eBook - ePub
Prince of Darkness
The Untold Story of Jeremiah Hamilton, Wall Street's First Black Millionaire
- 370 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Prince of Darkness
The Untold Story of Jeremiah Hamilton, Wall Street's First Black Millionaire
About this book
"A well-told, stereotype-busting tale about a nineteenth century black financier who dared to be larger than life, and got away with it!" āElizabeth Dowling Taylor,
New York Timesābestselling author
In the middle decades of the nineteenth century Jeremiah G. Hamilton was a well-known figure on Wall Street. Cornelius Vanderbilt, America's first tycoon, came to respect, grudgingly, his one-time opponent. Their rivalry even made it into Vanderbilt's obituary.
What Vanderbilt's obituary failed to mention, perhaps as contemporaries already knew it well, was that Hamilton was African American. Hamilton, although his origins were lowly, possibly slave, was reportedly the richest black man in the United States, possessing a fortune of $2 million, or in excess of two hundred and $50 million in today's currency.
In Prince of Darkness, a groundbreaking and vivid account, eminent historian Shane White reveals the larger than life story of a man who defied every convention of his time. He wheeled and dealed in the lily-white business world, he married a white woman, he bought a mansion in rural New Jersey, he owned railroad stock on trains he was not legally allowed to ride, and generally set his white contemporaries teeth on edge when he wasn't just plain outsmarting them.
An important contribution to American history, Hamilton's life offers a way into considering, from the unusual perspective of a black man, subjects that are usually seen as being quintessentially white, totally segregated from the African American past.
"If this Hamilton were around today, he might have his own reality TV show or be a candidate for presidentĀ .Ā .Ā . An interesting look at old New York, race relations, and high finance." ā New York Post
In the middle decades of the nineteenth century Jeremiah G. Hamilton was a well-known figure on Wall Street. Cornelius Vanderbilt, America's first tycoon, came to respect, grudgingly, his one-time opponent. Their rivalry even made it into Vanderbilt's obituary.
What Vanderbilt's obituary failed to mention, perhaps as contemporaries already knew it well, was that Hamilton was African American. Hamilton, although his origins were lowly, possibly slave, was reportedly the richest black man in the United States, possessing a fortune of $2 million, or in excess of two hundred and $50 million in today's currency.
In Prince of Darkness, a groundbreaking and vivid account, eminent historian Shane White reveals the larger than life story of a man who defied every convention of his time. He wheeled and dealed in the lily-white business world, he married a white woman, he bought a mansion in rural New Jersey, he owned railroad stock on trains he was not legally allowed to ride, and generally set his white contemporaries teeth on edge when he wasn't just plain outsmarting them.
An important contribution to American history, Hamilton's life offers a way into considering, from the unusual perspective of a black man, subjects that are usually seen as being quintessentially white, totally segregated from the African American past.
"If this Hamilton were around today, he might have his own reality TV show or be a candidate for presidentĀ .Ā .Ā . An interesting look at old New York, race relations, and high finance." ā New York Post
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Yes, you can access Prince of Darkness by Shane White in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Business Biographies. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- Introduction: Invisible Man
- 1: Haiti, 1828
- 2: Moving to New York
- 3: The Great Fire, 1835
- 4: Business
- 5: Jim Crow New York
- 6: Real Estate
- 7: Bankruptcy
- 8: Starting Over
- 9: The Trial
- 10: Wall Street
- 11: Living with Jim Crow
- 12: Making Money
- 13: To the Draft Riots
- Epilogue: A Lion in Winter
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
- About the Author
- Newsletter Signup
- Contents
- Copyright Page