Dempsey Travis (February 25, 1920 – July 2, 2009) was a real estate entrepreneur and civil rights activist who, later in life, became a prominent historian and author, writing extensively on African-American history, politics, social issues, and music.
Dempsey Jerome Travis was born in 1920 in Chicago, IL, and served in the United States Army from 1942 to 1946, before earning his Bachelor of Arts degree from Roosevelt University in 1949.
Together, the two companies worked to sell properties located in the Chicago area to African Americans who were being displaced by urban renewal projects.
Travis also published An Autobiography of Black Politics (1987), The Victory Monument, I Refuse to Learn to Fail, and Views from the Back of the Bus.
He was also listed among the "People Who Have Made a Difference" by the Chicago Sun-Times and was one of Ebony’s "100 Most Influential Black Americans".