The First Pay Off -- Background

Later that same year, 1985, I was offered and accepted an engineering position with Charlotte's then largest and most influential employer -- the mighty Duke Power Company who at the time practically owned the Queen City. I actually was not very excited about this job because I really really wanted to work for IBM which was more closely related to my degree -- Electronics Engineering. But I guess they were not really hiring future great employees at the time; there lost! I remember being shown around town by one of the Duke Power guys but for some reason he avoided the west, southwest, and northwest sides of town. Hmmmmmmmm, I wonder why? Could it have been because those were and still are the Black sides of town? Inquiring minds want to know! It would be a while before I realized that more Blacks lived in Charlotte than the ones on my job.

I remember Hosie -- my former engineering mentor -- literally drawing me a map of how to get to Beatties Ford Road (The Black side) from North Sharon-Amity Road which was mostly white back then. He took me on the scenic route via Harris Boulevard -- which was the country back then -- and I ended up on North Beatties Ford Road coming in off Cindy Lane. My destination was to Edwards Barber Shop which still appears (According to the internet) to be located in the strip mall down from what used to be the U.S. Post Office which is now owned by Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. I had some great times being a fly on the wall at this establishment listening and learning about my new city. I also had some great times with my hair at the time! Little did I know at the time that that same road would be the source of much success and unfortunate failures in the years to come.

I spent the first five years in Charlotte enjoying my success as an engineer, U.S. Army Reserve Drill Instructor, sports enthusiast, and wanna be playa playa. It was really on when I purchased my first new automobile in 1987; it was a brand new, fresh off the lot, still in the plastic, new car smellin Nissan 200SX Black (My favorite color) sports coupe with flip up headlights, grey clothe seats, a boomin sound system, 5-speed stick, and a sun/moon roof. I still remember my salesman; his name was Jim Walthall or something like that. It was really really on when I finally learned how to drive a stick; my then roommate taught me in the back parking lot of the old Independence Arena now Bojangles Arena off East Independence Boulevard. I lived at the time right next door in the now infamous Doral Apartments well known today for flooding.

This new meat wagon was my ticket to winning the game of skirt chasing which consisted of yours truly hunting down and catching as many cuties as possible in the shortest period of time and spending as little as possible on the hunt. Hey, I was single and free to mingle! One of my favorite hunting grounds was the now historic (To the brothas and sistas in the know) club rightfully named as Another World which was located exactly where the Tropical Lounge is currently off of Beatties Ford Road near Interstate 85. The door man was a character by the name of Mr. T (Not the A Team Star) and those of you that know or knew him know that he was indeed animated. For example, he would greet every guest that entered his club with a warm salutation while holding a wad of cash; when I say wad, I mean so much cash that he had to struggle to keep it balled up in his severely expanded fist. Another World was just one cut above a juke joint a.k.a. liquor house or after hours club. In fact, it was the second club that I crashed here after the old K&Q (Kings and Queens) in Uptown off South Brevard and 4th Streets. Young playas today would perhaps call it a second or last chance club if you know what I mean. No matter what day of the week, this club was jumpin. It had the best buffet in town that featured real food like chicken wings, potato salad, meat balls, etc...One last salute to the historic Another World and Mr. T!

The Research

Well, with my motivation still high and my energy and excitement acting as the wind beneath my sail, I set out to research the market further to see if anyone else was planning a distributed Black business directory. Lo and behold I came across a similar publication called Mahogany that was published by Ms. Mattie B. Marshall Circa early 1989. It contained 74 pages of business listings and display ads and was available at seven locations throughout Charlotte, NC. While this publication was somewhat similar to what I had in mind, it did not come close to scratching the surface of what I considered a viable distribution area consisting of many more locations as well as via the postal service. I therefore continued to search the Charlotte market for others planning a widely distributed Black business directory.

Word spread in the local Black business community of my intentions and that is when I received a call from a Mr. Theautry -- a.k.a. TX -- Green. Like me, he was a transplant here; me from Miami, FL, and himself from Chicago, IL. We quickly set up a meeting to pick each other’s brain and to feel one another out as to who was farther along in the process of starting this new business venture. We met some time in the middle of September 1989 for dinner at the now defunct Damon's Ribs located in the at the time new shopping plaza at the corner of The Plaza and Eastway Drive. Ironically, this restaurant was one of my projects as a Distribution Engineer for Duke Power Company.

The meeting went well and to my surprise TX pulled out several publications of what they called Black Pages from major U.S. cities like Chicago, IL, Atlanta, GA, and St. Louis, MO, and Dallas, TX. He gave me the impression that he was well on his way to publishing here in Charlotte especially since he had worked for the publisher of the Black Pages for St. Louis, Chicago, and Dallas. His name was Mr. Arnette French; I will get to him later. Well, I thought to myself, it had to be a great idea because someone else was going to make it happen. Unfortunately, TX did not give me any indication that he was willing to allow me to assist him even though I shared with him the positive feedback that I received from my earlier survey. So I went away partially exited but also disappointed that I was not going to be able to make my dream come true.

I went back to my office then located just down the street near the railroad tracks off Eastway Drive. The building is now used as a wrecker service that displays a truck filled with Christmas lights during the holiday season. Back then it was known as the Newell station for Duke Power Company. I discussed my meeting with TX with my then engineering mentor Mr. Hosie Caldwell, Jr. After listening very carefully to my recap of the meeting, he brought something to my attention that I surely missed. He asked me if TX had shown me any proof of his claims of being well on the road to publishing, e.g. signed contracts. Hosie also stated that that may have been part of his strategy to intimidate me into quitting giving him a free reign on the market. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I thought he may be right; so I once again became excited about my project and continued to work on bringing it to market.

The Inception

It was in September of 1989 when I finally decided to follow up on a question posed to my engineering co-workers at Duke Power Company in Charlotte, NC. That question was, "Where are all of the Black-owned businesses in Charlotte." One by one I queried the Blacks working there to include Hosie Caldwell and Mary Kay -- both engineers. Mr. Caldwell was not a Charlotte native but had lived here since the 1970’s; Ms. Kay was indeed a Charlotte native. I myself had only been living in Charlotte for just shy of five years at that time and remember being directed by Hosie to the northwest side of town off Beatties Ford Road to get a haircut at Edward's Barbershop. I was quite surprised when my list topped over 50 confirmed local Black-owned businesses which included some now very prominent African-American entrepreneurs such as Dr. Paula Newsome (Optometrist) of Apogee Vision Care, Harold Greene of the Greene Insurance Agency, Mr. Calvin E. Murphy (Attorney), Eugene and Yvonne Pettis of Pettis Realty and Von's Home Video, and Dr. Michael L. Stout (DDS), to name a few.

Some of these folks were nice enough to refer other businesses to my questionnaire/feasibility study that next year in 1990. Although I cannot recall the exact favorable response rate of my mailed survey, I can tell you that it was high enough to pursue the possibility of a circulated Black business directory for the city of Charlotte, NC. That means it was time to put up or shut up. I was so passionate about exposing these businesses to newcomers that I decided to take this opportunity to the next phase which was to research what it would take to bring my idea to market. At the time I had absolutely no business experience except riding along with my grandmother Meddie P. Bannister (May she rest in peace) as she went to the farmer's market in downtown Miami to purchase items to sell from home. I did not know back then but she has been my inspiration to true freedom by becoming self-employed.