Herman J. Russell learned a building trade long before he became a major Atlanta business owner. Born in the city in 1930, he worked alongside his father, a plasterer, while still young, and later studied building construction at Tuskegee Institute. The Georgia Historical Society counts the enterprise that grew from that mix of trade skill and education among the landmarks of African American business history.
His early work took place in a segregated market. The New Georgia Encyclopedia describes how he expanded from plastering into larger construction assignments and formed partnerships with established white-owned companies during the 1960s and 1970s, arrangements that let his firm take part in major projects.
The company's projects included work at Atlanta's airport and on sports facilities such as the Georgia Dome and Turner Field, along with property development and management. In 1994, Russell brought his businesses together under the H.J. Russell & Company name.
His civic ties ran deep. Contemporary reporting after his death described his friendship with Martin Luther King Jr. and his support for the civil rights movement. Bernice King credited his advice and assistance to Coretta Scott King as she developed the King Center's memorial facilities. In 1985, H.J. Russell & Company received the center's Salute to Greatness Award.
Russell also became the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce's first Black member and later its second Black president. In the early 2000s, he handed leadership to the next generation: his children took responsibilities across the family's businesses, and Michael became chief executive. Russell published his autobiography, Building Atlanta, in 2014 and died that November at age 83. The company continued after his death.
