Building Atlanta: How I Broke Through Segregation to Launch a Business Empire
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.51 (708 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1613746946 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 304 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-11-08 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
"Anything is possible" according to J Russell. Inspiring real life story of overcoming obstacles and how self preservation prevails in America! This book also shows how everyday relationship encounters can be life changing.. "Atlanta is blessed to have Mr. Russell and so is the nation" according to Sinclair. My daughter, who lives in the same neighborhood where some of the Russell family lives, had told me how much The Russell's had contributed to Atlanta, but I had no idea what an outstanding family this was until I read this book. This book is well written, and I warn you that you will not want to put it down on. Tedd Alexander said A Great Read!. A true entrepreneurial legend and success headquartered in Atlanta but positively impacting lives and communities nationally, Herman Russell Sr. recounts his life in exquisite and vivid detail. A great story for anyone wanting to better understand how Atlanta became "the city to busy to hate."
Not just a typical rags-to-riches story, Russell achieved his success through focus, planning, and humility, and he shares his winning advice throughout. As a millionaire builder before the civil rights movement took hold and a friend of Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy, and Andrew Young, he quietly helped finance the civil rights crusade, putting up bond for protestors and providing the funds that kept King’s dream alive. Over the next fifty years, he continued to build businesses, amassing one of the nation’s most profitable minority-owned conglomerates.In Building Atlanta, Russell shares his inspiring life story and reveals how he overcame racism, poverty, and a debilitating speech impediment to become one of the most successful African American entrepreneurs, Atlanta civic leaders, and unsung heroes of the civil rights movement. Russell built a shoeshine business when he was twelve years old—and used the profits to buy a vacant lot where he built a duplex while he was still a teen. Born into a blue-collar family in
Born the last of eight children in a poor Georgia family, he rose to be a major builder and developer in Atlanta and a civic leader who helped elect Andrew Young, the first black congressman from the South since Reconstruction, and Maynard Jackson, the first black mayor of Atlanta. During the civil rights era, Russell worked behind the scenes with influential black clergy and businessmen, helped finance the black-owned newspaper, and provided bail money for those arrested for civil disobedience. From Bookl