Encyclopedia of African American Business Two Volumes (v. 1 & 2)

Encyclopedia of African American Business, Volumes 1 & 2

Edited by Jessie Carney Smith

Greenwood Press

Encyclopedia of African American Business

Encyclopedia of African American Business Volume 1 A–J

EDITED BY JESSIE CARNEY SMITH Millicent Lownes Jackson, Consultant Linda T. Wynn, Consultant

Greenwood Press Westport, Connecticut  London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Encyclopedia of African American business / edited by Jessie Carney Smith ; consultants : Millicent Lownes Jackson, Linda T. Wynn. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–313–33109–X (set : alk. paper)—ISBN 0–313–33110–3 (v. 1 : alk. paper)— ISBN 0–313–33111–1 (v. 2 : alk. paper) 1. African American business enterprises—United States—Encyclopedias. 2. African American businesspeople— United States—Encyclopedias. I. Smith, Jessie Carney. II. Jackson, Millicent Lownes. III. Wynn, Linda T. HD2358.5.U6E53 2006 338.7092'396073—dc22 2006002866 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright # 2006 by Jessie Carney Smith All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. This book is included in the African American Experience database from Greenwood Electronic Media. For more information, visit www.africanamericanexperience.com. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2006002866 ISBN: 0–313–33109–X (set) 0–313–33110–3 (vol. 1) 0–313–33111–1 (vol. 2) First published in 2006 Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed in the United States of America

The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In recognition of African American entrepreneurs for their vision, endurance, and notable contributions to the world of business; and to my father, James A. Carney, an early entrepreneur and my inspiration for this book

Contents Entry List

ix

Topical Entry List

xiii

African American Business Leaders by Occupation

xvii

Preface

xxiii

Introduction

xxvii

The Encyclopedia

1

Selected Bibliography

855

Index

861

About the Contributors

879

Entry List Henry ‘‘Hank’’ Aaron Robert Sengstacke Abbott Advertising Agencies Advertising and Marketing Archie Alphonso Alexander Clifford Leopold Alexander Jr. Paget Alves American Savings and Loan League Wally ‘‘Famous Amos’’ Amos Jr. Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs Barbecue Establishments Don H. Barden Edwin C. Berry Jesse Binga Black Banks: Their Beginning Black Business Development and the Federal Government Black Business Development in Missouri Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History Black Corporate Directors Conference Black Fund Managers Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities Black Retail Action Group Blacks in Agriculture

Booker T. Washington Business Association Ruth Jean Bowen Richard Henry Boyd Sheila Bridges Andrew Felton Brimmer Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Todd C. Brown Dorothy E. Brunson Thomas J. Burrell Roland W. Burris John Edward Bush Business Ownership in Select Academic Institutions Cardozo Sisters Albert Irvin Cassell Catering Industry Centers for Entrepreneurship in Academic Institutions Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade in the 1920s and 1930s Debra Martin Chase Leah Chase Kenneth Irvine Chenault Robert Reed Church Sr. Citizens’ League for Fair Play Alexander G. Clark Coalition of Black Trade Unionists

Daniel C. Cochran Marie Therese Coincoin Virgis William Colbert Donald Alvin Coleman Kenneth L. Coleman Colored Merchants’ Association Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs Conferences and Studies on the Negro in Business: The Early Years Conferences on African American Businesses Ward Connerly Consumer Cooperatives Nathan G. Conyers Edith W. Cooper Corporation of Caterers Credit Unions Calvin Darden Edward Davis Erroll B. Davis Jr. Thomas Day Suzanne de Passe Charles Diggs Jr. Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work Movement Frederick Douglass’s Business Enterprises Dr. Dre (Andre Young) Joe L. Dudley Sr.

Entry List E-Commerce and the African American Community Economic Boycotts and Protests Kenneth ‘‘Babyface’’ Edmonds and Tracey Edmonds Elleanor Eldridge William Ellison Evern Cooper Epps Eta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Faith-Based Entrepreneurship James Conway Farley Melvin Farr Fashion Industry Federal Records for African American Business History Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund Food Service Industry Barney Launcelot Ford James Forten Ann M. Fudge S. B. Fuller I. Owen Funderburg Edward G. Gardner Marcus Garvey’s UNIA Enterprise A. G. Gaston Karen Patricia Gibbs John Trusty Gibson Bruce S. Gordon Berry Gordy Jr. Earl G. Graves Sylvester Green Grocery Store Enterprises James Francis Haddon Elliott Sawyer Hall Marc R. Hannah Carla Ann Harris Lowell Hawthorne Darryl B. Hazel Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst Alexis M. Herman Alonzo Franklin Herndon Dennis Fowler Hightower Jesse Hill Jr.

x

Casper A. Holstein Christine Moore Howell Catherine ‘‘Cathy’’ Hughes International Black Women’s Congress Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson Thomas ‘‘T. D.’’ Jakes Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr. Eunice Walker Johnson John H. Johnson Robert L. Johnson Caroline R. Jones John Jones Quincy Jones Vernon Eulion Jordan Marjorie Stewart Joyner Kid/Teenpreneurs: Business Leaders in the Making Don King Thomy Lafon Lunsford Lane Ronald N. Langston John Anderson Lankford Dorothy R. Leavell Debra Louise Lee Spike Lee Legal Defense and Educational Fund Byron Eugene Lewis Delano Eugene Lewis Reginald F. Lewis William M. Lewis Jr. Alfred M. Ligon James Bruce Llewellyn Paula Madison Annie Turnbo Malone Julianne Malveaux Bridget ‘‘Biddy’’ Mason William G. Mays Jewell Jackson McCabe H. Carl McCall Renetta McCann

McKissack and McKissack Architects and Engineers, Inc. Calvin McKissack and Moses McKissack III Frank Mercado-Valdes John Merrick Lightfoot Solomon Michaux Minority Businesses in Major Cities Minority Enterprise Development Week Aaron McDuffie Moore Rose Morgan Cecilia Antonietta Mowatt Eddie Murphy Isaac Myers Woodrow Augustus Myers Jr. John E. ‘‘Jack’’ Nail James Carroll Napier National Afro-American League National Alliance of Market Developers National Association of Black Accountants National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters National Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs National Association of Investment Companies National Association of Minority Contractors National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs National Black Chamber of Commerce National Black Farmers Association National Black MBA Association National Black United Fund National Negro Business League Berry O’Kelly Hazel R. O’Leary E. Stanley O’Neal

Entry List 100 Black Men of America Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America Clarence Otis Jr. Anthony Overton

Roadside and Street Vending Roy S. Roberts David Ruggles Herman Jerome Russell Patricia Russell-McCloud

Harry H. Pace Henry Green Parks Jr. Richard Dean Parsons Robert Paschal and James Paschal Paschal’s Family Business Frederick Douglas Patterson Charles V. Payne Philip A. Payton Jr. Heman Edward Perry Charles E. Phillips Jr. Joseph Alphonso Pierce Winston Pittman Sr. Myrtle Stephens Potter Ernesta G. Procope Barbara Gardner Proctor

Sailors and Merchant Mariners Frank Savage Alan Shaw Shoe Shine Establishments Joseph Jacob Simmons III Russell Simmons Naomi R. Sims Norma Merrick Sklarek Barbara ‘‘B’’ Smith Paula A. Sneed Charles Clinton Spaulding David L. Steward Leon Howard Sullivan Percy Ellis Sutton Lucious (Lou) Switzer

Franklin Delano Raines Real Estate Industry Antonio ‘‘L. A.’’ Reid Retail Industry Sylvia Rhone Linda Johnson Rice Norman Blann Rice

Vertner W. Tandy Sr. Susan L. Taylor Theater Owners Booking Association and the Entertainment Industry John W. Thompson Gloria E. A. Toote

Dempsey Jerome Travis Lloyd G. Trotter Urban Financial Services Coalition Sheila Vaden-Williams A’Lelia Walker Antonio Maceo Walker Madame C. J. Walker Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker E. E. Ward Transfer and Storage Company Lloyd David Ward Carl H. Ware Augustus Washington Booker T. Washington Regynald G. Washington Sarah Spencer Washington Barbara Mae Watson Damon Wayans Paul Revere Williams David Augustus Williston Oprah Winfrey Women and Business Sylvia P. Woods Alfred W. Zollar

xi

Topical Entry List Academic Institutions Business Ownership in Select Academic Institutions Centers for Entrepreneurship in Academic Institutions Advertising Advertising Agencies Advertising and Marketing American Savings and Loan League Agriculture Blacks in Agriculture Biographies Henry ‘‘Hank’’ Aaron Robert Sengstacke Abbott Archie Alphonso Alexander Clifford Leopold Alexander Jr. Paget Alves Wally ‘‘Famous Amos’’ Amos Jr. Don H. Barden Edwin C. Berry Jesse Binga Ruth Jean Bowen Richard Henry Boyd Sarah Breedlove. See Madame C. J. Walker

Sheila Bridges Andrew Felton Brimmer Todd C. Brown Dorothy Edwards Brunson Thomas J. Burrell Roland W. Burris John Edward Bush Cardozo Sisters Elizabeth Cardozo Barker Margaret Cardozo Holmes Emmeta Cardozo Hurley Catherine Cardozo Lewis Albert Irvin Cassell Debra Martin Chase Leah Chase Kenneth Irvine Chenault Robert Reed Church Sr. Alexander G. Clark Daniel C. Cochran Marie Therese Coincoin Virgis William Colbert Donald Alvin Coleman Kenneth L. Coleman Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs Ward Connerly Nathan G. Conyers Edith W. Cooper Calvin Darden Edward Davis Erroll B. Davis Jr. Thomas Day Suzanne de Passe

‘‘Diddy.’’ See Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs ‘‘P. Diddy.’’ See Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs Charles Diggs Jr. Frederick Douglass. See Frederick Douglass’s Business Enterprises Dr. Dre (Andre Young) Joe L. Dudley Sr. Kenneth ‘‘Babyface’’ Edmonds and Tracey Edmonds Elleanor Eldridge William Ellison Evern Cooper Epps Ellenae Fairhurst. See Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst James Conway Farley Melvin Farr Barney Launcelot Ford James Forten Ann M. Fudge Samuel B. Fuller. See S. B. Fuller S. B. Fuller I. Owen Funderburg Edward G. Gardner Marcus Garvey. See Marcus Garvey’s UNIA Enterprise A. G. Gaston Karen Patricia Gibbs John Trusty Gibson Bruce S. Gordon

Topical Entry List Berry Gordy Jr. Earl G. Graves Sylvester Green James Francis Haddon Elliott Sawyer Hall Marc R. Hannah Carla Ann Harris Lowell Hawthorne Darryl B. Hazel Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst Alexis M. Herman Alonzo Franklin Herndon Dennis Fowler Hightower Jesse Hill Jr. Casper A. Holstein Christine Moore Howell Catherine ‘‘Cathy’’ Hughes ‘‘Ice Cube.’’ See O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson Thomas ‘‘T. D.’’ Jakes Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr. Eunice Walker Johnson John H. Johnson ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson. See Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr. Robert L. Johnson Caroline R. Jones John Jones Quincy Jones Vernon Eulion Jordan Marjorie Stewart Joyner Don King Thomy Lafon Lunsford Lane Ronald N. Langston John Anderson Lankford Dorothy R. Leavell Debra Louise Lee Spike Lee Byron Eugene Lewis Delano Eugene Lewis Reginald F. Lewis William M. Lewis Jr. Alfred M. Ligon James Bruce Llewellyn Paula Madison Annie Turnbo Malone

xiv

Julianne Malveaux Bridget ‘‘Biddy’’ Mason William G. Mays Jewell Jackson McCabe H. Carl McCall Renetta McCann Calvin McKissack and Moses McKissack III Frank Mercado-Valdes John Merrick Lightfoot Solomon Michaux Aaron McDuffie Moore Rose Morgan Cecilia Antonietta Mowatt Eddie Murphy Isaac Myers Woodrow Augustus Myers Jr. John E. ‘‘Jack’’ Nail James Carroll Napier Berry O’Kelly Hazel R. O’Leary E. Stanley O’Neal Clarence Otis Jr. Anthony Overton Harry H. Pace Henry Green Parks Jr. Richard Dean Parsons Robert Paschal and James Paschal Frederick Douglas Patterson Charles V. Payne Philip A. Payton Jr. Heman Edward Perry Charles E. Phillips Jr. Joseph Alphonso Pierce Winston Pittman Sr. Myrtle Stephens Potter Ernesta G. Procope Barbara Gardner Proctor ‘‘Puff Daddy.’’ See Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs ‘‘Puffy.’’ See Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs Franklin Delano Raines Antonio ‘‘L. A.’’ Reid Sylvia Rhone Linda Johnson Rice Norman Blann Rice Roy S. Roberts David Ruggles Herman Jerome Russell

Patricia Russell-McCloud Frank Savage Alan Shaw Joseph Jacob Simmons III Russell Simmons Naomi R. Sims Norma Merrick Sklarek ‘‘B’’ Smith. See Barbara ‘‘B’’ Smith Barbara ‘‘B’’ Smith Paula A. Sneed Charles Clinton Spaulding David L. Steward Leon Howard Sullivan Percy Ellis Sutton Lucious (Lou) Switzer Vertner W. Tandy Sr. Susan L. Taylor John W. Thompson Gloria E. A. Toote Dempsey Jerome Travis Lloyd G. Trotter Sheila Vaden-Williams A’Lelia Walker Antonio Maceo Walker Madame C. J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove) Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker Lloyd David Ward Carl H. Ware Augustus Washington Booker T. Washington Regynald G. Washington Sarah Spencer Washington Barbara Mae Watson Damon Wayans Paul Revere Williams David Augustus Williston Oprah Winfrey Sylvia P. Woods Andre Young. See Dr. Dre Alfred W. Zollar Booking Agencies Theater Owners Booking Association and the Entertainment Industry

Topical Entry List Boycotts and Protests Economic Boycotts and Protests Businesses E-Commerce and the African American Community Marcus Garvey’s UNIA Enterprise McKissack and McKissack Architects and Engineers, Inc. E. E. Ward Transfer and Storage Company Celebrations Minority Enterprise Development Week Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade in the 1920s and 1930s Cities and States Black Business Development in Missouri Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History Minority Businesses in Major Cities Clothing and Fashions Fashion Industry Conferences Black Corporate Directors Conference Conferences and Studies on the Negro in Business: The Early Years Conferences on African American Businesses Cooperative Movement Colored Merchants’ Association Consumer Cooperatives

Credit Unions Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work Movement (1929–1941) Federal Government Black Business Development and the Federal Government Financial Institutions/ Investments American Savings and Loan League Black Banks: Their Beginning Black Fund Managers Credit Unions Food Industry Barbecue Establishments Catering Industry Food Service Industry Grocery Store Enterprises Paschal’s Family Business Roadside and Street Vending Military and Industry Sailors and Merchant Mariners Miscellaneous Industries Roadside and Street Vending Sailors and Merchant Mariners Shoe Shine Establishments Newspapers and the Press Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities Organizations Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs Black Retail Action Group Booker T. Washington Business Association

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade in the 1920s and 1930s Citizens’ League for Fair Play Coalition of Black Trade Unionists Colored Merchants’ Association Corporation of Caterers Emergency Land Fund. See Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund Eta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Federation of Southern Cooperatives. See Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund International Black Women’s Congress Kid/Teenpreneurs: Business Leaders in the Making Legal Defense and Educational Fund National Afro-American League National Alliance of Market Developers National Association of Black Accountants National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters National Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs National Association of Investment Companies National Association of Minority Contractors National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs National Black Chamber of Commerce

xv

Topical Entry List National Black Farmers Association National Black MBA Association National Black United Fund National Business League. See National Negro Business League National Negro Business League 100 Black Men of America Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America

xvi

Urban Financial Services Coalition Waiters Benefit Association. See Corporation of Caterers

Research Resources on Business History

Real Estate

Retail Industry

Real Estate Industry

Retail Industry

Religion and Entrepreneurship

Women

Faith-Based Entrepreneurship

Women and Business

Federal Records for African American Business History

African American Business Leaders by Occupation Abolitionists

Advertising Executives, Agents

Athletes

Frederick Douglass. See Frederick Douglass’s Business Enterprises James Forten John Jones David Ruggles Augustus Washington

Donald Alvin Coleman Caroline R. Jones Byron Eugene Lewis Barbara Gardner Proctor

Henry ‘‘Hank’’ Aaron Melvin Farr Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr.

Accountants, Actuaries Roland W. Burris Jesse Hill Jr. Activists Frederick Douglass. See Frederick Douglass’s Business Enterprises Marcus Garvey. See Marcus Garvey’s UNIA Enterprise Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr. Don King Julianne Malveaux Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker Actors O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson Eddie Murphy Damon Wayans

Architects, Building Planners Albert Irvin Cassell John Anderson Lankford Calvin McKissack and Moses McKissack III Norma Merrick Sklarek Vertner W. Tandy Sr. Paul Revere Williams David Augustus Williston Artisans

Authors, Writers Wally ‘‘Famous Amos’’ Amos Jr. Richard Henry Boyd Earl G. Graves O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson Thomas ‘‘T. D.’’ Jakes Julianne Malveaux Patricia Russell-McCloud Barbara ‘‘B’’ Smith Susan L. Taylor Gloria E. A. Toote Dempsey Jerome Travis

William Ellison Artists—Painters, Portraitists James Conway Farley Artists—Woodcarvers Thomas Day Arts Patrons A’Lelia Walker

Automobile Industry Executives, Dealers Nathan G. Conyers Edward Davis Melvin Farr Elliott Sawyer Hall Darryl B. Hazel Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst Frederick Douglas Patterson Winston Pittman Sr. Roy S. Roberts

African American Business Leaders by Occupation Bankers, Bank Founders, Executives

Booking Company Executives

Communications Industry Executives

Jesse Binga Richard Henry Boyd Todd C. Brown Roland W. Burris I. Owen Funderburg Frederick Douglass. See Frederick Douglass’s Business Enterprises A. G. Gaston James Francis Haddon Carla Ann Harris William M. Lewis Jr. James Bruce Llewellyn Anthony Overton Heman Edward Perry Norman Blann Rice Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker

Ruth Jean Bowen

Thomas J. Burrell Delano Eugene Lewis

Barbershop Owners, Operators, Workers Alonzo Franklin Herndon John Merrick Beauty Industry Officials Joe L. Dudley Sr. S. B. Fuller Edward G. Gardner Marjorie Stewart Joyner Annie Turnbo Malone Naomi R. Sims A’Lelia Walker Madame C. J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove) Sarah Spencer Washington Beauty Salon Owners, Operators Cardozo Sisters Marjorie Stewart Joyner Rose Morgan

Booksellers Alfred M. Ligon Broadcast Executives Catherine ‘‘Cathy’’ Hughes Casino Owners, Operators Don H. Barden

Aaron McDuffie Moore

xviii

Robert Reed Church Sr. Isaac Myers James Carroll Napier Alan Shaw Composers Quincy Jones

Charm School Officials Barbara Mae Watson Civil Rights Leaders, Activists, Workers Archie Alphonso Alexander Clifford Leopold Alexander Jr. Richard Henry Boyd Alexander G. Clark Barney Launcelot Ford James Forten Earl G. Graves Jesse Hill Jr. John Jones Thomy Lafon Lunsford Lane Julianne Malveaux Leon Howard Sullivan Chemists, Chemical Company Executives William G. Mays Civic Leaders Edward G. Gardner Herman Jerome Russell Carl H. Ware

Corporate Executives Kenneth Irvine Chenault Virgis William Colbert Evern Cooper Epps Ann M. Fudge Dennis Fowler Hightower E. Stanley O’Neal Richard Dean Parsons Myrtle Stephens Potter Franklin Delano Raines Frank Savage Paula A. Sneed Lloyd David Ward Cosmetics Company Officials, Founders Joe L. Dudley Sr. S. B. Fuller Rose Morgan Anthony Overton Economists Andrew Felton Brimmer Julianne Malveaux Editors

Columnists Bibliophiles

Community Activists

Julianne Malveaux Susan L. Taylor

Eunice Walker Johnson Susan L. Taylor Augustus Washington

African American Business Leaders by Occupation Educators, Educational Administrators Richard Henry Boyd Andrew Felton Brimmer Albert Irvin Cassell Suzanne de Passe Dennis Fowler Hightower Marjorie Stewart Joyner John Anderson Lankford Berry O’Kelly Hazel R. O’Leary Joseph Alphonso Pierce David Ruggles Norma Merrick Sklarek Augustus Washington Booker T. Washington David Augustus Williston Engineers Archie Alphonso Alexander Joseph Jacob Simmons III Entrepreneurs, Business Leaders Henry ‘‘Hank’’ Aaron Clifford Leopold Alexander Jr. Wally ‘‘Famous Amos’’ Amos Jr. Don H. Barden Ruth Jean Bowen Richard Henry Boyd Sheila Bridges Albert Irvin Cassell Debra Martin Chase Robert Reed Church Sr. Alexander G. Clark Marie Therese Coincoin Kenneth L. Coleman Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs Ward Connerly Joe L. Dudley Sr. Kenneth ‘‘Babyface’’ Edmonds and Tracey Edmonds Elleanor Eldridge Melvin Farr Edward G. Gardner Marcus Garvey. See Marcus Garvey’s UNIA Enterprise

A. G. Gaston John Trusty Gibson Berry Gordy Jr. Earl G. Graves Lowell Hawthorne Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst Alexis M. Herman O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson Thomas ‘‘T. D.’’ Jakes Eunice Walker Johnson John H. Johnson Robert L. Johnson Don King Lunsford Lane Reginald F. Lewis James Bruce Llewellyn Annie Turnbo Malone Julianne Malveaux William G. Mays Jewell Jackson McCabe H. Carl McCall John Merrick Lightfoot Solomon Michaux Aaron McDuffie Moore Isaac Myers John E. ‘‘Jack’’ Nail James Carroll Napier Hazel R. O’Leary E. Stanley O’Neal Anthony Overton Henry Green Parks Jr. Charles V. Payne Heman Edward Perry Ernesta G. Procope Barbara Gardner Proctor Linda Johnson Rice Roy S. Roberts David Ruggles Herman Jerome Russell Frank Savage Russell Simmons Norma Merrick Sklarek Barbara ‘‘B’’ Smith Percy Ellis Sutton Gloria E. A. Toote Dempsey Jerome Travis Lloyd G. Trotter A’Lelia Walker Antonio Maceo Walker

Madame C. J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove) Carl H. Ware Augustus Washington Booker T. Washington Oprah Winfrey Entertainment Agents, Entrepreneurs Ruth Jean Bowen Robert Paschal and James Paschal Farmers, Planters William Ellison Augustus Washington Fashion Industry Executives John Jones Reginald F. Lewis Fashion Show Producers Eunice Walker Johnson Film Producers, Production Executives Debra Martin Chase Suzanne de Passe Spike Lee Eddie Murphy Damon Wayans Oprah Winfrey Financial Industry Executives James Francis Haddon Financial Journalists Karen Patricia Gibbs Food Industry Officials, Founders, Owners Todd C. Brown Leah Chase

xix

African American Business Leaders by Occupation Lowell Hawthorne Reginald F. Lewis Clarence Otis Jr. Robert Paschal and James Paschal Barbara ‘‘B’’ Smith Regynald G. Washington Sylvia P. Woods Fund-raisers Delano Eugene Lewis Furniture Industry Executives, Owners

Jesse Hill Jr. John Merrick Aaron McDuffie Moore Anthony Overton Harry H. Pace Heman Edward Perry Ernesta G. Procope Charles Clinton Spaulding Antonio Maceo Walker Interior Designers, Executives

Thomas Day

Sheila Bridges Lucious (Lou) Switzer

Government Officials (Federal)

Inventors

Andrew Felton Brimmer Alexis M. Herman Ronald N. Langston Delano Eugene Lewis Joseph Jacob Simmons III Barbara Mae Watson

Marjorie Stewart Joyner

Government Officials (State, Local)

Investment Company Executives

Roland W. Burris Hazel R. O’Leary Norman Blann Rice

Daniel C. Cochran Edith W. Cooper James Francis Haddon Carla Ann Harris Vernon Eulion Jordan Charles V. Payne

Investment Bankers, Consultants

James Carroll Napier Hazel R. O’Leary Harry H. Pace Richard Dean Parsons Gloria E. A. Toote Manufacturing Executives Lloyd David Ward Marketing Executives Thomas J. Burrell Media Executives, Entrepreneurs Dorothy Edwards Brunson Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs Catherine ‘‘Cathy’’ Hughes Quincy Jones Renetta McCann

Franklin Delano Raines Merchants

Health-Care Officials/Workers Aaron McDuffie Moore Woodrow Augustus Myers Jr. David Ruggles Hotel Owners, Operators Edwin C. Berry Humanitarians Joe L. Dudley Sr. A. G. Gaston Insurance Company Executives, Founders A. G. Gaston Sylvester Green Alonzo Franklin Herndon

xx

Labor Union Activists, Officials

Berry O’Kelly Midwives Bridget ‘‘Biddy’’ Mason Models Naomi R. Sims Barbara ‘‘B’’ Smith Morticians

Isaac Myers

Charles Diggs Jr.

