Barden, Don Hamilton
1943-2011 · Contribution: 1981-2009
First African American to own and operate a major urban cable television system, building Barden Cablevision into a Detroit-area system serving 120,000 subscribers before selling it to Comcast for over $100 million; became the first African American to wholly own casino operations in Las Vegas
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Quick facts
- Category
- Business & Misc.
Impact on the world
Barden broke into two industries, urban cable and Las Vegas gaming, that had almost entirely excluded Black ownership, deliberately wiring the working-class and Black neighborhoods larger operators ignored and proving those markets profitable.
Sources
- BlackPast.org
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