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The Power of Black Entrepreneurship

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The Power of Black Entrepreneurship


John Arthur Butt turned his passion for landscaping into a successful business.

When I think of the power of Black business ownership, I think of the first entrepreneur I met in life: one of my grandfathers, John Arthur “AB” Butts. 

Born to the late William and Courtney Butts on Nov. 28, 1943, my grandfather was a hard working man from Norfolk, Va. – a man’s man, with a big heart. Our paths first began to intertwine when he and his wife, a teacher, snatched one of her 14-year-old science students out of the Virginia foster care system. Together, they stood in the gap and created a family for not only the young lady who would later become my mother, but all of her children as well. 

As a father to three and grandfather to many, my “grandaddy” was the definition of grit and determination. And he never missed a beat. He made no excuses– even when the going got tough.


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