Black Fortunes: The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires

Shomari Wills shares the stories of six Black millionaires who made their fortunes prior to the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. One woman put her Gold Rush money behind abolitionist causes. Another built and empire in Harlem with money from her lover. Savvy and inventive, a Mississippi schoolteacher developed land in Tulsa, OK that eventually came to be known as "Black Wall Street." With straightforward storytelling, Wills shares the triumphs and the trials of America's first Black millionaires, offering a glimpse at unforgettable, but overlooked, titans.