Cedric Ricky Walker is the founder and CEO of Soul Circus Limited, the parent company of the Universoul Big Top Circus, the first nationally touring Black circus in more than 100 years.
Personal Information
Born Cedric "Ricky" Walker in Baltimore; son of Frank Walker (Air Force master sergeant) and Alma Walker (homemaker); married to Cynthia (comptroller and vice president of UniverSoul Circus); children: one son.
Education: Attended Tuskegee Institute.
Career
Founder and chairman, UniverSoul Circus; Music promoter, Commodores, 1971; Kool Jazz Festivals, 1978; Fresh Festival, 1984. Theater producer, A Good Man is Hard to Find and Mama Don't.
Life's Work
Bedecked in his bright yellow or cherry red Zoot Suit, matching hat, and tennis shoes, Casual Cal, the ring leader, greets the audience with shouts of "Yo, yo, yo!" The stilt-walking acrobats are costumed in the ritual garments of the stilt-walking shamans of West Africa. The elephants re-enact the saga of Hannibals' army crossing the Alps. The clowns retell the history of blacks in American television. The background music is the theme songs from the television sitcoms Good Times and The Jeffersons. Is this a comedy show? No, it is the UniverSoul Big Top Circus, the "Cirque du Soul," and the brainchild of Atlanta-based promoter Cedric "Ricky" Walker.
Ricky Walker came to the arts world through an unfortunate but common path, that of troubled adolescence. One of four children born to Frank Walker, an Air Force master sergeant, and his homemaker wife, Alma, Ricky was part of a tough crowd in his Baltimore high school-- drinking, drugs, and stealing epitomized his lifestyle. At 18, his father sent him to live with his uncle, William Carr, a nightclub owner in Tuskegee, Alabama. "It was the best thing that ever happened in my life," Walker admitted in an interview with People Magazine.
While at his uncle's club and a student at Tuskegee Institute, Walker met the Commodores, who were just beginning their career, and he joined their road crew in 1971. In 1975, he met Cal Dupree, who was also promoting local musical acts. In 1978, they teamed together to promote the Kool Jazz Festivals. They then successfully produced the first national rap tour, the 1984 Fresh Festival, featuring rap artists such as Run-DMC, the Fat Boys, and Whodini. Walker also served as concert promoter for groups, including the O'Jays, the Jackson Five, and Curtis Blow.
Walker eventually grew disenchanted with the raunchiness of rap music, and his career then moved into theater production. In the early 1990s he produced the gospel plays A Good Man is Hard to Find and Mama Don't. The plays dealt primarily with problems afflicting African American urban life: drugs, dysfunctional families, and crime. Walker noticed young children leaving these shows late at night, which led him to ponder the options for daytime entertainment for families. It quickly became clear to him that family-oriented entertainment represented a glaring void in the cultural options for African Americans, and he sought to capitalize on this opportunity. As he explained in a July 1995 article by Joyce Jones in Black Enterprise, "One of our underlying goals as promoters is to be creative and bring new and different things to the public. We have to look for these types of voids and attempt to fill them."
As he considered various options, Walker envisioned a Black variety show, a medley of singing, dancing, and animal acts which would tour the country. When he discussed the idea with longtime friend and partner Cal Dupree, Dupree jokingly responded, "If you're going to have all that, you might as well start a circus." And, after three years of studying circus history, developing the concept for the show, and traveling worldwide to find top Black circus performers, Walker did just that. Walker is now the founder and chairman of the UniverSoul Circus, the first nationally-touring African American circus in more than 100 years.
The UniverSoul Circus is the first Black circus since Ephraim Williams developed Black traveling shows in the late 1880s. Walker intently studied Williams' production, and, in honor of both Williams and the American circus tradition, committed himself to producing a show rich in culture, faith, and history. As a result, his acts pay tribute to such Black figures as the renowned Buffalo Soldier calvarymen and also tell the biblical story of Daniel in the lion's den.
Promoted as "Your Circus of Dreams," the UniverSoul Circus brings together the largest number of African American performers in circus history and showcases everything from aerial and equestrian acts to wild animal and clown skits--all while reshaping the image of the traditional circus. The UniverSoul Circus initially opened in 1994 under a rented tent in the parking lot of Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium. Walker provided the financing from his savings and received some help from Atlanta franchiser La-Van Hawkins. Now, just a few years later, the circus has boasted a 1997 attendance of one million people, it will visit 19 major U.S. cities in 1998, and has 14 acts and 45 performers in the one-ring show--95 percent of whom are African American.
Walker's search for Black talent highlights his commitment to his ideal. It was a quest, in fact, which has taken him all over the world. He ultimately signed such famed circus acts as Nayakata, an African-Spanish contortionist, and the Ayak Brothers from South Africa. Monique, who joined the circus in 1998, is the world's first and only African American female lion tamer. He also tapped into the talent of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. For instance, all of the clowns in the UniverSoul Circus have graduated from Barnum and Bailey Clown College. The King Charles Troupe of unicyclists, moreover, were the first African American performers hired by Ringling Brothers and are the third generation to perform this act, while Pa-Mela Hernandez was the first Black female aerialist with Ringling.
Initially, one of Walker's biggest challenges was finding his first Black lion tamer. At the time, there were only three in the entire United States, and Walker dreamed of presenting a Black tamer as an inspiration for urban youth. He then thought of a solution: his cousin, Ted McRae, a laborer in Baltimore, MD, owned several poisonous snakes and had made the news when his boa constrictor escaped and terrified the local community. Walker convinced McRae to join the show as a personal favor, and in a period of three weeks, McRae went from driving a forklift to prancing in a pen of lions and elephants. He is now consistently one of the show-stopping acts.
The setting for Walker's circus perfectly complements the show. It is produced outdoors under a striped tent. Far from outdated, though, the old-world theater-in-the-round with a single ring and 2,100 seats is state-of-the-art, boasting computerized special effects, a rock-style laser show, and high-tech sound. Gospel, jazz, and rhythm and blues accompany the show and further contribute to what Walker terms its "high-energy, hip-hop sound."
Even as his circus has grown both in size and recognition, Walker has not lost sight of his original mission: providing family-based entertainment for African American communities long underserved by the entertainment industry. Thus, the group bypasses suburban areas and heads to the nation's more depressed neighborhoods. Not only does Walker bring his circus into the city, but he also draws the city into his show. The circus hires local people to help with construction, concessions, and security, thereby further contributing to the welfare of these areas. Walker even offers elephant and pony rides before and after the show to give children a taste of circus life. Ticket prices remain affordable thanks to corporate sponsors such as Burger King, General Mills, Ford, and Texaco.
Walker veritably brims with enthusiasm when discussing his "soulful assault" on the traditional circus. "The enthusiasm is inside of me. I feel like the whole world is in front of me," he told Kevin Chappell in a December 1996 interview for Ebony. The passion, moreover, seems in part to stem from his commitment to the vision behind the creation of the circus. Walker not only wants to entertain; he also wants to captivate the children in the audience in a way that allows them to tap into the show's underlying spiritual values.
Thus, not only is the show what Circus Report calls a "masterpiece of production, staging, and promotion," but it is also unique in the emphasis it places on the importance of family. The Ringmaster, Casual Cal Dupree himself, actively includes members of the audience to reinforce the message. For example, he implores adults to turn off the television and actively engage their children in other activities. Children in the audience are called upon to take the "ringmaster's pledge" in which they commit to love their families and to reject drugs. He also reminds children to be thankful when people help them and adds, "Whenever faced with adversity, always have faith in your family." At one point in the show, Casual Cal cries, "Our roots come from the church, right? Are you ready to rock this tent like church?" And then he joins the clowns, ushers, and audience in singing, dancing, and stomping through the aisles.
Walker certainly provides his audiences with a plethora of stimuli: visual, oral, and emotional. Most important in Walker's mind, though, is the heightened self-esteem garnered from watching Black performers excel. As Walker commented in Ebony, "If you can look in a circus ring and see yourself, that's something you can relate to, and you'll come out to witness it, and you'll tell others about it. But Blacks haven't been given the chance to show they are just like everyone else." As Walker admitted, he himself dreamed of running away with the circus when he was a child. At that time, though, the only role models available for Blacks were janitors. He never aspired to be a lion tamer, he said, because he never saw a black tamer. "When you see someone you can relate to doing it," he told Emory Holmes of the Los Angeles Times, "you can aspire to do it. I saw black folks being janitors ... That's how I figured I could be in the circus."
