president buchanan, a predecessor to abraham lincoln, sent ben yancey to be his minister to argentina which no longer had slavery. so bent yancey send bob hawke as a barber in town in this growing city of atlanta, a very small city at that time. bob couldn't read or write, but he was a brilliant businessman. soon, this slave was running two barbershops and had 7 employees. he even bought a house, though it was illal f a slave to hold a deed and in fact, in later years, after his death, there was a majorispute has to to the house belonged to because there was no deed for his ownership. he made good money as a barber, and paid his rent to ben yancey, but he made even more money loansharking to the gamblers playing cards in his shop. win the r came, soldiers came through atlanta by the thousands. all those railroads running through atlanta made it vital as a transit hub for sending soldiersut to the front, and itlso ended up being the way in which soldiers, when they were wounded, came back to the hospital and came back to recover. he wasn't alone among the slaves who grew rich loaning m