There r alot of black biker gangs then I thought yrs ago
The East Bay Dragons, the first black bikers’ club, Oakland, California, 1960s
He'll theres one even here in AZ
Essential The Official African American Thread#2
- Thread starter Rhapscallion Démone
- Start date
He'll theres one even here in AZ
King & Duck
Banned
I knew that this thread would be filled with article after article on AA being slaves.. And y'all wonder why y'all self-esteem is so low? Lmao
Hey retards (and trolls) black history did not start with slavery
AA need to talking about ownership and control..
Where are the black business owners? Doctors, lawyers, bankers?
How is it in 2017, blacks still don't control the things they consume like hair/beauty, food, hip hop?
Where is the facebook equivalent for blacks?
Hey retards (and trolls) black history did not start with slavery
AA need to talking about ownership and control..
Where are the black business owners? Doctors, lawyers, bankers?
How is it in 2017, blacks still don't control the things they consume like hair/beauty, food, hip hop?
Where is the facebook equivalent for blacks?
World’s first African American piano maker
Meticulously placed artifacts grace the walls of Warren Shadd’s Maryland home in the suburbs of Washington, DC.
On one wall hang photographs of his family — his grandmother, his father, and his mother — all playing musical instruments. Another wall displays a retro article from The Washington Daily News about him as a 13-year-old professional drummer.
Of all the remembrances particularly significant to him is a certificate from the Piano Technicians Guild awarded on May 1, 1967 to his father, James H. Shadd, a registered piano technician and professional pianist.
Shadd is a third generation musician, second generation piano technician and first generation piano manufacturer, as well as the first African American piano manufacturer in the world. It is what he was destined to do, he explains: “I am the chosen one,” he said, without a hint of sarcasm. “Not only am I the first African American piano manufacturer, but remarkably enough, we don’t make any other musical instruments in abundance. So, I humbly say that makes me the first and only large-scale musical instrument manufacturer.”
His company, SHADD Pianos, USA, is headquartered in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC and his manufacturing facility is located in the Bronx, New York, however, at his home, he showcases seven of his exquisite pianos, including the acoustic concert grand piano that was played on American Idol last season and one that Grammy Award-winning gospel singer/pianist Richard Smallwood used for his latest CD, Anthology. Smallwood, who once accompanied opera legend Leontyne Price at a White House Christmas celebration, had nothing but praise for Shadd’s pianos.
“First of all, for a pianist, it feels and sounds like every piano you’ve ever wanted to play,” he said, “[it’s] your dream piano in terms of the highs, the lows, the mids, the harmonics. It’s just an incredible piece of work.
“Not only does it have a wonderful sound, but it’s beautiful, just a gorgeous piece of furniture. I would play it every day!”
Technically, Shadd has received a great deal of recognition and accolades for the sound, touch, feel, and quality of his pianos. Aesthetically, they are beautiful with the SHADD brand name highly visible on the side of the pianos. Yes, his last name does appear in large gold block letters, but unapologetically, he says it’s more of a symbol - paying homage to those who nurtured him to be the accomplished achiever he is today.
“I have so much respect for my family name,” he said. “It has a lot to do with the blood, sweat and tears of my father and all of the family - my mother, sister, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, mentors…all the people that were immensely engaged in music that influenced me.”
Producing world-class instruments was not always Shadd’s dream. Starting as a young child and throughout his tenure at Howard University, he performed as a drummer with famous jazz icons such as Nancy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmy Smith, Joe Williams, Lionel Hampton, and his aunt, Shirley Horn. During his Howard years, he got a record deal as a solo artist (producing his original Funk/Pop music, singing and playing most of the instruments) and further fine tuning his capabilities as a piano technician/rebuilder - a skill he learned from his father beginning in his early teens.
Having the ultimate high proficiency skill in ‘music chart-reading,’ Shadd also played drums for numerous big band jazz orchestras, recording sessions, and Broadway shows including the hit musical “Ain’t Misbehavin’” starring actress/entertainer, Nell Carter along with the original cast.
After the death of his father in 1992, Shadd took over his father’s business, Shadd’s Piano Hospital Service. Shadd’s father had been the exclusive piano technician for the Howard Theatre, Shadd said. So, he would go with his father to the theater while he tuned pianos for great artists such as James Brown, Count Basie, Sammy Davis, Jr., Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, Motown, Pearl Bailey, and Peggy Lee.
