Jun 4, 2020
On this episode of the Resistance Library Podcast, Dan and Sam
discuss the great American entrepreneur, Samuel B. Fuller, a man
who paved the way for many entrepreneurially minded black Americans
in the early 1900s. June 4th marks Fuller’s birthday.
In the days before President Lyndon Baines Johnson, black
Republicans were a thing. And chief among them was Samuel B.
Fuller. Fuller was a black American entrepreneur in the mid-Century
United States. More than just an entrepreneur, he also gave back to
the black community by providing both inspirational speeches as
well as nuts-and-bolts training at a time when entrepreneurially
minded black Americans had precious few options for either. Some
entrepreneurs trained or inspired by Fuller include John H. Johnson
of Johnson Publishing and George Ellis Johnson of Johnson
Products.
To say that Fuller came from
“humble
beginnings” is a bit of an understatement. He was born into a
family of Louisiana sharecroppers who were so poor that he had to
drop out of school to work in the sixth grade. But he also
displayed an entrepreneurial spirit from a very young age. The
young Master Fuller was going door-to-door selling products at the
age of nine.
When he was 15, his family moved to Nashville. It was here that his
mother passed away two years later, leaving Fuller in charge of his
six siblings. Relief organizations came by to offer assistance, but
Fuller turned them down because he didn’t want his neighbors to
think his family couldn’t make it without handouts. It was then
that he and his siblings made the decision that they were going to
make it on their own without any external help.
The road to success was not an easy one for Fuller. He relocated to
Chicago where he took a series of backbreaking, menial jobs, before
rising up to become the manager of a coal yard. During the
Depression, he was working as an insurance agent at the
Commonwealth Burial Association, a black-owned firm. Despite having
a secure position at that company, he decided to strike out on his
own and build his own business.
Have a listen to learn more about S.B. Fuller’s inspiring life. You
can also read Sam’s full article
“S.B.
Fuller: The Forgotten History of a Legendary Black American
Entrepreneur” in Ammo.com’s Resistance Library.
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