Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah Hamilton, Wall Street's First Black Millionaire
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Overview
“A well-told, stereotype-busting tale about a nineteenth century black financier who dared to be larger than life, and got away with it!” —Elizabeth Dowling Taylor, New York Times–bestselling author
In the middle decades of the nineteenth century Jeremiah G. Hamilton was a well-known figure on Wall Street. Cornelius Vanderbilt, America’s first tycoon, came to respect, grudgingly, his one-time opponent. Their rivalry even made it into Vanderbilt’s obituary.
What Vanderbilt’s obituary failed to mention, perhaps as contemporaries already knew it well, was that Hamilton was African American. Hamilton, although his origins were lowly, possibly slave, was reportedly the richest black man in the United States, possessing a fortune of $2 million, or in excess of two hundred and $50 million in today’s currency.
In Prince of Darkness, a groundbreaking and vivid account, eminent historian Shane White reveals the larger than life story of a man who defied every convention of his time. He wheeled and dealed in the lily-white business world, he married a white woman, he bought a mansion in rural New Jersey, he owned railroad stock on trains he was not legally allowed to ride, and generally set his white contemporaries teeth on edge when he wasn’t just plain outsmarting them.
An important contribution to American history, Hamilton’s life offers a way into considering, from the unusual perspective of a black man, subjects that are usually seen as being quintessentially white, totally segregated from the African American past.
“If this Hamilton were around today, he might have his own reality TV show or be a candidate for president . . . An interesting look at old New York, race relations, and high finance.” —New York Post
In the middle decades of the nineteenth century Jeremiah G. Hamilton was a well-known figure on Wall Street. Cornelius Vanderbilt, America’s first tycoon, came to respect, grudgingly, his one-time opponent. Their rivalry even made it into Vanderbilt’s obituary.
What Vanderbilt’s obituary failed to mention, perhaps as contemporaries already knew it well, was that Hamilton was African American. Hamilton, although his origins were lowly, possibly slave, was reportedly the richest black man in the United States, possessing a fortune of $2 million, or in excess of two hundred and $50 million in today’s currency.
In Prince of Darkness, a groundbreaking and vivid account, eminent historian Shane White reveals the larger than life story of a man who defied every convention of his time. He wheeled and dealed in the lily-white business world, he married a white woman, he bought a mansion in rural New Jersey, he owned railroad stock on trains he was not legally allowed to ride, and generally set his white contemporaries teeth on edge when he wasn’t just plain outsmarting them.
An important contribution to American history, Hamilton’s life offers a way into considering, from the unusual perspective of a black man, subjects that are usually seen as being quintessentially white, totally segregated from the African American past.
“If this Hamilton were around today, he might have his own reality TV show or be a candidate for president . . . An interesting look at old New York, race relations, and high finance.” —New York Post
- Title: Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah Hamilton, Wall Street's First Black Millionaire
- Author: Shane White
- Publisher: St. Martin's Press
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 370
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781466880719, 1466880716
- Resource ID: LLS:9781466880719
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-21T17:49:47Z
SHANE WHITE is the Challis Professor of History and an Australian Professorial Fellow in the History Department at the University of Sydney specializing in African-American history. He has authored or co-authored several books, including Playing the Numbers, and collaborated in the construction of the website Digital Harlem. Each project has won at least one important prize for excellence from institutions as varied as the American Historical Association and the American Library Association. He lives in Sydney, Australia.