Lawyers

Motivational Speakers

Clifford Leopold Alexander Jr. Paget Alves Roland W. Burris Kenneth Irvine Chenault Elliott Sawyer Hall Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. Vernon Eulion Jordan Debra Louise Lee Reginald F. Lewis James Bruce Llewellyn

Wally ‘‘Famous Amos’’ Amos Jr. Patricia Russell-McCloud Music Producers, Publishers, Promoters Suzanne de Passe Quincy Jones Harry H. Pace

African American Business Leaders by Occupation Antonio ‘‘L. A.’’ Reid Russell Simmons

Physicians

Newspaper Publishers/Editors

Policy Bankers

Robert Sengstacke Abbott Frederick Douglass. See Frederick Douglass’s Business Enterprises Anthony Overton

Casper A. Holstein

Organization Founders, Officials John Edward Bush Bruce S. Gordon Vernon Eulion Jordan Jewell Jackson McCabe Sheila Vaden-Williams Philanthropists Robert Reed Church Sr. Virgis William Colbert Joe L. Dudley Sr. Casper A. Holstein Eunice Walker Johnson John H. Johnson Marjorie Stewart Joyner Don King Thomy Lafon Reginald F. Lewis James Bruce Llewellyn Annie Turnbo Malone Bridget ‘‘Biddy’’ Mason John Merrick Aaron McDuffie Moore Berry O’Kelly Herman Jerome Russell Dempsey Jerome Travis Madame C. J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove) Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker Sarah Spencer Washington Oprah Winfrey Photographers James Conway Farley Augustus Washington

Woodrow Augustus Myers Jr.

Political Activists, Leaders Richard Henry Boyd Robert Reed Church Sr. Ward Connerly Barney Launcelot Ford James Carroll Napier Political Advisers Franklin Delano Raines Politicians John Edward Bush Charles Diggs Jr. Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. John Jones H. Carl McCall Percy Ellis Sutton Gloria E. A. Toote Augustus Washington Booker T. Washington Popular Culture Executives, Moguls

Linda Johnson Rice Susan L. Taylor Dempsey Jerome Travis Rap Artists Dr. Dre (Andre Young) O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson Real Estate Developers, Brokers Don H. Barden Jesse Binga Barney Launcelot Ford A. G. Gaston Thomy Lafon John Merrick John E. ‘‘Jack’’ Nail Philip A. Payton Jr. Dempsey Jerome Travis Record Industry Officials, Performers, Producers Dr. Dre (Andre Young) Kenneth ‘‘Babyface’’ Edmonds and Tracey Edmonds Berry Gordy Jr. Quincy Jones Harry H. Pace Antonio ‘‘L. A.’’ Reid Sylvia Rhone

Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs Public Servants, Officials Archie Alphonso Alexander James Bruce Llewellyn Public Utility Officials Erroll B. Davis Jr. Publishers, Publishing Executives (books, magazines) Richard Henry Boyd Earl G. Graves John H. Johnson Dorothy R. Leavell

Religious Leaders, Evangelists, Ministers Richard Henry Boyd Alexander G. Clark Thomas ‘‘T. D.’’ Jakes H. Carl McCall Lightfoot Solomon Michaux Leon Howard Sullivan Screenwriters Suzanne de Passe Damon Wayans Singers Carla Ann Harris

xxi

African American Business Leaders by Occupation Slaves Lunsford Lane

John W. Thompson Alfred W. Zollar

Songwriters

Telecommunications Officials

Kenneth ‘‘Babyface’’ Edmonds and Tracey Edmonds Antonio ‘‘L. A.’’ Reid

Paget Alves Bruce S. Gordon

Sports Promoters Don King Technology, Computer Industry Executives Donald Alvin Coleman Kenneth L. Coleman Sylvester Green Marc R. Hannah Charles E. Phillips Jr. Alan Shaw David L. Steward

xxii

Television Executives, Network Executives, Journalists Don H. Barden Karen Patricia Gibbs Robert L. Johnson Debra Louise Lee Paula Madison Frank Mercado-Valdes Television Hosts Barbara ‘‘B’’ Smith Oprah Winfrey

Television Producers Damon Wayans Oprah Winfrey Theater Owners, Producers, Managers John Trusty Gibson Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr. Traders Elleanor Eldridge Transportation, Shipping Company Executives, Shipbuilders Calvin Darden James Forten Isaac Myers

Preface Researching and writing on African American themes is both rewarding and challenging. A special challenge comes with determining the best and most logical way to present the findings so that readers who are knowledgeable in the field will gain fuller insight into trends in African American business and those who are barely knowledgeable will learn with ease. While some aspects of African American culture such as literature have broader appeal, clearly business is an area that affects everyone. And for African Americans who have experienced, and continue to meet, the challenges of a society that has yet to remove all vestiges of racial segregation, this work will contain information on African American business that helps to define their lives. This encyclopedia is designed as a user-friendly guide to all readers who seek to know more about African American business developments. To determine what focus the work should take, the editor conferred with African Americans who are business educators, business leaders, corporate executives, researchers, students, librarians, and information specialists. Special concern was given to consulting librarians and information specialists, for they are the ones who are called to address the information needs of all groups. Two primary advisers/ consultants assisted the editor in making the final selection of topics. Space limitations made it necessary to limit the number of entries; consequently, the reader should not expect to find every conceivable topic or an exhaustive list of biographies. This encyclopedia includes a variety of topics and ideas that may spur one on to further study and exploration. The topical arrangement is alphabetical; some topics are broad—for example, ‘‘Black Banks: Their Beginning’’; others are specific—such as the ‘‘Booker T. Washington Business Association.’’ A specific item is listed according to the most logical arrangement for that item; for example, ‘‘Frederick Douglass’s Business Enterprises’’ is arranged under the D’s, while ‘‘E. E. Ward Transfer and Storage Company’’ is arranged under the W’s. The arrangement also includes organizations and movements, such as the Colored Merchants’ Association and the ‘‘Don’t

Preface

Buy Where You Can’t Work’’ movement. Interspersed throughout the topics are entries on well-known African American women and men business leaders, such as entrepreneur Marcus Garvey, automobile dealer Melvin Farr, hair-care magnate Madame C. J. Walker, and television personality Oprah Winfrey. There are also lesser-known black entrepreneurs of an earlier time, including hotel operator Edwin C. Berry, banker Jesse Binga, furniture maker Thomas Day, and theater owner John Trusty Gibson. Timely topics, such as ‘‘E-Commerce and the African American Community,’’ and topics of concern to America’s black youth, such as ‘‘Kid/Teenpreneurs: Business Leaders in the Making,’’ are included as well. All entries, which are signed, were written by scholars with a connection to educational institutions. Each entry concludes with a list of sources. The reader is encouraged to consult these references for additional information. Where appropriate, blind entries are provided to guide the reader to the actual listing for an entrant; for example, popular culture mogul Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs, who has assumed various names from time to time, is actually listed under ‘‘Combs’’; blind entries include ‘‘P. Diddy,’’ ‘‘Puff Daddy,’’ ‘‘Puffy,’’ and his current assumed name, ‘‘Diddy.’’ Similarly, rapper ‘‘Ice Cube’’ is referenced to O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson. Bold references appear throughout the work; thus, terms, individual names, and so on, that are themselves entries in the encyclopedia are boldfaced when they first appear in an entry. If a cross-reference is boldfaced in an entry, it does not appear as a ‘‘see also’’ reference. To further facilitate use of the information in this encyclopedia, special lists are provided at the front of the book: Entry List, Topical Entry List, and African American Business Leaders by Occupation. The Topical Entry List gives broad headings in alphabetical order, under which various topics are further grouped, alphabetically arranged. The topical head ‘‘Academic Institutions,’’ for example, includes entries ‘‘Business Ownership in Select Academic Institutions’’ and ‘‘Centers for Entrepreneurship in Academic Institutions.’’ ‘‘Biographies’’ is another heading and provides an alphabetical listing of individuals who are entries in the encyclopedia. Other headings include ‘‘Booking Agencies,’’ ‘‘Boycotts and Protests,’’ ‘‘Businesses,’’ the ‘‘Food Industry,’’ and ‘‘Organizations,’’ among others. The final section, ‘‘Women,’’ lists the entry ‘‘Women and Business,’’ although the reader should realize that information on women is scattered throughout the encyclopedia. The African American Business Leaders by Occupation list is likewise alphabetically arranged by occupation and includes headings such as ‘‘Abolitionists’’; ‘‘Activists’’; ‘‘Architects, Building Planners’’; ‘‘Artisans’’; ‘‘Authors, Writers’’; ‘‘Corporate Executives’’; ‘‘Engineers’’; ‘‘Entrepreneurs, Business Leaders’’; ‘‘Food Industry Officials, Founders, Owners’’; ‘‘Philanthropists’’; ‘‘Politicians’’; ‘‘Publishers, Publishing Executives (books, magazines)’’; ‘‘Record Industry Officials, Performers, Producers’’; ‘‘Religious Leaders, Evangelists, Ministers’’; ‘‘Technology, Computer Industry Executives’’; ‘‘Television Executives, Network Executives, Journalists’’; and ‘‘Traders’’. Those businesspeople

xxiv

Preface

whose various occupations place them in more than one category may be listed under two or more categories. The encyclopedia’s illustrations were chosen carefully; they include tables, photographs of people, and images of early black businesses, such as the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company’s office building and Poro College Building, where hair-care magnate Annie Turnbo Malone operated her enterprise. The inclusion of older images not readily seen in published sources was deliberate: They illustrate the rich and colorful early history of African American enterprise. Similarly, the tables include historic as well as contemporary statistical information on business, employment, banks, and other topics covered in the book. The encyclopedia concludes with a Selected Bibliography, which will facilitate further study on African American business, and the About the Contributors section, which provides a brief biographical note on each scholar who contributed to this book. This chronology of African Americans tells the story of their contributions in the area of business. It is hoped that this encyclopedia will inspire users to continue their exploration into this aspect of African American culture.

xxv

Introduction The Encyclopedia of African American Business, though restricted in size and coverage, gives an overview of the black business community and black business leaders in America from the first quarter of the eighteenth century to the early twenty-first century. Its purpose is to help bridge the information gap in the field, identifying such data as might be useful in educational and business arenas. While this encyclopedia’s primary concern is with African Americans in business, it must be emphasized that blacks had been involved in business long before they were brought to America as slaves. In their mother country Africa, blacks had seen their own people work as traders. When they reached America, many did not lose their will to be entrepreneurs—they lost only their opportunity. Even the plantation economy demanded artisans and craftspersons to operate, and blacks had roles that went beyond planting, hoeing, and reaping. In urban settings the enslaved worked at such jobs as artisans, musicians, and dressmakers; they enhanced or developed skills that would be economically useful to them once they were freed. Some were allowed to hire themselves out and earn the money needed to purchase their own freedom and that of their families. Many free blacks did become entrepreneurs. They were seen in almost all southern cities working as barbers, butchers, mechanics, and artisans. Some even manufactured furniture, pottery, and bricks. Both slave and free blacks produced materials for the local markets. Some maintained restaurants and hotels. The fine caterers of antebellum America, the fashionable dressmakers, and the hairdressers— most of whom worked outside the South—were black. Those black-owned enterprises that survived the slavery period succumbed to the changed business requirements that came during the industrial age. Business operations had to be efficient, thus calling for a positive response to the requirements for modernization. Black businesses during slavery were, for the most part, located outside the South and involved skilled trades, such as blacksmithing, painting, plumbing, and shoemaking.

Introduction

As noted, catering and hairdressing were also popular, as were barbering, hotel and restaurant management, and several small enterprises. While a few businesses catered to blacks, most did not and for survival—if nothing more—fit their enterprises into the whole economy instead. A separate black and white economy could not coexist; however, in time, black leaders encouraged self-help activities in an effort to strengthen the black economy and weaken ties with the white economy. Historians found, however, that almost as soon as the first settlers came to America, they constructed laws to discourage black entrepreneurship. From the end of the Civil War to the modern civil rights era, whites drove blacks out of their trades. Even those cited earlier that slaves had practiced and dominated so well were later closed or severely curtailed. Fortunately, black businesses found other ways to survive. Many were born out of churches and fraternal societies and aimed to provide essential needs that blacks could not find otherwise. From these businesses—the fraternal societies in particular— came banking and insurance companies that clearly strengthened the black economy. The Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, popularly known as the Freedman’s Bank, established March 3, 1865, to serve the financial needs of blacks, was penetrated by the white banking business and, of course, led to black’s mistrust of the banking industry when the bank failed. That the reasons for failure lay outside the black community was hardly acceptable to the black community. The failure rate of banks during this period, however, appears to have been no greater for blacks than for whites. Some business historians suggest that the slave society shaped those businesses that blacks entered early on. The successful early businesses were primarily those that whites chose not to operate, thus leaving opportunities for blacks to become shoemakers, draymen, and liverymen. The Encyclopedia of African American Business embraces the activities of black entrepreneurs, documenting when and where blacks owned and operated their businesses. The biographies, articles, and statistical tables given here document black business development and illustrate the occupations of blacks during various periods in history. For example, Table 28 shows that, in 1863, blacks owned twelve types of businesses, which included bakery, catering, dressmaking, fish and oyster, and sailmaking. By 1913, however, blacks owned seventy-two types of businesses, which included automobile service and garage, architecture, banking, bottling and soda water-making, drug store, electrical, employment bureau, haberdashery, hotel keeping, insurance, jewelry, printing and publishing, real estate, stationery, undertaking, and wood and coal. As African Americans began to take a fuller share of American prosperity, they also played a larger role in shaping the economic development of the black community. By no means, however, has the gap between white and black wealth and economic influence been bridged; rather, blacks are simply more visible in far more economic arenas than they were in the past. Economic progress continues to lag behind improvements in civil rights. After the Civil War the South’s economy was decidedly segregated by race. Whites refused to patronize black businesses, and certainly after 1873

xxviii

Introduction

few black businesses in the South survived. Those that continued or emerged after that time had black clientele, and black businesses as a whole remained relatively small. The transition into the industrial age was difficult for the small, black entrepreneurs who had little capital and limited management skills—both essential to survival. This encyclopedia draws on a continuing tradition of assessing the role of blacks in economic endeavors. For example, one cannot overlook the important work of W.E.B. Du Bois and Atlanta University. Du Bois edited the proceedings of various Atlanta University conferences, specifically its conference on ‘‘The Negro in Business’’ (1899). The university was concerned with the extent to which blacks were entering into business life and thus devoted its fourth annual conference to that theme. The statistics, reports on various enterprises, and recommendations for strengthening black businesses have been important to the economic development of the black community. In 1907, Booker T. Washington published his seminal work The Negro in Business. Rather than give statistical accounts of black business enterprises or a detailed and consecutive history of black business development, he reports on many successful blacks and what they have done in the field. The aim was to encourage increasing numbers of young blacks to seize the opportunities open to them in the business field. Washington was well positioned to publish his work. In 1900 Washington became a founder of the National Negro Business League (NNBL) (renamed the National Business League in 1966); it became a key organization among black businessmen. His activities with the National Business League often put him in contact with black entrepreneurs or would-be entrepreneurs. He had traveled the country and noted the number of black men and women, often in remote districts or small towns, who were engaged in various lines of business. Their lives and work document black business history during this period. Persons included in his findings were engaged in such occupations as agriculturalists, bankers, caterers, hotel keepers, inventors, journalists, manufacturers, newspaper owners, realty company operators, town builders, and undertakers. As well, his book gives accounts of black entrepreneurs whose work had made them highly visible. The scarcity of published information on African American people in the field of business and topical issues related to black business development both in the United States and in some foreign countries has been partially remedied by the important The Negro Yearbook, under different editorships and published by Tuskegee Institute (as it was previously known) in Alabama from 1912 to 1947. Much credit for the establishment of the publication is owed to Booker T. Washington, educator, the school’s president, and a founder of the NNBL. The yearbooks give statistical information, biographical information, topical essays, and data on then-timely topics that relate to business history. The early yearbooks document the NNBL’s importance to black business development and the effects of World War I on business activity that peaked in the 1920s. It was at this time that building and loan associations, insurance companies, banks, real estate agents, chain stores, steamship lines, and other enterprises came on the scene.

xxix

Introduction

Black businesses increased rapidly during much of the first half of the twentieth century, particularly during what was called the golden age, or up to the 1930s. Many of these businesses, however, followed new lines and still served segregated markets. During this time the black real estate market emerged, and blacks built hotels, theaters, homes, office buildings, and other facilities and financed them through black banks and loan associations. Transportation, leisure, and entertainment enterprises were seen as well, often in response to segregated facilities and sometimes facilities not available to blacks at all. Blacks, for example, built their own railroad lines, municipal transportation systems, summer resorts, car rental companies, automobile repair shops, and automobile manufacturing companies. These businesses are documented in The Negro Handbook. Still an important source for historical accounts, The Negro Handbook was published variously between 1942 and 1966. It is considered a useful source on aspects of black business for the periods when the work was published; for example, the 1966 edition, published by Johnson Publishing Company, discusses ‘‘The Negro Market’’ and includes lists and assets of black banking institutions; savings and loan associations; funeral and burial insurance companies; and limited life, mutual aid, assessment health and accident companies. Other statistical data on banks and on the black economy are given as well. African American organizations are not to be disregarded in the development and promotion of black business leaders and their work. Their involvement has been seen, for example, in the work of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), later known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. ASNLH discussed the subject of blacks as entrepreneurs at a special session held during its annual meeting in Washington, D.C. in 1925. The association abandoned an early idea of conducting a much-needed survey of blacks in business and instead collected data for other studies, such as the economic activities of blacks since the Civil War. The data revealed interesting, important, and useful facts that shed light on blacks as businesspeople. There are limitations in the results; for example, data failed to indicate which businesses that appeared to be controlled by blacks were actually owned by whites. Data were also restricted to blacks in independent businesses ‘‘without going into its ramifications,’’ the report said. Thus, the report, published as The Negro as a Business Man by J. H. Harmon Jr., Arnett G. Lindsay, and Carter G. Woodson (1929), discusses blacks as local entrepreneurs, developments in black banking, and the development of insurance companies. While the study shows that blacks took an early interest in establishing banks and savings institutions, such as the True Reformers Bank in Richmond and Binga State Bank in Chicago, insurance companies were the more prosperous black business enterprises among the race. Black insurance companies helped to perpetuate the segregated economy that was seen early on. Many white-owned companies refused to insure blacks, and if they did so, premiums were decidedly higher for blacks than for whites. Among those black insurance companies

xxx

Introduction

discussed in The Negro as a Business Man are Standard Life Insurance Company in Atlanta, the first old-line legal reserve corporation organized among blacks; and North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company in Durham, which would become the nation’s largest black-owned insurance company. Among the classic publications on African American business is Abram L. Harris’s The Negro as Capitalist: A Study of Banking and Business among American Negroes (1936). The results of a study, the book covers a variety of topics, including the rise of capitalism, the accumulation of black wealth prior to 1860, the economic base of the black middle class, and black banks. Added to this is Vishnu Oak’s proposed three-volume series titled The Negro Entrepreneur; each volume approaches black business from a different perspective. Titles in the series are The Negro Newspaper (1948), The Negro’s Adventure in General Business (1949), and Negro Insurance and Banking. The scope of the second work is broad and includes business ventures popular in the late 1940s, when the work was completed. Atlanta University and the National Urban League combined their interest in studying business and business education among blacks and on February 1, 1944, launched a study that ended on February 1, 1946. Joseph A. Pierce, of the Atlanta University faculty, directed the study and published the results in Negro Business and Business Education (1947). The study examined only those businesses owned and operated by blacks. The study reported on issues or operations, such as banking, consumer cooperatives (including the Colored Merchants’ Association), life insurance companies, building and loan associations, and problems of business education training among blacks. As seen throughout studies and reports of black business operations, the racial climate of the nation played an important part in making black businesses necessary as well as in causing their demise. Results of the investigation gave Atlanta University information that it needed to go forward with a proposed graduate School of Business Administration to serve the needs of blacks and the business community. The National Urban League and its local branches gained information to make their services more valuable to the nation and to enlarge job opportunities for blacks. Cooperating black institutions were to be linked with their communities so that they would be positioned to identify community needs and to render better service to those communities. Clearly, activities that followed this investigation helped to shape the development of black business and business education around that time. As late as 1971, when John Seder and Berkeley G. Burrell published Getting It Together: Black Businessmen in America, they found that information about successful black businessmen of that period remained incomplete. They mirror other findings, showing that, during the 1920s, thousands of black businesses were founded, many of them banks and insurance companies that survived the Great Depression and were operational in the 1970s. Some are still operational. As black businesses emerged rapidly—many short-lived— the investigators were hard put to keep up with their contributions. But they

xxxi

Introduction

stressed an important fact—the need to interview the business leaders to gain deeper insights into their lives than had been previously known and published. Recent and important newer studies, histories, and accounts geared to black business development have made great strides in identifying trends from the 1790s through the 1990s, giving biographical sketches as well. These include John N. Ingham and Lynne B. Feldman’s African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary (1994). The 123 biographies included in the work contain detailed and comprehensive information up to the date of publication. The authors cast their net widely, covering leaders in a broad range of southern cities, major northern centers, and the Far West. Coverage of leaders in some areas was incomplete, thus necessitating further research. The most recent and comprehensive work on black business is Juliet E. K. Walker’s The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship (1998). With this work, Walker took the field of black business information in a new direction. Using hundreds of primary and secondary sources, she traced black business development from the 1600s to the 1990s, giving accounts of the work of slaves and free blacks, then the work of black entrepreneurs later on. Stories of black millionaires, early automobile manufacturers, and others dispel the myth that black businesses were always small, unproductive, and unsuccessful. Juliet Walker was not done with her study of African American business development. She continued her scholarly and comprehensive work in the field with the publication of the Encyclopedia of African American Business History (1999). Its purpose, as noted in the introduction, is ‘‘to illuminate the historic continuity of black business in America from the colonial era to the post–civil rights era and to underscore the diversity of black business activities, from slavery to freedom.’’ Walker points out a primary flaw and omission in black business scholarship: It remained on the margins of the scholarly exploration of the African American experience. An important information source, the work gives over 200 entries on African American business experience from the 1600s to the 1990s and includes biographies, topical issues on black business history, and business participation in certain industries. A smaller but more recent work is Rachel Kranz’s African-American Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs (2004). Kranz acknowledges an issue that the former Association for the Study of Negro Life and History noted in its report in 1929, stating that ‘‘the world of black business is becoming ever more white-dominated.’’ Following the trend of larger enterprises to acquire smaller ones, companies such as Motown Records (founded by Berry Gordy Jr.), Wally Amos’s Famous Cookies, Essence magazine (now owned by AOL Time Warner), and Russell Simmons’s Defjam records (and later his clothing line Pfat Farm) are examples of black-founded enterprises that have become either wholly owned by whites or almost so. BET (Black Entertainment Television), though not discussed in the book, is another example.

