By Ebony Chappel

It’s a Hoosier state achievement worth revisiting: America’s first self-made female millionaire, a minority woman, rose to unparalleled business success right here in Indiana.

Sarah Breedlove Walker (1867-1919), who rose to fame as Madame C.J. Walker, made her fortune in classic entrepreneurial style by identifying and fulfilling an untapped market, a need for African-American beauty and hair care products.

She recruited a small army of sales agents, organized them into clubs, and established a mail order business. She emphasized political engagement and philanthropy, not just for herself, but for her sales staff.

Her Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company became an impressive and inspiring landmark, not unlike the famed Madame Walker Building of Indianapolis, which still presides over Indiana Avenue today.

Walker, whose parents had been enslaved on a Louisiana plantation, was the first generation in her American-American family to be born into freedom following the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.

The arc of her life encompassed poverty, illiteracy, and a lack of opportunity, to wealth, education, and providing mighty opportunities for others. This is why, undoubtedly, the story of her life and business success will continue to be told and retold: although she was born on a plantation, she lived and worked in freedom, here in Indiana.

Below is a quick look at other key individuals and advancements, both in the state and the nation, which have led to diversity and equality in the business world and other arenas.

1787– Congress establishes the land which includes present-day Indiana under the Northwest Ordinance, which states, “that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory.”

1816- Indiana adapts its first constitution. It restricts the right to vote only to those white, male citizens over the age of 21 who had resided in Indiana for one year.

1816-1830 – Abraham Lincoln grows from a child to a man of 21 in what is now Spencer County, Ind. Born to parents who opposed slavery, Lincoln saw his father lose his wealth due to faulty land titles. He became a lawyer, and later the 16th president of the United States.

1850– Edward Ralph May, a Democrat, cast the only vote at the Indiana Constitutional Convention in favor of granting the vote to African-American men. It was defeated, 122-1.

1861– President Lincoln signed the Confiscation Act, which authorized judicial proceedings to confiscate and free slaves who were being used to support the Confederate military.

1863– As the Civil War continues to rage, Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves in ten states at war with the north. It freed three million of an estimated four million people held in slavery.

1917– Indiana grants women presidential suffrage, and in 1920, Indiana ratified the 19th Amendment. However, Hoosier women could not vote at the state level until a special state election was held September 1921.

1935– An intrepid, smiling woman with close-cropped hair joins the staff of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Amelia Mary Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross for her achievement. She helped form the Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots, and at Purdue, helped inspire women to be fearless in their choice of careers. She was a member of the National Women’s Party and supported the Equal Rights Amendment. Earhart and her Lockheed Model 10 Electra flew into history in 1937, when she disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean during an attempt to fly around the world.

1964 – Civil Rights Act

The comprehensive legislation sought to end discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. Title II and Title IV of the law prohibit segregation or discrimination in places involved in interstate commerce. Title VII also banned discrimination by trade unions, schools, or employers.

1965 – Voting Rights Act and Executive Order 11246

In August of 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. The act, which was amended by Congress five times to extend its reach, sought to protect the vote of all United States citizens. The law outlawed literacy tests and other tactics used to suppress potential voters. In the same year, Johnson signed Executive Order 11246 which “prohibits federal contractors and federally assisted construction contractors and subcontractors, who do over $10,000 in government business in one year from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”

1968 – Fair Housing Act

Intended as a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fair Housing Act, which was also signed by President Johnson, sought to address the discrimination many Americans experienced in the sale, rental and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin and sex.

1979 – The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce was established.

1984 – US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation (USPAACC) was founded. The nonprofit’s aim is to advocate for equal opportunities for Asian American (includes East, South and Southeast Asian and Pacific Islanders) businesses, professionals, and business organizations in both the corporate and government procurement market.

1987 – Intertribal Agriculture Council is founded. The council’s mission is to provide a unified effort to promote change in Indian Agriculture for the benefit of Indian People.

1988 – Congress passes the Civil Rights Restoration Act. The act expanded the reach of non-discrimination laws for private institutions that receive federal funds.

 1991 – President Bush signs the Civil Rights Act of 1991. The law introduced the option to seek damages for emotional distress and provided the right to a jury trial on claims of discrimination. The act aimed to deter instances of unlawful harassment.

1994– Employment Non-Discrimination Act (EDNA) was first introduced to the Senate. The legislation prohibited hiring and employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Since its founding, EDNA would be introduced in every Congress with the exception of the 109th body. EDNA finally passed the Senate on November 7, 2013 with bipartisan support. The final vote was 64-32.

