The Rogue Professor

  From Enslaved to Millionaire on Sweet Auburn Ave. Alonzo Herndon Abstract Alonzo Herndon was one of the many Entrepreneurs who helped build Auburn Avenue into one of the most prosperous African American Business centers in the United States during the early 1900s. His Business acumen took him from enslavement to Barber to Investor becoming the country's first Black Millionaire by the time of his death in 1927. His adaptability allowed him to continue to prosper despite losing one of his three  barbershops in the 1906 Race Massacre in Atlanta, and thanks to his investment in real estate in the Atlanta Area he was able to rebuild and thrive. He was also the founder of the Atlanta Mutual Life Insurance company which maintained its headquarters in a building he owned on Auburn Ave. Alonzo Herndon, along with other African American Entrainers turned Auburn Ave into the economic center it would be until the Civil Rights era.   For this blog, we will return to the prev...

  African American Barbers and Bankers   Abstract African American entrepreneurship was always a part of the American Business landscape. Even during Antebellum many took advantage of the limited opportunities available. The Postbellum economy created new opportunities for Black Businesses to prosper by attracting and serving particular patronage.   African Americans continued to fight for a better life and carve out an existence after Reconstruction ended. With a long tradition of creative capitalism, African Americans found ways to participate in entrepreneurship for decades before the Civil War. Granted that the participation was minimal, given the restrictions placed on both enslaved and free black people, institutional racism, and legal restriction, they were indeed participants in the antebellum society. [1] In fact, in 1860, there were approximately 1,048 Black Businesses in the lower south; Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Caroli...

Family history means a lot! It’s a source of pride an identity for many people, giving the sense of belonging and continuity. However, that is generally not the case for many African Americans, for reason that seem obvious. Fortunately for me, that’s not a problem, blessed with women who live long lives and a strong sense of family responsibility, we have a long tradition of oral history that goes back to the 1850’s, my mother’s family has long known where we came from. This is the Story of the Holloway family, my mother’s ancestral family, made up of Free and Enslaved African Americans whose legacy includes a Speech Language Pathologist and Academic Dean/History Professor and a 2023 Graduate of Georgia State University and 2023 graduate of Arizona State University. We are the descendants of enslaved persons owned by a man named Silas Holloway who moved from Virginia to South Carolina in 1787. It is unknow it the enslaved persons were purchased in South Carolina or forced to migrate ...

  Christian Republicanism and the Declaration of Independence  The ideals behind the American Republic have long been associated with the enlightenment. However, this tends to ignore the strong link the to ideas of the Protestant Reformation which contributed much to the discourse of the American Revolution. In fact, many of the founders used Scripture as guide for direction and inspiration. For most Americans of the time the Bible was the cornerstone of their understanding, and the founders would have grown up listening to elders read and relate stories of the from the bible and would have looked to the bible for guidance. [1] For them the very idea of Republicanism was linked to their understanding of Christianity, and this can be seen in the Declaration of Independence, which has become the foundation of the ideals for the American Republic. In the Declaration, Jefferson writes, and the founders approved, several references to God; The “Creator,” “Natures’ God,” and “Supr...