The positive, energy-creating effect of Blacks performing for Blacks is felt on the performers' side of the stage as well. As Walker commented in his discussion with Holmes, "[T]hese guys come from all over the world and have never had the opportunity to stand before their people and do a performance. So their hearts and souls are there." It is this contagious spirit which sets the UniverSoul Circus soaring.
The UniverSoul Circus, then, is a Black circus: about Blacks, by Blacks, and predominantly for Blacks. The show's themes consciously trace black entertainment from slavery until the present time and focus, in Walker's words, on "the expression of a people and a culture." In essence, Walker wants his circus to be different; he wants to make a difference. In his discussion with Holmes, Walker is quick to refute criticism that his show is reminiscent of a twentieth century minstrel show. Rather than a demeaning portrayal of Blacks, Walker sees himself on the opposite end of the spectrum: race conscious but not racist, intent on lovingly and astoundingly conveying positive images of Black life and achievement. As Esther Iverem explained in a New York Times review, Walker promotes "race pride, family values and a worldview that does not make Black the Other, but puts it, literally, in the center ring."
Walker is often asked, "What next?" Laughing, he proclaims, "I want to create a Black Disneyland--a Black theme park." Crazy, maybe. But then again, no one believed a rap festival would sell nor did many initially support the idea of a Black circus. Walker's next effort should not really surprise anyone.
Further Reading
Periodicals
•Black Enterprise, July 1995, p. 20.
•Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 7, 1998.
•Ebony, December 1996, pp. 68-71.
•Jersey Journal, May 3, 1997, pp. E1, E4.
•Los Angeles Times, October 27, 1996, pp. C6, C93.
•New York Times, June 1, 1997.
•Parade Magazine, June 7, 1998, pp. 13-14.
•People, October 6, 1997, pp. 147-148.
•Time for Kids, September 26, 1997.
•Village Voice, reference unknown.
•Washington Post, July 21, 1997, pp. C1, C4.
Other
•Harlem Ontime Features.
•Press Releases, UniverSoul Circus.
— Lisa S. Weitzman
Marc Hannah Black Millionaire
Born Marc Regis Hannah, on October 13, 1956, in Chicago, IL.
Education: Illinois Institue of Technology, BS (electrical engineering), 1977; Stanford University, MS, 1978, PhD, 1985.
Career
Electrical engineer and computer graphics entrepreneur. Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI), cofounder and member of technical staff, 1982-85, principal scientist, 1986.
Life's Work
As one of the original founders of Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI), a company famous for its innovations in computer graphics, Marc Hannah is known as a special effects whiz. A specialist in three-dimensional, or 3-D graphics, Hannah is principal scientist and vice president of the company, which designs the computers used to create the effects for such movies as Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, Aladdin, The Abyss, Death Becomes Her, The Hunt for Red October, Beauty and the Beast, Field of Dreams, and Lawnmower Man. In addition to several television commercials, SGI effects can also be seen in two of Michael Jackson's videos, Black and White and Remember the Time, as well as the helmets in the opening scenes of Monday Night Football.
But according to Hannah, all this high-profile business brings in only approximately 15 percent of SGI's overall revenues. The same 3-D technology is also used in less glamorous fields, by engineering and medical research companies, for example, for tasks ranging from designing cars and airplanes to analyzing gene sequences and creating "designer drugs." The military even uses SGI's equipment for visual simulations in its training programs.
Hannah is not directly involved in producing special effects per se-- he designs the computer equipment that special effects artists use to create the effects. The equipment is then purchased by companies such as research firms or movie studios, which employ their own special effects artists. "We certainly talk with these companies to understand what their requirements are, what functions and features they need in the machine," he told CBB.
Star Wars producer George Lucas' company, Industrial Light & Magic, purchased millions of dollars' worth of computer equipment from SGI to make Arnold Schwarznegger's Terminator 2. Miles Perkins, a spokesperson for Industrial Light & Magic, told Ebony magazine that the high-tech computers developed by SGI are more advanced than those of many other companies, adding that their technology is "high and their computers can easily handle massive amounts of information and functions."
A Chicago native, Hannah graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology with a degree in electrical engineering. A scholarship and a fellowship awarded by AT&T's Bell Laboratories helped finance his education there. He then received a fellowship from Bell Labs to pursue his doctorate at Stanford University, which he completed in 1985.
At Stanford, Hannah met Jim Clark, a professor who had done research on 3-D images, which had also interested Hannah when he worked at Bell. Together with five others, they started SGI. They were thinking big, and raised $33 million in venture capital. The company went public in 1986. In 1981, Hannah was quoted as predicting that the company's annual revenues would top $1 billion by June 1990. When he was profiled in Fortune magazine's On The Rise column in August of 1990, Hannah admitted, "By those naive expectations, we're behind schedule." It took until 1993 for the company to reach $1.1 billion, with a gross profit margin of 53 percent, according to Forbes. The Silicon Graphics compound, in Mountain View, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, is housed in 11 structures and employs more than 3,500 people. In 1994, they opened a $3 million research and development center in England. The center is fully equipped to help U.K. companies develop products and software using high-tech computer graphics and virtual reality systems.
Hannah explained in an Ebony interview that 3-D images generated on computers are different from the effects seen through special glasses at 3-D movies. "If you have a picture of a house on paper," he says, "you get to see it from just one specific angle, but with 3-D you can use the computer to view that same house from different angles, change the color, raise the roof, change the floor plan, modify sections of it. It gives you the ability to move around like that. It's quicker and easier on computer." About his role as principal scientist at SGI, Hannah explained to Ebony, "I primarily focus on the graphics side of things, deciding what performance level we are targeting, what the features will be and what price range we are seeking. I help determine the visual capabilities of the computers." He is also responsible for helping decide SGI's future directions.
Hannah recently developed technology for the company that is making the same sophisticated 3-D graphics available at prices of $5,000 to $10,000. This is a substantial decrease from the previous low end of $10,000 to $30,000, with the high end at $800,000. He wants to see SGI's technology made available to ordinary people, and is expanding the company's market into this bracket, increasing overall sales. As he told Fortune in 1990, "My goal is to broaden the market through lower prices."
SGI's move toward smaller, less expensive models has meant skirting the edge of what has been thought of as the "personal computer" market. To date, the desktop computer market has been dominated by IBM (and its imitators, or "clone" companies), and to a lesser extent, Apple Macintosh computer manufacturers. SGI's move in this direction is in turn forcing IBM's and Apple's high-end prices down below the $5,000 mark, and challenging them to produce more efficient, sophisticated technology in order to compete with SGI's graphics capabilities, in terms of 3-D and multimedia. While this double trend, of SGI reaching downward, and IBM, et al., reaching upward, is stirring things up, it ultimately means better and less expensive computers for average citizens, regardless of the platform they purchase. All of this is making 3-D animation technology more available to individual artists and smaller companies. But even at $5,000, Silicon Graphics' technology is still a cut above what PCs can offer.
SGI's strategy of late has been to diversify into new directions. In addition to developing virtual reality technology, SGI has been expanding into other markets, and exploring the possibilities of joint ventures with other companies, and spinning off subsidiaries, such as Silicon Studios. Hannah has been involved in the early conceptual stages of designing the company's new products. The projects are then passed on to teams of developers to complete.
With Nintendo, SGI is developing a 64-bit videogame player, which will reportedly cram the computing power of SGI's new low-end Indy workstation ($5,000) into a toy that will sell for only $250. Hannah points out that this is partly possible because the item will not require all the hardware of a workstation (viewing monitor, keyboard, etc.), but the processor will work with a home television set. They are also exploring the realm of interactive television, with Time Warner; have begun supplying database servers; and are considering buying out a few animation software companies. In addition, they are working on an interface for the Internet, which will allow users to browse the World Wide Web in 3-D.
