Former Xerox CEO Donates $1 Million To Preserve African American Histor

Source: Rowena Husbands / Rowena Husbands

Ursula Burns Gifts $1 Million To The HistoryMakers Initiative

The former CEO of Xerox Corp. gifted a cool million dollars to help preserve the oral histories of African American she-roes.

Ursula Burns donated $1 million to the HistoryMakers initiative, which records oral histories of African Americans from the worlds of business, media, civil rights, arts, education and more at the HistoryMakers WomanMakers luncheon Jan. 31 at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice in New York City.

Burns’s made the donation in honor of her late husband, Lloyd Bean, and said that after being raised poor and rising through the ranks of corporate America that she couldn’t believe she was able to bequeath seven figures to the nonprofit.

Source: Rowena Husbands / Rowena Husbands

“Growing up, I couldn’t even imagine one million dollars, let alone one million dollars to give,” she said before presenting an oversized check to Julieanna Richardson, founder and president of the HistoryMakers.

The event’s attendees comprised a who’s who of the great and the good of New York City. BOSSIP spotted former Obama Administration senior advisor Valerie Jarrett, New York City First lady Chirlane McCray and fashion icon Bethann Hardison.

Burns’ donation will help HistoryMakers conduct 180 interviews of African American women for the HistoryMakers’ WomenMakers oral history project. To date, the HistoryMakers have interviewed the likes of veteran journalist Gwen Ifill, Maya Angelou, President Barack Obama and Dr. Angela Davis, scientist Katherine Johnson – who was the inspiration for Taraji P. Henson’s character in the movie “Hidden Figures.”