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Theodore Roosevelt Hagans, Jr. launched his own affirmative-action program to get his first job. After graduating in electrical engineering from Howard University and serving in the Merchant Marines in World War II, he returned to Washington and saw a want ad in the Washington Post asking engineering applicants to reply to a box number. He prevailed upon the paper to give him the company's name, went to the company, and offered to work two weeks for nothing. Hagans' deal: if he did well, he would get the job - at the same salary as a white engineer.
Ted Hagans got that job at the Dunbar Hotel and went on to become its general manager. He traded some of his salary for shares in the hotel until he owned the majority interest. He used that equity to launch a real estate empire that made him a millionaire - and a role model for black entrepreneurs through the city. In 1975, Hagans became chief developer of the $500 million Fort Lincoln New Town project in Northeast DC. He pledged everything he owned against the millions he borrowed to build Fort Lincoln New Town.
When Ted Hagans died at age 58 in 1984 - the twin-engine plane he and his son Theodore III were flying crashed near Timonium, Maryland - 680 units of elderly housing, 400 condominiums, a school, and ball fields were in place at Fort Lincoln New Town. Hagans had also entered into a partnership with the Oliver Carr Commpany for a downtown development near Metro Center.
His daughter Michele took over his work. Today some 4,000 people live in the new town Hagans built. There are plans for another 200 townhouses, 450 rental units, a shopping center, a health park, and 200 square feet of research and development space.
Michele Hagans says of her fatber, "There wasn't anything that he thought wasn't within his grasp."
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