xxxii

Introduction

Although the entries in African-American Business Leaders are limited to some 165 entrants, some of the entrants identified are women about whom too little has been said. For students and scholars interested in primary research materials on the subject of this book, including data relating to a wide variety of enterprises from one- to two-person operations such as barbershops and beauty salons to multinational operations, we have included a discussion of Federal Records for African American Business History. These records are available at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) headquartered in Washington, D.C. and NARA II in College Park, Maryland. Regional record centers located throughout the United States are useful as well. A guide to such records is the publication Black History: A Guide to Civilian Records in the National Archives (1984). Among the bureaus, branches, and/ or divisions represented in the records are the Department of Commerce (under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration); it was during this period that records relating to black businesses multiplied. Records of the Division of Negro Affairs, located in the Office of the Secretary of Commerce, are important for information on insurance companies, lending institutions, conferences on blacks in business (1940–1953), architects, real estate agents, journalists, hair-care producers, funeral directors, and other topics. Other insurance companies, New Deal agencies, World War II agencies, the black press, Office of War Information, and so on, are represented in the records as well. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are represented here for their work in developing entrepreneurial programs. Examples are the Center for Entrepreneurship and E-Business at North Carolina Agricultural State University in Greensboro, and the gender-conscious program at Tennessee State University in Nashville, the Women’s Institute for Successful Entrepreneurship. Useful sources for these data are reports from the programs published in newsletters and, of course, write-ups in journals. The work of the African American press, covered in this work as an essay, cannot be overemphasized as a vital source of information on black business leaders and the development of black businesses. It was that press that preserved black history when mainstream publishers, presses, and journalists failed to recognize its worth, gave no credence to developments in the black community, and found no market in disseminating the news from black people. From the antebellum newspapers, including Freedom’s Journal founded in 1827, to the present, that press has advertised black businesses, such as heat-cleaning and sewing, and products that targeted black people, such as hair-care products that Madame C. J. Walker manufactured later on. Many of the entries included in this encyclopedia use information from newspapers such as the Afro-American, Chicago Defender, and the Pittsburgh Courier. Long-standing journals such as Crisis (publication of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP]), Opportunity (official publication of the National Urban League), and Southern Workman provide a wealth of information on black businesses and document the lives

xxxiii

Introduction

of many black business leaders. Black popular publications, such as Jet and Ebony, join the scholarly ones in casting the net even wider and deeper, sometimes supplying details otherwise overlooked. For the business field, Black Enterprise magazine has been, and continues to be, the chief source of current information, whether statistical, biographical, or simply newsworthy highlights. Along with articles and sketches on well-known business leaders, journals such as Black Enterprise and Ebony include in their monthly publications emerging black entrepreneurs—people to watch. These journals almost always identify blacks promoted to top positions in corporate America. Black Enterprise recognizes people and businesses by naming them ‘‘Entrepreneur of the Year,’’ ‘‘Advertising Agency of the Year,’’ ‘‘Auto Dealer of the Year,’’ or ‘‘Industrial/Service Company of the Year.’’ Such ranking preserves an important part of history and at the same time recognizes the current leadership among black entrepreneurs. Perhaps the decade of the 1960s ushered in a new approach to journalism by mainstream publishers as they began to give coverage to the black community, including business leaders and business developments. Along with such highly recognized newspapers as the New York Times and Washington Post, papers that in the past had given more than passing recognition to the black community, papers of major cities in the South expanded their coverage. Examples are the Atlanta Journal/Constitution, the Charlotte Observer, and the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Popular mainstream journals, such as Time and Newsweek, and more specialized ones, such as Business Week, have helped document African American business developments. African American business developments are recorded also in the stories that slaves told. Later, some of these narratives were published individually or collectively. This occurred despite the restrictions that the American slave system placed on those who labored under bondage. Some slaves were known to excel in business and at times to earn enough money to buy their freedom as well as that of their families. Such experiences are included here in several overlooked works. One may note with interest the use of the slave narrative (a source not to be overlooked) for biographical information. As examples may be cited nineteenth-century entrepreneur Lunsford Lane and his Narrative of Lunsford Lane, Formerly of Raleigh, N.C. (1842), and three slave narratives by Frederick Douglass—My Bondage and My Freedom (1845), The Narrative of Frederick Douglass (1845), and The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881). Lane, of Raleigh, North Carolina, sold smoking tobacco that he and his father processed and used the profits to purchase his freedom. Among his various notable deeds, Douglass headed the Freedman’s Bank in 1874. Other slave narratives tell of successes in such businesses as cabinetmaking and grocery store ownership and in various enterprises. Increasingly biographical information on African American business leaders is made immediately available to researchers, whether they are in academia and seek to fulfill assignments for term papers or are part of the general

xxxiv

Introduction

public with a need to fill. The sources update the field of biographical works since William J. Simmons published his seminal work Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive, and Rising (1887), Monroe A. Majors issued his Noted Negro Women (1926), and Hallie Q. Brown brought out her pioneer work on black women, Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction (1926). It was not until 1992, however, that the first major contemporary work on black women’s biography was published. At that time the editor of this encyclopedia published the first of her series of works on women, Notable Black American Women; Book II was issued in 1996, and Book III in 2003. Coverage extends to early black women entrepreneurs such as former slave and pastry chef Quaimo, former slave and tradeswoman Elleanor Eldridge, and banker Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker, as well as to contemporary black women entrepreneurs such as entertainment booking agent Ruth Jean Bowen. Added to that set is this editor’s Notable Black American Men (1999), where entries span the gamut from early furniture manufacturer Thomas Day to current corporate executive Kenneth Irvine Chenault. In recent years, scholars have published reference works on African Americans that provide biographical information on business leaders and business educators. Such works are comprehensive in the subject areas included and yet are important for the purposes of this encyclopedia and the whole field of business. One example is Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston’s Dictionary of American Negro Biography, published in 1982. As well, there are Darlene Clark Hine’s two-volume set Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia (Carlson, 1993) and the three-volume second edition of her work (Oxford University Press, 2005). In addition to biographical data, there are discussions on women in business. In 2004 editors Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham added to the biographical references on blacks by publishing African American Lives, to be followed by a forthcoming multivolume African American National Biography. There are other important biographical sources continuously published, such as Contemporary Black Biography and Who’s Who among African Americans, and the mainstream publications that have increased their coverage of blacks, such as Current Biography, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in Commerce and Industry. The multivolume American National Biography, published in 1999, is a good example of the increasingly comprehensive coverage of African Americans in standard reference works. While the earlier Dictionary of American Biography was mostly concerned with white men, its contemporary successor covers women and blacks far more inclusively. Interviews serve well as a means of gathering information; they give firsthand accounts, help clarify errors of fact that have been published, and preserve a long-standing tradition in the African American community. Some of our writers have included personal interviews with subjects, whether by telephone or in person. This is demonstrated in the entries on restaurateurs Robert and James Paschal and real estate executive Cecilia Antonietta Mowatt and in the interviews with owners and operators of roadside stands.

xxxv

Introduction

Researchers also benefit from the immediate access to information that online searches provide. There are Web sites for organizations, individuals, businesses, and so on. For example, the history of the Citizen Trust Bank in Atlanta and the history of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund are both available online. There are also online biographical sources, such as Handbook of Texas Online, and articles on the current Afro-American History Conferences held at Tennessee State University in Nashville. No current history of African American business would be complete without the inclusion of information on e-commerce and technology. We have provided that here in the entry ‘‘E-Commerce and the African American Community.’’ Biographies of those black leaders who have made, or are making, important contributions in the area of technology are scattered throughout the encyclopedia. Finally, repositories of primary resources are essential for gathering data that may or may not be available in published sources. Those in various state libraries and archives, archives in academic institutions, and papers of historical societies are among this group. Fortunately, some of these institutions will respond to online requests without charge or provide additional and indepth research for a fee. Special African American Collections are another essential source; those at the Woodruff Library at Atlanta University, Fisk University, the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, are among the comprehensive collections available. For example, Fisk has the papers of the McKissack and McKissack architectural firm as well as those of James Carroll Napier, a subject in this encyclopedia and a founder of Citizen’s Bank in Nashville—one of the oldest continuous African American banking institutions. There still remains a great need for scholarly investigation in the field of black business. For example, there are African American business leaders who are in high posts and about whom, regrettably, little has been said. Equally important is the need to know the entrepreneurs at other levels— those who pioneered, who made a way when there appeared to be no way. Various pioneering business ventures have often set the stage for the visible big-time operations that followed. Within the limits imposed by our current knowledge, this work tells the story of accomplishments from before the arrival of blacks in this country to the present hour. That history is sad, colorful, exciting, fascinating, eventful, unbelievable, and yet incomplete.

xxxvi

Encyclopedia of African American Business

A Henry ‘‘Hank’’ Aaron (1934– ), Baseball Legend, Entrepreneur ‘‘Hammerin’ Hank’’ Aaron became an international sports icon in 1974 when his 715th home run broke Babe Ruth’s long-standing all-time home run record. By the end of Aaron’s twenty-three years in major league baseball in 1976, he had hit 755 home runs—a number unsurpassed for more than three decades. After retiring from the playing field, Aaron became a vice president for the Atlanta Braves, the team on which he had played for twenty years. That position made him the first African American in top-level management of major league baseball. Though Aaron’s baseball career was marked by a number of historic firsts, it also was marred by racially motivated slights and hostility. Over the years, the home run king has spoken out against racism in baseball, supported civil rights initiatives, and contributed to efforts to improve life chances for African American youth. He also has become a savvy businessman with holdings that include a number of thriving fast-food restaurant franchises and a group of successful car dealerships. Henry Louis Aaron was born during the Great Depression on February 5, 1934, in Mobile, Alabama. He entered the world the day before the thirtyninth birthday of reigning Home Run King Babe Ruth. Aaron’s father Herbert worked as a dry dock boilermaker’s assistant and tavern owner to support his wife Estella and their eight children. When Aaron was eight years old, his father bought land on the outskirts of town in Toulminville and built a home for his family. Though poor, the Aarons were among the few black homeowners in the community at a time when Jim Crow laws and practices often restricted life chances for African Americans. Aaron developed a passion for baseball early in life. As a child, he swung a homemade bat at bottle tops, fashioned baseballs by wrapping nylon stockings around old golf balls, and spent hours hitting them with a mop stick. Sometimes he would repeatedly throw a ball over the roof of his house and swiftly run to the other side to catch it before it hit the ground. Aaron decided to become a major league baseball player at fourteen after his father took him to hear a speech by his hero Jackie Robinson, the black player who

Henry ‘‘Hank’’ Aaron

integrated major league baseball in 1947. Young Aaron prepared for his future by playing softball on a Mobile recreation department team prophetically called the Braves. Then, in 1951, Aaron caught the eye of the Black Bears, a semiprofessional African American baseball team based in Mobile. His mother gave him permission to play shortstop with the team during their Sunday home games. Aaron finished high school at the Josephine Allen Institute in Mobile in 1952 in spite of being preoccupied by baseball. The Indianapolis Clowns, one of the best of the remaining Negro League teams, snatched up the eighteen-year-old to play shortstop that same year. The scrawny kid from Mobile with the strong, swift, cross-handed bat swing soon attracted the attention of major league scouts. The Boston Braves signed him up in the middle of the 1952 season. The right-handed batter corrected his grip as he played for the club’s farm team in Wisconsin. Aaron was voted the Northern League Rookie of the Year by the end of 1952. In 1953, the year the Braves moved to Milwaukee, Aaron’s performance with the club’s farm team in Jacksonville, Florida, also paid off: At nineteen, he was named Most Valuable Player in the South Atlantic (Sally) League. At the end of the season, Aaron married Barbara Lucas, a Jacksonville college student. The couple soon became the parents of a baby girl they named Gaile. The twenty-year-old family man got his big chance to play his first major league game during the 1954 season when he replaced the Braves’ injured left fielder. He hit a home run on his very first turn at bat. Over the next two decades, he built one of the most amazing careers in major league baseball history. He hit a minimum of twenty home runs each season from 1955 to 1975—a record thirty homers in fifteen of those seasons. ‘‘Hammerin’ Hank’’ Aaron became the league’s Most Valuable Player in 1957 and later that year led the Braves to a World Series victory. Life for Aaron was good but far from perfect. He faced racism every day. The racial slurs hurled at him from the stands stunned and hurt him. While on the road, Aaron and fellow black teammates could not stay in hotels with their white teammates because of Jim Crow laws and practices. The quiet, dignified baseball player once had to hide in the woods of Covington, Kentucky, to elude a posse of police cars pursuing him because he rode in a car with a white teammate, the teammate’s wife, and sister-in-law. The white press often portrayed the slugger as a slow-witted character with natural talent rather than as a skilled, disciplined, and purposeful player. Aaron rarely lost his temper in public after such personal outrages, but throughout his career, he publicly spoke out in the media against segregated training camps and continually called for the hiring of African Americans for coaching and management positions on major league teams. He also became a stalwart supporter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Paradoxically, after Aaron went to Atlanta with the Braves in 1966, he experienced both his greatest popularity and most frightening confrontations with racism. By 1970 he had become the first player to amass 3,000 hits

4

Henry ‘‘Hank’’ Aaron

and over 500 home runs. Fans applauded when he stepped onto the field. He began the 1971 season with a three-year contract at $200,000 a year, making him the highest paid player in baseball. He ended the 1973 season just one home run short of Babe Ruth’s record. However, as thousands cheered him on, Aaron received hundreds of letters from all over the country warning him not to usurp the Great Bambino as the all-time home run king. Though Aaron’s marriage to his wife Barbara dissolved during this period, he was the proud and protective father of four children. He hired a bodyguard and welcomed the help of local and national authorities in the face of death threats against him and his family. Undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in Nashville, Tennessee, protected Aaron’s oldest daughter Gaile, a student at Fisk University and the target of a kidnapping attempt. By the fall of 1973, Aaron’s concern also extended to his new wife, Atlanta educator and television personality Billye Williams, and his seven-year-old stepdaughter Ceci. In spite of the dangers, Aaron went on to tie Babe Ruth’s record and then exceed it before a cheering crowd of more than 53,000 fans during the Brave’s opening game in Atlanta on April 8, 1974. Aaron played his last two seasons in major league baseball for the Milwaukee Brewers. By the end of his career in 1976, he had established a dozen other major league baseball records, including most games, at-bats, total bases, and runs batted in (RBIs). He also had earned three Gold Gloves as an outstanding defensive outfielder and played in twenty-four All Star games. Aaron was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982 for his lifetime of achievements. Aaron returned to Atlanta in 1977 after new Braves owner Ted Turner appointed him vice president of player development. That position made Aaron the highest-ranking African American in major league baseball management. He has since served on the Braves’ board of directors and as senior vice president for the club. In the early twenty-first century, the retired slugger is a successful businessman. He owns Church’s Chicken, Popeye, and Krispy Kreme franchises in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, all under the umbrella of his 755 Restaurant Corporation. Additionally, Aaron is chairman of the board of the Hank Aaron Automotive Group, Inc., which includes BMW, Jaguar, and Toyota dealerships. The automotive group was number 38 on the Black Enterprise list of the top 100 auto dealerships for 2004. Aaron’s philanthropic activities include the Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation, which he cofounded with his wife Billye Aaron to provide opportunities for children to develop their talents. In 2002, George Bush awarded Aaron the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2005, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund awarded him the Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award. The organization also has established the Hank Aaron Humanitarian in Sports Award. Sources Aaron, Hank, with Lonnie Wheeler. I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story. New York: HarperTorch/HarperCollins, 1991.

5

Robert Sengstacke Abbott Binford, Minter A. ‘‘Hank Aaron.’’ The New Georgia Encyclopedia. http://www. georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id¼h-739. Stanton, Tom. Hank Aaron and the Home Run That Changed America. New York: Perennial Currents/HarperCollins, 2005. Sykes, Tanisha. ‘‘Power Hitter: Baseball Legend Hank Aaron Scores Big with His Import Dealership.’’ Black Enterprise 34 (June 2004): 160–162.

Clarissa Myrick-Harris

Robert Sengstacke Abbott (1868–1940), Newspaper Publisher and Editor Robert Sengstacke Abbott was the founder in 1905 of the Chicago Defender, which became one of the leading African American newspapers in the United States. A very astute businessman, he was persistent, frugal, shrewd, and skilled in gauging his potential customers. After initial struggles, he achieved substantial success by 1917, when he became a promoter of the great migration of blacks from the rural South to the urban North. At his death he left control of the paper to his nephew, John H. H. Sengstacke (1912–1997), who turned the paper into the Chicago Daily Defender in February 1956. Abbott was the son of Thomas Abbott and Flora Butler Abbott. His father, who was then running a grocery store on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, died in 1869, and his mother moved back to her native Savannah. In 1874, his mother married John Hermann Henry Sengstacke, and the couple had seven children. Five-year-old Abbott took the name Robert Sengstacke. He attended Beach Institute in Savannah, Clafin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and then Hampton Institute. During his years at school he faced color prejudice due to his own dark complexion. At Hampton Abbott sang in the Hampton Quartet, finished a printing course in 1893, and completed his academic work in 1893. In 1897 at the age of twenty-eight, Abbott moved to Chicago to pursue a law degree, which he earned from Kent College of Law in 1899, using the name Robert Sengstacke Abbott. After attempts to establish a law practice elsewhere, he returned to Chicago and found work as a printer. In May 1905, he published the first issue of the Chicago Defender. This was the fourth black newspaper in Chicago at the time. The paper nearly failed, but the support of his landlady, Henrietta Plumer Lee, enabled it to survive. In 1907, the paper had a press run of 1,000 copies, and Abbott increased its success by his first campaign—against the concentration of vice in the black community. In 1915, Abbott began to publish an eight-column, eight-page, full-size newspaper, which was on its way to becoming a national paper. He launched his ‘‘Great Northern Drive’’ campaign, urging blacks to move to the North and reporting frankly on conditions in the South. This aroused intense anger among southern whites, but by the end of 1918 circulation was about

6

Robert Sengstacke Abbott

180,000 copies, reaching 230,000 in 1920, with at least two-thirds sold outside Chicago. In 1929, Abbott launched the first well-financed black magazine, Abbott’s Monthly, but it failed to survive the financial stresses brought on by the Great Depression and ceased publication in 1933. The Defender ran into problems during this time also but had returned to profitability by 1933. One effect of the financial squeeze was the firing of the white printers working for union wages in the paper’s black-owned printing plant, which had been a first for black newspapers when it opened in 1921. Abbott married twice. The 1918 marriage to Helen Thornton Morrison ended in divorce in 1933. In 1934 he married Edna Denison. Neither marriage produced children. Abbott was generous to his many relatives and especially fond of his nephew John H. H. Sengstacke, whom he trained to take over the Defender. In 1923, Abbott had had to deal with financial irregularities due to faulty bookkeeping and named Nathan K. Magill managing editor. Magill was financially astute but lacked Abbott’s flair in understanding the readers’ interests and needs. For example, Magill opposed the efforts of railroad porters to unionize. Since the distribution of the paper depended a great deal on the cooperation of porters, Abbott had to intervene. Magill’s tightfisted money management benefited the paper, but Abbott felt he had to fire him during the 1930s because of new financial irregularities. His nephew, John Sengstacke, joined the paper as a replacement. Abbott experienced multiple incapacitating health problems during his final years. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1933. His eyesight became so bad that he could no longer read. He was unable to go to his office for long periods of time, and by the time of his death, he was almost completely confined to bed. He died of tuberculosis and Bright’s disease on February 24, 1940, and his nephew took over management of the Defender. Two landmarks of John H. Sengstacke’s career were the establishment of the paper as a daily in 1956, the year he also acquired papers in Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh Courier), Tennessee (Tri-State Defender in Memphis), and Michigan (Michigan Chronicle of Detroit), and his foundation of the National Negro Publications Association in 1940. Sengstacke served several terms as president of the association. The success of the papers did not continue to the end of his long tenure as changing economic and social conditions challenged black newspapers. At his death in 1997 the circulation of the Defender had plummeted, and the Michigan weekly was the sole paper to show a profit. In addition, the estate faced large inheritance taxes. The Defender’s audited circulation in 2002 was 1,629 daily copies in place of the 230,000 of its peak years in the 1950s. The sale of the paper was delayed by family disagreement, but Real Times LLC acquired the papers in 2003, named Roland S. Martin executive editor, and undertook the task of rebuilding. Robert Sengstacke Abbott was a very successful newspaper publisher and made the Chicago Defender into one of the leading, if not the leading, African American newspapers. His successor, John H. Stengstacke, built on

7

Advertising Agencies

this success to turn the paper into a daily and maintain its strength and stability for many years. Abbott worked very hard and possessed great business acumen and, equally important, an understanding of the basis of his paper’s appeal to its readers. See also: Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities Sources Fitzgerald, Mark. ‘‘ ‘Defender’ Editor: Revenue, Circ Up in Last 5 Months.’’ Editor & Publisher, January 17, 2005. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/ article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id¼1000760435. ———. ‘‘The Revival of the Black Press in America.’’ Editor & Publisher, November 26, 2004. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/search/article_display.jsp? vnu_content_id¼1000727192. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Johns, Robert L. ‘‘Robert Sengstacke Abbott.’’ Notable Black American Men. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. Logan, Rayford W., and Michael R. Winston, eds. Dictionary of American Negro Biography. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982. Minor, Michael. ‘‘Defender Prepares Its New Offensive.’’ Chicago Reader, January 24, 2003. http://www.chireader.com/hottype/2003/030124_1.html. Ottley, Roi. The Lonely Warrior. Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1955.