No longer working 80-hour weeks for SGI, Marc Hannah is also part- owner of a minority-owned construction company in Oakland, called Rondeau Bay. He admitted to CBB that the company is "struggling along," with revenues of $5 to $10 million. He expects to secure some $20 to $40 million contracts in the coming year. He predicts that 1996 will be a turning point for the company. "It will be the year that either makes it--or not," he joked. In this line of work, he has still encountered continuing racism, as he told Ebony magazine in 1993: "Sometimes you think that race is not going to be an issue, but it is," he says. "It still shocks me, some of the things that go on with some of these city engineers who do everything they can to keep from giving you a project." Rondeau Bay's method of sewer repair, said Hannah, which uses plastic liners, is less destructive to streets and less expensive to taxpayers. "We have better technology and lower prices. But some of these guys [city engineers] are on payrolls and don't get any special pats on the back for saving cities money."
In addition, Hannah sits on the board of directors for Magic Edge, a young company he has invested in, which supplies visual simulation to amusement parks nationwide. He says their product compares with Star Tours. "Rather than play a movie like Star Tours and have motion correspond to the movie," he told Ebony, "with our technology you might have a joystick and have the motion of flying. You actually fly it by using the joystick. You can flip over. There is a wider range of motions. You can give people the experience of weightlessness. SGI will provide the visual display system and Magic Edge provides the hardware."
In his spare time, Hannah also supervised the construction of a 6,000 square-foot home in the Valley, which he helped to design. Did he make use of his own 3-D computer modeling technology? No. Although he would have liked to, and he might have avoided a couple of small problems had he done so, Hannah says it is not yet cost-effective on such a small scale. "Yet" is the operative word in that sentence. Hannah fully expects SGI to be moving in that direction as well in the next year or two, making 3-D technology available and affordable to smaller architectural firms.
Summing up his role within the SGI team of specialists Hannah was quick to stress his teamwork with his colleagues to CBB, saying, "My job is to look ahead two to three years and see what's coming. To see what consumers want, what they will want, and then to figure out how we can deliver that--at what price."
Awards
Professional Achievement Award, Illinois Institute of Technology, 1987; Professional Achievement Award, National Technical Association, 1987.
Further Reading
Sources
•Ebony, February 1993, pp. 55-58.
•Electronics, July 11, 1994, p. 3.
•Forbes, January 31, 1994, p. 107-08, Fortune, August 27, 1990, p. 105.
•PC Magazine, April 25, 1995, p. 29.
•Additional information for this profile was obtained from a CBB interview with Marc Hannah.
— Marjorie Partch
Larry Huggins Owner Riteway Constructions Services Black Millionaire
Education: Washburn Trade School, Chicago, IL, 1971-72.
Career
General contractor. Ecker Company, 1971-72; R. S. Bailey & Associates, 1975-90; Riteway Painting & Decorating Co., president, 1975-90; Riteway Construction Services Inc., president, 1985-.
Life's Work
As a Chicago construction worker in the 1970s, Larry Huggins had a compelling goal: to become a general contractor. In 1985, Huggins created Riteway Construction Services and developed the concrete and rough carpentry business into a million-dollar company by 1995. The role of general contractor has rarely been assumed by minority-owned businesses, but Huggins, as its president, determined to collect contracts for Riteway and its more than 200 employees.
After attending Washburn Trade School in Chicago and working at a number of construction jobs, Huggins started work as a painter for Brown's Drywall, a small black-owned company, in 1975. Huggins told Francine Knowles of the Chicago Sun-Times, ''During that time I saw in the African-American community the need for more African-American general contractors, and my goal was to become one. As a general contractor you're able to give back to your community by providing contracts and employment for others.''
In 1983, Brown's Drywall developed into Riteway Painting and Decorating, a joint venture created with Murray Brown. With Huggins as its president, the business grew fast--perhaps too fast. As its original staff of 25 painters expanded to almost 100 painters, the company battled financial difficulties. After six years of struggle, Riteway Painting and Decorating declared bankruptcy in 1989. Despite the company's financial problems, workers were able to finish every project started and Huggins maintained a good reputation in the construction industry.
Took Advantage of Affirmative Action
In 1985, while Riteway Painting and Decorating struggled, Huggins started Riteway Construction Services. Rather than yield to defeat, he took advantage of affirmative action programs. These programs, started in the 1970s, were designed to give qualified minorities a chance to compete in the white-dominated business world by setting aside business for them. Huggins told Ebony, ''Affirmative action really opened up the doors for minority contractors to grow.'' He also claimed that before these programs, ''We were limited to work in outlying areas of the inner-city.''
For three years, Huggins used a large majority contractor, Tribco Construction Services Inc., as a mentor to learn the general contractor level of construction. Newsweek reported that Riteway was provided with ''technical advice, hands-on supervision and crucial support in its dealings with banks.'' Robert McCollam, president of Tribco, worked with Huggins before the affirmative action program, though. He had already known Huggins as a ''cooperative'' man who ''got the job done on time'' and ''never griped.''
Another large contractor, Turner Construction Company, lent Riteway Construction Services its project manager for a year to help the company develop. With the help of these companies, Riteway was able to snag numerous large projects, which included the Harold Washington Library, the United Airlines terminal at O'Hare Airport, and the Chicago Board of Trade building. Affirmative action was important to Huggins's success, and through it he acquired the knowledge and experience he needed to obtain contracts for large projects.
One project Riteway obtained was the result of joining forces with another minority-owned company, Alert Construction, in 1995. Nelson Carlos, the Hispanic owner of Alert, was to be the subcontractor while Huggins acted as the general contractor for Unicom Thermal Technologies Inc., the six-million dollar district cooling plant. This was a unique project in that 35 percent of the work was to be done by minority-owned businesses. This percentage included 15 percent women-owned participation.
Opened Doors for Others
Huggins, continually aware of his own minority status, has been open to hiring other minorities; in fact, Riteway, one of the largest black general construction companies, employed more than 200 workers in 1998, 70 percent of which were minorities. When challenged that affirmative action is ''charity for the black middle class,'' Huggins responded, ''We don't turn around and discriminate against white workers.'' He told Newsweek that he feels a responsibility to train people from his community and believes that a diverse work force is best. According to Huggins, people do not care ''whether they work for a black firm, a Hispanic firm or a white firm.'' In 1998, Huggins hoped to shed his minority label, explaining that it limits minority participation. He has been determined to break the glass ceiling that might thwart the future growth of his business.
Riteway has continued to obtain contracts for a variety of projects because Huggins stays tuned to his community. After the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) acquired a huge apartment complex that had defaulted in 1991, HUD sold it to a community complex comprised of the Ginger Ridge residents, Calumet City, and several community organizations. In 1997, Riteway obtained the massive remodeling job that was partially funded with federal and state monies. The project, completed in 1998, converted the predominantly one-bedroom units to larger apartments in order to attract families to the area.
Attracted Controversy
The rise of Riteway has not been without controversy. In 1998, the company was often in the news due to its joint venture with the Walsh Construction Company, which presented the sole bid for the new, nine-floor Cook County Hospital building. A local preference ordinance was enacted in 1997 which required half of all county construction project employees to be county residents. Also, local firms were to be favored if their bids were within two percent of the low bid. Objections were raised because few local firms were large enough to handle the project, and outside firms were prohibited by the conditions of the ordinance.
The Chicago Tribune reported that ''Matt Walsh, head of Walsh Construction, argued that large projects often only attract one bid.'' Because of the outcry, the Cook County Board of Commissioners waived the ordinance. Refurbishing and expanding the hospital had been a political goal of Cook County Board President John Stroger. Despite claims that he was biased by contributions Walsh and Riteway made to his political campaign, Walsh-Riteway still secured the contract for the 300-million dollar project and promised its completion by 2002.
During this controversy, Huggins decided to involve himself in more than just construction. In 1997, he became the first minority person to sit on the Chicago Transportation Authority's commuter rail service board, Metra. Citizens were encouraged, via the Chicago Tribune, to contact the board members, including City of Chicago director Huggins, with their complaints and praises.
