99 people · 75 places · 61 institutions · 329 sourced links
Yesterday's Architects: the history map
The Black business builders profiled in The Black Executive Journal's weekly Yesterday's Architects series, and the people, places and institutions their stories connect. Every link names the profile or record it comes from.
The architects
- c. 1795–1873 · 1804–1876Stephen Smith and William Whipper
The Lumber Firm That Owned 22 Railcars and Ran Them Twice
- 1802–1886Henry Boyd
The Manufacturer Who Sold to the South and Funded the Escape North
- c. 1800–1885Clara Brown
Angel of the Rockies and Architect of Frontier Wealth
- 1832–1902Jacob Wilson Sey
The Palm-Oil Merchant Who Helped Keep the Gold Coast in African Hands
- c. 1814–1904Mary Ellen Pleasant
Capitalist by Profession, Architect of Freedom and Fortune
- John Sarbah the Elder
Gold Coast Merchant Architect of Coastal Capital
- c. 1806–1875Jeremiah G. Hamilton
Prince of Darkness and Wall Street’s First Black Millionaire
- 1848–1918Jordan C. Jackson Jr.
The Self-Taught Slave Who Became Lexington's First Black Undertaker — Then Took on Jim Crow
- c. 1840–after 1910Eliza Allen
She Built America's First Black Bank — Starting in Slavery
- d. 1824Sally Seymour
The Woman Who Cooked Charleston Into Submission
- 1732–1806Cyrus Bustill
The Baker Who Built Black Philadelphia
- c. 1735–?Edith Cumbo
Free, Armed With an Account Book, and Nobody's Property
- 1866–1944Mont Howell
The Shoemaker Who Stood His Ground in Atlanta
- 1847–1924Isaiah T. Montgomery
The Man Who Built a Nation Inside a Nation
- c. 1848–1933Jane Johnson Endsley
The Woman Who Brought Dallas to Its Knees — Then Fueled It
- 1817–1883Elizabeth A. Gloucester
The Richest Black Woman in America Nobody Taught You About
- c. 1739–1804Charity “Duchess” Quamino
Pioneer of Black Business in Colonial America
- c. 1818–1891Biddy Mason
From 1,700-Mile Trek in Chains to California's First Black Female Real Estate Magnate
- c. 1801–1876Wilson Ruffin Abbott
From Refugee to Toronto's First Black Elected Official and Real Estate Pioneer