A former slave taught Jack Daniel to make whiskey. Now his company is retreating from DEI
Fawn Weaver, founder of Black-owned spirits brand Uncle Nearest, has a message for Jack Daniel’s parent company, Brown-Forman, which announced last week that it is reversing course on its commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion: Take a page from the liquor baron who died in 1911.
“Jack Daniel, the man, offers a model for the type of DEI we need today,” she said.
In the 1800s, a young Daniel was introduced to a formerly enslaved man named Nathan “Nearest” Green who had perfected the art of filtering whiskey through charcoal. Green taught Daniel how to distill whiskey, and together they built one of the world’s iconic brands.
Screenshot courtesy of USA Today
