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Meet the pioneering Black millionaires who brought opportunity to Wall Street

Often hidden in plain sight, these three entrepreneurs paved the way for diversity in finance.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — As Black History Month comes to a close, a Greensboro financial expert vows to honor the trailblazers who pioneered job and wealth opportunities for communities long disadvantaged by prejudice.

Money literacy author and Debt Sucks University founder Ja'Net Adams credits her personal financial achievements, including paying off $50,000 of debt in two years, to the premises established by pivotal Black Americans in finance.

ANNIE MALONE

Adams acknowledged in the world of finance, most businessmen and businesswomen are familiar with Madame C.J. Walker, the groundbreaking beautify entrepreneur of the 1880s. Less-well-known is her boss, Annie Malone, who founded Poro College Company to prioritize and monetize Black hair care.

"Annie Malone was a millionaire before Walker came to work for her at Malone's hair product company. Annie Malone used her wealth to create jobs for 75,000 Black and brown women in America, Central and South America, in turn increasing their wealth. She helped close the wealth and gender pay gap in multiple countries," Adams said.

Credit: Smithsonian

ROBERT REED CHURCH, JR.

Like Malone, Robert Reed Church, Jr. used his success to right a wrong, making banking more equitable. The TN State Archives highlight his historic achievement in 1916, when he founded and funded the Lincoln League in Memphis. 

"Robert Reed Church, Jr. was a successful businessman who owned a hotel, an auditorium and a park, but what is most impressive about him is that he built the first Black-owned bank in Memphis, TN. He used the power of that bank to fight racism. He loaned money to African Americans, so they could buy land, homes and even start businesses. He saw a problem and provided a solution," Adams emphasized.

MARY ELLEN PLEASANT

One of the wealthiest Black Americans of her time was abolitionist Mary Ellen Pleasant. Even after she earned her wealth, records detail how she continued to work as a housekeeper so she could network and get intel from powerful people. Adams credits her resourcefulness.

"She grew her wealth to $30 million, which in today's dollar would be $864 million. She owned hotels, laundromats, land, gold, boarding houses and more. But, what she was best known for was helping African Americans with her wealth by being a major leader of the Underground Railroad. She would use her money to get enslaved Black people to San Francisco and then set them up with a place to stay and jobs that paid money," Adams explained.

She acknowledged all three of these pioneers are true American heroes...for us all.

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