One day, Shadd was tuning a piano when his client gave him the idea for manufacturing pianos. Old Mr. Tucker started crying and without any hesitation he pointed his finger right where the logo was on his old piano exclaiming, ‘that right there should say ‘Shadd’ because you’re the only one.’
“I had written down some ideas about how to enhance the volume and the sound of acoustic pianos. So, I dusted-off these drawings and notes that I wrote four or five years previously, and started really tinkering around with the piano sound.”
That was the inception of SHADD Pianos, USA, he said. Now, twelve years later, the company has embarked on a historical achievement with a SHADD acoustic concert grand piano being built exclusively for the Vatican, he said. “The Vatican seemed untouchable, unattainable, yet it has become a reality for SHADD” he says.”
Aside from having a piano inside the Vatican, Shadd, whose pianos have been played by jazz pianists Monty Alexander, Harry Connick, Jr., Patrice Rushen, Cyrus Chestnut, Chip Crawford, Ellis Marsalis, Kenny Barron, Antonio Ciacca, Wayne Linsey, Orrin Evans, and Geri Allen in addition to a host of other famous musicians, also would like to build a piano for President Barack Obama. With a creative brain that never shuts off, Shadd has also developed a Hybrid Interactive Piano (H.I.P.), equipped with speakers on the front and underneath the piano, a bench with surround sound speakers, a powerful concealed computer, several touchscreen monitors and video cams that allow for online interactive teaching and learning, MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface - to create synthesizer keyboard sounds), and many other innovative features. This technology was created for performance, recording, education (distance learning), and to change lives.
“We tested a full year with autistic, deaf, and blind children,” Shadd said. After a year of strict punctilious tests, Shadd and Dr. Phillip Pearl (Chief of Neurology at Harvard Medical and Boston Children’s Hospital along with a dream team of decorated researchers, music therapists, and medical scientists), wrote a medically detailed dissertation based upon Shadd’s groundbreaking Assistive technology which included his patented computerized, musical, interactive, therapeutic, and audio innovations which encourages social interaction, uplifts spirits, ascends skill sets, brings out embedded talents, instills confidence, improves mental and physical capabilities, produces vibrations for the deaf to identify pitches, and introduces visual colors for the blind. This breakthrough information was published in the highly regarded Music and Medicine Journal, July 2013.
Ree Rinn, a partially deaf pianist and teacher, expressed excitement when she was introduced to Shadd’s H.I.P. Numerous ear infections from childhood left Rinn unable to detect high register sounds, and even though she received a bachelor’s degree in music, Rinn said she was never able to hear the last 10 notes on a piano until she heard Shadd’s hybrid interactive piano that delivered deliberate high frequencies that were unexpected by her.
“I suddenly found myself nearly in tears when I realized I could hear piano notes I had never heard before,” she said. “This was astonishing to me and an immensely moving experience.”
Along with SHADD’s interactive piano model, there is also a keyboard version. As a humanitarian effort, Shadd plans to distribute the keyboard version around the world to children in impoverished communities and developing countries, empowering them with the opportunity to interact with other children and teachers to learn firsthand about new cultures, computer technology, international business, languages, tolerance, music, and more.
“I believe it is important to share this innovative technology to introduce a whole new world of social, musical, educational, technological, and medical interaction as a beacon of goodwill.”
10-Year Old Black CEO Gets Distribution for Her Popular Invention in Once Upon a Child Stores Across the Country
Nationwide — Elementary entrepreneur Gabrielle Goodwin is now selling her hair accessory invention GaBBY Bows in 50 Once Upon a Child stores in 16 states across the US. With the help of her mom Rozalynn, the 10 year-old CEO solved the age-old problem of disappearing girls’ hair barrettes by inventing The Double-Face Double-Snap Barrette by GaBBY.
Gabrielle was just five years old when she started daily insisting she and her Mom create a barrette that would stay in her hair. They started the company when Gabrielle was seven years old. In just three years of operations, GaBBY Bows have saved families time, money and frustration in all 50 states and eight countries through online sales at www.gabbybows.com.
A straight-A student, Gabrielle is the self-proclaimed President and CEO, handling inventory, serving as the lead saleswoman at trade shows, speaking to community groups and schools, personally writing thank you cards to customers who order online, and helping with sales taxes. She also hosts GaBBY Play Dates to teach girls in children’s shelters about entrepreneurship.
