On Her Road To Massive Wealth, She Never Forgot Her Roots
Black History Year
PushBlack
4.6 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 6 November 2024
⏱️ 3 minutes
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Summary
She was an orphan, a servant, and a mother. But she also had her ears to the business world, and soon went from a fly on the wall to one of the richest Black women in HISTORY. How did she do it?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | She was an orphan, a servant, and a mother. |
| 0:04.3 | But she also had her ears to the business world, |
| 0:07.3 | and soon went from a fly on the wall to one of the richest black women in history. |
| 0:14.3 | How did she do it? |
| 0:16.6 | This is two-minute black history, what you didn't learn in school. |
| 0:41.3 | Orphoned in 1823 at age six. Elizabeth Gloucester was taken care of by a Philadelphia preacher alongside his 10 other children. She worked as a domestic servant, but she also observed the ends and |
| 0:47.5 | out of financial affairs. Eventually, Gloucester moved to New York and had eight children of her own. |
| 0:56.0 | And to provide for her growing family, she used her financial knowledge to open two successful |
| 1:02.5 | secondhand stores and a furniture store. |
| 1:06.2 | That was the first lesson. |
| 1:08.1 | Never turned down a lucrative business opportunity. With this success, she opened |
| 1:13.3 | a boarding house and eventually ran 15 of them. Never forgetting her roots, she used her growing |
| 1:19.7 | wealth to host anti-slavery organizations. She fundraised for a Black Children's Orphanage. She also donated to famed radical abolitionist John Brown, hosted Frederick Douglass, and supported |
| 1:35.3 | Freed Men's Associations. |
| 1:37.3 | Her crowning achievement was purchasing and running Remsen Boarding House, which housed wealthy clients who didn't always |
| 1:46.9 | appreciate being hosted by a black woman. She dismissed the discrimination. They still had to pay her. |
| 1:55.1 | Although excessive wealth isn't the end gold, Gloucester was worth the equivalent of millions at her death. |
| 2:04.0 | And by ignoring what racist had to say about her, Gloucester took their money and was able to support |
| 2:10.1 | anti-slavery and feminist causes. We can all learn a lesson or two from that. In order to move towards the future, you've got to look to the past. |
| 2:20.9 | This has been Two-Minute Black History, a podcast by Push Black. |
| 2:25.6 | Show your support by sharing this episode on your social media |
| 2:28.9 | and join us in Amplify Stories We All Des deserve to know. |
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