Robert L. Johns

Advertising Agencies Black-owned advertising agencies, firms created to target African American consumers, were a new concept in the 1970s. They became novel in the 1980s, and by the 1990s, they had forged a niche in the marketing business. Currently, large general marketing agencies are in a race to buy into them in order to reap the huge profits the ethnic market has to offer. In previous years, black-owned agencies faced the problem of convincing major advertisers to take the ethnic market seriously. This is no longer the case. The hip-hop movement of urban music, dance moves, lingo, and fashion has spread to the international market, causing general marketers to be lured to the urban market. This has heightened mainstream competition for the urban market, and the entire industry has become engulfed in change. By the end of the twentieth century, African American–owned agencies had begun to discuss mergers with large general marketing firms. Finally, the huge general marketing firms realized that they needed more than just the input of the agencies; they needed the agencies themselves. Mergers and alliances with black agencies and other minority-owned groups are becoming popular with mainstream agencies. The first agency to join the merging trend was the Burrell Communications Group, a Chicago– based advertising agency whose clients include Coca Cola, Kellogg’s, and McDonald’s, among other large companies. In 2000, the Burrell Company,

8

Advertising Agencies

listed as number 3 on Black Enterprise’s Top 100 Advertising Agencies list, sold a 49 percent share of its business to the giant French agency Publicis, one of the world’s largest media service conglomerates. Publicis was just starting to begin a major expansion into the U.S. market, and the two shared a common vision for the future. It only made good business sense for the two companies to form an alliance. The Burrell Company kept the larger share of 51 percent, and the partnership has proved to be beneficial for both companies. The merger has allowed them to offer clients a broader range of marketing communications services. Another minority advertising agency that has joined the partnership trend is Spike, an agency owned by African American filmmaker Spike Lee. Lee announced, in a December 1996 article in Jet magazine, that he was forming an alliance with marketing agency, DDB Needham to form Spike DDB. Lee became creative director and supervises the daily operations while DDB Needham performs noncreative services, such as strategic planning, research, media planning and buying, and accounting. Those black-owned agencies that have not yet joined the merging trend are contemplating the move. Also, many general marketing agencies are searching for minority firms who can provide valuable experience with niche advertising. Many business leaders are skeptical of such mergers. Some feel that black agencies are being pushed aside by mainstream agencies that are racing to get a large portion of the ethnic market business. They believe the black agencies are becoming victims of their own success because they have revealed the potential of the African American consumer market, and now white advertisers are using them to bring in their profits. Skeptics also believe black agencies are fighting for the right to market to the very market they helped create. Some small black-owned agencies have been accused of allowing the big companies to exploit them. In one such incident, some individuals in the industry attacked the integrity of Spike Lee, owner of Spike DDB, number 8 on Black Enterprise’s Top 100 Advertising Agencies list in 2004 (Table 1). They called Spike a setup guy and accused him of allowing the white conglomerates to exploit him. Now a large number of independent blackowned agencies are collaborating with general marketing agencies. Traditional minority agencies that are joining the merging trend describe themselves as integrated urban culture market communications companies and see themselves as no longer competing against other black-owned agencies but as competing with anyone doing lifestyle advertising. In order for general market agencies to stay competitive, they must choose between partnering with African American agencies marketing to urban audiences or lose their business completely. Like their larger competitors in the advertising business, the majority of the black-owned advertising agencies have reaped big financial rewards by partnering with general marketers. Some agencies have adjusted to their new status as a partnership, while others have pondered such unions. All marketing agencies appear to be preparing themselves for the effect that having a more

9

Advertising Agencies Table 1. This Year

Top Advertising Agencies

Last Year

Company

Location

Chief Executive

Year Started Staff Billings*

1

1

Globalhue

Southfield, MI

Donald A. Coleman

1988

180

400.000

2

2

Carol H. Williams Advertising

Oakland, CA

Carol H. Williams

1986

165

350.000

3

4

UniWorld Group Inc.

New York, NY

Byron E. Lewis

1969

117

220.798

4

3

Burrell

Chicago, IL

Fay Ferguson/ McGhee Williams

1971

131

190.000

5

5

Compas Inc.

Cherry Hill, NJ

Stanley R Woodland

1991

54

170.000

6

6

Muse Communications

Los Angeles, CA Jo Muse

1995

50

60.000

7

—

Fuse Inc.

St. Louis, MO

Clifford Franklin

1997

22

53.396

8

7

Equals Three Communications Inc.

Bethesda, MD

Eugene M. Faison Jr.

1984

40

50.000

9

10

Matlock Advertising & Public Relations

Atlanta, GA

Kent Matlock

1986

30

48.700

10

8

Spike DDB

New York, NY

Dana Wade

1997

45

45.000

11

9

Anderson Communications Atlanta, GA

Virgil M. Scott

1971

16

41.500

12

—

Images USA

Atlanta, GA

Robert L. McNeil Jr.

1989

40

41.300

13

13

E. Morris Communications Inc.

Chicago, IL

Eugene Morris

1987

36

37.000

14

11

SWG&M Advertising Inc.

El Paso, TX

Robert V. Wingo

1983

38

36.700

15

14

RJ Dale Advertising & Public Relations Inc.

Chicago, IL

Robert J. Dale

1979

20

35.500

*In millions of dollars, to the nearest thousand, as of December 31, 2004. Prepared by B. E. Research. Reviewed by the certified public accounting firm Edwards & Co. Source: Black Enterprise 35 ( June 2005): 168. Published by permission.

diverse society will have on their business. J. Melving Muse, owner of Muse, Cordero, Chen and Partners, the most highly sought after multicultural advertising agency in America, says the future is in having a fully diversified firm to perform the integrated marketing services that clients want. He believes that in order to be successful in today’s urban market, agencies need to provide more than standard advertisements containing African Americans. Muse also believes that without merging with the larger general marketing agencies, black-owned companies lack the ability to provide the additional services that are needed. He says the black firms that cannot provide the full-integrated services that are needed will find themselves nonexistent. According to black business leaders, another problem facing blacks in the advertising business is that the black leaders of the industry’s largest agencies are aging. Others agree that the number of blacks entering the field is declining. Therefore, in order for African Americans to be representatives of the African American population in the area of advertising and marketing, they must be recruited.

10

Advertising and Marketing

The alliance of black-owned advertising agencies and larger general marketing agencies enables the agencies to offer integrated marketing and to reach various markets, including the highly profitable urban audience. This is a growing trend and could account for the success of marketing agencies in the future. See also: Thomas J. Burrell Sources Earl Graves Ltd. Black Enterprise’s 2004 Top 100 Advertising Agencies List. July 2004. http://www.blackenterprise.com/BE100s.asp?Source¼Ad04. Gite, Lloyd. ‘‘Breakthroughs for Black-Owned Agencies.’’ Black Enterprise 31 (June 2001): 21. Hayes, Cassandra. ‘‘Media Meltdown.’’ Black Enterprise 30 (June 2000): 179–184. Moss, Mark R. ‘‘B. E. Advertising Agencies: The Battle for Urban Markets.’’ Black Enterprise 31 (June 2001): 187–191. Smikle, Ken. ‘‘The Future of African-American Advertising Agencies Is as Clear as a Blank Piece of Paper.’’ Target Market News (July 2004): 1. ‘‘Spike Lee Forms Ad Agency with DDB Needham Worldwide.’’ Jet 91 (December 1996): 35. VNU Business Media. ‘‘The Marketing of Hip-hop Culture.’’ Adweek (2003) (Special Advertising Section): 1–4.

Sharon McGee

Advertising and Marketing For nearly a century mainstream advertisers failed to see the potential for huge profits that marketing to African Americans could produce. They had always moved cautiously toward including African Americans as a targeted market. It was not until 1916 that African American consumers were seen as a specific advertising market. The spreading of hip-hop culture (urban music, dance moves, lingo, and fashion) to the international market alerted general advertisers to the true profitability of the African American consumer. In the 1930s, national studies were conducted to better understand African American consumers. Reports from the studies revealed the overwhelming spending power of African Americans as a consumer group. This prompted the emergence of a systematic means of advising advertisers and manufacturers about ways to advertise to the African American consumer and the addition of African American marketing consultants to the staffs of mainstream advertisers in the 1940s. The United States had also begun to recognize African Americans as a consumer group. As a result, census data on the comparison of black and white spending habits was kept. During the 1950s, companies were afraid to sponsor African Americans for fear that it would cause a hostile southern market and whites would no longer purchase their products. It was during this time that Nat King Cole,

11

Advertising and Marketing

an extremely popular African American singer with several number-one hits, was unable to continue his highly rated television variety show despite good ratings. Scenarios like this occurred simply because of the fear that racism would cause large companies to lose profits. By the late 1950s, and early 1960s, African Americans became known as consumers who sought status and prestige by purchasing leading brands, and numerous articles and trade publications described African Americans as such. Despite general advertising agencies’ knowledge of the brand consciousness of African Americans, little changed in the marketing industry. One of the strategies advertising agencies used prior to the 1960s was the use of black models possessing straight hair (natural or chemically processed), light complexions, and Caucasian features in ads. Civil rights advocates rallied for changes in the attitudes and strategies used to market to African American consumers, but it was not until the 1960s that any publications, including African American publications, used advertisements in which Negroid features and the natural Afro hairstyle were featured. This trend did not last; by the 1990s, publications were once again using African American models with Caucasian features. IMPACT OF CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS Some of the work of civil rights activists proved to be successful. After feeling the powerful jolt of the civil rights movement, some large corporations began to target African American consumers. Some of the most successful marketing campaigns were those advertisements featuring African American causes and characters. Some successful advertisements in radio used the voices of African Americans, familiar and unfamiliar, to reach the African American consumer. The monetary strength of the African American consumer was once again revealed to advertisers in the 1970s. Statistics showed that African Americans comprised a mere 11 percent of the population but made up a whopping $30 billion a year in consumer spending. However, mainstream advertisers refused to integrate advertising campaigns for fear that the white market may become alienated. In order to learn the white market’s perception of integrating African Americans into advertising, mainstream advertisers conducted studies. The results showed that there were no negative effects when black models were used alone or with white models. Results also revealed that when blacks were used in main roles in advertisements, there was a slight negative reaction by highly prejudiced white students. However, African American viewers clearly favored these advertisements. Although whites revealed that the integration of African Americans in advertisements made little difference to them, the amount of advertising dollars used to target African American consumer groups remained insufficient in the 1980s. At this time, most in the marketing business believed that African American consumers fit into one of two groups, those who were unable to purchase national brands and those who desired to purchase the brands that wealthy whites purchased.

12

Advertising and Marketing

Research results in the 1980s mimicked the results of the 1970s concerning the profitability of the urban market. It was found once again that while African Americans constituted a small percentage of the population, they represented huge profits for marketers. It was also found that they consumed a higher percentage of several products than other consumers. For example, African Americans consumed over one-third of all the hair conditioner and over one-fifth of the chewing gum sold in the United States. Although it was found that there were several ways to target African Americans from all segments of the community, there were some easy targets that seemed to be common to all African Americans: All segments of the African American community were heavy viewers of off-network reruns of shows featuring predominantly African American casts, they listened to African American radio stations, they purchased African American magazines, and they watched African American people when they appeared on television. TARGETING THE AFRICAN AMERICAN MARKET A big mistake that mainstream advertisers made when targeting African American consumers in the mid-1980s was when they began targeting the Latinos with Spanish ads and assumed that African American consumers were being targeted when they reached out to all other English-speaking consumers. Marketers failed to remember that African Americans needed to be targeted in a distinct way, and not doing so caused them to lose enormous profits. Mainstream advertising agencies failed to realize that although the Hispanic population was growing faster and oftentimes outnumbered the African American population, the African American population remained the bigger spenders in the consumer market. General markets also learned from marketing studies that the vocabulary and common traits used when advertising to white consumers did not apply to African Americans. They again found that they were not targeting African Americans effectively when the Ford Motor Company commissioned the Uniworld Group, the largest African American–owned advertising firm in the United States, to perform research to help them to better understand the African American market. The results revealed that the top ten television shows viewed by African Americans were different from those watched by the general market consumer. General marketing companies also learned that African American consumers of different socioeconomic levels should be targeted in different ways. Mainstream advertising agencies were stunned when they realized that they were trying to reach the African American consumer in the wrong way. It was information such as this that made large advertising agencies begin to change the marketing strategies that they had been using for years to target African American consumers. In the extremely competitive market of the late 1990s to the present, large advertising companies began to ask African American advertising firms, advertising agencies created to target African American consumers, to partner

13

Advertising and Marketing

with them. They wanted the African American firms to reach out to African American consumers in creative ways, and together they (the large general marketing agency and the African American firm) could offer full-service advertising, such as special events, promotions, community relations, community outreach, and public relations. They believed the full-service marketing style, sometimes known as integrated marketing, would cover everything necessary to successfully reach the urban market. Also, just as they had learned in the 30s, they realized that they must attain an understanding of African American consumers in order to acquire the huge profits that could be gained from this market, so they are asking the African American firms to provide statistical research on black consumers. It is no longer the day when companies ask African American advertising firms to simply place standardissue advertisements in media regardless of the location and lifestyle of the consumer. General marketers are finally beginning to realize that the multicultural population is steadily increasing, and in many instances, multicultural consumers outnumber the white population, and failing to target cultural lifestyle needs could mean the loss of huge profits. The end of the twentieth century began a trend of African American–owned agencies talking merger with large general marketing firms. The huge general marketing firms recognized that in order to reap large profits from the urban market they needed more than just the input of the black-owned advertising agencies; they needed the agencies themselves. Mergers and alliances between black-owned agencies and large general marketing agencies are becoming popular. Now a large number of independent black-owned agencies are collaborating with general marketing agencies. Traditional minority agencies that are joining the merging trend describe themselves as companies that are integrated into the urban culture communications market and that target this market by offering a fully integrated service. It is believed by many in the marketing business that in order for general marketing agencies to stay competitive, they must choose between partnering with African American agencies marketing to urban audiences or lose their business completely. Like their larger competitors in the advertising business, the majority of black-owned advertising agencies have earned significant financial rewards by partnering with general marketers. Some agencies have adjusted to their new status as a partnership, while others have pondered such unions. All marketing agencies, it seems, are preparing themselves for the effect that having a more diverse society will have on their business. One thing that has held true for nearly a century is that although African American consumers constitute a small percentage in the nation, they remain a highly profitable market. Since hip-hop culture has reached the international market, marketing agencies find that they must provide the necessary integrated services to appeal to the urban market. Sources Dates, Jannette L. ‘‘Advertising.’’ Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Ed. Jack Salzman, David Lionel Smith, and Cornel West. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1996.

14

Archie Alphonso Alexander Gite, Lloyd. ‘‘Breakthroughs for Black-Owned Agencies.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (September 2001): 21. Hayes, Cassandra. ‘‘Media Meltdown.’’ Black Enterprise 30 (June 2000): 179–184. Moss, Mark R. ‘‘B. E. Advertising Agencies: The Battle for Urban Markets.’’ Black Enterprise 31 (June 2001): 187–191. Smikle, Ken. ‘‘The Future of African-American Advertising Agencies Is as Clear as a Blank Piece of Paper.’’ Target Market News (July 2004): 1. Washington, Frank. ‘‘Going for the Green.’’ AAOW Magazine, October–November 2001. http://www.onwheelsinc.com/AAOWMagazine/2001_octnov/pg22.asp.

Sharon McGee

Archie Alphonso Alexander (1888–1958), Engineer, Civil Rights Leader, Public Servant The large-scale construction jobs that Archie Alphonso Alexander built between 1927 and 1955, such as highways, municipal power and sewer plants, bridges, viaducts, and apartment buildings, earned him a reputation as one of the most successful African American entrepreneurs and architectural engineers in the country. He overcame discouragement from being denied employment with white architectural firms in his native state Iowa, owing to his race; worked as a $10-a-week laborer; and in 1941 began his own engineering company, A. A. Alexander, Inc. He moved beyond his initial small-time clientele and in 1917 joined forces with Alexander & Higbee, Inc., and in 1929 with Maurice A. Repass to become Alexander & Repass, finally winning contracts worth $3.5 million. Alexander was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, on May 14, 1888, the son of janitor and coachman Price Alexander and Mary Hamilton Alexander. He had eight brothers and sisters. When he was eleven years old the family moved from their community of poor blacks and whites to a small farm on the outskirts of Des Moines. The father became head custodian at the Des Moines National Bank, then regarded as a prestigious post for a black man. Archie Alexander attended Oak Park Grammar School and Oak Park High School, graduating in 1905. While it was uncommon then for a janitor’s son—black or white—to undertake higher education, he was determined to do so. He held part-time jobs, secured some financial assistance from his parents, and attended Highland Park College for one year and the Cummins Art School, both in Des Moines. In 1908 Alexander entered the College of Engineering at the State University of Iowa, now the University of Iowa, in Iowa City. The only black student in that college, an engineering professor at the college warned repeatedly that in that day’s society a black should not hope to succeed as an engineer. Alexander ignored the warning and continued to support himself by working part-time. He excelled academically and joined the all-black Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity; he also became the first

15

Archie Alphonso Alexander

black member of the varsity football team where he was a star, earned a letter in three years, and was given the title ‘‘Alexander the Great.’’ He received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1912 and in 1921 took coursework in bridge design at the University of London. In 1925, Alexander received a degree in civil engineering from his undergraduate college, and in 1947, Howard University awarded him an honorary doctorate in engineering. Anxious to practice engineering, immediately after receiving his undergraduate degree Alexander applied for employment with every engineering firm in Des Moines but was rejected. The warning of the engineering professor at the State University—that a black engineer could not hope to succeed—loomed large. But his attraction to the field led him to work as a laborer in the steel shop of the Marsh Engineering Company, where he earned twenty-five cents an hour. By 1914, he had moved up to $70 a week and was in charge of bridge construction in Iowa and Minnesota. He resigned in that year and established his own engineering company, A. A. Alexander, Inc., a modest firm that attracted few bidders; it also served minority clients. In 1917, he entered a partnership with white contractor George F. Higbee, with whom he had worked at Marsh. The new firm Alexander & Higbee, Inc. specialized in large projects such as bridge construction, road construction, and sewer systems. Higbee died in 1925 as result of a construction accident, leaving Alexander to carry on alone. In 1927 Alexander received a contract from his alma mater, the University of Iowa, to construct a $1.2 million central heating and generating station along the Iowa River. The next year he completed two other projects for the school—a power plant and tunnel under the Iowa River to pipe steam, hot water, and electricity to the other side of the river where the campus extended. During the four years after Higbee’s death, Alexander built bridges and viaducts—his specialties—as well as apartment buildings and sewage systems. Alexander added a junior partner and his second white partner in 1929— former football teammate and college classmate Maurice A. Repass—to form the team Alexander & Repass. In 1929 as well, the firm successfully bid for a City of Grand Rapids contract to build a $1 million sewage treatment plant the next year. They went on to complete projects in nearly every state, including the Loup River Power Plant in Columbus, Nebraska, in 1933. By then the firm felt the sting of the Great Depression and, though highly successful, began to struggle to keep the business alive. They laid off workers, and the partners took on small jobs themselves, such as repairing sidewalks and streets and handling miscellaneous jobs. Around this time white contractor and road builder Glen C. Herrick, who was prominent in Des Moines, hired the firm to help develop a canal system in Nebraska. Herrick assisted the firm further by financing a number of projects. In 1935 Alexander & Repass took on another major project when they designed and built the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge that crossed Nebraska’s North Platte River. The firm was hired for other projects in Iowa, including

16

Archie Alphonso Alexander

the Des Moines River Highway Bridge over the Des Moines River, the Des Moines Sewage Disposal Plant, the East 14th Street Viaduct over the Des Moines River, and the Fluer Drive Bridge over the Racoon River in Des Moines. World War II efforts brought a need for various construction projects. One of these was for an air field at the U.S. Army air base located in Chewhaw, Alabama. Alexander & Repass successfully bid for the project and built the 99th Pursuit Squadron Air Base and Pilot Training School. The site is historically significant as the training site for the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black elite air force unit that trained under a federal program at Tuskegee Institute (now University) in Alabama. DESIGNS TIDAL BASIN BRIDGE In response to the federal government’s need for new projects around Washington, D.C., the firm opened an office there and successfully bid on what became perhaps its most notable but not its largest project. Alexander designed the Tidal Basin Bridge and Seawall, a granite and limestone structure also known as Independence Avenue Bridge. It is especially prominent during Washington’s Cherry Blossom Festival held each spring. It is estimated that 160 workers were employed to build the $1 million structure. Other projects that Alexander & Repass built in Washington included the K Street elevated highway and underpass from the Francis Scott Key Bridge to 27th Street, NW, and the $3.5 million Whitehurst Freeway that runs along the Potomac River bypassing the Georgetown section. The Whitehurst Freeway was then the largest of its kind in the country. In 1955 Alexander designed the Frederick Douglass Memorial Estate Apartments in the Anacostia section of southeast Washington, also built by his firm. While Alexander was awarded other contracts, his role as designer for these projects is undocumented. A lifelong Republican, Alexander was active in party politics. In 1932 and again in 1940 he was assistant chairman of the Iowa Republican State Committee. His support of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Eisenhower-for-president movement, along with his support of the Republican Party, garnered him an appointment in 1954 as governor of the Virgin Islands. A man with an imposing appearance and commanding personality, Alexander was blunt, outspoken, aggressive, dogmatic, paternalistic, undemocratic, and difficult as a taskmaster. This served him well as a businessman but not as a governor. He alienated the easygoing islanders, who in addition to opposing his personality and administrative style accused him of cronyism due to his developing business interests in South America and the Caribbean. Nor did he endear himself to the legislature. Eighteen months after his appointment, Alexander, now in declining health, was pressured to resign his unsuccessful appointment. He returned to Des Moines. Alexander’s personality and business acumen gave him stature in the black community, both in Des Moines and in Washington, D.C. In Des

17

Clifford Leopold Alexander Jr.