In 2015, Gabrielle was named the youngest ever South Carolina Young Entrepreneur of the Year. The following year, she and her mom were named a 2016 SCORE and Sam’s Club American Small Business Champion, and awarded as the 2016 SCORE Foundation Outstanding Diverse Business of the Year. A children’s book about Gabrielle and GaBBY Bows, “Gabby Invents the Perfect Hair Bow” will be published by Entrepreneur Kid this summer.
“It feels really good to walk in a store and see your own product on the shelves! I am grateful to have a LOT of supporters and be expanding.” says Gabrielle Goodwin.
You can support Gabrielle by locating the Once Upon a Child store near you at www.gabbybows.com.
How this Ohio janitor built himself a multimillion-dollar oil empire
Steve Hightower's first job was working nights and weekends for his parents' cleaning business.
While he was in college, it made sense to continue.
"I started as a janitor. I started cleaning floors and toilets and doing those things that most people would never even dream of doing," says Hightower, who appeared on CNBC's "Blue Collar Millionaires." But, he says, "I wanted more."
When he graduated from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, in 1978, he started his own small construction company.
As he tried to grow his business, Hightower struggled to get access to credit. At the same time, he learned about a program to sell gas in Ohio. That gave him ideas.
Hightower has always had big dreams, and he has never doubted his capability.
"When people ask me would I ever have imagined I would be where I am today? Absolutely," Hightower tells CNBC.
"Because if you don't think that you can be great, you'll never be great. And I knew that I was gonna be great a long, long time ago."
Steve Hightower's first job was working nights and weekends as a janitor.
Hungry for growth and frustrated with the barriers he was encountering in construction, Hightower pivoted: He developed an oil and transport business in 1981.
At first, growth was slow there too. In 1984, he had just one employee, an accountant, and Hightower Petroleum brought in its first $100.
"I remember when our first one hundred dollar bill came in," says Hightower. "I just remember our excitement."
Today, his wholesale diesel and gasoline company, Hightowers Petroleum, has 85 employees and sells 140 million gallons of oil per year. It buys oil products from refiners and delivers it to corporate customers such as FedEx and GM all over the country. It did $350 million in 2015 and hopes to hit half a billion in 2017.
The former janitor now drives a Jaguar and lives in a 11,000-square-foot mansion decorated with modern art. He also owns a stake in FC Cincinnati, a professional soccer club. He says he didn't grow up watching soccer, but, because he sees the potential to make money by being an investor, "now, I am a soccer fan."
Despite his success, Hightower says he still has aggressive growth goals.
"I still haven't made it. I'm still a very humble individual who's trying to do the best that they can and actually one day actually make it," says Hightower. "Because I understand what real money is. And the money that I'm playing with, some people use for, you know, exercise."
He says he will also always stay true to the words of wisdom his dad shared.
"The best piece of advice that I ever got was from my father," says Hightower: "'As long as you're honest, and as long as you don't try to beat anyone, and you do the right thing, then you have the ability to be successful.' And that I think is the best advice that I've had and that I can give to anybody else."
@King & Duck all you had to do was scroll up a few posts but no worries I quoted them for you. There are other articles in here just like the ones I quoted since you seem interested in the subjects of black business owners
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
I don't know what you're talking about but I didn't notice that amongst 30+pages
new world black history starts with slavery
did you actually read the thread?
Like I said saying there needs to be a cultural civil war among us AAs where we kill off[not LITERALLY] these useless entertainers and install our culture back to our science/engineering innovations, political ingenious and smart businesses similar to how we were during the reconstruction era. This thread gives me hope because there are STILL blacks in America doing this but they are not mainstream...
There needs to be another "Harlem Renaissance" but instead with the arts, science and business.
There needs to be another "Harlem Renaissance" but instead with the arts, science and business.
Jean Jacket
NOPE
Join NSBE. If you haven't already.
Wow... Never knew about this. Anyways, the partial reason why I am saying this is because I been doing research about early AA science innovation, politics and business and we were ahead of the game back then.
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
David Steward
Founder of World Wide Technology goes from humble beginnings to billion-dollar businessman
Founder of World Wide Technology goes from humble beginnings to billion-dollar businessman
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
R. Donahue Peebles
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
Not only that but he married a white women and...
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
not gonna deny him from the tribe just for that...we can play that game with a number of great people
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
garvey, dubois, frederick all knew the deal on him
Martin Delany
Martin Delany
IllmaticDelta
Veteran
William Hooper Councill:The Greatest Negro the Race Ever Produced