (1910–1987) was an American journalist, newspaper publisher, politician, civil rights activist, and college academic administrator. An African American, he worked at some of the country's most prominent Black newspapers including the…
1865–1934
John Henry Pinkard (1865 – January 8, 1934) was a businessman, banker, and herb doctor in Roanoke, Virginia. He was also known as a spiritualist and clairvoyant. Other people considered him a practitioner of quackery and a charlatan.
1865–1943
John Henry Ryan (1865 - 1943) was a businessman, newspaperman, and state legislator in the U.S. state of Washington. He was a member of the NAACP. Ryan and his wife, Ella, published The Weekly and then The Forum newspapers.
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