Moines he was board member of the Colored Young Men’s Christian Association, head of the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and a member of the local Inter-racial Commission. He had witnessed the ugly tentacle of racism in 1944, when he and his wife fought a restrictive racial covenant, bought a sizable home in Des Moines’s fashionable white neighborhood, but witnessed a cross burning on their front lawn. His worked to improve racism and civic matters. He was a trustee at Tuskegee Institute and Howard University and in 1934, at the request of the Haitian president, joined a team that investigated Haiti’s potential for economic development. His recognitions included the Harmon Award in 1926 for achievements in business and the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal in 1934 as the second most successful black American entrepreneur. Alexander died in Des Moines of a heart attack in 1958 and was survived by his wife, Audra A. Lindzy of Denver, whom he married in 1913. Their only child, Archie Alphonso Jr., died in his early years. Alexander left a trust fund for his wife; upon her death, most of his wealth would go to the University of Iowa, Tuskegee, and Howard University for engineering scholarships. The three institutions each received $105,000 in 1975. Sources ‘‘Bridge-Building Team.’’ Ebony 4 (September 1949): 59–60. Bullock, Ralph W. In Spite of Handicaps. New York: Association Press, 1927. Lufkin, Jack. ‘‘Archibald Alphonse Alexander (1888–1958).’’ African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary 1865–1945. Ed. Dreck Spurlock Wilson. New York: Routledge, 2004. Obituary. Des Moines Sunday Register, January 5, 1958. Wynes, Charles E. ‘‘ ‘Alexander the Great,’ Bridge Builder.’’ Palimpsest 66 (May– June 1985): 76–86. ———. ‘‘Archie Alphonso Alexander.’’ American National Biography. Vol. 1. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Jessie Carney Smith

Clifford Leopold Alexander Jr. (1933– ), Attorney, Businessman, Civil Rights Activist Clifford Alexander Jr. is known as a force in the leadership for civil rights for minorities and women. As a result of his efforts, the definitions of what constitutes discrimination in the workplace were clarified, and the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission established more comprehensive and tenable guidelines by which to work. He was instrumental in women and minorities gaining entry into the media workplace and directed investigations into allegations of job discrimination in various industries. Alexander has served under four U.S. presidents: John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Jimmy Carter. He has served in a leadership position with Dun & Bradstreet, he served as foreign affairs officer of the National

18

Clifford Leopold Alexander Jr.

Security Council, he established his own consulting firm, and he was the first African American to be appointed secretary of the army. Alexander was born on September 21, 1933, in New York City to parents who believed that education was an integral part of life and who provided him with both administrative and humanitarian models. His father, a native of Jamaica, worked at a YMCA branch in Harlem and as a bank manager; his mother, a native of Yonkers, worked for New York City’s welfare department, served on a mayoral commission that strove to improve race relations in the city following World War II, and became the first African American representative in the Electoral College. Thus, he was encouraged in his academic pursuits and to use his talents for the betterment of the conditions of humanity. He attended Ethical Cultural School and Fieldstone School. Following Fieldstone, he matriculated at Harvard University, where he excelled both academically and socially. Alexander was elected president of the Student Council, was the first marshal of his class and a talented basketball player, and graduated cum laude with a B.A. in 1955. After graduation, he entered Law School at Yale University to pursue a professional degree, one that would allow him to be independent. In spite of the rigors of the program, while there he worked for Mutual Life Insurance Company, where he headed the Complaints Department. In 1958, he received his LL.B. from Yale University Law School; enlisted in the New York National Guard, where he served with the 369th Field Artillery Battalion at Fort Dix, New Jersey; and ended his military stint in 1959. In the year he left the military, he was admitted to the bar and became assistant district attorney for New York County (Manhattan). In 1961, he became executive director of the Manhattanville Hamilton Grange Neighborhood Conservation Project, where he was responsible for enforcing city codes relating to apartment dwellers. He oversaw over 3,000 violations during a nine-month tenure. This job ended in 1962 when he became program and executive director of Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited (HARYOU), and he practiced law in New York City. Due to his work and his contacts formed throughout his academic and professional career, he was recommended to and subsequently asked by President John F. Kennedy to serve on the White House staff as foreign affairs officer of the National Security Council. Following Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, he became the deputy special assistant and counsel to President Lyndon B. Johnson. In this capacity, he advised President Johnson on civil rights issues (1963–1969) and was influential in the passing of the Civil Rights Act (1964) and in the increase in the number of African Americans serving in national government posts. Because of his efforts in the Johnson administration, the White House was accessible both socially and politically to more African Americans. Alexander’s stance on opportunities for African Americans and his previous work record, both in and out of the White House, led to President Johnson appointing him chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 1967, a post he held until 1969.

19

Clifford Leopold Alexander Jr.

Under Alexander’s leadership, the commission was restructured and expanded the training and productivity of the regional offices; thus, there was an increase in workers, size, cases, issues being addressed, and accountability. One of his thrusts during his tenure was investigation into job discrimination in a variety of industries with varying results. As a result of two public hearings (New York and Los Angeles) that pointed up discriminatory actions in media-related positions, the first African American was hired on television network news; there were major efforts to include representative minorities on the professional staff of newspapers; and other areas followed suit in an effort to include minorities in the workforce. Questioned about their actions were corporations such as WBC, CBS, and ABC. One of the major challenges he faced was sensitizing employers to the need for providing opportunities for minorities and women. The tone and attitude toward discrimination and the recognition of the need for the White House to support EEOC shifted following the election of Richard Nixon; there was even an accusation that employers were being harassed about job discrimination. Alexander resigned his position in 1969. He returned to the private sector and the practice of law in Washington, D.C. in the firm of Arnold & Porter (1969–1975); he left this group to join the law firm of Verner, Lipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Alexander in Washington, D.C. (1975–1976). During this period, he was the host and coproducer of his own Washington television show at WMAL-TV, Cliff Alexander—Black on White; and he made an unsuccessful bid against Walter Washington for the position of mayor of the District of Columbia in 1974. In 1977, he resumed government service when President Jimmy Carter appointed him secretary of the army, the first African American to hold this post. His duties involved managing all army affairs including training, operations, administration, preparedness, and developing and managing the army’s annual budget. The assignment was fraught with challenges: the racism in the army, the need for increased professionalism, the need to make the all-volunteer army more viable, and the need to include minority businesses in awarding contracts. Alexander’s experience with the EEOC made him an ideal choice in the confrontation of the challenges posed by the army. He served as secretary of the army until 1981 when President Ronald Reagan took office. Following his stint in the government, Alexander formed Alexander & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm to work with Fortune 500 companies and other businesses on their inclusion of women and minorities. Even though progress had been made, he recognized the fact that discrimination still exists. It is just more sophisticated and requires strategies different from those of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1999, Dun & Bradstreet Corporation chose Alexander to oversee its operations and its search for a permanent chairman and chief executive officer. In this capacity, he oversaw the company’s division of its two operations into two separate companies: Dun & Bradstreet Operating Company and Moody’s Investors Service.

20

Paget Alves

He has served on the board of directors of such corporations as American Home Products Corporation, MCI Worldcom, and IMS Health Mutual of America; as director of Wyeth; and as nonexecutive chairman of Moody’s Corporation (retired in 2003). Throughout Alexander’s career, his championship of minorities and business acumen have been recognized with such awards as the Ames Award, Harvard University (1955); Frederick Douglass Award (1970); Outstanding Civilian Service Award, Department of the Army (1980); and the Distinguished Public Service Award, Department of Defense. Alexander married Adele Logan (1959), a former high school classmate, a writer, and a teacher. She is the author of Homelands and Waterways, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize (1999) and in 2000 won the Black Caucus Literary Award of the American Library Association. They have two children: Elizabeth, a poet, and Mark Clifford, a law professor. Sources ‘‘Clifford Alexander.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 26. Ed. David G. Oblender. Gale Group, 2000. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K16060011628. ‘‘Clifford L. Alexander Jr.’’ Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Gale, 2005. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1645500090. Williams-Jenkins, Barbara. ‘‘Clifford L. Alexander, Jr.’’ Notable Black American Men. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.

Helen R. Houston

Paget Alves (1955– ), Telecommunications Company Officer and Lawyer Paget Alves is president of Strategic Markets for Sprint’s Business Solutions division. Most recently, Alves was named head of the board of directors of West Greenwich, Rhode Island. He has been an innovator in the telecommunications industry for more than twenty years. His biggest coup is the changing of Sprint and the cell phone industry from a sales-driven business to a customer-oriented market-driven industry. Alves was born and raised in White Plains, New York. After completing high school, he studied at Cornell University, where he earned a bachelor degree in industrial and labor relations. He continued on at Cornell, earning his Juris Doctor in 1982. Alves’s career has been marked by many firsts; but he is best known for transforming telecommunication businesses from sales driven to customer driven. Fresh out of law school, Alves became a law clerk at IBM. He held the position until 1986, when he was appointed IBM’s area counsel. He stayed

21

Paget Alves

at IBM for an additional two years. In 1988 he joined Murata Business Systems as its general counsel. Murata Business Systems is the U.S. distribution company for Murata Machinery, Ltd., a privately held Japanese corporation that manufactures cell phones and fax machines. He ultimately became executive vice president and chief operating officer, the highest position an American may hold at Murata. In 1996, the Sprint Wholesale Services Group hired Alves as vice president and general manager of Reseller Services. In only eighteen months, he developed a comprehensive customer service program. In the process he transformed Wholesale Services from a sales-driven team to one that was market oriented—the rationale being that it is not enough to just make sales; the market should be analyzed, then Sprint should develop the products and services that people/businesses need. The year 1997 was a banner year for Alves and Sprint. Sprint’s Wholesale Services division saw a 25 percent increase in growth. As a result, Alves was promoted to president of the Wholesale Services division. In 1999 Alves was listed in PhonePlus magazine’s the ‘‘So Most Influential People in Competitive Long Distance.’’ An avid golfer, this was the year he played with Tiger Woods at the Sprint International Pro-Am in Castle Rock, Colorado. In addition, Alves joined the floundering Austin, Texas– based Voice Over IP company Point One Telecommunications as chief executive officer and president. Despite his best efforts, Point One filed voluntary bankruptcy in August 2001. Alves left the company later that same year. Alves’s next move was to join Centennial Communications in 2002. He stayed less than a year, resigning in February 2003 for personal reasons. In November 2003, Alves rejoined Sprint as one of two vice presidents of the newly reorganized Sprint Business Solutions Strategic division. He continues to work for Sprint in Kansas City. In addition to conquering the telecommunications industry, Alves is involved in his two favorite activities. He is an avid golfer and a fitness buff. Weighing in at approximately 150 pounds, Alves can bench over 300 pounds. In addition, he is active in his community. Past activities include being cochair of the Kansas City United Negro Fund. While in Dallas, he served on the boards of the Family Guidance Center and the Presbyterian General Health Services. He is married and has three daughters. Alves is a prime example of how one man can change an entire industry and yet take the time for family and to give back to the community and those less fortunate than himself. Sources Alumni Office/Cornell Law Association. Alumni Class Notes—July 2000 Forum. Cornell Law School. http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/alumni_new/class%20 notes/class700.htm. —. Alumni Class Notes: November 1998 Class Notes. Cornell Law School. http:// www.lawschool.cornell.edu/alumni/class%20notes/clas1198.htm.

22

American Savings and Loan League —. Alumni Class Notes: November 1999 Class Notes. Cornell Law School. http:// www.lawschool.cornell.edu/alumni_new/class%20notes/clas1199.htm. Karp, H., and C. Hayes. ‘‘The Strategy of a Shadow Warrior.’’ Black Enterprise 11 (June 1998). http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct¼true&db¼f5h&an¼ 638322. ‘‘Point One Telecommunications Appoints Former President of Sprint Business Services Group, Paget L. Alves, to Chief Executive Officer and President.’’ Cambridge Telecom Report. Business and Company Resource Center. June 26, 2000. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BCRC?vrsn¼149&locID¼umd_umes& ste¼5&docNum¼A20630178. Sprint. ‘‘Key Executives.’’ 2003. http://www3.sprint.com/PR/CDA/PR_CDA_Execu tive_Profiles/1,1572,,00.html. Titsch, B., Jr., and K. Henderson. ‘‘The 50 Most Influential People in Competitive Long Distance.’’ Phoneþ. November 1998. http://www.phoneplusmag.com/ articles/8b1cover.html. ‘‘Unmasking Telecom’s Unlikely Heroes.’’ Phoneþ. November 1999. http://www .phoneplusmag.com/articles/9b1cover.html. Whigham-Desir, M., and R. D. Clarke. ‘‘The Top 50 Blacks in Corporate America.’’ Black Enterprise 30 (February 2000): 7. http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct ¼true&db¼f5h&an¼2704910. Whispers. Inter@ctive Week 7.24 (June 19, 2000). http://web9.epnet.com/Delivery PrintSave.asp?tb¼1&_ug¼dbsþf5hþsidþD03DBF3E77DE.

Anne K. Driscoll

American Savings and Loan League The American Savings and Loan League (ASLL), a thrift institution trade organization that primarily represents minority-owned savings and loan associations, was established on November 12 and 13, 1948. Its role was to assist in improving the acute housing situation among African Americans by exploring the possibilities of new construction and to devise plans for adequate mortgage financing of homes and housing projects for African American occupancy. At the time, thirteen associations were members of the league, whose objectives included expanding their program of service to all minority groups by forming additional associations operated by African Americans. Originally known as buildings and loans, savings and loan associations like the ASLL first appeared in the 1830s.They encouraged working-class members to practice economical spending and to work together in order to achieve the goal of home ownership. ASLL leaders pushed regulators to make it easier for blacks to own associations and to create positions within the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston (FHLBB) to focus on the minority housing issues. Although the FHLBB agreed with the ASLL’s position that there should be more minority

23

American Savings and Loan League

thrifts, its support was limited. The chairman of the board of the FHLBB believed that African Americans should help themselves in becoming homeowners and emphasized that strong groups with a reasonable likelihood for success and strong community support should establish new thrift groups. In order to prevent any new savings and loans (S&Ls) from causing problems with the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC), the chairman felt that it was inappropriate for minimal capital requirements to be lowered to make it easier for minorities to organize thrifts. Since blacks generally had had only minimal access to capital, the position of the chairman was not beneficial to the ASLL. In 1961, the FHLBB board realized that its actions did not support its rhetoric concerning its support of minority thrifts. A report was then submitted to the Commission on Civil Rights by regulators, conceding that the growth in new minority S&Ls should be attributed to the national civil rights movement. The FHLBB still maintained that it too had been supportive of minority thrifts, and it felt that the fact that the increased approval rates for blacks exceeded that of whites was proof of its support. In the 1960s, despite the expansion of the work of existing associations, ASLLs were unsuccessful in working with federal regulators in increasing the number of minority-owned thrifts. Through the years, some S&Ls grew immensely, but many remained small. At the time of the establishment of Carver Federal Savings and Loan in New York City in 1949, its subscribed capital was $225,000, and its cash value was $15,000. By 1963 its assets had grown to over $24 million. All of the largest black-owned thrifts were located in California. The largest, Trans-Bay Federal, was located in San Francisco and had more than $74 million in assets. Los Angeles had four black-owned thrifts, which controlled nearly $154 million in assets. Throughout the nation, thirty-four African American thrifts held more than $400 million in total assets. The American Savings and Loan League is affiliated with America’s Community Bankers (ACB), a national trade association providing services and support for progressive community banks that are devoted to strengthening America’s communities. The ACB, whose office is located in Washington, D.C., was formed on June 1, 1992, under its original name Savings & Community Bankers of America. The name was changed to America’s Community Bankers on January 29, 1995. According to a 2003 report from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, African Americans are still denied home loans more than twice as often as whites when applying for home loans at American Savings and Loan Associations. Loan records suggest that there is a lending gap so pervasive that often high-income blacks are rejected at the same rate as low-income whites. Loan records also indicate that redlining— withholding loan funds in an area because of race—continues and may have grown worse since the 1980s as federal regulators decreased enforcement of fair-lending laws. During the period from 1993 to 1998, denial rates for all ethnic and racial groups increased considerably.

24

Wally ‘‘Famous Amos’’ Amos Jr.

It is evident that thrift organizations, such as the American Savings and Loan League, are still much needed in our current society. The use of these organizations has made it possible for many Americans, including African Americans, women, and ethnic Americans, to realize the dream of home ownership. See also: Black Banks: Their Beginning; Real Estate Industry Sources Dedman, Bill. ‘‘The Color of Money: Blacks Turned Down for Home Loans from S & L’s Twice as Often as Whites.’’ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 22, 1989. http://powerreporting.com/color/53.html. Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council. ‘‘Reports—Nationwide Summary Statistics for 2003 HMDA Data Fact Sheet.’’ July 2004. http://www.ffiec .gov/hmcrpr/hm_fs03.htm. JPL Networks. DocLoan: ‘‘Free Loan Advice and Financial Information.’’ http:// www.docloan.com/loans/terms/A. Mason, David L. From Buildings and Loans to Bail-Outs: A History of the American Savings and Loan Industry, 1831–1995. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. The Negro Yearbook. 11th ed. Tuskegee, AL: Tuskegee Institute, Negro Year Book Publishing Company, 1952. U.S. Department of the Treasury Office. Office of Thrift Supervision. Index to the OTS Glossary of Terms. http://www.ots.treas.gov/glossary/gloss-a.html.

Sharon McGee

Wally ‘‘Famous Amos’’ Amos Jr. (1936– ), Business Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker Born on July 1, 1936, Wallace (Wally) Amos Jr. will ever be associated with chocolate chip cookies and baking. At age twelve when his parents Wallace and Ruby Amos divorced, Amos moved from his birthplace in Tallahassee, Florida, to live with his mother’s sister in New York City. Aunt Della taught him how to bake his favorite chocolate chip cookies, developing his interest in cooking and his dream of becoming a chef. Amos attended Food Trades Vocational High School but dropped out to join the U.S. Air Force. He was discharged in 1957 after earning his GED (general educational development) equivalency diploma. Amos enrolled in a secretarial training program at a New York City business school while working as a stock clerk at Saks Fifth Avenue. At Saks, his competency was rewarded with an appointment as manager of the supply department. With the added pressure of a growing family, and the realization that further advancement at Saks would be difficult, Amos searched for other opportunities. In 1961, excited about the possibility of working in show business, he took a job in the mailroom at the William Morris Talent Agency in New York City. There, Amos advanced quickly

25

Wally ‘‘Famous Amos’’ Amos Jr.

through the ranks from mail deliveries to the secretarial pool to the music department and upward to become the first black booking agent at a major theatrical agency. Amos worked directly with or supported popular talents of the day such as Simon and Garfunkel, Dionne Warwick, Helen Reddy, and the Supremes. The change in music from rock and roll to hard, psychedelic rock, coupled with personnel changes at the agency, caused Amos to rethink his future with the firm. In 1967, after six years with the agency, he quit to start his own talent agency, based first in New York and later in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, Amos was unable to attract successful performers to keep his business profitable. In 1968, he became a personal manager for Venture Records, booking clients on television and variety shows. Amos continued freelancing in show business for another six years, part of the time with his own artist management firm, Wally Amos and Company. Amos had dreamed of becoming a chef ever since he first tasted Aunt Della’s chocolate chip cookies. For years, he had baked and shared chocolate chip cookies with friends who had raved about them, even encouraged him to sell them. In 1975, armed with a business plan, he secured $25,000 in financial backing from show business friends. Amos believed that his new product deserved celebrity status, but being short on funds, he used his talent agency experience to his best advantage. He traded cookies for advertising time at a local radio station, then celebrated the opening of his business on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood with a huge party. Amos also capitalized on his nickname ‘‘Famous,’’ calling his new commercial venture the Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Company. It was the first blackowned cookie retail business. Amos succeeded in turning an old recipe into a winning one with his moist, chewy cookies. Within the next two years, Amos branched out in the West to Tarzana and Tucson. On the East Coast, a contract with Bloomingdale’s and production plants in Nutley, New Jersey, and California helped to move the business to a full wholesale operation. Selling to department stores such as Jorgensen’s, Bloomingdale’s, and Macy’s provided the recognition and prestige that allowed the business to branch to additional locations in California, New York, Chicago, and Hawaii. Famous Amos Cookies, with the help of the media, became nationally prominent, selling cookies in upscale stores like Nieman-Marcus that appealed to the gourmet crowd. Amos became known as ‘‘the face that launched a thousand chips.’’ As personal manager for his company, Amos became his own promotion billboard with his ‘‘Friends of the Cookie’’ corporate symbols, a straw Panama hat, embroidered shirt, and the everpresent kazoo around his neck. Amos’s decision to move to Hawaii in 1977 proved to be more advantageous for his personal life than for his business. Although he appointed friend and manager Sid Ross as the president of the company, Amos’s absence affected the efficiency of the business. The company enjoyed ten years of relative stability, with annual sales reaching more than $10 million in 1982. However, fierce competition from established cookie makers Nabisco and Keebler and new companies Mrs. Fields and David’s saturated the

26

Wally ‘‘Famous Amos’’ Amos Jr.

market with brands of premium and fresh-baked cookies. By 1984, Famous Amos no longer cornered the gourmet cookie market. The company began to suffer heavy financial losses due to forced expansion and high overhead. Desperate for new investors, Amos sold a majority interest to Bass Brothers of Fort Worth, Texas, for $1.1 million in 1985. The expected turnaround was not immediate; Famous Amos changed hands four times from 1985 to 1988. The new owners tried unsuccessfully to license similar products such as ice cream, candy, and soda with the Famous Amos brand name. Amos attributed his losses to his lack of business acumen. He had the vision, grit, and resourcefulness, but as an entrepreneur, he was not equipped to handle management and financial problems. Amos signed a noncompete clause and left the company in 1989 with a salary of $225,000 a year plus expenses. In 1991, Amos, determined to duplicate his earlier success, formed Wally Amos Presents Chip & Cookie, to sell cookies, dolls, apparel, and related merchandise. The Portola Group, the new owners of the Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Company, sued him for trademark infringement in 1992. With a new marketing strategy of selling to vending machines and warehouse clubs, Famous Amos had moved from near bankruptcy to become the number one in the vending-machine cookie retail business. The company did not want its product confused with any others carrying the Amos name. Product sales, which had been climbing steadily, now reached over the $70 million mark, surpassing Nabisco’s Oreo. The legal agreement allowed Amos the use of his name and likeness on promotions but barred him from use on any products. In 1992, Amos formed the Uncle Noname (pronounced no-nah-may) Cookie Company to sell cookies but later changed to low-fat and sugar-free muffins. Uncle Noname was Amos’s creative wordplay on his legal situation with the Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Company. From his home in Oahu, Hawaii, Amos presided over two new ventures, Uncle Wally’s ultra moist muffins, which evolved from Uncle Noname, and his Floridabased company, Aunt Della’s Cookies, chocolate chip and other flavored gourmet cookies. Amos is the spirit and force behind marketing his products, which he promotes to vending machine and supermarket businesses and club warehouse stores. His companies grossed $18 million in 2002. A bakery in Long Island, New York, employed more than 100 people. Amos has successfully turned the loss of his company and, in a sense, his name into new life. He believes that life is all about the future and not the past. Amos attributes his success to his enthusiasm for life and his love for the products in which he has an interest. The Famous Amos Company was sold in 1998 to Keebler, a subsidiary of the Kellogg Company. Surprisingly, in 1999, Amos returned to the company as its spokesperson, and in 2000, on the company’s twenty-fifth anniversary, Amos became the official ‘‘director of cookie fun’’ to promote the brand name. Pleased with the new association, Keebler granted permission for Amos to once again use his name and face. He changed Uncle Noname to Uncle Wally’s. In 2001, the Kellogg Company bought out Keebler Foods.