1982-1985 – Katie Hall serves in the 1st District as a U.S. Representative, the first African-American woman elected to Congress from Indiana

 1997-2007– Julia May Carson, a Democrat, becomes the first woman and African-American to represent the 7th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

 2003 – The Supreme Court rules (5-4) that race can be used as a factor in considering university admission. This decision upheld University of Michigan’s Law School policy on affirmative action.

2009– President Barack Obama is sworn into office as the nation’s 44th president, the first African-American to serve in the United States’ highest office. A former civil rights attorney, Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms in the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

Obama gathered wide attention by delivering the 2004 keynote address to the Democratic National Convention, in a speech honoring diversity. “I stand here today, grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents’ dreams live on in my two precious daughters. I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all who came before me, and that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.”

By Leslie L Fuller

“Almost every day we are reminded how difficult it is building consensus to solve problems in our large and diverse country. The framers of the Constitution envisioned Congress where the great variety of voices and opinions in America would get full airing as new laws are considered. When Congress is functioning as it should, it is a contentious place, where competing proposals are energetically debated.”– Lee Hamilton, director, Center on Congress

The dangers of a world at war, the sufferings of a nation tearing itself apart with racial and ethnic strife.

For decades, these have been the preoccupations of the elder statesman from Indiana, the Honorable Lee Herbert Hamilton.

Hamilton, who served Indiana’s 9^th Congressional District for 34 years, specifically the period from January 1965 to January 1999, is one of just two surviving members of ‘the Democratic class of 1965’ a group of freshmen legislators. (The other is John Conyers.)

Hamilton, who today is the Director of the Center on Congress, based on the I.U. Bloomington campus, has explained that in the arena of civil rights, it’s impossible to separate the political from the personal. He points to his own school years, growing up in segregated Southern Indiana.

Before he was a Indiana congressman fighting for the passage of civil rights legislation, he was a basketball star at an all-white school.

“I grew up in Evansville, I grew up in a segregated city,” reflected Hamilton, who celebrates his 84^th birthday on April 20.

“We had no Blacks. I played basketball. I’m afraid I didn’t think very much about it. I just thought that was the way the world was. It’s not to my credit, I’m sure. But I was in high school, and of course, national affairs are not uppermost in your mind.”

Hamilton led the Evansville Central Bears in the IHSAA tournament. In 1946, the Bears made the State Semi-finals, in 1947, they made the State Quarter-finals; as a senior, he led them to the championship game. An All-State star as a senior, Hamilton received the Trestor Award for mental attitude.

However, it wasn’t until joining the DePauw Tigers college basketball team that he had an African-American teammate, said Hamilton, who graduated from DePauw University in 1952 and was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982.

After graduating from the IU School of Law in Bloomington in 1956, he worked as a lawyer in private practice for the next 10 years in Columbus.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the companion acts which followed, should be considered “landmark legislation” among the most important historical events in American history, Hamilton said.

“I look upon it as a huge milestone in the history of the country, and the state. It’s a turning point, one of the revolutions that have occurred,” said Hamilton.

“They (civil rights acts) formed a base, they formed a platform from which the country began to wrestle much more seriously with the problem of inequality,” said Hamilton. “This was a hugely important time in American history.”

“The country had gone through, and was gone through a great bit of agony, anxiety over civil rights. It was tearing the country apart in many ways.”

During this important period in American history, “I was representing the 9^th Congressional district, in southern Indiana, with many rural voters, very few urban voters.”

“There was clearly opposition, there were people who didn’t like it,” said Hamilton. “I used to spend a lot of time shaking hands with people, and I would frequently be met with the comment, ‘oh, you support that civil rights legislation’ obviously, in a negative tone of voice.”

“The African American population was very limited in that part of the state, few in Jeffersonville and Albany, and it was a very tough (political) sale,” said Hamilton. “There was a great deal of reluctance to support the Civil Rights Movement in the area.

“I recognized that there were political risks. On the other hands, there were a lot of people that supported it. The racial aspect of the (civil rights legislation) was clear, was apparent.”

The outcome of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the other civil rights legislative acts which followed “has been terrific” Hamilton said.

He points to increased opportunities for African-Americans, Hispanics and other minority groups in the business, political, sports and entertainment worlds.

“Yes, we’re still struggling. But it’s given me a great deal of pleasure to see members of that community come into positions of leadership, in all kinds of fields.”

