By Erin Pace
Black History Month is a time of celebration as well as sorrowful remembrance. Growing up in the South, I spent my free time in February reenacting civil rights marches, singing We Shall Overcome, and winning poster contests for my magic marker renderings of Rosa Parks proclaiming ‘I’m not movin’!’. This year, I’m trading my poster for this article in The Oppy and my ancestors would be so proud. Let this article serve as a thank you to the Black business people of times past who paved the way. A few of them include: Alonzo Herndon, who was born in 1858 into slavery but later obtained success through his barbershops and became one of the first African American millionaires in the United States; Madam C.J.…