From Mukasa to Olijade, business networking event at Absalom Jones Center brought out area’s best and brightest

(ATLANTA – May 19, 2023) – I first fell in love with Atlanta in August of 1983. I was a freshman at Morehouse, and unlike most out-of-town students, I did not live on campus. So, I had a much different experience than the kids in the dorm. I lived 2.2 miles from the campus in Southwest Atlanta. I have since come to know it as the ‘SWAT’. I rented a room from Cleta Winslow. She was the greatest landlord this student could ever ask for. She has a heart of gold still to this day. She looked out for us kids trying to make it and we will always pay homage to her. That would include a best friend and Morehouse student Leo Hyman and my first cousin, Carlos Forde. Being away from home, it is important to have a place called home.

With that backdrop, one might gather that there is a lot of love in Atlanta.

And Wednesday night was no different.

Dr. Catherine Meeks, Executive Director of the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing, gave us room in their chapel to host Black Wall Street ATLANTA 2023. We haven’t been there in about 5 years and it was long overdue for this media outlet.

It has always been a critical component for BMORENews.com to host events in the community. And this goes way beyond Baltimore. It goes to Brooklyn, Syracuse, and Lewiston, New York. It goes to Canada through the Niagara River where enslaved Africans escaped to Canada with the help of people like Harriet Tubman and William Still, the Godfather of the Underground Railroad. And it extends to Florida and Texas and California.

Black Wall Street ATLANTA featured heroes who were born there and those who emigrated there. All of them love Atlanta and it shows in their work. We have international icons, like Mukasa. Don’t forget Morocco Coleman, a Viet Nam legend. We had the Honorable “Able” Mable Thomas, a political giant. We had M. Alexis Scott of the Atlanta Daily World. We were blessed with two Baltimore transplants, the incomparable songstress Paula Campbell and a new kid on the block, Olijade. Both sang for us and we were delighted.

We had so much fun that we’re already discussing a Black Wall Street ceremony featuring the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards for September. We celebrate Black entrepreneurs and professionals as well as the people who support them regardless of race. To date, we have honored over 2,500 individuals in 9 US cities since 2011.