Black Titan: A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire
Carol Jenkins and Elizabeth Gardner Hines
Demopolis native A. G. Gaston was born in 1892, the son of a cook and grandson of former slaves. He rose up from poverty and, with only a 10th grade education, became a multi-millionaire. Gaston launched his first business venture when he sold meals to his fellow coal miners. From there, he built an empire in Birmingham, which included the Booker T. Washington Insurance Co., Citizens Federal Savings Bank, Smith and Gaston Funeral Home, A.G. Gaston Construction Co., and a media company that owned WENN and WAGG. In 1954, he opened the A.G. Gaston Motel, which gave Black travelers, including civil rights leaders, a place to stay when white-owned hotels refused to accommodate Black patrons. At the time of his death in 1996, Gaston’s fortune had reached more than $130 million, making him one of the richest Black men in the United States. In Black Titan, Gaston’s niece, journalist Carol Jenkins, and her daughter, Elizabeth Gardner Hines, tell the story of this extraordinary Alabama entrepreneur and philanthropist. (One World)