Civil Rights legislation has even changed the nation’s calendar, Hamilton remarked, pointing out the establishment of Dr. Martin Luther King Day, a federal holiday celebrated the third Monday in January.

“Today, you can’t find anyone against Martin Luther King, he’s a national hero. But back then, there was opposition. Incidentally, I would say to you that Dr. Martin Luther Ling is the only American with a national holiday named after him,” said Hamilton.

Although President Ronald Reagan signed the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday into law in 1983, it was observed three years later, and met with some resistance in certain states. However, by 2000, it was observed in all 50 states.

The civil rights legislation, with workplace and other protections, as well as the passage of the Martin Luther King holiday, represents real national progress, said Hamilton.

“I remember its impact on the African-American community, they were encouraged by it, deeply encouraged,” said Hamilton. “In the African-American community, there was enormous focus on these bills and deep interest. It gave them confidence, a pathway into the future which I think was critically important.”

A Look at Indiana’s Lee H. Hamilton:

Hamilton is director of The Center on Congress at Indiana University in Bloomington.  He served as chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, chaired the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, the Joint Economic Committee, and the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress.  As a member of the House Standards of Official Conduct Committee, Hamilton was a primary draftsman of several House ethics reforms.

Mr. Hamilton served on the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States.  He was appointed to the National War Powers Commission, and served as co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, a forward-looking, bi-partisan assessment of the situation in Iraq, created at the urging of Congress.  Hamilton served as vice-chair of the 9/11 Commission and co-chaired the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, established to monitor implementation of the Commission’s recommendations.  He was co-chair of the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future and also served as a member of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, the U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century (the Hart-Rudman Commission), and the FBI Director’s Advisory Board.

He was viewed as a potential Democratic vice-presidential running mate in 1984, 1988, and 1992, due to his foreign policy credentials and Indiana’s potential to turn into a blue state due to economic concerns.

He is currently a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, the CIA External Advisory Board, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Task Force on Preventing the Entry of Weapons of Mass Effect on American Soil.  He serves as co-chair of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future with General Brent Scowcroft; with Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, he is co-chair of the National Advisory Committee to the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools.

Mr. Hamilton is the author of How Congress Works and Why You Should Care; Strengthening Congress; A Creative Tension – The Foreign Policy Roles of the President and Congress; and co-author of Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission and The Iraq Study Group Report.

In 2005, Hamilton received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards. He is widowed.

Bill Mays’ daughter speaks candidly about her father, discusses growth of multi-million dollar chemical company

By Sydney Wilson

You’ve been involved with Mays Chemical Co. since 1995.  What are some of those early lessons you learned from your dad that continue to resonate with you today?
He demanded excellence. He always said, “You need to have a minimum standard of excellence. Work towards and go beyond that.” In addition to striving for excellence, he stressed the importance of being assertive. He always wanted my sister and me to be polite, but also assertive. There was no whining to Bill Mays. No turning on the girl voice.

Bill Mays was the consummate businessman and philanthropist. What lesson do you want people to learn based on your father’s life?
My dad helped so many people and really invested his time, talent and treasure. If there is one lesson I hope people take from his life, it is the importance of giving back. I encourage other entrepreneurs and business leaders to invest in the development of others so we can make Indiana a better place – socially and economically.

Explain ways your father encouraged his employees to invest in the community. Why is doing so essential to the fabric of this state?
He required giving back. I always thought it was special how he required all senior managers to serve on boards in the community. He urged everyone to give to the United Way. If you didn’t give to the United Way on some level, you had to go in and explain to him why you did not choose to give. He was really an advocate for making sure the city thrived.
It’s important to not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk. Part of that walk is ensuring your employees demonstrate the core values of the company in everything they do. At Mays Chemical, it’s always been part of our moral fabric to give back in a variety of ways. From a self-fulfilling perspective we benefit, but more importantly, the community benefits.

You’ve served as president of Mays Chemical Co. for the past couple of years and the company continues to thrive internationally.  What are your plans to continue on this trajectory?
Since its inception nearly 35 years ago, Mays Chemical has committed itself to operating with integrity, exceptional expertise and the highest degree of excellence. Moving forward, we will continue to operate under those core values that have helped catapult Mays Chemical into the internationally-ranked leader it is today. Some short-term goals are to increase sales and expand business by penetrating industries which we haven’t tapped. We will also continue to look for great talent in the industry and remain committed to continuous training that only helps to further execute our goals.

