A review by leslielu67
Black Fortunes: The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Escaped Slavery and Became Millionaires by Shomari Wills

3.0

Interesting, and well-narrated. *Edit: the author missed a chance for an ending with a bigger impact. One of the storylines is that of an entreprener who built his empire in Greenwood, the Tulsa "Black Wall Street" neighborhood. The Tulsa Race Riots were given only a gloss-over: the events that lead to the conflict were described, but the true extent of the descruction, loss of life (author notes only 75), and complete annihilation of this community were not mentioned. This seems odd for a book written in 2018. Especially since one of the author's final notes was that the wealth of these millionaires did not last long after their deaths. Certainly these external events may have contributed to at least one family's lack of generational wealth.