Despite the struggles that African-Americans faced from the
enslavement period to modern times, they have continued to make
significant contributions in every aspect of American life. They
took the little they had and went a very long way as successful
men and women. Black entrepreneurs opened businesses all over
the country prior to and after slavery. In 1789, free blacks in
Philadelphia ran shops throughout the city and by 1820 they
owned about $250,000 worth of property. James Forten was a
Philadelphia entrepreneur, and during the Revolutionary War he
made his fortune as a sail maker. In 1897, the Coleman
Manufacturing Co. was established in Concord, N.C., by seven
black men. The cotton mill had a work force of about 250 people.
It shipped goods all over the United States and to parts of
Africa and several cities in England. Lewis Temple, who lived
from 1800 to 1854, invented the whaling harpoon that became
known as “Temple’s Toggle.” It became the standard harpoon of
the whaling industry. Temple made a go