Welcome To Our Website
Dempsey J. Travis is an entrepreneur, historian and self-made multi-millionaire. He is the president of Travis Realty Company®, which has been listed among the Largest 100 Black Business in America by Black Enterprise Magazine. Mr. Travis was also listed for seven years in Ebony Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans and as Black Businessman of the Year by Dollar and Sense Magazine.
Mr. Travis is also the author of twenty best selling books: An Autobiography of Black Chicago, An Autobiography of Black Jazz, An Autobiography of Black Politics, Real Estate is the Gold in Your Future, Harold: The People’s Mayor, Racism: American Style A Corporate Gift, I Refuse to Learn to Fail, Views from the Back of the Bus During WWII and Beyond, The Duke Ellington Primer, Racism ‘Round ‘n ‘Round It Goes, They Heard A Thousand Thunders, The Duke Ellington Primer, The Louis Armstrong Odyssey: From Jane Alley to America's Jazz Ambassador, Negro as Capitalist, Don't Stop Me Now, Racism ‘Round ‘n ‘Round It Goes, They Heard A Thousand Thunders The Life And Times Of Redd Foxx, The Victory Monument: The Beacon Of Chicago's Bronzeville, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI Files On The Tainted An The Damned, An American Story In Red White and Blue, and Norman Granz: The White Moses Of Black Jazz.. He was financial editor for Dollars and Sense Magazine for several years, and was also a contributing writer for Ebony Magazine and Black Scholars. Mr. Travis is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, Beta Gamma Sigma, Lambda Alpha International Fraternity and the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences.
Among his other achievements, Mr. Travis is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, and Who’s Who in the World. He was also listed among the People Who Have Made a Difference in the Chicago Sun-Times’ Sesquicentennial Celebration issue. He has been the subject of numerous radio and television programs, with five shows receiving Emmy nominations, as well as hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. Mr. Travis was presented with the Black Enterprise Magazine First Annual Finance Achievement Award by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller at the White House on February 21, 1975.
Always interested and active in civics, Mr. Travis was coordinator of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s first civil rights march in Chicago in 1960, he was the president of the NAACP Chicago from 1959 to 1960. He has participated in several presidential administrations including President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1966 civil rights meetings, President Richard Nixon’s Housing Task Force and President Gerald Ford’s Presidential Task Force on Urban Renewal and the Presidential Task Force on Inflation.
Mr. Travis was president of the Society of Midland Authors from 1988-1990. He has been a trustee of various organizations including the Chicago Historical Society, Northwestern Memorial Hospital; member of the Chicago Board of Roosevelt University; member of The Auditorium Board. He served as president of the Dearborn Real Estate Board from 1957 to 1959 and 1970 to 1971, was first V.P. National Assoc. of Real Estate Brokers 1959 to 1960. He founded The United Mortgage Bankers of America and served as president from 1961 to 1974. He received Ameritech's Small Business Community Service Award 1995. He was inducted into the Junior Achievement Chicago Business Community Hall of Fame in 1995. He is a member of The Cliff Dwellers Club; The Metropolitan Club; and Claxton Club. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Roosevelt University, Chicago, and is a graduate of the School of Mortgage Banking, Northwestern University, Chicago. Mr. Travis served in the United States Army for four years. Mr. Travis is married and resides in Chicago. He was born in Chicago on February 25, 1920.
Travis Realty Co., Urban Research Press, Inc., and D. J. Travis Development Co., all three companies has been certified by the City of Chicago as an MBE (Minority Business Enterprises).
Travis Realty Company Head Quarter
840 East 87th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60619-6248
Telephone: 773-994-7200 * Fax: 773-994-5191
travisdt88@aol.com
