Black History Facts

Frederick Douglas Patterson

C.R. Patterson & Sons is a family business owned by Frederick Douglas Patterson, he is the first African-American car manufacturer. His company started as a carriage building firm, and produced luxury roadsters and later, bodies for service vehicles.

Laurie Cumbo

A Democrat, she served in the New York City Council for the 35th district from 2014 to 2021, which includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Prospect Heights, portions of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Vinegar Hill. She is the founder and first executive director of the Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Arts.

Arlan Hamilton

 Arlan Hamilton is an investor and the founder and managing partner of Backstage Capital. Backstage Capital, is a fund that invests in "underestimated founders". Underestimated founders for the fund are defined as women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community. To date, Backstage Capital has raised more than $15 million and has invested in more than 150 startups.

Rachel Rodgers is Nzinga Knight’s business coach. She is an author of numerous best-selling books, a self-made millionaire, and the founder of Hello Seven, a company dedicated to helping historically excluded people make more money. Rodgers shares how she went from growing up low-income to glowing up as a self-made millionaire and how you can do it too.