Pollard, Luther J.

From HistoryWiki

Luther, the second born of John and Amanda Pollard, was an all-star athlete. In high school he played on the football team and was one of the best pitchers on the baseball team. Luther tried to become a professional baseball player in the major leagues, but was not signed. At that time, no African Americans were allowed on any professional major league baseball team. When he failed to convince the scouts that he was actually a Native American, his baseball dreams were over. This was another racial incident that blacks of this time had to face. Despite the disappointment, Luther still played on an organized Rogers Park team.

Professionally, Luther became a life and accident insurance agent then worked as a manager of an advertising department. These careers did not completely satisfy him, and so in the spirit of his entrepreneur parents, he launched a lucrative moving picture production company called Ebony Film Corporation. According to stock certificates, his company was worth about $500,000 which translates to about $25 million today.

Luther J. Pollard donated the P004 series of photos to the Society.