Black Construction. It’s Legacy and Future.

Legacy

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Harry C. Alford - One of the richest legacies of African descendants is construction.  From the pyramids of Egypt to the building of America, Blacks have been involved in this industry that will survive the times.  We will always build.  Even when we demolish existing structures it is because we are about to build something new to replace it.  Yes, construction has a certain future.  It is a producer of many jobs and can provide not only a living for the laborers in the business but wealth for entrepreneurs to be handed down generation by generation.

African slaves were brought to this continent in the early 1500’s to build New York (New Amsterdam at the time), Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC and the entire Southeastern territories.  The craftsmanship that was learned through this action gave freed slaves an advantage as we slowly approached the Industrial Revolution.  America relied on the crafts learned by Blacks during slavery and passed along to offspring from generation to generation.  Even “Chicken George’s” son in the Roots documentary owned a lumber yard to sell supplies to the local black craftsmen who were the builders of the community.

As I grew up in Ventura County, CA, it was marvelous to admire the parents of my friends.  The Gaston’s, from east Texas, were masters at drywall.  The Drayton’s, from Louisiana, could lay masonry like no one else.  The Gordon’s, from Georgia, were expert hod carriers.  No one could build a spiral staircase like Frank Williams, from Louisiana.  He was so good that the wealthy would fly him to Australia, Japan, etc. to build spiral staircases for custom designed mansions.  He spent most of his local time doing it for homes in Hollywood and Beverly Hills.  He raised 18 children from the profits of his craft.  There were many more transplanted craftsmen in my Southern California home and they were barely literate and uneducated but they mastered their crafts. READ ENTIRE ARTICLE CLICK HERE