Contributed to Others
In 1997, Ebony author, Kevin Chappel, described the new breed of African American millionaire, as a ''second generation of Black elite.'' Chappel also stated, ''They not only give generously to worthwhile causes, but in many cases, have also created their own vehicles to deliver good works to the less fortunate.'' Millionaire Huggins came from a single-parent home in a difficult Chicago community, Englewood. Continuing to live in a modest, black-majority neighborhood in Cook County, Huggins believes, according to Ebony, that he has ''moral and social obligations as an African-American man to be a role model.'' He uses his wealth as an example of what good money can do.
For example, each year, Huggins gives scholarships to students who come from single-parent homes. In 1996, he bought $7,000 worth of toys for the children of his childhood neighborhood, Englewood. That same year, Huggins helped organize a group of black truckers to deliver construction material to rebuild ten churches in South Carolina that were destroyed by arsonists. Chicago Alderman Terry Peterson commented that Huggins, ''doesn't toot his own horn. He doesn't seek recognition. He simply looks to help wherever he can.''
Further Reading
•Chicago Defender, April 20, 1995; July 8, 1996, p. 4; December 29, 1997, pp. 8-11; February 11, 1998, p. 3.
•Chicago Sun-Times, August 10, 1995, p. 45; July 22, 1997, p. 15; February 6, 1998, p. 8; February 10, 1998, p. 3.
•Chicago Tribune, September 15, 1997, p. 1; October 17, 1997, p. 1; November 10, 1997, p. 1; November 22, 1997, p. 5.
•Civil Engineering, August 1, 1998, p. 21.
•Ebony, August 1995, pp. 46-50; March 1, 1997, p. 76; December 1, 1997, pp. 124-129.
•Newsweek, April 3, 1995, pp. 26-32.
— Eileen Daily
La-Van Hawkins Black Millionaire
And for hamburger mogul La-Van Hawkins it means giving away more than a million dollars to worthy causes each year. "I think the old Black guard had the attitude `I got mine, so you get yours,'" says Hawkins, whose company, UrbanCityFoods, owns 43 Burger Kings, which are expected to ring up more than $200 million in sales next year. "But the new Black millionaires understand that we have a fiduciary responsibility to give back."
By William Bunch
Philly.com
The story of La-Van Hawkins seems too good to be true: A former gang leader from Chicago's worst housing project kicks a $1,000-a-week cocaine habit and puts his swagger to work in the fast-food industry, becoming a multimillionaire and one of America's best-known black capitalists.
With the girth of an offensive lineman, Hawkins is a literally larger-than-life figure whose posh homes in Atlanta and Detroit, private jet and fund-raising work for presidential hopeful Al Sharpton won him glowing profiles, like one that appeared in Ebony last year.
"Fresh crab cakes and carved beef tenderloins were washed down by $200-a-bottle Cristal champagne," the magazine wrote of a fund-raising event for Sharpton that Hawkins hosted in 2003 at his hilltop Atlanta mansion. "Hawkins worked the crowd, at times talking business and world politics with guests, at other times, seeming to 'shake down' guests for donations."
Even before Hawkins was indicted yesterday on fraud and perjury charges, there were increasing signs that the La-Van Hawkins story actually was too good to be true.
In building a fast-food empire that's included Burger King, Pizza Hut and Checkers Drive-In franchises across the country, Hawkins also has left a growing trail of lawsuits. Since fall 2001, companies claiming that Hawkins owed them money have won more than $1 million in judgments against him.
"La-Van Hawkins will vigorously defend himself against these allegations, and he will prevail," Hawkins' spokesman, David Payne, said yesterday.
The indictment accuses Hawkins of working with power attorney Ronald A. White and then-city treasurer Corey Kemp to defraud a businessman in a deal to buy Church's Fried Chicken franchises.
It also accuses him of lying to the grand jury, and describes how he flew with White and Kemp to the 2003 Super Bowl and helped White funnel $5,000 to the city official. If convicted, Hawkins, 46, faces a maximum sentence of 125 years in prison and a $1.75 million fine.
Hawkins is head of Detroit-based Hawkins Food Group LLC, which owns Pizza Huts in Michigan, Blockbuster video stores and a Detroit upscale restaurant, Sweet Georgia Brown. He claims annual revenues of some $300 million.
The ties between Hawkins and White go all the way back to the mid-1990s, when the two men incorporated a food company called Philadelphia Connection Inc. Hawkins was owner of some Checkers franchises in the area at the time.
According to grand jury testimony released yesterday, Hawkins testified that once in 2002 White asked him to borrow $40,000, and so he lent it to him, no questions asked. Pointedly reminding the grand jury "that I'm a multimillionaire," Hawkins testified the money came "out of a drawer."
Given Hawkins' hardscrabble story, which started in Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project, it may take more than an indictment to count him out.
"The one thing that has helped me is that I have an MBA and Ph.D. in streetology," Hawkins told Ebony. "It certainly has allowed me to take it to the next level. I will not be denied."
By William Bunch
Philly.com
The story of La-Van Hawkins seems too good to be true: A former gang leader from Chicago's worst housing project kicks a $1,000-a-week cocaine habit and puts his swagger to work in the fast-food industry, becoming a multimillionaire and one of America's best-known black capitalists.
With the girth of an offensive lineman, Hawkins is a literally larger-than-life figure whose posh homes in Atlanta and Detroit, private jet and fund-raising work for presidential hopeful Al Sharpton won him glowing profiles, like one that appeared in Ebony last year.
"Fresh crab cakes and carved beef tenderloins were washed down by $200-a-bottle Cristal champagne," the magazine wrote of a fund-raising event for Sharpton that Hawkins hosted in 2003 at his hilltop Atlanta mansion. "Hawkins worked the crowd, at times talking business and world politics with guests, at other times, seeming to 'shake down' guests for donations."
Even before Hawkins was indicted yesterday on fraud and perjury charges, there were increasing signs that the La-Van Hawkins story actually was too good to be true.
In building a fast-food empire that's included Burger King, Pizza Hut and Checkers Drive-In franchises across the country, Hawkins also has left a growing trail of lawsuits. Since fall 2001, companies claiming that Hawkins owed them money have won more than $1 million in judgments against him.
"La-Van Hawkins will vigorously defend himself against these allegations, and he will prevail," Hawkins' spokesman, David Payne, said yesterday.
The indictment accuses Hawkins of working with power attorney Ronald A. White and then-city treasurer Corey Kemp to defraud a businessman in a deal to buy Church's Fried Chicken franchises.
It also accuses him of lying to the grand jury, and describes how he flew with White and Kemp to the 2003 Super Bowl and helped White funnel $5,000 to the city official. If convicted, Hawkins, 46, faces a maximum sentence of 125 years in prison and a $1.75 million fine.
Hawkins is head of Detroit-based Hawkins Food Group LLC, which owns Pizza Huts in Michigan, Blockbuster video stores and a Detroit upscale restaurant, Sweet Georgia Brown. He claims annual revenues of some $300 million.
The ties between Hawkins and White go all the way back to the mid-1990s, when the two men incorporated a food company called Philadelphia Connection Inc. Hawkins was owner of some Checkers franchises in the area at the time.
According to grand jury testimony released yesterday, Hawkins testified that once in 2002 White asked him to borrow $40,000, and so he lent it to him, no questions asked. Pointedly reminding the grand jury "that I'm a multimillionaire," Hawkins testified the money came "out of a drawer."
Given Hawkins' hardscrabble story, which started in Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project, it may take more than an indictment to count him out.
"The one thing that has helped me is that I have an MBA and Ph.D. in streetology," Hawkins told Ebony. "It certainly has allowed me to take it to the next level. I will not be denied."
Kwame Jackson Black Millionaire
"We have our whole lives to be ordinary, and only a few fleeting moments to be extraordinary!." --Kwame Jackson
Kwame Jackson is polished, confident and credentialed with prestigious Wall Street experience and business lessons he learned from Donald Trump in front of 22 million people each week, on the hit show “The Apprentice.”
As a New York City based real estate entrepreneur, professional speaker and media personality, he is poised for global aspirations. Although born in Washington, D.C., Jackson was raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, which he considers his hometown.
Kwame holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.
Although he was flattered to make both People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People and its 50 Hottest Bachelors list in 2004 , Kwame is a businessman first!
