GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion was a chairman of the Republican Party in Arkansas, rose from poverty to national prominence when he co-founded the Mosaic Templars of America (MTA), an African-American fraternal organization of international scope, spanning twenty-six states and six foreign countries from the 1880s until the 1930s.

GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion was a chairman of the Republican Party in Arkansas, rose from poverty to national prominence when he co-founded the Mosaic Templars of America (MTA), an African-American fraternal organization of international scope, spanning twenty-six states and six foreign countries from the 1880s until the 1930s.

GM – FBF – Today’s American Champion was a chairman of the Republican Party in Arkansas, rose from poverty to national prominence when he co-founded the Mosaic Templars of America (MTA), an African-American fraternal organization of international scope, spanning twenty-six states and six foreign countries from the 1880s until the 1930s.Headquartered in Little Rock (Pulaski County), MTA became one of the largest and most successful black-owned business enterprises in the nation and the world; it included an insurance company, a building and loan association, a hospital, a business college, a publishing house, and a nursing school.Living most of his early life in the downtown 9th Street district of Little Rock, Bush was widely acknowledged as one of the wealthiest black men in Arkansas and a progenitor of the economic development and progress of black American entrepreneurs.Today in our History, December 11, 1916 – John Edward Bush, died.John Edward Bush was born enslaved on November 14, 1856, in Moscow, Tennessee. In 1862, Bush and his mother and sister werebrought to Arkansas by their owner, who was trying to stay ahead of Union troops. Bush and his family were free at the end ofthe Civil War, but his mother died shortly after their arrival in Little Rock. Bush rose from poverty to national prominence whenhe co-founded the Mosaic Templars of America (MTA), an African-American fraternal organization of international scope.Headquartered in Little Rock, AR, MTA became one of the largest and most successful black-owned business enterprises in thenation and the world. Bush was widely acknowledged as one of the wealthiest black men in Arkansas and a pioneer of the economicdevelopment and progress of black American entrepreneurs.In 1875, Bush worked as a postal clerk for the Railway Mail Serviceand became the first black person to be recommended for the chief clerkship of the division. Bush graduated with honors fromthe Capital Hill City School of Little Rock in 1876 and served as its principal for two years immediately following graduation.Bush served as an executive committee member of Booker T. Washington’s National Negro Business League, and Bush was a dues-payingmember of the Mosaic Templars. President William McKinley appointed Bush as the receiver of the U.S. Land Office at LittleRock in 1898.He was subsequently reappointed for four additional terms by Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William HowardTaft. Bush died on December 11, 1916.After Bush’s death, his son Chester succeeded him as the national grand secretary of theMosaic Templars of America, while Aldridge served as secretary and treasurer of its monument department. Research more about this great American Champion and share it with your babies. Make it a champion day!

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