Georgia's Hidden Gem: History Still Lives through Carl Ware
Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Carl Ware rose to become one of the most influential business leaders and philanthropists of his generation. Carl was elected to the Atlanta City Council in 1973 and later served as its first black president from 1976 to 1979. In 1979 he was named Vice President of Special Markets for Coca-Cola USA.
He founded the Coca-Cola Foundation and became known as the company’s “Daring Diplomat.” As the highest-ranking African American executive at the Coca-Cola Company, Ware would become the architect of his employer’s South Africa disinvestment and the first American businessman to meet with Nelson Mandela after his release from prison in 1990. During this time, Ware proved instrumental in the fall of South Africa’s brutal system of apartheid.
Carl, born to sharecroppers, grew up one of 12 children in the Jim Crow South. Ware learned his most important lessons in courage, ethics, and business from his father, Ulas B. Ware, the first African American to vote in Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District since Reconstruction. Despite growing up against a backdrop of lynchings and segregation, Ware’s parents taught him to never be afraid and to never be ashamed of his circumstances.
Nurtured by a strong family and anchored in the spiritual community of Oak Grove Baptist Church, Ware worked his way through Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia where he took part in the Atlanta Student Movement.
Carl Ware’s remarkable American success story, “Portrait of an American Businessman”, with a foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, has a background that includes international business, politics, as well as civil rights and is a historical memoir and inspiring story that stands as a testament to one man’s ability to overcome hardship and change the world.
"I first learned of Mr. Ware after attending classes in the Carl and Mary Ware Academic Auditorium on Clark Atlanta University's campus. I am pleased and extremely honored to have Mr. Ware as a mentor. I have learned so much history and enjoy gaining knowledge from such an extraordinary leader."
- Talk of Fame 101, CEO & Founder, Paulette Jones
Read more about Mr. Ware and his great endeavors.
African American ArtEarl Jackson, a multi-media artist, is best known for his signature painting, “Following the Path”, which portrays a rite of passage ceremony for African American females. He was influenced to paint this work after traveling to Senegal West Africa in 1985 and Kenya in 1988 where he was ceremoniously initiated as a junior Elder in the Kikuyu nation.
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apartheidInspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Carl Ware rose to become one of the most influential business leaders and philanthropists of his generation. Carl was elected to the Atlanta City Council in 1973 and later served as its first black president from 1976 to 1979. In 1979 he was named Vice President of Special Markets for Coca-Cola USA.
He founded the Coca-Cola Foundation and became known as the company’s “Daring Diplomat.” As the highest-ranking African American executive at the Coca-Cola Company, Ware would become the architect of his employer’s South Africa disinvestment and the first American businessman to meet with Nelson Mandela after his release from prison in 1990. During this time, Ware proved instrumental in the fall of South Africa’s brutal system of apartheid.