His professional experience includes co-founding several Internet start-ups during his time at Harvard, sales and marketing roles at Procter & Gamble, and most recently, on Wall Street as an Investment Manager for Goldman Sachs. It was his no nonsense attitude and ability to be a team leader that made him stand out on "The Apprentice" and it is his affable nature and street smarts that make him stand out in life.
Download 300 dpi Jpg
... the ability
to inspire others
to explore, embrace,
and execute
the keys to success.
Keppler Speakers Bureau list Kwame as one of the highest paid and most in-demand speaker amongst those in reality television. He continues to be courted by Fortune 500 firms, major television networks, fashion houses, sports teams, marketers, advertisers, community, civic and political leaders for his input and expertise.
As a professional speaker, he regularly addresses universities, aspiring entrepreneurs and executive management teams at the world's leading companies on various topics such as leadership, team building, surviving while thriving in corporate America and the importance of being an entrepreneur. Kwame's 250+ lectures to date include engagements at General Electric, American Express, McDonald's, American Airlines, JP Morgan Chase, The Democratic National Convention, London School of Economics, and Cornell University.
Kwame's diverse efforts have been recognized with acclaim and accolades that include Keys to the City from Detroit, Indianapolis, Trenton, and Columbia; a National Entrepreneur Award from the United States Department of Commerce Small Business Administration and Minority Business Development Agency; and the declaration of "Kwame Jackson Day" by the Mayor of Charlotte, NC - Kwame's hometown.
It is his business savvy, passion for excellence and the lessons he has learned in the boardroom that have given him the ability to inspire others to explore, embrace, and execute the keys to success.
True to Kwame’s entrepreneurial training at Harvard, Kwame has founded Legacy Holdings LLC, an emerging private investment firm focused on real estate development and Kwame Inc. a personal brand management firm focused on his multi-media efforts as a professional speaker, budding author, and television personality.
Kwame continues to live by his own words..."We have our whole lives to be ordinary, and only a few fleeting moments to be extraordinary!"
For more information about Kwame Jackson contact:
Andrea Ferguson
115 East 96 Street Suite 21
917.464.3739
Kwame Jackson is polished, confident and credentialed with prestigious Wall Street experience and business lessons he learned from Donald Trump in front of 22 million people each week, on the hit show “The Apprentice.”
As a New York City based real estate entrepreneur, professional speaker and media personality, he is poised for global aspirations. Although born in Washington, D.C., Jackson was raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, which he considers his hometown.
Kwame holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.
Although he was flattered to make both People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People and its 50 Hottest Bachelors list in 2004 , Kwame is a businessman first!
His professional experience includes co-founding several Internet start-ups during his time at Harvard, sales and marketing roles at Procter & Gamble, and most recently, on Wall Street as an Investment Manager for Goldman Sachs. It was his no nonsense attitude and ability to be a team leader that made him stand out on "The Apprentice" and it is his affable nature and street smarts that make him stand out in life.
Download 300 dpi Jpg
... the ability
to inspire others
to explore, embrace,
and execute
the keys to success.
Keppler Speakers Bureau list Kwame as one of the highest paid and most in-demand speaker amongst those in reality television. He continues to be courted by Fortune 500 firms, major television networks, fashion houses, sports teams, marketers, advertisers, community, civic and political leaders for his input and expertise.
As a professional speaker, he regularly addresses universities, aspiring entrepreneurs and executive management teams at the world's leading companies on various topics such as leadership, team building, surviving while thriving in corporate America and the importance of being an entrepreneur. Kwame's 250+ lectures to date include engagements at General Electric, American Express, McDonald's, American Airlines, JP Morgan Chase, The Democratic National Convention, London School of Economics, and Cornell University.
Kwame's diverse efforts have been recognized with acclaim and accolades that include Keys to the City from Detroit, Indianapolis, Trenton, and Columbia; a National Entrepreneur Award from the United States Department of Commerce Small Business Administration and Minority Business Development Agency; and the declaration of "Kwame Jackson Day" by the Mayor of Charlotte, NC - Kwame's hometown.
It is his business savvy, passion for excellence and the lessons he has learned in the boardroom that have given him the ability to inspire others to explore, embrace, and execute the keys to success.
True to Kwame’s entrepreneurial training at Harvard, Kwame has founded Legacy Holdings LLC, an emerging private investment firm focused on real estate development and Kwame Inc. a personal brand management firm focused on his multi-media efforts as a professional speaker, budding author, and television personality.
Kwame continues to live by his own words..."We have our whole lives to be ordinary, and only a few fleeting moments to be extraordinary!"
For more information about Kwame Jackson contact:
Andrea Ferguson
115 East 96 Street Suite 21
917.464.3739
Andrew Morrison Black Millionaire
- Small Business Camp Founder and Instructor
- Built a multi-million dollar marketing company
- Featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, Crain’s Magazine, Black Enterprise Magazine,
The Wall Street Journal and Advertising Age
- Appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and CNBC
- Author, 21 Questions That Can Build Your Business in 90 Days
- Consistently rated in the top 5% of all speakers at several national conventions
- Trained 1,200 entrepreneurs in Nigeria, West Africa
Biography:
Andrew Morrison is the founder of Small Business Camp - an entrepreneurial training, coaching and
marketing services firm. The company delivers an intensive 2-day program that allows the
participants to walk-in with just an idea and leave with a marketing plan, public relations strategy,
money-making website, direct-mail campaign and 90 days of follow-up coaching. In New York City,
Andrew hosted a weekly show on 98.7 KISS-FM called, "Money Making Mondays" He is also an
adjunct faculty member at New York University and the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Previously he built a multi-million dollar company by providing innovative direct marketing services to
Fortune 500 companies. He was featured in the Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur Magazine, Crain's
Magazine 40 under 40 and Advertising Age. He also appeared as a "Young Millionaire" on the
Oprah Winfrey show.
Andrew is the recipient of the prestigious Young Direct Marketer of the Year award and serves as a
Deacon at the Abyssinian Baptist Church located in the village of Harlem. Andrew recently
completed his first book entitled, "21 Questions That Can Build Your Business in 90 Days." Visit
www.SmallBusinessCamp.com to register for his FREE business building tele-seminar.
Past Speaking Engagements:
Direct Marketing Association
Global Entertainment Media Summit
National Alliance of Market Developers
Essence Magazine Leadership Conference
Keys to Marketing Success at the Yale Club
Notre Dame Chamber of Commerce
Direct Marketing Idea Exchange
Black Expo USA
Black Enterprise Convention
Institute for International Research
National Black MBA Conference
Strategic Research Institute
Multicultural Marketing Days
Wharton Business School Conference
George Fraser’s PowerNetworking Conference
Jamaica West Indies Employer Federation
100 Black Men
Dr. Randal Pinkett CEO of BCT Partners Black Millionaire
info@bctpartners.com (E-Mai l ) • http://www.bctpartners.com/ (Web)
B C T P a r t n e r s • Y o u r P a r t n e r i n S o l u t i o n s T h a t Ma t t e r
Dr. Randal D. Pinkett
Founder, Chairman and CEO, BCT Partners
Season 4 Winner of “The Apprentice”
Dr. Randal Pinkett has established himself as an entrepreneur, speaker, author and community
servant. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of BCT Partners, a multimillion-dollar consulting
firm based in Newark, NJ, that specializes in program management, information technology and
public policy. BCT Partners is a minority-owned and operated company and one of the leading
firms in the country with expertise in the following industries: housing and community
development, economic development, healthcare, human services and education.
Dr. Pinkett
was also named the winner of NBC’s hit reality television show, The Apprentice, with Donald
Trump. He was selected as one of 18 candidates chosen from among 1 million applicants to
compete for the opportunity to run one of Donald Trump’s companies.
Prior to founding BCT Partners, Dr. Pinkett gained corporate experience as a Member of
Technical Staff at General Electric, AT&T Bell Laboratories, and Lucent Technologies. Dr. Pinkett
holds five degrees including: a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers
University, that he completed while serving as captain of the men's track and field team as a
high jumper and long jumper; a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of
Oxford in England; and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, MBA, and Ph.D. from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2009, Dr. Pinkett was named to New Jersey
Governor Jon Corzine’s official shortlist as a potential running mate for Lieutenant Governor of
New Jersey.
