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"If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."
As Shirley Chisholm, my beloved Soror of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. said, 🐘❤️
When they wouldn't let William "Bill" Powell play golf ⛳ at the local golf club, he BUILT his own!! ✊🏼
William Powell was a Black businessman, entrepreneur, and pioneering golf course owner who designed the Clearview Golf Club, the first integrated golf course, as well as the first to cater to African-American golfers.
He was also the first African American to design, construct and own a professional golf course in the United States. Powell was fond of saying "The only color that matters is the color of the greens."
Powell was the grandson of Alabama slaves and was born on November 22, 1916 in Greenville, Alabama. During his youth, Powell moved with his family to Minerva, Ohio. In high school there, he played golf and football. Later, at the state's historically Black college Wilberforce University, he played on the golf team.
After serving in the US Army in World War II in England, he returned to the Canton, Ohio in 1946. He began work first as a janitor and later as a security guard.
Due to racial segregation, he was banned from all-white public golf courses and was rejected for a bank loan to try to build his own.
With financing from two African-American doctors and a loan from his brother, Powell bought a 78-acre dairy farm in East Canton, Ohio, and with his wife, Marcella, did most of the landscaping by hand.
Two years later, in 1948, he opened the Clearview Golf Club. In 1978, he expanded the course to 18 holes and earned a national-historic-site designation in 2001.
As of the 2000s, Clearview was the only course in the United States designed, constructed, owned and operated by an African American.
Powell died in Canton, Ohio, on New Year's Eve, 2009, following complications from a stroke.
Thank you for your courage, your inspiration, your vision and your legacy!! 🙏🏼❤️ Rest in Power, King! 👑 ✊🏼
