DANVILLE, Va. â From age 5 to age 20, Edward Ed Hairston lived through the Civil Rights Movement in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Now a small business owner on Riverside Drive, Hairston reflects on a life of entrepreneurship and forestalling prejudice in the hopes of accomplishing one immutable goal: to better the lives of those around him.
Hairston was born Nov. 21, 1948, as the seventh child of eight to the late C.P. and Mary L. Hairston. The spark of entrepreneurship was ignited during his early days in Pittsylvania County Schools, when Hairston would ride the bread truck to schoolâbuying bread for a nickel and reselling it for a dime.