Dr. Pinkett has received numerous awards including the following: National Society of Black
Engineers–Entrepreneur of the Year Award, National Urban League–Business Excellence Award,
Information Technology Senior Management Forum–Beacon Award, and he has been
recognized by USA TODAY newspaper as one of the top 20 scholars in the country. Also, Dr.
Pinkett has been featured on nationally televised programs such as The Today Show, Live with
Regis and Kelly, Nightline and Larry King Live. He has served as a brand ambassador for Verizon
Communications and Outback Steakhouse, and a spokesperson for Autism Speaks, the National
Black MBA Association, the Miller Urban Entrepreneurs Series, New Jersey Reads and Junior
Achievement of New York. Most notably, Dr. Pinkett was the first and only African-American to
receive a Rhodes Scholarship at Rutgers University.
Dr. Pinkett is a highly sought-after speaker for various corporations, colleges and universities,
government agencies and community organizations. He is the author of Campus CEO: The
Student Entrepreneur’s Guide to Launching a Multimillion-Dollar Business and No-Money Down
CEO: How to Start Your Dream Business with Little or No Cash. His forthcoming book, Black Faces
in White Places, to be released in 2010, presents the ten strategies African Americans use to
successfully navigate today’s rapidly changing professional landscape. Dr. Pinkett is a proud
graduate of Leadership New Jersey and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Next Generation
Leadership program. He is member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, the Information
Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF), as well as a member of the board of directors
B C T P a r t n e r s • Y o u r P a r t n e r i n S o l u t i o n s T h a t Ma t t e r
for the New Jersey Public Policy Research Institute (NJPPRI), the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise
Network (N-TEN) and the National Visionary Leadership Project (NVLP).
Born in Philadelphia and raised in New Jersey, Dr. Pinkett attends First Baptist Church in Somerset,
NJ, where he resides. He is happily married to his wife, Zahara, and they are both proud parents
of their daughter, Amira. Dr. Pinkett firmly believes that “to whom much is given, much is
expected,” so throughout his endeavors he places great emphasis on his desire to give back to
the community.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.randalpinkett.com/
Ephren Taylor City Capital CEO Black Millionaire
Ephren Taylor is a Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author and the CEO of two publicly traded companies, one of which is recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the “Top 100 Socially Conscious Corporations in the United States.” Named by The Michigan Chronicle as one of the top “ten people making a global difference,” at 27 years old Ephren W. Taylor II is currently the youngest African-American CEO of any publicly traded company in United States history. Taylor began his career with his first business venture as a videogame developer at the age of 12 and built a multi-million dollar technology company, GoFerretGo.com by the age of 17.
As a “business accelerator” Taylor oversees millions in assets serving a diverse clientele of blue chip, private and multi-tier branding development interests and is engaged in building investor and shareholder value through profitable and socially-conscious investing that empowers urban communities. Thus far he’s successfully developed multi-million dollar initiatives ranging from creating affordable housing for working-class families to the development and production of bio-fuels. Through his action on green energy and philanthropy, Taylor is leading a new wave of CEO’s focusing on corporate social responsibility. Under Taylor’s direction, nearly every company and initiative he has worked on has experienced accelerated growth.
A nationally recognized authority on personal wealth and entrepreneurial business development, Taylor appears regularly on FOX News, CNBC and has been featured on network shows such as ABC’s 20/20, Montel Williams and many others. He also has regular appearances in print and radio media including PBS, Black Enterprise, and the Miami Herald. Additionally, Taylor’s name has nearly 400,000 results on Google.
Beyond his unprecedented accomplishments at such a young age, Taylor is an author, inspirational speaker, and business mentor.
His 2009 Wall Street Journal best-selling book “Creating Success from the Inside Out” (John Wiley & Sons), serves as an expose of the mindset of today’s multi-millionaires while defining success as not only attaining wealth, but how to utilize it. As a result, he’s become a frequently requested speaker and panelist across the country.
Taylor is currently on a national wealth tour (www.wealthtourlive.com) an international 30 city tour promoting economic empowerment for the church community, youth entrepreneurship, adequate retirement planning, and socially conscious investing to rebuild America’s promise. The tour brings together private investors, educators, nonprofit organizations, religious institutions, and government leaders to create positive change in local communities.
Taylor has achieved a great deal of success and has been called this generations “Warren Buffet and Jack Welch.” However, what motivates Taylor the most is the ability to contribute as a thought leader to ideas for new solutions to problems that have plagued communities for years, decades, and in some cases, centuries.
Russell Simmons Black Millionaires
Cross-Marketing Culture
Hip-hop's master impresario brought marginalized voices to a mass audience -- and cross-marketed a youth cultural movement in music, comedy, fashion, poetry, and social action.
Rap Music
Born to middle-class parents in 1957, Russell Simmons grew up in Queens, New York. He flirted with gang life, but changed his focus after he heard rap music. In the mid-1970s, its arresting, novel sound -- just beats and rhymes -- was emerging from New York's grimmest African American neighborhoods.
Grassroots Start
As a promoter, Simmons started organizing concerts and managing the inner-city artists, but the music industry paid no heed. Its executives considered the 1979 smash, "Rapper's Delight," a one-time novelty. Not until 1983, when Simmons helped form the group Run-DMC, would rapping -- now part of a broader cultural phenomenon called hip-hop -- reach the mainstream.
The Black C.N.N.
Rapper Chuck D would describe hip-hop as black America's C.N.N., a network for news about life in America that was not being reported elsewhere. The members of Run-DMC wanted to "keep it real." Unlike other black performers, who had adopted white manners and fashions to find success, they remained true to themselves in their styles, their diction, and their choice of rhymes. At Simmons' urging, they wrote a paean to their sneakers -- "My Adidas." It brought the German company's executives running, checkbooks open.
A Path to Success
Simmons signed unknowns to Def Jam, the record label he started with producer Rick Rubin. Many of those artists, like Public Enemy, Kurtis Blow, Slick Rick, and LL Cool J, became famous. Hip-hop reached the record-buying masses. White, suburban youth grew fascinated by black urban culture. If white parents started to wonder why their children were "acting black," the answer was simple: Russell Simmons had made it cool.
Follow the Money
Simmons stood at the center of hip-hop's growth, making sure his performers followed the money. He lobbied MTV to air Run-DMC videos, and had the rappers record a song with Aerosmith, a well-known white rock band. He signed a group of white rappers, the Beastie Boys, helping broaden the movement. He welcomed white audiences, defining hip-hop as a youth culture, not a race-based one. When fashion designers co-opted hip-hop styles, he created his own clothing line, Phat Farm; it would grow into a $140 million business. In 1985, he inked a music distribution deal with CBS worth $600,000. Fourteen years later, Universal would buy Def Jam for $120 million.
Branching Out
Simmons took his promotion of African American creative talent to television, producing a cable program, "Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam." It ran for seven years, launching a generation of black comedians including Bernie Mac, Chris Rock, and Martin Lawrence. In 2001, he started "Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam," a similar proving ground for young poets. His next project: social action, through philanthropy and political involvement.
Pervasive Cultural Influence
Russell Simmons took the cultural expression of an impoverished minority and innovated it as a business; by harnessing its economic power, he made it a pervasive element of contemporary life. Dozens of black artists found a national audience, in a movement that not only generated wealth, but also changed America's understanding of itself. As Simmons once said, describing the diversity among African Americans, "the truth is that everybody doesn't look like Bill Cosby, and we need to hear the truth, and see the truth, in order for us to know where we're going, and what our problems are."
Collin Powell Black Millionaire
(1937–)
Military official/diplomat. Born Colin Luther Powell on April 5, 1937, in Harlem, New York. The son of Jamaican immigrants Luther and Maud Powell, Colin was raised in the South Bronx. Powell was educated in the New York City public schools, and graduated from Morris High School in 1954 without any definite plans for where he wanted to go in life. It was at City College of New York, where Powell studied geology, that he found his calling—in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). He soon became commander of his unit. This experience set him on a military career and gave him structure and direction in his life.
After graduation in 1958, Powell was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. While stationed at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, Colin Powell met Alma Vivian Johnson of Birmingham, Alabama, and they married in 1962. The couple now has three children: son Michael, and daughters Linda and Annemarie. That same year, he was one of 16,000 advisers sent to South Vietnam by President John Kennedy. In 1963, Powell was wounded by a punji-stick booby trap while patrolling the Vietnamese-Laotian border. During this first tour of duty, he was awarded a Purple Heart and, a year later, a Bronze Star.