27

Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs

Wally Amos, inventor of the original ‘‘Famous Amos’’ chocolate chip cookie, has come full circle. He has written five books recounting his remarkable experiences, offering sage advice, and sharing his witticisms on life. From 1977 to 1980 he participated in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades. In 1980, Amos’s panama hat, Indian-style gauze shirt, and his cookies were selected by the Smithsonian Institution to be enshrined in the Business American exhibits collection of the National Museum of American History. Along with an honorary citation from the Horatio Alger Association, Amos received the Small Business Entrepreneurial Award for Excellency in business ownership and entrepreneurship from President Ronald Reagan in 1986. Amos uses his fame to promote literacy. He is the spokesperson for the national organization Literacy Volunteers of America. Amos is also a board member for the National Center for Family Literacy, a post he has had since 1979. In 1990 he received the National Literacy Honors Award from President George Bush. He travels the country, promoting literacy at libraries and conferences and giving motivational lectures on how to overcome adversity while keeping a positive attitude. This is the kind of work that brings the pioneer of the gourmet cookie a sense of satisfaction, being, and purpose. See also: Black Businesses in Large Cities; Food Service Industry Sources Amos, Wally, and Camilla Denton. The Man with No Name: Turn Lemons into Lemonade. Lower Lake, CA: Aslan Publishing, 1994. Amos, Wally, Eden-Lee Murray, and Neale Donald Walsch. The Cookie Never Crumbles: Inspirational Messages for Everyday Living. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2001. Amos, Wally, and Leroy Robinson. The Famous Amos Story: The Face That Launched a Thousand Chips. New York: Doubleday, 1983. ‘‘Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Company.’’ Leading American Businesses: Profiles of Major American Companies and the People Who Made Them Important. By Michael Burgan. Farmington Hills, MI: UXL/Gale/Thomson, 2003. ‘‘Wally Amos.’’ Leading American Businesses: Profiles of Major American Companies and the People Who Made Them Important. By Michael Burgan. Farmington Hills, MI: UXL/Gale/Thomson, 2003. ‘‘Wally Amos Jr.’’ African American Almanac. Detroit: Gale Research, 2003.

Janette Prescod

Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs Established in 1985 within Los Angeles’s hotbed of black entrepreneurial expansionism, the Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs (ABWE) was founded to address mounting frustrations associated with female and minority marginality in the corporate world. To counter the trend, ABWE has grounded itself in providing networking workshops, mentoring

28

Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs

relationships, and pertinent information sessions to help black women establish independent and economically viable enterprises. As president of Corita Communications—an educational business consulting firm—and as a long-standing instructor of business administration at California State University at Northridge, Dolores C. Ratcliffe, current president of ABWE, possesses the skills and vision to help provide aspiring black women entrepreneurs with the practical tools to succeed. In addition to her tasks as proprietor, educator, and trade organization leader, Ratcliffe has inspired many through writing as well. She wrote Women Entrepreneurs Networking and Sweet Potato Pie: A Business Survival Guide (1987) as an outgrowth of ABWE’s objectives. Accordingly, at its fifth national conference in 1989, ABWE focused its energies on the prospects of national and international entrepreneurship in the 1990s. Specific agenda items covered at the conference included limited risks in franchising opportunities, practical management strategies, and approaches to financial discipline. In the case of franchising opportunities, Ratcliffe and Detroit-based National Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs (NABWE) president Marilyn French-Hubbard both concluded that the transition from the corporate world to owning one’s business could be facilitated more fluidly through franchising since the infrastructure of the company is established and does not have to be re-created. Historically, black women have faced obstacles attracting seed funds to launch projects and securing contracts from purchasing agents. ABWE has assisted in neutralizing this pitfall by filtering professional contacts and business information to help members propel their respective services into able and interested clients’ hands. Moreover, Ratcliffe is quick to point out the need for black women to adapt their corporate skill base to the entrepreneurial world and systematically devise mechanisms for sustained success. An immediate service afforded to ABWE members is the SOS Call Line, which serves as a troubleshooting contact point in which members can reach the Los Angeles headquarters twenty-four hours a day and discuss problems associated with getting their businesses off the ground. According to Ratcliffe, the most consistent complaint stems from prospective lenders’ pervasive stereotypes and connotations of black women as high risks and potential liabilities owing to insufficient experience. She also points out that most cases in question are overtly discriminatory because the women involved have demonstrated good credit and substantial home equity. Yet the perils of biased lending persist. Not to be dismayed by societal constraints, Ratcliffe and ABWE have continued to navigate through limitations and offer programs of empowerment. Primarily through mentoring of local black female business owners in the Los Angles area, Ratcliffe has helped countless numbers take their businesses to higher heights. Letitia Wright, host of the Wright Place television show, represents this category. Wright was chosen in May 2005 to participate in ABWE’s WIN-TEC program—a program whereby a select few small businesses interact through organizational initiatives in an effort to

29

Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs

broaden their existing bases and expand their overall niche. As an appointed member of Los Angeles County’s Office of Small Business Advisory Board, Ratcliffe has used her behind-the-scenes insight while providing continuous advice on increasing opportunities for small business procurement. For twenty years ABWE founder and president Dolores Ratcliffe has remained at the fore of the movement to encourage black women’s business ownership; support the showcasing of black women business owners; offer professional development, training, and technical proficiency; and provide accessible microloan programs. With members on its corporate board representing Walt Disney Productions, AT&T, Miller Brewing Company, Southern California Gas Company, the Northrop Corporation, and the Southern California Edison Company, ABWE has solidified its role as the preeminent power networking organization of Southern California representing the combined interests of black women entrepreneurs. With this in mind, in New Age Media Concepts, Ratcliffe holds firm to her belief: ‘‘When you hear the words how dare you succeed? Smile to yourself and say ‘That’s not what I believe.’ ’’ See also: Women and Business Sources ‘‘Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs Selects Dr. Letitia Wright for 2005– 2006 WIN-TEC Program.’’ New Age Media Concepts Online, May 21, 2005. http:// press.namct.com/content/view/1279/9. Thompson, Kevin D. ‘‘Black Women in America Starting Over.’’ Black Enterprise 19 (August 1988): 58–61. Whigham, Marjorie. ‘‘Networkers Focus on Entrepreneurship.’’ Black Enterprise 20 (November 1989): 31. Zev Yaroslavsky Press Release. March 30, 2000. http://zev.co.la.ca.us/PressReleases 00/033000ratcliffe.htm.

Uzoma O. Miller

30

B Barbecue Establishments The history of the barbecue establishment in this country is inextricably tied to the history and culture of the African American community, particularly in the South. Although traditionally these businesses have been small, varying from a roadside stand to a sit-down restaurant, they continue to serve as a source of income for the owners and as a cultural icon for African Americans. In the Senegambia region of West Africa, open braising of meat was common practice. Slaves who arrived in colonial South Carolina came from the West Indies and may have practiced open braising techniques as a part of their African heritage. In Smokestack Lightning, Lolis Elie notes that the African influence is often downplayed, but it cannot be denied. ‘‘Barbecue, more than most American foods, has come to be inextricably tied to African American culture,’’ he notes. As we know it today, ‘‘barbecue is also the product of the blending of techniques,’’ he says. It differs by region; for example, in the East most barbecuing is done with pork, while in the West it is done with beef. As Anglo-American, Hispanic, African American, and other cultures mixed, the hybrid culture that resulted included barbecue. Native Americans and black slaves taught early colonists how to cook or barbecue whole hogs; then barbecuing became an important part of American culture, particularly in the South. After the Civil War, barbecue was prepared for special occasions. As well, a community gathering or a big festival was often called a ‘‘barbecue.’’ It follows that, during this period, the cooks who served the white community in the South were black. To Burt Feintuch, who wrote for the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, barbecue was a way of cooking as well as a way of ‘‘serving the result.’’ Barbecue referred to ‘‘meat cooked slowly over embers’’ and kept moist by a basting sauce. Central to the black identity in the South early on was barbecue. In fact, the food was so popular that roadside stands became the Old South’s first restaurants. In time, however, whites in the restaurant business had an advantage over blacks: They were able to meet the requirements that new

Barbecue Establishments

urbanization set forth. With their limited funds, owners of the small, black businesses were unable to meet the sanitary regulations that were imposed in the late 1800s and into the 1900s. As well, blacks still cooked their barbecue over a hole in the ground—a pit—a procedure that was unacceptable to health officials. Region, rather than race, affects the way the food is prepared. In North Carolina, for example, the barbecue tradition is to cook the meat until it falls apart; then it can be pulled into shreds and served. In some sections of the state the meat is chopped. Regardless of the form of the final product, a vinegar and hot pepper sauce is used. Contents of sauces used in other regions will vary, as will the cut of meat, whether shoulder, loin, or ribs. In contrast, the black east Texas barbecue tradition, as well as in the state’s majority culture, beef, which is in abundance in the state, is used rather than pork. In the Old South, whites have held huge barbecues in Texas for civic and other gatherings. Thousands of people have attended and whole herds of cattle been slaughtered; however, the traditional black culture was preserved owing to the fact that the cooks were black. Nick Spinelli found that barbecue remained on the East Coast and in southern states for some time before spreading across the country especially to cattle and rail towns. ‘‘African Americans—knowledgeable in cooking the less meaty and less desirable cuts of meat—migrated to the northern and western states’’ and took their cooking tradition with them. Thus, cattle and rail towns picked up the tradition. Since barbecue is a part of the African tradition, it follows that the African American community would continue to practice this cooking technique. In time, barbecue became commercialized and a means of income for black people. Barbecue establishments became prevalent in practically every African American community of the South. An early entrepreneur in the field was Henry Perry, who in 1970 opened Kansas City, Missouri’s first barbecue restaurant. Later the business became known as Arthur Bryant’s. Barbecue restaurants were especially popular during the mid-twentieth century, and many of these were small black businesses. Some may have been established and flourished owing to a long-standing community legend that only blacks could cook ‘‘real’’ barbecue. Joseph A. Pierce, who in 1944 surveyed black business, suggested that blacks should build on this legend and reenter the barbecue business because of its potential as a profitable undertaking. Barbecue businesses in the African American community have developed from a simple shack in the community; cooking styles varied from one region to another. In time, the establishments grew in size and popularity and attracted considerable business from whites. Despite the rigid racial segregation that existed in the South, whites always had the freedom to shop and eat where they chose; many chose to do so at black establishments, particularly the barbecue stands. During the 1950s and 1960s, black-owned Martell’s barbecue establishment, located on the outskirts of Greensboro, North Carolina, operated a

32

Barbecue Establishments

racially segregated restaurant: It seated and served white patrons in a dining area but required African Americans to use the drive-in window. Whites had other choices. Gary D. Ford notes in Encyclopedia of Southern Culture that ‘‘whites, in a strange reversal of Jim Crow traditions, made stealthy excursions for take-out orders’’ in the black barbecue establishments. This was seen early on at Cromwell’s Barbecue (Phoenix City, Alabama), Archibald’s Drive-In (Northport, Alabama), and The Spare Rib (Greenville, Texas). In Nashville, Tennessee, businesses such as Maxwell’s on Charlotte Avenue (now closed) and Mary’s on Jefferson Street had no segregated seating practices. Nor did Shakey’s on 14th Avenue North (also closed); like many other barbecue establishments, however, all patrons, regardless of race, were served from a stand-up window. Two barbecue establishments of national acclaim are found in Kansas City, Missouri—Bryant’s and Gates’. In 1926, Arthur Bryant founded Bryant’s Barbecue, and George W. Gates founded Gates’ old Kentucky Bar-B-Que in 1946. Gates offers a variety of barbecue foods, including chicken, beef, turkey, and his speciality—ribs. Both establishments are famous for their sauces and ship nationwide. In Arkansas, Lindsey’s, founded in 1955 and located in North Little Rock, is an example of a family business handed down to a descendant of black African Methodist Episcopal (AME) bishop D. L. Lindsey. In recent years, Sim’s Barbecue, founded by Allen Sims and managed by his nephews, was said to have the best barbecue in the state. These small, black barbecue establishments are examples of those that proliferated throughout the South in the 1950s and 1960s. The current trend toward showcasing all aspects of African American culture is seen in various festivals and celebrations throughout the country. Among such celebrations that promote local culture as well as local barbecue traditions is the W. C. Handy Blues and Barbecue Festival, a weeklong activity held each June in Henderson, Kentucky. The festival promotes blues, bands from across the nations, and feasts of barbecue, red beans and rice, and other items from local vendors. Although for a time racial divides prevented them from entering, blacks have also preserved their barbecue traditions by participating in the Memphis in May 1982 festival’s barbecue cook-off contest and other sizable barbecue cook-offs in Georgia and Texas. Notwithstanding the influences of Anglo, Hispanic, and Native American culture on barbecue traditions, the barbecue establishment remains an important influence on the economic development of the African American community. See also: Food Service Industry; Roadside and Street Vending Sources Elie, Lolis Eric, ed. Corn Bread Nation 2: The United States of Barbecue. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004. ———. Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996. Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Ed. Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989.

33

Don H. Barden Feintuck, Burt. ‘‘Foodways, Geography of.’’ Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Ed. Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. Ford, Gary P. ‘‘Barbecue.’’ Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Ed. Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. Pierce, Joseph A. Negro Business and Business Education: Their Present and Prospective Development. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1947. Reprint, Westport, CT: Negro Universities Press, 1971. Spinelli, Nick. ‘‘True Barbecue.’’ Prepared Foods 170 (July 2001): 69.

Jessie Carney Smith

Don H. Barden (1943– ), Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist, Television Executive, Real Estate Developer, Casino Owner and Operator Don Barden’s love for a challenge goes hand in hand with his flair for risk taking. Taking chances and leveraging profits are proven strategies for Barden as evidenced by his phenomenal success. Barden Companies Incorporated, with its diversified portfolio of businesses, including casino gambling, real estate development, and international trade, is one of the top minority firms in the country. Barden, an entrepreneur venture capitalist, seemingly possesses an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time. He was born in Inkster, Michigan, on December 20, 1943, the ninth of thirteen children. His parents, Milton and Hortense Barden, were hardworking people who raised their children with the same work ethic. In high school Barden played quarterback on the football team and was also a captain on the basketball team. He completed one year of college at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, but had to drop out after his freshman year in 1963 due to lack of funds. He settled in Lorain, Ohio, working in a variety of jobs including one with the American Shipbuilding Company. In 1965 Barden used his $500 savings to open a record store, his first venture into the entertainment business. The lessons he learned running Donnie’s Record Shop served as preparation for future business ventures. He honed his skills at selling and promotion and also learned public relations. From the start, Barden never let his businesses stagnate but kept moving to the next opportunity. He expanded his record business into booking shows, promoting artists, and even creating a new record label. His entrepreneurial spirit and intrepid determination willed him to forge ahead. In 1968, he sold his record store and opened a public relations office. However, public relations and advertising were slow to produce the level of financial rewards Barden expected. Eager, proactive, and on the lookout for new opportunities, he entered the real estate arena, beginning with a contract to provide housing for the U.S. military. Barden formed Waycor Development

34

Don H. Barden

Incorporated in 1988 to continue buying, selling, renting, and developing properties to meet supply and demand. Although he made some very profitable real estate investments throughout the 1970s, not all of his ventures proved to be successful. At the same time he was working in real estate, he also anchored the local news and hosted a weekly talk show for a television station in Cleveland, Ohio. A partnership to publish a weekly entertainment newspaper, the Lorain County Times, folded after two issues. Undaunted, Barden secured financial backing to continue publishing the paper until it was sold five years later. All his public ventures—newspaper publishing, television broadcasting, relations with the local chamber of commerce and other community groups—inevitably propelled him into the political arena. He was elected to the Lorain City Council, where he served for two terms from 1972 to 1975, as the first African American councilman. A later bid for a Senate seat in the Ohio legislature proved to be more elusive. In the 1970s, when the cable television entertainment business was expanding from high- to middle-income consumers, Barden envisioned a market for cable in the often overlooked urban black communities. Through negotiation, he was able to forge a deal that opened 4 percent interest of the cable television franchises to black ownership. Barden’s 2 percent interest in each franchise earned lucrative benefits for his new company Barden Communications Incorporated, which became one of the first African American companies to be a major player in the cable industry. In 1981, Barden Cablevision of Detroit won the franchise to bring cable television to mostly black communities in Michigan, first in the town of Inkster and later Romulus and Van Buren Townships. In 1983, amidst a storm of controversy, he won a fifteen-year contract for the Detroit cable franchise. The contract was completed in partnership with the Toronto-based Maclean Hunter. Envisioning endless possibilities in casino gambling, Barden sold his interest in Barden Cablevision to Comcast in 1994, garnering over $100 million. This capital provided the funds to enter the gaming business with his first venture, the Majestic Star riverboat casino in Gary, Indiana. His national casino company, Barden Companies Incorporated, is an African American first. He later rebuilt the Majestic Star into a riverboat-casino complex. Barden’s dream to build a casino in the city of Detroit was defeated in a 1997 ballot after he was unable to garner support from the mayor. Another joint proposal with Michael Jackson for a theme park on the waterfront gained even less favor and was abandoned. Barden’s aggressive business style and high-risk nature had not yet enticed him into the automobile business despite his Detroit-based roots. It was the international auto business rather than the domestic market that attracted his attention. Unexpectedly, the president of Namibia opened the door for Barden to gain a foothold in the international business market. In 1997, he brokered a deal with General Motors (GM) to sell GM vehicles to Namibia. Under the contract with the Namibian government, his new company, Barden International, constructed an auto manufacturing and

35

Don H. Barden

processing facility in the African country, employing locals to retrofit the American-made vehicles from left-hand to right-hand drive. Barden foresaw that the Namibian opportunity might open the door to other international ventures, or at least provide a stream of retrofitted vehicles to be exported to other African countries. Barden Companies Incorporated is ranked among the largest African American companies in the United States. Barden has broken new ground with his successes in communications, real estate, cable television, and casino gaming. In 2001, in an unprecedented gamble, Barden acquired from bankruptcy court three casinos in Las Vegas, Tunica (Mississippi), and Black Hawk (Colorado) formerly owned and operated by Fitzgeralds Casino. In addition to being the first African American to own a national casino company, he is also the first with ownership in the Las Vegas area. He continues to place heavy bets on the entertainment industry while developing new products and services. In 2002, he announced new additions to his company, Barden Entertainment and Barden Technologies, which he anticipates would operate a national network of digital video jukeboxes. Barden Technologies is also developing new touch-screen voting machines. Barden has not abandoned the hope of entering the Michigan casino business. In 2004 he filed applications to operate local horse tracks in locations in and around Detroit and is lobbying for others in Maryland and Pennsylvania. In particular he wants to build and operate a horse track with slot machines, a racino, north of Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Barden projects big profits from these new markets. Barden has not abandoned the hope of entering the Michigan casino business. In 2004 he filed applications to operate local horse track locations in and around Detroit. His dream is to build a racino, a horse track with slot machines, north of the Wayne County Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Barden projects big profits from the racino market and lobbied heavily for legislation in Michigan, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Thus far, Pennsylvania is the only state with a racino law. Although the state is yet to approve new gaming licenses, Barden’s group has already proposed a seventeen-acre site with casino, riverfront promenade, and restaurants. Lawmakers in Michigan opted to increase casino taxes instead of authorizing racinos. Further, any gaming expansion must be placed on a ballot to be approved by voters. Barden continues to expand his gambling empire. In 2005, he bought the Trump Casino–Hotel riverboat in Gary, Indiana, for $253 million. It will be fittingly renamed the Majestic Star II as it is a dock mate of his first acquisition, the Majestic Star. Barden’s foresight, wisdom, flexibility, and ability to capitalize on business opportunities with rapid growth potential have singled him out for national recognition including a recent Trumpet Award. Many speculate that he will reenter the political arena in the near future. He has served as a campaign fund-raiser for both Representative Richard Gephardt and President Bill Clinton. If the opportunity is presented at the right time and the stakes are high, there is no doubt that Don Barden will throw his hat in the ring.

36

Edwin C. Berry

See also: Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History; Real Estate Industry Sources Bray, Hiawatha. ‘‘Wired for Success.’’ Black Enterprise 22 (June 1992): 134–140. Dingle, Derek T. ‘‘Don H. Barden: The Barden Companies.’’ Black Enterprise Titans of the B.E. 100s: Black CEOs Who Redefined and Conquered American Business. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1999. Gupte, Pranay B. ‘‘Detroit’s Gift to Namibia.’’ Forbes 162 (October 1998): 112þ. Hughes, Alan. ‘‘The House Always Wins.’’ Black Enterprise 23 (June 2003): 126– 128, 130, 132, 134, 136. LoDico, John, and Rebecca Parks. ‘‘Don H. Barden: Business Executive.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 20. Ed. Shirelle Phelps. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. Smith, Eric L. ‘‘Barden’s Excellent Adventure.’’ Black Enterprise 28 (May 1998): 74–82.

Janette Prescod

Edwin C. Berry (1854–1931), Hotel Owner, Caterer Recognized as a leading black businessman and hotel keeper in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Edwin C. Berry first owned a restaurant and later built and operated a hotel in Athens, Ohio, that was deemed one of the finest available. Although his clientele was primarily white, he served whites as well as blacks. The son of free parents, Berry was born in Oberlin, Ohio, on December 10, 1854. In 1856, when he was two years old, the family relocated to Athens, Ohio, where school facilities were available for blacks. To help support themselves, the Berrys took in boarders. Young Edwin Berry attended the Athens public schools, and later, when the new school opened, he studied for a short time at Albany Enterprise Academy. Albany was an early example of an educational institution in this country founded, owned, and operated by blacks. When his father died in 1870, Berry, then sixteen years old, dropped out of school to help provide for his mother and his eight younger siblings. As he sought employment, Berry walked ten miles away, to Athens, Ohio, where he was hired in a brickyard for fifty cents a day. The bricks were to be used for constructing the state mental hospital. Berry became so skilled in a short time that his wages increased to $1.25 a day; now he could provide more for his family. He continued to work in the brickyard during summer months, but in winter he worked as a delivery boy or store clerk. These were difficult years for the economy, so Berry seized as many opportunities as he could to earn more money. For example, when other youngsters spent some of their money on the traveling circus, Berry made the circus profitable for himself. He set up a refreshment booth that earned more money for him than the brickyard paid. He also sold refreshments for various excursions on the train and elsewhere.

