Businessman First Remembering Henry G. Parks, Jr. 1916-1989 Capturing the Life of A Businessman Who Was African American A Biography is a finalist for the QBR Wheatley Book Award. This is a true story of a highly successful African American businessman and his friend 30 years his junior. It tell of the rise of a man born in Atlanta, GA, raised and educated in Dayton, OH, settling in Baltimore, MD open the H.G.Parks, Inc. trading as the Park Sausage Company. Mr. Parks proved through his journey that an African American can make it in the world of business on the same terms as anyone else. He was the first African American to issue stock publically on the New York Stock Exchange and served on the Board of Directors of Warner-Lambert, Signal Corporation, First Pennsylvania Corporation, W. R. Grace and Company and many others. He also served on the Boards of the Urban League, the United Negro College Fund, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.