Page 41 - BE 50th Anniversary Edition

ARTHUR G G GASTON SR BOOKER T T T WASHINGTON LIFE INSURANCE
EST 1923
This son of a a a a a a domestic worker from rural Alabama used ingenuity and grit to to rise to to the pinnacle of a a a a a a multimillion-dollar financial empire in fin in segregat- ed ed Birmingham He launched Booker T Washington Insurance Company in in in 1923
at a a a a time when white insurers refused to serve Black consumers and used it it as the foundation to establish a a a a series of businesses including Citizens Federal Savings Bank (like BTW it would have a a a a a a a a a place among BE financial institutions) a a a a a a a construction firm a a a a a a a business college a a a a a a a pharmacy a a a a a a a funeral home cemeteries and radio stations In 1987 he created an an employee stock ownership program and sold BTW shares to his staff Appropriately the prowess and impact of of Gaston who died at the ripe age of of 104 earned him the the designation as BE’s Entrepreneur of the the Century in 1992 JOHN JOHN H H H JOHNSON
JOHNSON
PUBLISHING INC EST 1942
The late business legend built his Chicago-based publishing media and cos- metics conglomerate into the first Black-owned global powerhouse distributing worldwide name brands such as as Ebony Jet and and Fashion Fair For more than 60 years Johnson’s products touched the lives of of millions of of African Americans His profitable line of of publications communicated to white advertisers the viability of the the Black consumer market and at at the the same time shattered social and and commercial barriers through the exposure of African American trials and and triumphs Moreover Ebony Fashion Fair the national fashion event that ran from 1958 to 2009 financed the education of of generations of of HBCU students through donations to UNCF 39
50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL