Herman J Russell
Who is Herman J Russell?
Herman Jerome. Russell, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who turned a small plastering firm into one of the most successful African-American-owned real estate development and construction companies in America. Herman Russell was born in Atlanta on December 23, 1930. Russell, the youngest of eight children.
Did Herman Face any Challenges?
Well of course he did. This man was opening a business during the Jim crow era. For those who may not know Jim Crow is not an actual person but were racial segregation state and local laws enacted after the Reconstruction period in Southern United States that continued in force until 1965 in all public facilities in Southern U.S. states. For example HJ worked as a plasterer while earning a degree in building construction from the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama (later Tuskegee University). He and his brother, Rogers Russell, worked together as sub-contractors, becoming too successful for the local sheriff, who HJ would say years later, "ran us out of town for taking so much business from the locals
What was some of the success for the company?
In 1994 Russell's construction businesses were reorganized under H. J. Russell and Company. During this time, the company reported annual sales estimated at $150 million, with project offices in several cities from Miami, to New York City. By the early twenty-first century, the Atlanta-based H. J. Russell and Company was a nationally recognized leader in the construction and real estate development industry, as well as the single largest Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) real estate firm in the United States.
Do you think Mr. Russell accomplished a lot?
Why yes of course I do! In 1946, Russell was just