While on his second Vietnam tour of duty from 1968 to 1969, the 31-year-old Army major was given the assignment of investigating the My Lai massacre. In this incident, more than 300 civilians were killed by U.S. Army forces. Colin Powell's report seemed to refute the allegations of wrongdoing and stated, "Relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent." Also during this tour in Vietnam, Powell was injured in a helicopter crash. Despite his injury, he managed to rescue his comrades from the burning helicopter, for which he was awarded the Soldier's Medal. In all, Powell has received 11 military decorations, including the Legion of Merit.
Powell earned an MBA at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., and won a White House fellowship in 1972. He was assigned to the Office of Management and Budget during the Nixon administration and made a lasting impression on Caspar Weinberger and Frank Carlucci. Both men would consult Powell for advice when they served as secretary of defense and national security adviser, respectively, in the Reagan administration.
Colonel Colin Powell served a tour of duty in Korea in 1973 as a battalion commander and after that, he obtained a staff job at the Pentagon. After study at the Army War College, he was promoted to brigadier general and commanded a brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. In the Carter administration, he was an assistant to the deputy secretary of defense and the secretary of energy. Promoted to major general, he again assisted Frank Carlucci at the Department of Defense during the transition from the Carter to the Reagan administration. He then served as senior military aide to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, helping to coordinate the invasion of Granada and the bombing of Libya.
In 1987, Powell became national security adviser, a post he held for the duration of the Reagan administration. While there, he coordinated technical and policy advisers during Reagan's summit meetings with Soviet President Gorbachev and his conferences to topple the pro-Communist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. It was discovered that the administration had arranged for covert and illegal shipments of U.S. weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of hostages. Proceeds from the sale of the weapons would go to support the counter-insurgency movement in Nicaragua, which was aimed at toppling the Sandinistas. Such support had been prohibited by Congress since 1982. Powell was asked to testify before Congress about the incident, but he was not implicated in any wrongdoing.
In 1991, Colin Powell took over the Army Forces Command and was made chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President George H. W. Bush. The post is the highest military position in the Department of Defense, and Powell was the first African-American officer to receive that distinction. General Powell became a national figure during Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations in Iraq. As chief military strategist, he developed what became known as the "Powell Doctrine," an approach to military conflicts that advocates using overwhelming force to maximize success and minimize casualties. He continued as chairman of the Joint Chiefs in the first few months of the Clinton administration. He publicly disagreed with the president on the issue of admitting gays into the military, although he eventually agreed to the "don't ask, don't tell" compromise.
Colin Powell retired from the Army in 1993. In 1994, he joined Senator Sam Nunn and former President Jimmy Carter on a last-minute peacekeeping expedition to Haiti, which resulted in the end of military rule and a peaceful return to elected government in that country. In 1995, he published a best-selling autobiography, My American Journey, which chronicles his life and its influences, the ins and outs of military bureaucracy, and what he learned in his life about personal rules and character. From 1997 to 2000, he was chairman of America's Promise, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering character and competence in young people. Powell and his wife, Alma, now co-chair the organization, which has a presence in more than 500 communities in all 50 states.
In 2000, President George W. Bush appointed Colin Powell secretary of state, and Powell was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. At that time, this was the highest rank in civilian government ever held by an African-American. During his tenure, Powell came under fire for his role in building the case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Initially, Powell had serious misgivings about President Bush's plan to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein. Powell believed the policy of containment was sufficient to control the Iraqi regime. He warned Bush that a military invasion would consume the president's first term and that if an attack were to occur, it should use overwhelming force and have broad international support. This support would be key to the rebuilding of Iraq.
Bush decided to go to war and, in a crucial moment, Powell agreed to support the president. To advance the case for war with the international community, Powell appeared before the U.N. Security Council in February 2003 to present evidence that Iraq had concealed an ongoing weapons development program. Powell's reputation for integrity helped convince many in Congress and the country that Iraq posed an imminent threat.
For the remainder of Bush's first term, Colin Powell tried to establish an international coalition to assist in the rebuilding of Iraq. In September 2004, he testified before Congress that the intelligence sources he used in his February presentation to the United Nations were "wrong" and it was unlikely that Saddam had any stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. Powell advised the committee of the necessity to reform the intelligence community in order to improve its gathering and analysis. In 2004, after acknowledging it was unlikely that Iraq possessed stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, Powell announced his resignation as secretary of state. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was his successor.
Since his retirement, Powell has remained vocal on political topics, openly criticizing the Bush administration on a number of issues. In September 2006, Powell joined moderate Senate Republicans in supporting more rights and better treatment for detainees at the Guantanamo detention facility. In October 2008, Colin Powell made headlines again when he announced his endorsement of Barack Obama for president.
Powell has also spent much of his retirement in the business community. In 2006, he was a speaker at a special series called Get Motivated, along with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Powell also joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, as a "strategic limited partner." Most recently he joined the board of directors at Steve Case's new company, Revolution Health, a health-related portal site and social network that provides online tools to help people better manage their health.
Colin Powell has spent much of his life inspiring many with his leadership skills and life experiences. Along with his wife, Powell began America's Promise Alliance, as part of their dedication to the wellbeing of children and youth of all socioeconomic levels and their commitment to seeing that young people receive the resources necessary to succeed.
Colin Powell began his American journey from ordinary circumstances. His close-knit family provided support and a caring environment during his childhood. He found his calling in the military, and his entire adult life has been in the service of his country. As a soldier, he was committed to protecting the nation and advancing democratic values. While he gravitated toward support roles early in his career, his organizational talent and pragmatic outlook were recognized by those who placed him in key government advisory roles.
© 2009 A&E Television Networks. All Rights Reserved.
Military official/diplomat. Born Colin Luther Powell on April 5, 1937, in Harlem, New York. The son of Jamaican immigrants Luther and Maud Powell, Colin was raised in the South Bronx. Powell was educated in the New York City public schools, and graduated from Morris High School in 1954 without any definite plans for where he wanted to go in life. It was at City College of New York, where Powell studied geology, that he found his calling—in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC). He soon became commander of his unit. This experience set him on a military career and gave him structure and direction in his life.
After graduation in 1958, Powell was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. While stationed at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, Colin Powell met Alma Vivian Johnson of Birmingham, Alabama, and they married in 1962. The couple now has three children: son Michael, and daughters Linda and Annemarie. That same year, he was one of 16,000 advisers sent to South Vietnam by President John Kennedy. In 1963, Powell was wounded by a punji-stick booby trap while patrolling the Vietnamese-Laotian border. During this first tour of duty, he was awarded a Purple Heart and, a year later, a Bronze Star.
While on his second Vietnam tour of duty from 1968 to 1969, the 31-year-old Army major was given the assignment of investigating the My Lai massacre. In this incident, more than 300 civilians were killed by U.S. Army forces. Colin Powell's report seemed to refute the allegations of wrongdoing and stated, "Relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent." Also during this tour in Vietnam, Powell was injured in a helicopter crash. Despite his injury, he managed to rescue his comrades from the burning helicopter, for which he was awarded the Soldier's Medal. In all, Powell has received 11 military decorations, including the Legion of Merit.
Powell earned an MBA at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., and won a White House fellowship in 1972. He was assigned to the Office of Management and Budget during the Nixon administration and made a lasting impression on Caspar Weinberger and Frank Carlucci. Both men would consult Powell for advice when they served as secretary of defense and national security adviser, respectively, in the Reagan administration.
Colonel Colin Powell served a tour of duty in Korea in 1973 as a battalion commander and after that, he obtained a staff job at the Pentagon. After study at the Army War College, he was promoted to brigadier general and commanded a brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. In the Carter administration, he was an assistant to the deputy secretary of defense and the secretary of energy. Promoted to major general, he again assisted Frank Carlucci at the Department of Defense during the transition from the Carter to the Reagan administration. He then served as senior military aide to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, helping to coordinate the invasion of Granada and the bombing of Libya.
