For LaDonna Boyd, legacy means devoting yourself to a mission, being community-minded and advocating for social change. And as the fifth-generation president and CEO of R.H. Boyd, she’s seen firsthand how giving people a chance to be heard changes lives.
R.H. Boyd is one of the oldest continuously operated, family-run African American businesses — and this year, it’s celebrating 130 years of preserving and celebrating Black heritage. “My great-great-grandfather started with the mission of having Black voices heard in our own faith-based curriculum,” LaDonna says. “And that’s still what we focus on to this day.”
Strong Foundation
Formerly enslaved Richard Henry (R. H.) Boyd founded the nationally renowned National Baptist Publishing Board (now R.H. Boyd) in 1896. During a time of racial discrimination and persecution, R. H. established a thriving independent business that enabled Black churches to produce their own educational materials.
By 1930, the company reached a combined circulation of over 12.7 million, reflecting the Black community through literature, faith-based texts, and educational resources — which LaDonna says are “written for us, by us.”
Throughout his career, R. H. helped establish several other Black businesses, including the National Baptist Church Supply Company, Citizens Savings Bank & Trust Company, the Union Transportation Company and the Nashville Globe newspaper. Each venture gave African Americans better control over their finances and education.
After R. H. died in 1922, his son, Henry Allen Boyd, assumed his position. The Rev. T. B. Boyd Jr. succeeded him in 1959, and T. B. Boyd III followed in 1979. And in 2017, LaDonna became the company’s fifth president and CEO.
“When LaDonna took over the reins, I was just so happy and proud,” says Yvette Boyd, LaDonna’s mother.
New Opportunities
To this day, R.H. Boyd is committed to empowering local communities by addressing modern issues — and providing opportunities for those in need.
Yvette coordinates the R.H. Boyd Family Endowment Fund, a resource her husband, T. B. Boyd III, created in 1981. Generous scholarships and grants help students, organizations and churches reach their educational, professional and spiritual goals.
The endowment has brought educational programming to churches, offered health programs and food services, equipped local schools with essential technology, and helped students attend 34 different universities. “I have a vested personal interest in everything that we’re doing,” Yvette says. “It means a lot to us as a family, as a business and in the community.”
This impact is furthered at Legacy Ball, a black-tie fundraiser LaDonna created in 2022. The highly attended event supports the endowment fund while celebrating Black stories in Nashville and beyond.
“Our audience looks very different than what you’ll see at some of the other main fundraising black-tie or white-tie events in the city,” LaDonna says. “When we first did our Legacy Ball at the Schermerhorn [Symphony Center], quite a few people came up to me and said that was their first time even in that building.”
Each year, LaDonna and her team create an elegant evening where people feel comfortable, welcomed and able to actively engage in philanthropy. And powerful moments throughout the evening bring the mission home.
“Each year, I invite back one of our scholarship recipients as well as one of our grant recipients, and they expound as to how receiving the scholarship has impacted their whole life,” Yvette says. “It’s just an honor to have all this done and be able to help.”
What’s to Come
In the coming years, LaDonna hopes to bring a wider regional audience to Legacy Ball, expand fundraising and continue growing the endowment fund. And Yvette looks forward to seeing how her daughter continues to uphold the company’s legacy. “Being the mother, I respect her as my boss,” she says. “I respect her ideas, and I want to help her grow.”
While looking to the future, the Boyd family keeps the organization’s storied history in sharp focus. “Our community is still facing a lot of the challenges we were 130 years ago, when my great-great-grandfather was sitting in this seat,” LaDonna says. [We’re] continuing to push forward and fight for what’s good and what’s right.”
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