Black Wall Street was thumpin and jumpin back in the 1900’s; before it was all torn down. Black people were huge investors, planners, forecasters and breadwinners. One of the most influential Black business men during that era was a man named Charles Clinton Spaulding. He ran the biggest and richest Black owned companies during the twentieth century.
Located on Parrish St. in Durham NC was the Pinnacle of black business. Carl Webb, of Provident 1898, is a keeper of valuable memories. He reflects on the legacy of Mechanics and Farmers Bank; which was started in 1908 by John Merrick.
Ten years prior, Merrick founded North Carolina Mutual Insurance; which flourished under the leadership of C.C. Spaulding and blossomed into what ads claimed was the largest insurance company in the world serving African Americans.
It’s common that most people are familiar with the Black Wall Street in Oklahoma; which eventually led to the Tulsa Massacre. However, this vivacious and thriving area in Durham was unfortunately destryoed as well; along with other businesses and communities due to the creation of Highway 147; along with numerous other factors. While this did not completely eradicate black enterprise in Durham; NC Mutual and M&F are still thriving;nonetheless it did physically destroy a significant part of the black neighborhood and in turn, an important part of history.
There’s a new wave that’s been coming through, and if you haven’t already caught on, it’s time you do now. According to Bloomberg, “The Covid-19 pandemic will exact a $16 trillion toll on the U.S., which is four times the cost of the Great Recession, according to former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and fellow Harvard University economist David Cutler”. With the uncertainty in the US economy, a shaky election and unemployment as high as it’s ever been should certainly be a wake up call to enhance financial literacy and stability.
13 year old Christian “Truth” Jones discovered a gold mine in the stock market as a day trader trading options, which are contracts at 100 shares. There are calls, and puts, which means you can either buy or sell by a certain expiration date. It’s a very volatile market, however there’s risk involved. But with proper knowledge and risk analysis, one can make a years salary within months, weeks, days and even minutes trading options.
The young businessman, born in Fort Knox, Kentucky and was inspired around the age of 7, by another 14 year old Black boy who lives in Chicago who had made $50,000 at the time. He asked his mom to teach him, but she didn’t have a clue, nor did she really take him serious. Christian eventually opened up a brokerage account, and went back to his mom again. She decided to spend over $25,000 in a virtual course to learn how to trade stocks and options so that she could regurgitate the information to her zealous baby boy.
Well, not long after, here you have it. A young entrepreneur ‘getting his own bag’ at the age of 13. Not only is he getting his bag, but he’s teaching other adults around the world how to cash in on this global market.
“Some say that I explain it more easily than most adults do. I will say this: day trading is one of the most simple and efficient ways for somebody to make money from anywhere in the world”, he told Rolling Out magazine.
As most of us scratch July 4th off of our future calendars, we set our sights on Juneteenth instead. Juneteenth is the real freedom act, but was it? Although slavery was technically abolished on June 19, 1865, a lot of the slaves were’t even notified of their freedom. One theory for this delay is that the messenger sent to deliver the news to the slaves got murdered. Another is that the slave owners wanted more free labor out of the slaves, so they just didn’t tell them.
A group of former slaves who worked as laborers and servants with the 13th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War, circa 1862| Corbis via Getty Images
However, as of Thursday morning, change.org petitioned to make Juneteenth a national holiday; obtaining more than 300 signatures. And then, Gov. Tony Evers announced Wednesday that the Juneteenth flag will be raised over the Wisconsin State Capitol; beginning at sunrise on Friday, June 19; in celebration of Freedom Day. Undoubtedly, natives of the state are welcome to view the flag at the east entrance of the State Capitol; and are encouraged to practice social distancing while wearing face masks.
Finally A National Holiday
Juneteenth is a ( now) national holiday to commemorate the freedom of slaves under the terms of 1862 Emancipation Proclamation. Newly freed black people celebrated the first ‘freedom day’ in 1866 to commemorate liberation- with food, singing, and the reading of spirituals. Some of the food eaten would be soul food cuisine, bar bq meats, and red beverages/desserts. The red represents the blood that was shed by our ancestors for the fight for equality.
When the holiday was first celebrated in Texas; with the big state being the most remote of the slave states. The name of the observance, ‘Juneteenth’ is a combination of June and the nineteenth; hence the name and the day we celebrate.
Finally, after a worldwide protest to end police brutality, companies like Nike, Target and even Spotify; are now recognizing the honorable day as a national holiday giving their employees the day off to observe.
Target Corp. is closing it’s Minneapolis headquarters Friday and offered time and a half for hourly employees.
Juneteenth Flag will be raised over the Wisconsin State Capitol Beginning at sunrise on Friday, June 19.
Juneteenth Is Becoming More Recognized
Otherwise known as ‘Freedom Day’ currently is formally observed in 47 states and the District of Columbia; with Wisconsin joining. Thus, Juneteenth is now a nationally recognized holiday that commemorates the day that slaves were free, which wasn’t until the late 1800’s. as the 32nd state to recognize this day in 2009.
The colors of the Freedom flag are red, white and blue — to represent the American heritage, to acknowledge that the slaves were Americans. And the star in the middle pays homage to Texas, while the bursting “new star” on the “horizon” of the red and blue fields represents new freedom and new people.
Regardless, this year in particular; Juneteenth is aggressively celebrated as we fight for freedom and equality like never before. A global Black Lives Matter movement has taken the world by storm, and so this holiday; we relish in our history, we’re thankful to our ancestors; and look forward to bearing many Juneteenth celebrations and traditions in the years to come.
Quaker Oats is shutting down the 130 year old Aunt Jemima brand and logo, acknowledging it’s efforts have been based on a racial stereotype. The face of Aunt Jemima initially was former slave, Nancy Green. Her image portrayed a slave serving a white family (1889).
However, over time Auntie regained some momentum and removed that cotton field head thread and now sports a bright, Colgate smile with a polished, tight roller wrap.
“As we work to make progress toward racial equality through several initiatives, we also must take a hard look at our portfolio of brands and ensure they reflect our values and meet our consumers’ expectations”, said the Pepsi-owned company in a statement presented by CNN Business.
Back in the 1800’s, an executive of Pearl Milling Co. happened to hear a catchy tune (sung by slaves) called “Aunt Jemima”, being mocked by a blackface performer who was wearing an apron and bandana headband at the time. He named the company’s pancake mix after the song before selling the formula a year later to another milling company, which searched for a black woman to employ as the face of the product.
Black History on Aunt Jemima
Nancy Green was among the initial African Americans to promote a corporate brand when she became the first black plus sized model to portray Aunt Jemima.
Her first of many performances was with Wilmington College, when they co-hosted with a plethora of community groups, “Nancy Greeen in :Being Aunt Jemima, The Pancake Queen,” Feb 27 at 7 pm at the Murphy Theatre. The event is part of WC’s Black History Month observance.
Born in Kentucky, she was 56 years old when she became the face of Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix. Green, kind, hearty and jolly, won the hearts of everyone who came in contact with her, making her gig a hit. She promoted the pancakes at expositions by demonstrating the ease of preparing the self-rising batter and actually served thousands of pancakes.
The “Pancake Queen” was signed to a lifetime contract, as she travelled the world promoting her pancake batter until she died in a tragic car accident in 1923.
Two years later, Quaker Oats bought out the company and hired other models.
As Aunt Jemima’s logo evolves, so does their values. And that’s always a good thing. Growth looks good on you Quaker Oats, keep up the self development.
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