Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Not many people alive in Atlanta today can look back and say they were involved with Dr. King, but Herman can do that. He's been an important person in the history of this city." --Arthur Blank, cofounder, the Home Depot; owner, Atlanta Falcons
"Herman has been one of the pillars of the Atlanta community for many years, as a businessperson but also as a caring, concerned citizen. He's made a lasting contribution, not just to Atlanta but to the nation." --John Lewis, U.S. representative, Georgia fifth congressional district
"I think that Herman Russell had as much to do with the rise of Atlanta as Ted Turner. Ted did a tremendous job in taking Atlanta all over the world via CNN and Herman did the same with his building empire." --Hank Aaron, Hall-of-Fame baseball player
"Mr. Russell is a towering figure in the city of Atlanta, and I can't think of Atlanta without him. His name in telephone's address book is simply 'Great Man.'" --Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed
"Herman Russell is one of that group of African Americans in Atlanta, Horatio Alger types, who are proof of the American Dream." --Jane Fonda
"Here's a man who, from his humble start working in his father's plastering business, has gone on to reshape the urban landscape of many of America's greatest cities." --Earl Graves, founder and publisher of Black Enterprise
Table of ContentsContents
Introduction by Former US Ambassador Andrew Young
Prologue
PART I: Growing, Working, and Learning
1. Life, One Word at a Time
2. High School Hero
3. Tuskegee Institute: An Educated Class
PART II: H. J. Russell & Company: Atlanta’s Do-It-All Contractor
4. Black Entrepreneurship Takes Hold, Part 1
5. Otelia Hackney: A Black Woman Emerges
PART III: Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement
6. Swimming at the Deep End of Social Change
7. Black Entrepreneurship Takes Hold, Part 2
8. My Big Greek Brother (From Another Mother)
9. Desegregating the Good Ol’ Boys
10. A Leg Up and Over: Joint Ventures
PART IV: It’s a Living
11. Before Takeoff and Landing, Visit Us at Concessions International
12. The Beer Years
13. The H. J. Russell Institute of Good Common Sense
14. Mixing Business and Politics
PART V: Family First
15. The Wonders of Otelia
16. Born Leaders
17. . . . And Hello to Sylvia
PART VI: Sixty Years Later
18. All the Rest of My Days
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Authors