37

Edwin C. Berry

For a while, Berry worked in Parkersburg, West Virginia, as an errand boy in a dry goods store. There he earned $10 a month and sent $8 of it to his mother each month. He also worked as a waiter in an ice cream parlor and developed an interest that would affect his life from then forward. Berry returned to Athens, and from 1868 to 1872, he apprenticed himself as a cook in a local restaurant and developed a profession of catering. So efficient was he as caterer that the customers of his employers demanded his service. He decided that, as a caterer, he would do better for himself than he did for his employer’s customers. He married his schoolmate, Mattie Madry, of Pomeroy, Ohio, on October 18, 1878; her parents also had been slaves. The couple set up housekeeping in one room. His interest in establishing a business for himself never waned, but he had neither the capital nor credit to do so. Meanwhile, Berry had been paying his in-laws $3 a week for his wife’s board. Mattie Madry persuaded her parents to allow Berry to divert the money into ‘‘business capital.’’ In 1888, Berry left his employment in the local restaurant and, with his elder brother and $40 in capital, started a business known as Berry Brothers. He bought out his brother and continued the business on his own. His restaurant was successful from the start, and by 1880 he purchased a lot for $1,300. As soon as he paid for the lot, he borrowed $1,000 from a farmer friend and put up his first building, which became a part of Berry Hotel. Berry continued to prosper for fourteen years; this required him to seek various locations to support the thriving enterprise. In 1892, Berry borrowed $9,000 from a farmer friend, mortgaged his building, and expanded his business by building the Berry Hotel, a twentyroom facility, next to his restaurant. It, too, was immediately successful, requiring several additions over time to meet patrons’ needs. Later on he expanded to fifty rooms served by an elevator and equipped each room with a closet and bath. Although his clientele was predominantly white, he served blacks as well. According to Booker T. Washington in The Negro in Business, he had a deep sense of loyalty to his race and would rather lose customers than be ‘‘disloyal’’ to black people. Berry Hotel, which grossed $35,000 annually, was known for its fine meals and the precision care that was given to the guests. The hotel is credited with having in each room needle, thread, buttons, and cologne. Washington reported that Berry’s wife attended to the visitors as well; while they slept, she pressed their garments, added buttons, and made repairs. Guess were so impressed with the hotel’s service that they returned time and time again and brought friends with them. The hotel was also a popular spot on Sundays for men who traveled considerable distances to spend the day there. By the time Berry retired— sometime before 1910—some sources say that he had fifty-five rooms and operated one of the finest hotels in the country. Beyond the restaurant and hotel business, Berry was active in the Republican Party in southeastern Ohio and in summer 1889 sought a clerkship in the state government. During the early decades of the twentieth century, he served on the Board of Trustees for Wilberforce University in Ohio. Active in the Baptist church, he helped to finance and build Mount Zion Baptist Church in

38

Jesse Binga

Athens. For nearly fifty years he was a delegate and speaker at the Ohio Baptist Convention. He was also an advocate of temperance. Berry credited his mother and his wife for his success. In his business efforts, he catered to the needs of his clients—an attribute that brought him recognition. Berry died in Athens on March 12, 1931. By then he had accumulated an estate worth $55,000. See also: Food Service Industry Sources Levstik, Frank R. ‘‘Edwin C. Berry.’’ Dictionary of American Negro Biography. Ed. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982. Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998. Washington, Booker T. The Negro in Business. Boston: Hertel, Jenkins and Co., 1907. Work, Monroe N. Negro Yearbook and Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro. Tuskegee, AL: Negro Year Book Co., 1913.

Frederick D. Smith

Jesse Binga (1865–1950), Banker, Real Estate Broker Jesse Binga was born in Detroit, Michigan, on April 10, 1865, the son of Robert Binga Jr. and Adelphia Powers, the youngest of ten children. (Reflecting the paucity of original source material, his parents’ names are variously given.) He established himself in Chicago in 1893. His business success during the few years was so great that he was able to open the first private bank owned by an African American in the North in 1908. In January 1921, he established the Binga State Bank, a chartered bank that he continued to run almost as his own private bank. In so doing, he became one of the contemporary stars among black entrepreneurs. The bank prospered during the boom years of the 1920s but failed in 1930. Though the failure was due in part to the economic downturn, Binga was convicted of embezzlement in 1933. He began his ten-year prison sentence in 1935 but was released in 1938. He never recovered his affluence and spent the remaining twelve years of his life working as a janitor. Binga’s education ended after two years of high school; he took up his father’s profession of barbering. From his mother, for whom he collected rents, he had an initiation in real estate. In 1885 he set out on eight years of wandering that took him to Missouri, Minnesota, Montana, Washington State, California, and Utah. He supported himself primarily by barbering but was also involved in land dealing. It is uncertain whether his efforts meant that he brought to Chicago capital to start his business activities or merely freedom from outstanding debt. Reports of his early activities in Chicago are varied: He ran a fruit stand; he peddled coal oil in the streets; he worked as a shoe shine boy. All

39

Jesse Binga

emphasize his humble beginnings. Binga himself claimed he had only $10 in pocket when he opened a real estate office at 331 South State Street in 1886 or 1898, the start of a very successful business career. The growing numbers of blacks in Chicago contributed to a real estate boom in the black community, and early purchases placed Binga in a very favorable position to profit when black migration numbers took a spectacular upward turn around 1915. Segregation limited the availability of housing while ensuring a high rate of return on rental property. Binga became proficient in ‘‘block busting,’’ that is, buying property in a block, renting to blacks, and buying up the remaining property at distress rates from fleeing whites. Thus his reputation had a dual aspect: He was admired for making housing available and becoming rich in the process, while he was also perceived as a hard-dealing, rapacious landlord as well as an imperious and mean person. Binga was responsible for making State Street a center of the black South Side by moving tenants into a seven-story building in 1905, a move that accelerated white flight, and the street became a center of his real estate activity and other business. He is credited with extending the area of black occupation from South State Street toward the lake. His first bank, a private one, was established on State Street in 1908, and his riches and prominence grew. His business success made him a special target of white hostility, especially when he moved into a home in a previously all-white neighborhood. The home was bombed five times between 1917 and 1921. Binga married Eudora Johnson in 1912. The marriage seems to have produced two children. There is an as yet unverified claim that there was a second marriage. In any case, Eudora Johnson was the sister of John ‘‘Mushmouth’’ Johnson, a notable numbers king, and in 1906 had inherited a fortune said to be $200,000 from her father. It is claimed that Binga entered this marriage for monetary reasons since the bride was no longer young and allegedly far from attractive. On the other hand, the marriage brought him social prestige, as there was little prejudice against the source of his wife’s family’s wealth. In fact, Binga brushed aside complaints in 1921 that one of his bank vice presidents, Charles Jackson, was both brother of noted numbers king Dan Jackson and a prominent operator himself. Both Eudora and Jesse Binga became active philanthropists. As socialites, they held annual twilight Christmas parties that were notable social events. Binga was a founder of the Associated Business Club, an affiliate of the National Negro Business League. By the mid-1920s, in his real estate operations Binga owned some 1,200 leaseholds, and his bank had a capital and surplus of $235,000, with $1,153,000 in deposits. In October 1924, the bank moved to a new building, purportedly the first real bank building built by an African American. In addition to his bank holdings, Binga was the largest real estate holder on South State Street below 12th Street. State Street began to deteriorate as the business center of the black community shifted southward, however, and the construction in 1929 of a major seven-story building and ballroom, the Binga Arcade, did not arrest the downturn. As the real estate market

40

Black Banks: Their Beginning

declined with the onset of the Great Depression, an overreliance on real estate mortgages proved very harmful to the fiscal health of the bank. The failure of the Binga State Bank in 1930 wiped out Binga’s personal fortune of $400,000, as well as the savings of many depositors. The bank ended up with an uncovered deficit of $500,000. Investigation of the bank failure by the banking examiner led to criminal charges. There is little doubt that some of the bank’s activities were illegal as well as imprudent. For example, $267,612 in loans to Binga and his ventures has been approved on his sole responsibility, and the bank’s largest block of securities, shares in the Binga Safe Deposit Company, were worthless. Binga’s own insistence on remaining bank president, over the wishes of the board of directors, hindered efforts to save the enterprise. Accused of embezzlement, Binga escaped conviction in his first trial in 1932 but was convicted of embezzling $22,000 in 1933. Appeals meant that he did not begin serving a ten-year prison sentence until 1935. Binga still had enough support in the community for the organization of a petition drive to secure his freedom. Many people viewed him a victim of white racism, overlooking his illegal activities. Freed in 1938, when he was seventy-three, he could not reestablish himself and spent the remainder of his life in near poverty, earning $15 a week as custodian of St. Anselm’s Catholic Church. Soon evicted from his home, he found shelter in the home of his nephew. His death there on June 13, 1950, is attributed to a fall on the stairs. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. See also: Black Banks: Their Beginning; Real Estate Industry Sources Cantey, Inez V. ‘‘Jesse Binga, the Story of a Life.’’ Crisis 34 (December 1927): 329, 350–352. Harris, Abram J. The Negro as Capitalist: A Study of Banking and Business among American Negroes. 1936. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969. Ingham, John N. ‘‘Jesse Binga.’’ American National Biography. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Osthaus, Carl R. ‘‘Jesse Binga.’’ Dictionary of American Negro Biography. Ed. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982. ———. ‘‘The Rise and Fall of Jesse Binga.’’ Journal of Negro History 58 (January 1973): 39–60. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. ‘‘Jesse Binga.’’ Notable Black American Men. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.

Robert L. Johns

Black Banks: Their Beginning In Reconstruction America some attempts were made to elevate former slaves into middle-class citizen. One way to achieve this was to help them

41

Black Banks: Their Beginning

develop concepts of industry and thrift by providing an economic institution that would facilitate this goal. The establishment of a savings institution for black soldiers was followed by one for black citizens. The venture worked well for the solders but not for the ex-slaves. The Freedman’s Savings Bank and Trust Company, also known as the Freedman’s Bank, was founded to encourage freedmen to save and to promote economic enterprise. It grew phenomenally but later failed; its demise left a legacy of suspicion and distrust among the very people that it has been established to serve. After that, private banks were established, but for the most part, the operation of these early financial institutions was short-lived. The first known black banks in the United States were established during the Civil War. As soldiers often mishandled their money, Union officials established an allotment system to allow deductions from the soldiers’ pay to be sent to relatives or to white banks. This worked well in some instances, but few states made this provision. Black soldiers’ distrusted white officials as well as white banks and wanted more than an allotment system to help them to save money. Thus, on August 27, 1864, General Rufus Saxton announced in Beaufort, South Carolina, the establishment of the Beaufort Military Savings Bank, later known as the South Carolina Freedman’s Savings Bank. In fall 1864 General Benjamin Butler established a bank in Norfolk, and in mid-1865 General Nathaniel Banks established the Free Labor Bank in New Orleans. The latter bank served black soldiers as well as freedmen from the plantations that the government had seized. The immediate success of these experimental military banks led blacks and their sympathizers to expand the focus of the black financial institutions and make it possible for all newly freed slaves to save the money that they made. On January 27, 1865, while the Civil War was still in progress, twentytwo businessmen, philanthropists, and humanitarians from New York met to consider founding a savings institution for black soldiers. Abolitionist, teacher, and minister John W. Alford summoned the meeting; he had seen firsthand the difficulties that black soldiers had in handling the money they received as pay and bounty. He also knew about the experimental banks and their success. The men sent Alford and Reverend George Whipple of the American Missionary Association to Washington, D.C. to seek congressional approval for a national rather than a state or local institution. Senator Charles Sumner presented a bill before the U.S. Senate on March 2, 1865, to establish additional banks for the emancipated slaves. This would help in the economic adjustment of the freedmen. On March 3, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed a law establishing the Freedman’s Savings Bank and Trust Company. Section V of the Act of Incorporation provided for deposits ‘‘by or on behalf of persons’’ previously enslaved in the United States or their descendants. Two-thirds of the funds were to be invested in stocks, bonds, treasury notes, or other U.S. securities. The nonprofit concern was a simple mutual savings bank for blacks. The fifty trustees on the board

42

Black Banks: Their Beginning

were almost all antislavery sympathizers or abolitionists; they were leading businessmen, politicians, philanthropists, bankers, railroad presidents, lawyers, and so on, including people like Levi Coffin, a supporter of the Underground Railroad. All served without salary and without giving any security of trust. By 1867 several blacks were elected to the board, and by 1873 other blacks were added, among them prominent figures such as physician Alexander T. Augusta, businessman William H. A. Wormley, and politician and lawyer John Mercer Langston. The bank, headquartered in New York, opened on April 4; later, the headquarters were moved to Washington, D.C. Soon after the bank’s founding, branches were opened in Norfolk (June 1865), Washington (July 11, 1865), and Richmond (late June 1865). Educator William J. Wilson was named cashier at the Washington branch, becoming the first of twenty-one or more blacks that would hold that title. Later branches were opened in Louisville, New Orleans, Nashville, Memphis, and Vicksburg. So rapid was the spread that, by 1872, thirty-four branches had been set up; with the exception of offices in New York City and Philadelphia, they were all in the South. The banks were deliberately set up in cities where large concentrations of blacks lived. Jacksonville, then a small town, was the exception, but black soldiers in that area soon received bounty and back pay and needed access to a bank. Branches of the Freedman’s banks were established in sixteen states and in the District of Columbia as follows: Alexandria, Louisiana Atlanta, Georgia Augusta, Georgia Baltimore, Maryland Beaufort, South Carolina Charleston, South Carolina Chattanooga, Tennessee Columbus, Mississippi Columbia, Tennessee Huntsville, Alabama Jacksonville, Florida Lexington, Kentucky

Little Rock, Arkansas Louisville, Kentucky Lynchburg, Virginia Macon, Georgia Memphis, Tennessee Mobile, Alabama Montgomery, Alabama Natchez, Mississippi New Bern, North Carolina New Orleans, Louisiana New York, New York Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Norfolk, Virginia Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Raleigh, North Carolina Richmond, Virginia Savannah, Georgia Shreveport, Louisiana St. Louis, Missouri Tallahassee, Florida Vicksburg, Mississippi Washington, D.C. Wilmington, North Carolina

The charter was amended in 1870 to allow for one-half of the funds to be invested at the discretion of the trustees. Further, that investment was restricted to those bonds and notes that were secured by real estate mortgage. The amendment jeopardized the banks’ security by allowing injudicious speculation. During the short period of its existence, the bank was in deep financial trouble. The reasons for the bank’s impending failure were evident in its policies and practices. At first the staff was almost all white; then gradually blacks were hired, but they came as tellers, clerks, and lower-level

43

Black Banks: Their Beginning

supervisors. The control, however, was mainly by white men. Regardless of their race, some, though not all, of the staff were incompetent, and bookkeeping practices were faulty. Improper loans were also made as result of political pressure. Such pressure led to bad loans by white banks being unloaded on the Freedman’s Bank. In 1873 the collapse of the value of railroad securities led to the collapse of a major New York bank, which set off a panic. While many failures occurred during the crisis, the failure of the Freedman’s Bank was attributed to the lapses of black managers rather than those of the general financial situation. Noted black orator and statesman Frederick Douglass, well unaware of the bank’s difficulties or those of other financial institutions, was named president of the bank in March 1874. The trustees expected him to lift it from its difficulties and to restore its image in the black community and the community’s faith in it. Blacks were given more power when they were added to the branches as members of boards of trustees and advisory councils. Most board members who attended meetings of the bank—now based in Washington—were black, some of whom took responsibility for the bank and tried to save it. Some sources suggest that white trustees deserted the ‘‘sinking ship.’’ When Douglass realized that the bank was at risk, he used some of his funds to try to save it. He tried to assure the branches, whose depositors were alarmed over the bank’s crisis, that there was no reason for their uneasiness. He was unsuccessful in his appeal to the Senate Finance Committee for more money for the bank. Congress placed the institution in liquidation as a means of saving it, but by now the public and officials had lost complete confidence in its ability to function. When the bank officially closed on July 2, 1874—owing $2,993,790 on 61,144 accounts—some blamed Douglass, but many other black leaders, blameless or not, were held responsible as well. The public never censured those who actually benefited from the bank. Much of the $57 million that individual blacks as well as black organizations deposited in the bank during its existence was lost. The collapse of the bank dealt a serious setback to the economic development of the black community and led to a serious lost of faith in savings banks. According to William S. McFeely, the bank could have been rescued. He wrote, ‘‘A government flexible enough to support the financing of a vast railroad system,’’ as the federal government did, ‘‘could have found a way to supply the capital needed to match the amount owed depositors.’’ Since it did not, it allowed the bank that it founded to encourage savings and economic enterprise to leave a sad legacy—a loss of faith in savings institutions on the part of blacks. PRIVATE BANKS FOUNDED The black banking business did not end with the closing of the Freedman’s Bank. By 1888, several private black banks were established. The first of these was the True Reformers’ Bank of Richmond, chartered on March 2, 1888, and opened for business on April 3, 1889. In 1910, the bank failed and

44

Black Banks: Their Beginning

Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain, United Order of True Reformers, of Virginia Charter 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That W. W. Browne, Allen J. Harris, W. P. Burrell, R. F. Robinson, Eliza Allen, E. Monroe, M. A. Berry, C. S. Lucas, H. L. Minnus, P. S. Lindsay and S. W. Sutton, together with such other persons as they may hereafter associate with them be, and they are hereby, constituted a body politic and corporate by the name and style of the Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain, United Order of True Reformers, of Virginia, and by that name and style are hereby invested with all the rights and privileges conferred on banks of discount and deposit of this State by charter 59 of the Code of Virginia, 1873, and not inconsistent with the provisions of this act. 2. The capital stock of the said corporation shall not be less than ten thousand dollars, in shares of five dollars each, which may be increased from time to time to a sum of not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars; provided said bank shall not transact any business under this act until twenty per cent of the minimum shall have been paid up. The said bank shall be located in the city of Richmond, State of Virginia; the officers of said bank shall consist of a President, Vice-President, Cashier and Assistant Cashier (if necessary), and such other clerks and messengers as may be necessary to conduct the business of the same. 3. The Board of Directors elected by the Grand Fountain, United Order of True Reformers, shall constitute the Board of Directors of said Bank; they shall continue in office until the first meeting of the members; at such first meeting, and at every annual meeting thereafter, directors shall be elected, who may be removed by the Grand Fountain, United Order of True Reformers, in general meeting; but unless so removed, shall continue in office until their successors shall be duly elected and qualified. The day for the first meeting of the members shall be prescribed by the bylaws; provided that number shall not be Advertisement showing the resources and liabilities of the less than five; by-laws may also provide Alabama Penny Savings Bank in Birmingham, October 30, for calling meetings of the members, and 1911. Source: Monroe N. Work, Negro Year Book and Annual any meetings may adjourn from time to Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1912. Tuskegee, AL: Tuskegee Institute, 1912, p. 6. time.

45

Black Banks: Their Beginning 4. The Board of Directors shall elect one of their body President and VicePresident, and may fill any vacancy occurring in the Board unless it be by removal, in which case the members may fill the same in general meeting. The said Board shall appoint to hold office during its pleasure, the officers and agents of said Bank, prescribe their compensation, and take from them bonds with such security as it may deem fit. 5. The said Bank may acquire such real estate as may be requisite for the convenient transaction of its business, and such as may be bona fide mortgaged to it by way of security, or conveyed to it for satisfaction of debts contracted in the course of its dealing or purchased at sale upon judgment against persons indebted to it. 6. Said Bank may receive on deposit and grant certificates therefore, and may levy, sell and negotiate coin, bank notes, foreign and domestic bills of exchange and negotiable notes in and out of this State. It may loan money on personal and real security, and receive interest in advance; may guarantee the payment of notes, bonds, bills of exchange, or other evidence of debt, and may receive for safekeeping gold and silver plate, diamonds, jewelry and other valuables, and charge reasonable compensation therefor. The money received on deposit by said Bank, and other funds of the same, may be invested in or loaned on real security, or be used in purchasing or discounting bonds, bills, notes or other paper. 7. The object of this corporation is to provide a depository for the Grand and Subordinate Fountains of the United Order of True Reformers, a benevolent institution incorporated for such purposes by the Circuit Court of the State of Virginia. 8. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. 9. This act shall be in force from its passage. Notes: This bank, sometimes referred to as the nation’s first privately owned black bank, received its charter on March 2, 1888, but opened for business on April 3, 1889. The Capitol Savings Bank of Washington, D.C. opened on October 17, 1888, and thus was the nation’s first black-owned bank in operation. Source: J. H. Harmon Jr., Arnett G. Lindsay, and Carter G. Woodson, The Negro as Businessman (Washington, DC: Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Inc., 1919. Reprint, College Park, MD: McGrath, 1929), 58–60.

Table 2.

Banks Established by Region, 1900–1975

Area United States South North Northeast North Central West

Total Number of Banks in 1975

1900–1939

45 19 21 4 17 5

8 8 — — — —

Period Established 1940–1959 1960–1969 2 1 1 — 1 —

11 2 6 2 4 3

1970–1975 24 8 14 2 12 2

Notes: ‘‘—’’ Represents zero. Figures exclude black-owned banks that may have been established at an earlier time but were no longer in existence in 1975. Sources: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, ‘‘Black-Owned Banks by Period Established and Region: 1900–1939 to 1970–1975,’’ The Social and Economic Status of the Black Population in the United States: A Historical View, 1790–1978 (Washington, DC: GPO), 79; ‘‘Black Banks: An Overview,’’ Black Enterprise 7 ( June 1977): 92–95; 185.

