Graves, Earl Gilbert Sr.
1935-2020 · Contribution: 1970-2020
Founded Black Enterprise magazine in 1970, building it into the definitive national publication chronicling Black entrepreneurship, wealth-building, and corporate advancement over five decades

Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Quick facts
- Category
- Business & Misc.
Impact on the world
Graves gave Black entrepreneurship a national voice, a data-driven scoreboard, and a media platform, legitimizing and measuring Black wealth-building at a scale no one had before.
Sources
- BlackPast.org
1 more sources and references are available to members.
More in Business & Misc.
Ajao, Adeyemi
1981–Present
Co-founded Base10 Partners, the first Black-led venture capital firm to manage over $1 billion in assets
Allen, Byron
1961-present
Built Allen Media Group from a single bartered celebrity-interview show into a multibillion-dollar media empire spanning broadcast television stations, cable networks, The Weather Channel, and a controlling stake in BuzzFeed, making him one of the wealthiest Black media owners in American history
Allen, Eliza
c. 1840–1910
Only woman listed on the founding charter of the first chartered African American-owned bank in the United States
Awotona, Tope
1981-
Founded Calendly, a widely used scheduling software platform