Earl g graves jr

Earl G. Graves, Sr., is a pioneer of African-American entrepreneurship in the United States: His Black Enterprise magazine started as a newsletter and rose to become a media behemoth not only among African Americans, but among all businesspeople.

  • 1935

    Born (USA)

  • 1968

    Launches business and entrepreneurship newsletter aimed at African Americans

  • 1970

    Launched Black Enterprise magazine.

  • 1997

    Published How to Succeed in Business without Being White: Straight Talk on Making it in America

  • 2007

    Inducted into the Global Business Hall of Fame

Earl was born in 1935 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, USA. The son of a homemaker and a garment-industry worker, Earl attended school in Brooklyn and went on to attend the historically Black college Morgan State University. Possessing an entrepreneurial mindset from a young age, Earl sold boxed Christmas cards for his uncle as a teenager and worked several jobs during his university years, including stints as a security guard, grass cutter, and flower salesman for l

Earl G. Graves Sr. was the founder and publisher of Black Enterprise magazine and a nationally recognized authority on black business development. Born January 9, 1935, Graves was raised in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of New York, where he learned hard work and perseverance from his parents, Earl Godwin and Winifred Sealy Graves. His mother led many community activities, and his father was the assistant manager of the Overland Garment Company, an apparel firm in New York City.

A graduate of Morgan State University, Graves earned a B.A. in economics in 1958. While attending college he joined Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and was in the ROTC. After college Graves served two years in the U.S. Army where he became a captain in the Green Beret unit. He then had a three year stint as Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s administrative assistant. After Kennedy’s assassination Graves entered the business arena, where he was to realize unprecedented success. 

In search of a new venture, Graves joined the advisory board of the Small Business Administration. His experience on the boa

In Memoriam: Trustee Emeritus Earl G. Graves Sr.

Dear Howard University Community,

It is with a saddened heart that I write to inform you that Trustee Emeritus Earl G. Graves Sr., founder, CEO and publisher of Black Enterprise, has died. 

The business pioneer and incomparable entrepreneur inspired four generations of African Americans to build wealth through entrepreneurship, career advancement and money management. In 1970, he launched Black Enterprise to chronicle the rise of African American entrepreneurs and provide the tools for African Americans to succeed in the business mainstream and “achieve their measure of the American dream.”

Trustee Graves wrote the classic business bestselling book, “How to Succeed in Business Without Being White,” in which he stated, “The time was ripe for a magazine devoted to economic development in the African American community. My goal was to show them how to thrive professionally, economically and as proactive, empowered citizens.”

Trustee Graves made this mission his life’s work, becoming a trailblazing entrepreneur in his

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