Samuel B. Fuller facts for kids
S. B. Fuller (born June 4, 1905 – died October 24, 1988) was an American businessman. He started and led the Fuller Products Company. He also owned newspapers like the New York Age and Pittsburgh Courier.
Fuller was also a leader in the South Side Chicago NAACP. He was president of the National Negro Business League. He was known as an important Black Republican.
S. B. Fuller's life showed how people can succeed in business and help themselves. His company inspired and trained many new business owners and leaders. These included John H. Johnson and George Ellis Johnson. Joe L. Dudley Senior also had a similar business. His company helped keep the Fuller Products name going after S. B. Fuller's career ended.
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Early Life and Challenges
Fuller was born in 1905 in Monroe, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. His family were sharecroppers, which meant they were very poor. He had to leave school when he was only in sixth grade.
When he was nine, he started selling things door-to-door. This was his first experience as a businessman. At fifteen, his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Two years later, his mother passed away. This left seven children to take care of themselves.
Fuller once said that when people offered them help, they didn't take it. He explained that it was seen as shameful to get help back then. They wanted to show their neighbors they could make it on their own. So, the young Fuller and his siblings worked hard to support themselves.
In 1928, Fuller moved to Chicago. He worked many different jobs, like managing a coal yard. Later, he became an insurance salesperson for an African-American company. Even though he had a steady job during the Great Depression, he decided to start his own business. He wanted "freedom" more than "security."
Starting His Own Business
Fuller began his business career by borrowing twenty-five dollars. He used his car as a guarantee for the loan. With his friend Lestine Thornton, who later became his wife, he bought a lot of soap. This soap came from Boyer International Laboratories.
He was very good at selling soap door-to-door. This success encouraged him to invest another $1000. He officially started Fuller Products in 1929. Within four years, he was promoted at his insurance job. At the same time, his own company grew to offer 30 different products. He also hired more door-to-door salespeople.
Many African American families moved to Chicago's South Side during the Great Migration. These families became the main customers for Fuller Products. This helped his company grow a lot. By 1939, the company was big enough to open its own factory.
In 1947, Fuller secretly bought Boyer International Laboratories. He did this to save the company from going out of business. His company then made and sold many different items. These included deodorant, hair care products, hosiery, and men's suits. Fuller also bought several newspapers, like the New York Age and the Pittsburgh Courier. He also owned the South Center Department Store and the Regal Theater in Chicago.
Fuller's Views and Public Life
Fuller was a leading Republican among Black Americans. He always had his own ideas, too. He supported civil rights and briefly led the Chicago South Side NAACP.
He tried to help during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He and another businessman, A. G. Gaston, wanted to buy the bus company. Fuller told Martin Luther King Jr. that the bus company was losing money and wanted to sell. But King was unsure, and not enough people came forward to raise the money.
Fuller believed strongly that African American people should start their own businesses. In 1958, he criticized the government. He felt it was hurting free enterprise and promoting socialism. He worried it was "destroying incentive and initiative." He argued that "wherever there is capitalism there is freedom."
Fuller was a good friend of Dr. T. R. M. Howard. Howard was a wealthy Black businessman and a civil rights leader. Fuller and Howard likely met through the National Negro Business League. Fuller was president of this group for many years. He hired Howard to be the medical director for Fuller Products.
Business Challenges and Later Years
In the 1950s, Fuller was likely the richest African American man in the U.S. His cosmetics company had $18 million in sales. It had 5,000 salespeople, and one-third of them were white. His company trained many future business leaders. He famously said that the color of a person's skin didn't matter. He compared it to a cow, saying people care about how much milk it produces, not its color.
However, his business faced problems. In the 1950s, White Citizens Councils learned that an African American owned the Nadal products line. They organized a boycott against his products. This was the start of a difficult time for Fuller's businesses.
In 1963, Fuller was the first African American to join the National Association of Manufacturers. In his speech, he said that a lack of understanding about the capitalist system, not racial barriers, was holding Black people back. He also told U.S. News & World Report that Black people were not discriminated against because of their skin color. He said they were discriminated against because they didn't have things people wanted to buy.
Many of his comments were taken out of context. Major Black leaders reacted angrily and called for a boycott of Fuller Products.
In 1968, Fuller faced legal issues related to his business. After this, Fuller Products went through a tough financial period in 1971. The company reorganized and made some profit later. However, it never returned to its earlier size or success.
In 1976, Fuller had health problems. He asked his top distributor, Joe Louis Dudley, Sr., to become President of the Fuller Products Company. Dudley ran both Fuller Products and Dudley Products until 1984. In 1984, Dudley bought the Fuller Products Company.
Fuller passed away at age eighty-three in Blue Island, Illinois. He died from kidney failure.
Family
Fuller was the father-in-law of Tom Casey. Casey was a neurologist and a Canadian football hall-of-famer.
See also