In 1987, Powell became national security adviser, a post he held for the duration of the Reagan administration. While there, he coordinated technical and policy advisers during Reagan's summit meetings with Soviet President Gorbachev and his conferences to topple the pro-Communist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. It was discovered that the administration had arranged for covert and illegal shipments of U.S. weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of hostages. Proceeds from the sale of the weapons would go to support the counter-insurgency movement in Nicaragua, which was aimed at toppling the Sandinistas. Such support had been prohibited by Congress since 1982. Powell was asked to testify before Congress about the incident, but he was not implicated in any wrongdoing.
In 1991, Colin Powell took over the Army Forces Command and was made chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by President George H. W. Bush. The post is the highest military position in the Department of Defense, and Powell was the first African-American officer to receive that distinction. General Powell became a national figure during Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations in Iraq. As chief military strategist, he developed what became known as the "Powell Doctrine," an approach to military conflicts that advocates using overwhelming force to maximize success and minimize casualties. He continued as chairman of the Joint Chiefs in the first few months of the Clinton administration. He publicly disagreed with the president on the issue of admitting gays into the military, although he eventually agreed to the "don't ask, don't tell" compromise.
Colin Powell retired from the Army in 1993. In 1994, he joined Senator Sam Nunn and former President Jimmy Carter on a last-minute peacekeeping expedition to Haiti, which resulted in the end of military rule and a peaceful return to elected government in that country. In 1995, he published a best-selling autobiography, My American Journey, which chronicles his life and its influences, the ins and outs of military bureaucracy, and what he learned in his life about personal rules and character. From 1997 to 2000, he was chairman of America's Promise, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering character and competence in young people. Powell and his wife, Alma, now co-chair the organization, which has a presence in more than 500 communities in all 50 states.
In 2000, President George W. Bush appointed Colin Powell secretary of state, and Powell was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. At that time, this was the highest rank in civilian government ever held by an African-American. During his tenure, Powell came under fire for his role in building the case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Initially, Powell had serious misgivings about President Bush's plan to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein. Powell believed the policy of containment was sufficient to control the Iraqi regime. He warned Bush that a military invasion would consume the president's first term and that if an attack were to occur, it should use overwhelming force and have broad international support. This support would be key to the rebuilding of Iraq.
Bush decided to go to war and, in a crucial moment, Powell agreed to support the president. To advance the case for war with the international community, Powell appeared before the U.N. Security Council in February 2003 to present evidence that Iraq had concealed an ongoing weapons development program. Powell's reputation for integrity helped convince many in Congress and the country that Iraq posed an imminent threat.
For the remainder of Bush's first term, Colin Powell tried to establish an international coalition to assist in the rebuilding of Iraq. In September 2004, he testified before Congress that the intelligence sources he used in his February presentation to the United Nations were "wrong" and it was unlikely that Saddam had any stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. Powell advised the committee of the necessity to reform the intelligence community in order to improve its gathering and analysis. In 2004, after acknowledging it was unlikely that Iraq possessed stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, Powell announced his resignation as secretary of state. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was his successor.
Since his retirement, Powell has remained vocal on political topics, openly criticizing the Bush administration on a number of issues. In September 2006, Powell joined moderate Senate Republicans in supporting more rights and better treatment for detainees at the Guantanamo detention facility. In October 2008, Colin Powell made headlines again when he announced his endorsement of Barack Obama for president.
Powell has also spent much of his retirement in the business community. In 2006, he was a speaker at a special series called Get Motivated, along with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Powell also joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, as a "strategic limited partner." Most recently he joined the board of directors at Steve Case's new company, Revolution Health, a health-related portal site and social network that provides online tools to help people better manage their health.
Colin Powell has spent much of his life inspiring many with his leadership skills and life experiences. Along with his wife, Powell began America's Promise Alliance, as part of their dedication to the wellbeing of children and youth of all socioeconomic levels and their commitment to seeing that young people receive the resources necessary to succeed.
Colin Powell began his American journey from ordinary circumstances. His close-knit family provided support and a caring environment during his childhood. He found his calling in the military, and his entire adult life has been in the service of his country. As a soldier, he was committed to protecting the nation and advancing democratic values. While he gravitated toward support roles early in his career, his organizational talent and pragmatic outlook were recognized by those who placed him in key government advisory roles.
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J. Bruce Llewellyn Black Millionaire
J. Bruce Llewellyn, who built the Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Co. into one of the nation’s largest and most prosperous black-owned companies, died yesterday at the age of 82.
Llewellyn was the quintessential entrepreneur, with business interests all over the globe. A man of many accomplishments, he was a lawyer, onetime prosecutor in the New York District Attorney’s Office, and served in the administrations of both Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
He became interested in soft drinks while owner of Fedco Foods Corp., of New York, and saw his chance to get into the field when the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Operation PUSH staged a boycott of Coca-Cola because it had so few black employees and distributors.
Llewellyn teamed up with legendary 76ers star Julius “Dr. J” Erving and Philadelphia entertainer Bill Cosby to buy the local company in 1983.
As chairman and CEO, Llewellyn ramped up revenues to more than $500 million annually and greatly increased the number of minority employees.
He sold the Fedco chain of stores for $20 million and in 1985 bought WKBW-TV, an ABC affiliate in Buffalo, N.Y., and four years later he and other investors purchased South Jersey Cable for more than $400 million.
In 1988, he bought another Coca-Cola bottling company, the one in Wilmington, Del.
Llewellyn was first cousin of former Secretary of State Colin Powell. His sister, Dorothy A. Cropper, was a judge of the New York State Court of Claims.
One of his three daughters, Alexandra Marie Llewellyn, a former television reporter, is married to best-selling author Tom Clancy.
In 1998, Llewellyn and Clancy were prepared to bid on the purchase of the Minnesota Vikings, but Llewellyn became ill and had to undergo heart surgery. He dropped the idea of becoming the first African-American owner of a National Football League team.
Born in Harlem, Llewellyn graduated from City College of New York, and earned graduate degrees from the Columbia Graduate School of Business and the New York University School of Public Administration. He received a law degree from New York Law School.
He served in the Army during World War II and attained the rank of first lieutenant.
He is survived by his wife, Shahara Ahmad-Llewellyn, and two other daughters, Kristen and Lisa.
http://www.blackwebportal.com/nuforums/vm.cfm?Forum=24&Topic=5645
Llewellyn was the quintessential entrepreneur, with business interests all over the globe. A man of many accomplishments, he was a lawyer, onetime prosecutor in the New York District Attorney’s Office, and served in the administrations of both Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
He became interested in soft drinks while owner of Fedco Foods Corp., of New York, and saw his chance to get into the field when the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Operation PUSH staged a boycott of Coca-Cola because it had so few black employees and distributors.
Llewellyn teamed up with legendary 76ers star Julius “Dr. J” Erving and Philadelphia entertainer Bill Cosby to buy the local company in 1983.
As chairman and CEO, Llewellyn ramped up revenues to more than $500 million annually and greatly increased the number of minority employees.
He sold the Fedco chain of stores for $20 million and in 1985 bought WKBW-TV, an ABC affiliate in Buffalo, N.Y., and four years later he and other investors purchased South Jersey Cable for more than $400 million.
In 1988, he bought another Coca-Cola bottling company, the one in Wilmington, Del.
Llewellyn was first cousin of former Secretary of State Colin Powell. His sister, Dorothy A. Cropper, was a judge of the New York State Court of Claims.
One of his three daughters, Alexandra Marie Llewellyn, a former television reporter, is married to best-selling author Tom Clancy.
In 1998, Llewellyn and Clancy were prepared to bid on the purchase of the Minnesota Vikings, but Llewellyn became ill and had to undergo heart surgery. He dropped the idea of becoming the first African-American owner of a National Football League team.
Born in Harlem, Llewellyn graduated from City College of New York, and earned graduate degrees from the Columbia Graduate School of Business and the New York University School of Public Administration. He received a law degree from New York Law School.
He served in the Army during World War II and attained the rank of first lieutenant.
He is survived by his wife, Shahara Ahmad-Llewellyn, and two other daughters, Kristen and Lisa.
http://www.blackwebportal.com/nuforums/vm.cfm?Forum=24&Topic=5645