Earl G. Graves Sr.

Earl Gilbert Graves Sr. created the blueprint for Black economic empowerment when he founded Black Enterprise magazine in 1970. For five decades, the publication has been the authoritative voice on Black business, wealth building, and corporate America — educating, inspiring, and holding accountable. His annual BE 100s list of the largest Black-owned businesses became the definitive scorecard for Black economic progress.

Born in Brooklyn in 1935, Graves grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood and attended Morgan State University on a track scholarship. After college, he served as an administrative assistant to Senator Robert F. Kennedy, an experience that sharpened his political and business instincts. After Kennedy's assassination in 1968, Graves channeled his grief into entrepreneurship.

Graves launched Black Enterprise with seed money from a small business loan and sheer determination. The magazine filled a void — providing practical business advice, investment guidance, and career development resources to a Black professional class that mainstream business media ignored. Graves also became a successful business executive himself, as chairman and CEO of the Pepsi-Cola franchise in Washington, D.C. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022, two years after his passing.