You are an African-American woman leading a multi-million dollar company in an industry dominated by men. How do you deal with the pressure?
Both my parents instilled in my sister and me sheer determination to not only succeed, but to do so confidently and in a way that transcends racial and gender bias. All I have done and will continue to do is perform at the highest level possible. When you do that, even if the outcome isn’t always what you hoped for, you still win.  I just try my absolute best. It’s a message I instill in my employees and my children. I can’t allow myself to worry about being a minority racially or gender-wise because that can oftentimes be a heavy load to bear. Instead, I focus all my energy on performing at the highest level possible.

William “Bill” Mays, an entrepreneur, philanthropist and community servant who had an engaging, charismatic personality coupled with bold professional astuteness passed away Dec. 4, 2014. It was his 69^th birthday.
While Mays was known as Indiana’s most successful African-American entrepreneur, the racial attribution comes second to the businessman’s professional prowess. Undoubtedly, Mays was one of the smartest, most talented business leaders around…period.
And while his life’s achievements are too vast to identify individually, Indiana Minority Business Magazine, thought it only fitting to highlight some of its publisher’s major professional accomplishments.

December 4, 1945 – William Gerard Mays is born in Evansville, Ind. to Theodore Mays Sr. and Joy Mays. His birth signified history in the making.

1960 – In high school, “Bill” thrived in sports, participated in choir, band, French Club, and served as president of his class. However, science and chemistry were always his passion; a not so uncommon trait considering his father was a high school chemistry teacher.

1968 – Bill married Rose Cole on April 6. The two met at Alexander AME Church in Evansville. Rose was a constant supporter of Bill’s and even helped finance his first company.

1968 – 1971 – Worked as a salesman for Procter & Gamble.

1973 – Earned an MBA in finance and marketing from IU Kelley School of Business. Prior to that, he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Indiana University.

1973 – 1977 – Served as assistant to the president at Cummins Engine Company.

1977 – Became president of Specialty Chemicals Inc.

1980 – Ventured out on his own and founded Mays Chemical Company. For the first year, the company was a one-man operation, with Mays doing all components of the company himself.

1984 – Mays Property Management was formed.

1985 – Bill partnered with R.N. Thompson on Gray Eagle golf course and housing developments.

1985 – Mays Chemical Co. acquires Specialty Chemicals, the company Bill previously parted ways with after disagreeing with its corporate policies.

1990 – Bill purchased the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper to save a legacy in the African-American community. The year 2015 commemorates the Recorder’s 120th year in existence.

1991 – Gov. Evan Bayh recognized Bill’s vast achievements with the distinguished Sagamore of the Wabash award. The Sagamore is the highest honor an Indiana civilian can receive.

1991 – This was a year of firsts for Bill Mays. In 1991 he was appointed the first Black chairman of the Indiana Lottery Commission by Gov. Evan Bayh and he was also named the first Black campaign chairman of United Way of Central Indiana.

1993 – Bill made his entry into radio by becoming the majority owner of IBL LLC and part owner of Shirk Inc. with broadcaster Bill Shirk. Media holdings included WHHH-FM, WBKS-FM and WYJZ-FM, which were sold to Radio One seven years later for a reported $40 million. The “Bill and Bill” venture led to radio properties that continue operation on the Hawaiian Islands.

1993 – Served as chairman of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

2001 – Mays Chemical Co. was recognized as Black Enterprise’s Company of the Year.

2006 – Mays Chemical and Chemico Systems form a joint venture. ChemicoMays LLC becomes one of the largest privately-owned chemical management services joint ventures in the company.

 2007 – Bill Mays accomplished what very few Hoosiers ever have: He received a second Sagamore of the Wabash. This time, the honor came from Gov. Mitch Daniels.

2008 – Mays Chemical Co. exceeds $200 million in sales.

2010 – Mays Chemical Co. celebrates 30 years of business.

2011 –  Partnered with Kimberly Hendren to co-own Granite City restaurant at Indianapolis International Airport.

2011 – Bill retires as CEO of Mays Chemical Co. and settles in as the company’s chairman.

2013 – Mays Chemical Co. is ranked one of the top 10 largest chemical distributers in North America. In 2013, the company was also listed in the Top 20 of Black Enterprise’s Top 100 businesses.

2014 – Bill received the coveted MBE Clarion Award from the National Minority Supplier Development Council. The award honors elite minority business leaders who have an established record of success that exceeds 20 years.