46

Table 3. Black Banks in the United States by State, 1912 State

Name of Bank

City

Alabama

Alabama Penny Savings Loan Co. Alabama Savings Bank Anniston Penny Savings Bank Montgomery Penny Savings Bank People’s Investment and Savings Bank Prudent Savings Bank Safety Banking and Realty Company Tuskegee Institute Savings Department

Birmingham Selma Anniston Montgomery Birmingham Birmingham Mobile Tuskegee Institute

Arkansas

Penny Savings Bank

Edmondson

Florida

Afro-American Insurance Company Capital Trust and Investment Company National Mercantile Realty and Improvement Company Progress Savings Bank

Jacksonville

Atlanta State Savings Bank Wage Earners Loan and Investment Company

Atlanta

Illinois

Enterprise Savings Bank Jesse Binga Bank

Springfield Chicago

Kentucky

People’s Savings Bank and Trust Company

Hopkinsville

Maryland

Baltimore Penny Savings Bank Houston Savings Bank

Baltimore Salisbury

Massachusetts

Eureka Co-operative Bank

Boston

Mississippi

American Trust and Savings Bank Bank of Mound Bayou Bluff City Savings Bank Delta Penny Savings Bank Delta Savings Bank Lincoln Savings Bank Penny Savings Bank People’s Home Savings Bank People’s Penny Savings Bank Southern Bank Union Savings Bank

Jackson Mound Bayou Natchez Indianola Greenville Vicksburg Columbus Shaw Yazoo City Jackson Vicksburg

North Carolina

Dime Bank Forsythe Savings and Trust Company Holloway, Borden, Hicks & Company, Bankers Isaac Smith Trust Company Mechanics’ and Farmers’ Bank Mutual Aid and Banking Company

Kingston Winston-Salem Kinston

Georgia

Jacksonville Jacksonville Key West

Savannah

Newbern Durham Newbern (continued)

Black Banks: Their Beginning Table 3. (continued) State

Name of Bank

City

Oklahoma

Boley Bank and Trust Company Farmers’ and Merchants’ Bank People’s Bank and Trust Company

Boley Boley Muskogee

Pennsylvania

People’s Savings Bank

Philadelphia

Tennessee

Fraternal Savings Bank and Trust Company One Cent Savings Bank People’s Savings Bank and Trust Company Solvent Savings Bank and Trust Company

Memphis Nashville Nashville Memphis

Texas

Farmers’ & Citizens’ Savings Bank Farmers’ Improvement Bank Orgen Savings Bank of Dallas Penny Savings Bank of Dallas Provident Bank and Trust Company Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Bank

Palestine Waco Houston Dallas Fort Worth Tyler

Virginia

Brickhouse Savings Bank Brown Savings Bank Crown Savings Bank Sons & Daughters of Peace Penny, Nickel & Dime Savings Bank American Home & Missionary Banking Association Mechanics Savings Bank Nickel Savings Bank Peoples’ Dime Savings Bank Trust Company Southern One Cent Savings Bank St. Luke’s Savings Bank Star of Zion Banking and Loan Association Sussex-Surrey Savings Bank

Hare Valley Exmore, R.D. Norfolk Newport News Newport News Courtland Richmond Richmond Staunton Waynesboro Richmond Salem Courtland

Source: Published in Monroe N. Work, Negro Year Book and Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1912 (Tuskegee, AL: Tuskegee Institute, 1912).

was closed. In 1888 as well, the Capital Savings Bank of Washington, D.C. was founded. It opened for business on October 17 but failed about 1904. Again in the 1880s, a short-lived private black bank opened—the Mutual Bank and Trust Company of Chattanooga. It closed in 1893. On October 15, 1890, the Alabama Penny Savings Bank opened in Birmingham. Black banks experienced the ebb and flow of economic development and by 1918 there were seventy-two black banks. (For a snapshot of the post–Civil War banking industry, see Tables 2 through 9.) Although most were in the Southern states, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West

48

Table 4. Banking Institutions: Characteristics, 1939, 1940 Deposits Capital Surplus and Undivided Profits Dec. 30, 1939 Dec. 31, 1940 Dec. 30, 1939 Dec. 31, 1940 Dec. 30, 1939 Dec. 31, 1940 Citizens and Southern Bank and Trust Company Philadelphia, PA

$16,5721

$585,000

$687,607

$125,000

$125,000

$5,000

Citizens Savings Bank and Trust Company Nashville, TN

207,000

237,655

60,000

60,000

6,000

5,831

Citizens Trust Company Atlanta, GA

558,000

631,180

72,500

72,250

12,500

14,820

Consolidated Bank and Trust Company Richmond, VA

867,000

941,922

80,000

80,000

64,000

67,606

Crown Savings Bank Newport News, VA

467,000

606,202

36,750

36,250

14,250

21,1141

Danville Savings Bank and Trust Company Danville, VA

229,300

289,964

34,700

34,600

23,000

30,517

40,000

91,384

15,000

15,000

5,000

4,825

Fraternal Bank and Trust Company Fort Worth, TX

377,580

411,285

15,420

15,420

3,000

2,9782

Industrial Bank of Washington Washington, DC

817,000

1,104,296

50,000

50,000

42,000

54,091

1,016,000

1,063,257

214,000

210,000

36,000

41,664

169,000

149,787

25,000

25,000

25,0002

14,067

35,000

54,095

14,612

14,612

3,388

3,236

Farmers State Bank Boley, OK

Mechanics and Farmers Bank Durham, NC Tuskegee Institute Savings Bank Tuskegee, AL Victory Savings Bank Columbia, SC 1

Reserve and undivided profits together. Surplus only.

2

Source: Florence Murray, ed., The Negro Handbook, 1942 (New York: Wendell Malliet, 1942), 13.

Table 5.

Banking Institutions: Characteristics, 1947 Total Deposits

Capital

Total Assets

Value of Bank Premises Owned

$3,793,718

$100,000

$4,009,666

$53,778

Citizens Savings Bank and Trust Company Nashville, TN Henry A. Boyd

1,436,314

80,000

1,554,815

8,420

Citizens & Southern Bank and Trust Company Philadelphia, PA Emanuel C. Wright

2,812,136

125,000

2,978,502

39,500

Industrial Bank of Washington Washington, DC Jesse H. Mitchell

5,365,110

100,000

5,670,385

50,000

Danville Savings Bank and Trust Company Danville, VA Irvin C. Taylor

1,096,389

50,000

1,294,453

50,000

Mechanics and Farmers Bank Durham, NC C. C. Spaulding

5,048,732

339,559

5,408,303

14,460

157,408

15,000

179,279

5,000

Consolidated Bank and Trust Company Richmond, VA Emmett C. Burke

3,478,404

80,000

3,706,562

50,000

Crown Savings Bank Newport News, VA W. P. Dickerson

2,374,219

50,000

2,514,036

22,800

Fraternal Bank and Trust Company Fort Worth, TX W. C. McDonald

1,024,041

15,720

1,068,277

4,572

Victory Savings Bank Columbia, SC E. A. Adams

901,948

15,000

930,943

—

Tri-State Bank1 Memphis, TN Dr. J. E. Walker

1,083,419

200,000

1,322,217

—

Douglass State Bank1 Kansas City, KS H. W. Ewing

302,545

125,000

458,561

58,831

Carver Savings Bank1 Savannah, GA L. B. Toomer

119,775

100,000

239,594

2,000

Bank and President Citizens Trust Company Atlanta, GA Lorimer D. Milton

Farmers State Bank Boley, OK Forest Anderson

1

Data supplied by the Department of Commerce. Note: From bank statements and U.S. Department of Commerce. Source: Florence Murray, ed., The Negro Handbook, 1949 (New York: Macmillan, 1949), 200.

Black Banks: Their Beginning Table 6. Banks in the United States, 1950 Fourteen banks owned and operated by blacks in 1950 had combined resources of approximately 35,000,000. At the end of the year they were serving approximately 110,000 depositors. At their 1950 meeting, the National Bankers Association stressed the problems of rising operating costs and gave special consideration to the limited sources available to blacks in business and the assistance which might be forthcoming from black banking institutions.

Source: Jessie P. Guzman, ed., Negro Year Book: A Review of Events Affecting Negro Life, 1941–1946 (Tuskegee, AL: Department of Records and Research, Tuskegee Institute, 1947), 135.

Table 7.

Building and Loan Association, 1899

State Philadelphia, PA Wilmington, NC Anderson, SC Augusta, GA Hampton, VA Ocala, FL Little Rock, AR Portsmouth, VA Sacramento, CA Washington, DC Total

Number of Institutions 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 13

Notes: In 1899 a number of brokers and money-lending institutions were established, especially in cities like Washington, DC, where a large black salaried class lived. This group included building and loan associations. Source: W.E.B. Du Bois, ed., The Negro in Business (Atlanta, GA: Atlanta University Press, 1899), 13. Arranged by the editors.

Virginia, and the District of Columbia had black banks as well. The banking industry was by this time plagued with larceny and ineptness, yet black banks began with limited capital, poor loan practices, and some misappropriation of funds—practices that almost ensure that they would be short-lived. See also: Black Business Development and the Federal Government Sources Franklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom. 6th ed. New York: Knopf, 1988. McFeely, William S. Frederick Douglass. New York: Norton, 1991. Negro Year Book and Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro. Tuskegee, AL: Negro Year Book Co., 1913. Negro Year Book, 1918–1919. An Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro. Tuskegee, AL: Negro Year Book Publishing Co., 1919.

51

Table 8. This Last Year Year

Private Equity Firms, 2003–2004

Company

Location Farmington, CT

Chief Executive

1

1

Fairview Capital Partners Inc

2

4

Pharos Capital Group LLC

Dallas, TX

3

5

SYNCOM

Silver Spring, MD Herbert P. Wilkins Sr.

4

3

Smith Whiley & Co.

Hartford, CT

5

6

Quetzal/JP Morgan Partners

New York, NY

6

7

Porvender Capital Group LLC

New York, NY

7

8

8

9

9

10

Total Number Capital under Number of Portfolio Year Started Staff Management* of Funds Companies

Laurence C. Morse/ JoAnn H. Price

1994

16

Dale LeFebvre

1998

14

1977

8

Gwendolyn Smith Iloani

1994

12

Reginald J. Hollinger/ Lauren M. Tyler

2000

4

Frederick O. Terrell

1997

5

Opportunity Capital Partners Fremont, CA

J. Peter Thompson

1993

ICV Capital Partners

New York, NY

Willie Woods

1999

10

Black Enterprise Greenwich Street Corporate Growth Management LLC

New York, NY

Ed A. Williams

1998

—

United Enterprise Fund LP

New York, NY

John O. Utendahl/ Jeffery Keys/Daniel Dean

2000

1600

9

148

350

3

29

250

4

25

222

3

25

170

1

2

145

2

3

8

135

4

20

10

130

1

6

8

91

1

8

5

41

1

6

*In millions of dollars, to the nearest thousand, as of December 31, 2004. Prepared by B. E. Research. Reviewed by the certified public accounting firm Edwards & Co. Source: Black Enterprise 35 ( June 2005): 194. Published by permission.

Black Business Development and the Federal Government Table 9. Top Investment Banks This Year 1

Last Year 1

Company The Williams Capital Group LP

Location New York, NY

Year Started 1994

Staff 58

Total Managed Issues* 122.315

Ronald E. Blaylock James Reynolds Jr.

1993

70

109.329

1997

80

87.753

Chief Executive Christopher J. Williams

2

2

Blaylock & Partners LP

New York, NY

3

3

Loop Capital Markets LLC

Chicago, IL

4

5

Utendahl Capital Partners LP

New York, NY

John Oscar Utendahl

1992

29

69.299

5

4

Siebert Branford Shank & Co LLC

Oakland, CA

Suzanne Shank

1996

45

50.957

6

6

MR Beal & Co.

New York, NY

Bernard B. Beal

1988

35

45.325

7

7

Jackson Securities LLC

Atlanta, GA

1987

30

36.425

8

9

SBK-Brooks Investment Corp.

Cleveland, OH

Reuben R. McDaniel III Eric L. Small

1993

20

14.500

9

10

Rice Financial Products Co.**

New York, NY

J. Donald Rice Jr.

1987

26

12.388

10

—

Powell Capital Markets Inc.

Roseland, NJ

Arthur F. Powell

1990

5

2.982

*In millions of dollars, to the nearest thousand, as of December 31, 2004. This is for all issues including municipal debt and equity transactions for the year ending December 31, 2004. **Rice Financial Products Co. not measured by Thomson Financial. Note: Reviewed by the certified public accounting firm Edwards & Co. Source: Thomson Financial. Published in Black Enterprise 35 ( June 2005): 194. Published by permission. Osthaus, Carl R. Freedmen, Philanthropy, and Fraud: A History of the Freedman’s Savings Bank. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1976.

Jessie Carney Smith

Black Business Development and the Federal Government Following the Civil War there was an emergence of black aspirations in business ownership. While the dreams of these Americans were strong, so was the government’s desire to suppress and stifle these businesses. In fact, black business development in the twentieth century was greatly influenced by the federal government’s hostile recall of the 1875 Civil Rights Act. For this reason, the beginning of black businesses following the Civil War was hindered greatly by rulings of the U.S. federal government as well as actions of individual state governments. While American history is well

53

Black Business Development and the Federal Government

served to keep the trends and updates of business development in the twentieth century at the forefront of scholarship and historic documentation, the history of black business development is not a model of American democracy. Despite this, black business development persevered and can be viewed as a significant national business model impacting many spheres of American society. It is pertinent to examine the struggles of black businesses in order to explain trends in today’s business world. According to John W. Handy in Encyclopedia of African American Business History, the outcry of angry white southerners following the Civil War led to the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. This decision upheld legal segregation in states citing the doctrine that minorities were ‘‘separate but equal.’’ In addition to this, several southern states excluded blacks from their state constitutions. Amid this turmoil, minority business development efforts were abandoned by the federal government. Instead, these businesses were forced to generate out of the struggles and hostility of the labor market at that time. While they did not have support of the mainstream business market, blacks became their own business owners and customers. This self-reliance established black business owners as entrepreneurs in the business world. Throughout American history this self-reliance continued to be the basic structure for building these black businesses. Businesses begin as a family project, which usually extends to friends and members of the community, in which the minority entrepreneur has some association. The communitybuilding approach then becomes twofold. People from the community are given opportunities to join the workforce, therefore they create better lifestyles for themselves and allow them to give back to the community. Strategically, changing the number of unemployed to employed is a winning approach for keeping the socioeconomic cycle of the economy well nurtured. According to Catherine Fitch and Samuel Myers in ‘‘Testing the Survivalist Entrepreneurship Model,’’ business types most common for minority owners include barbers, beauticians, manicurists, proprietors, managers, restaurants, and officials of retail stores. In order for black businesses to survive, it was essential for black business owners to pursue political and legal forces to help support their establishments. This change was brought about by the civil rights movement of the mid-1960s. The movement’s greatest impact on black business was the inclusion of a new federal government mandate in the civil rights legislation. This legislation not only included minorities but also included them by supporting their small businesses. This is particularly important because at this time in U.S. history, the only type of black businesses left were those small businesses. The civil rights movement helped to reclaim the federal government support toward addressing civil disadvantages of minorities as effective participants in national business enterprises. These legal and political forces were not only the driving forces, but also were the only sources powerful enough to secure support for the equalization of the labor market.

54

Black Business Development and the Federal Government

Relying on budgetary and political support can either develop or destroy small business programs. While the federal government may have implemented these business models during the early twentieth century, the standards and funding are reviewed and, in most cases, programs have been cut, with every new presidential administration. Although various presidential administrations have attacked these programs, the number of SBA loans continues to rise as time passes. The Statistical Abstract of the United States reports that in 1990 the amount of loans given totaled $2.367 billion, and in 2003 the amount of loans given totaled $20.180 billion, which reveals a 28 percent increase within thirteen years (Table 10). Asian Americans received the highest amount of loans between 1990 and 2003, followed by Hispanic Americans, African Americans, and Native Americans respectively. Congress is constantly amending laws in an attempt to salvage as many of these minority programs as possible. To this end, the U.S. Senate gave entrepreneurs hope that the future of fourteen programs, either cut back or terminated by the Bush administration’s 2006 budget, have been supplemented by an additional $78 million for Small Business Administration (SBA) programs. This business program is vital for African American entrepreneurs who want to thrive and survive in corporate America; its legacy yields profitable outcomes for society at large. Having a diverse economy model helps to maximize balance and promotion of financial and work equity in mainstream America. However, these programs do not come without their fair share of problems. Common drawbacks of such programs are availability of funding, business failures, and limitations in market choice. The funding is driven by the votes of legal administrative bodies, which is inflexible; however, the remaining two challenges have visible solutions. For example, some businesses cease to operate due to mergers and acquisition of larger industries, but this does not have to be the case. Technology may unlock the vault to victory over business failures and market choice limitations. One of the largest challenges facing black business development is that technology has created an entirely different setup and workforce, along with new needs within the workforce. Major investments are being directed toward this current development, and it has opened up a new market that will truly affect opportunity for new applicants to explore nontraditional areas of entrepreneurship. Minority-owned firms and businesses need to capitalize on the increasing field of technology in order to stay afloat and expand the life of their role in the Small Business Administration. The proliferation of information being published, by both scholarly statisticians and economists, coupled with government civil responsibilities to developing a diverse workforce, shows that the minority and small business programs seem to be a profound solution to giving back to society. The workforce is one of the most critical areas of all society, especially as America is labeled a ‘‘super’’ nation; the economy is one of the indicators that help a country to retain such a status. It would behoove the government to try and support the labor market to reflect the philosophy of our country,

55

Table 10. Small Business Administration Loans to Small Businesses, 1990–2003 Minority Group

1990

1995

Total Minority Loans

2,367

10,877

Percent of all loans African American Asian American Hispanic American Native American

12.0

18.1

Number of Loans 2000 2002 11,999 24.8

14,300 25.0

Amount (millions of dollars) 1995 2000 2002

2003

576

1,838

3,661

4,250

4,213

(n.a.)

(n.a.)

(n.a.)

(n.a.)

(n.a.)

2003

1990

20,180 28.0

513

2,770

2,120

2,146

3,769

96

293

393

422

399

1,075

3,767

5,838

7,249

9,505

317

945

2,397

2,810

2,755

694

3,940

3,500

4,270

6,112

149

539

768

891

941

85

400

541

635

794

14

61

102

127

118

Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Management Information Summary, unpublished data. Published in U.S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004–2005, 124th ed. (Washington, DC: GPO, October 2004), 497.

Black Business Development and the Federal Government

which is growing in leaps and bounds in a more culturally populated society. Having business development models in place is the tool that is needed to add value and quality to the country’s existence. Alan Hughes in Black Enterprise suggests excellent Web sites for further exploration, including the Small Business Administration Web site, located at http://www.sba.gov/regions/states.html and the Federal Business Opportunities bureau, located at http://www.fedbizopps.gov. These two Web sites lead to portals of online information specifically about business development and federal government regulation. In many resources used to compile information on business development in the twentieth century, minority businesses are viewed as one condensed concept, most often pertaining to specific ethnic groups, such as African Americans. However, there is very little literature to support and track the development of more specific minority business owners, including gender-based and the activities of women. If small businesses want to hold a key status in the economy and society, the activity of women business owners needs to be made more visible, whether it is minority women or majority women. According to the 1997 report from the U.S. Census Bureau 51 percent of stock interest, claims, and rights of business firms were held by women. Such success stories should bode well for the long-term survival of minority business models and programs. See also: Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources Fitch, Catherine A., and Samuel L. Myers Jr. ‘‘Testing the Survivalist Entrepreneurship Model.’’ Social Science Quarterly 81 (December 2000): 985. Handy, J. W. ‘‘Business Development Twentieth Century.’’ Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Ed. Juliet E. K. Walker. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. Hughes, Alan. ‘‘In Business with the U.S.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (October 2002): 60. Jones, Joyce. ‘‘Amendment Seeks $78M in SBA Loans.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (June 2005): 48. Knight, Kenneth E., and Terry Dorsey. ‘‘Capital Problems in Minority Business Development: A Critical Analysis.’’ American Economic Review 66 (May 1976): 328. Palmer, Glenn A., and Juanita Johnson-Bailey. ‘‘The Career Development of African Americans in Training and Organizational Development.’’ Human Resource Planning 28 (March 2005): 11. Rhodes, Colbert, and John S. Butler. ‘‘Understanding Self-Perceptions of Business Performance: An Examination of Black American Entrepreneurs.’’ Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship 9 (April 2004): 55. U.S. Census Bureau. ‘‘Quick Facts.’’ 1997. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/ long_87078.htm. ———. Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004–2005. 124th ed. Washington, DC: GPO, 2004. Walker, Juliet E. K. ‘‘Business Development in the Twentieth Century.’’ Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Ed. Juliet E. K. Walker. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.

Thura Mack

57

Black Business Development in Missouri

Black Business Development in Missouri Missouri lives up to its ‘‘Show Me’’ state motto, when one considers the historical and contemporary legacy of African American business. From newspapers to millionaires to the first black automobile dealership to billion-dollar companies, African Americans in Missouri have a long and impressive history. During the nineteenth century, African Americans used their ingenuity, business acumen, and entrepreneurship skills to carve out a slice of freedom in a world of slavery. Yet they did not forget about their enslaved brothers and sisters. They accumulated wealth not only for themselves but for the benefit of their families and community. In Missouri, Emily Fisher, Elizabeth Keckley, John Berry Meachum, Sam Shepherd, Alphia Minor Smith, and Hiram Young are just a few of those pioneers of enterprise. In 1827, Sam Shepherd, a skilled craftsman, built the first log courthouse in Independence, Missouri. This building, now a museum, stands as a reminder of African American contributions to business and commerce on the western frontier. Emily Fisher was the first owner of a hotel in Independence. She also marketed a healing salve. Fisher’s salve and fine boarding establishment were well known among frontier travelers. Hiram Young was originally enslaved and worked hard to purchase his freedom as well as the freedom of his wife and children. Young manufactured ox yokes used to outfit pioneers for the Santa Fe Trail. While he was never educated, Young was an astute businessman, and he employed black and white workers. Unfortunately, the Civil War disrupted Young’s prosperous business, and he never recovered. Alphia Minor Smith moved to Missouri in the 1860s from Leavenworth, Kansas. Smith became the owner of Kansas City’s first African American dressmaking shop. Furthermore, she passed her expertise on to her family members. Throughout the twentieth century, her grandson Julius Jones owned and operated a Kansas City barbershop and pool hall. In St. Louis, Cyprian Clamorgan, a son of West Indian fur trader Jacques Clamorgan and a slave mother, was a part of the emerging black middle class with significant landholdings and business enterprises. Yet African Americans who earned their freedom like John Berry Meachum left a more visible imprint on the community. Meachum, born a slave in Virginia, was skilled in carpentry, cabinet, and barrel making. He earned money to buy his freedom by 1815. Meachum then opened his own business, married, then purchased his wife’s freedom as well. In his barrel-making company, Meachum hired slaves with the expressed intent of having them purchase their freedom. More than twenty slaves were freed this way. In the 1850s when laws became more stringent on the African Americans, Meachum built a steamboat and outfitted it as a schoolhouse. His floating school fell under federal jurisdiction and circumvented Missouri laws that

58

Black Business Development in Missouri

prevented African American education. One of his teachers, Elizabeth Keckley, became the ‘‘modiste’’ or personal dressmaker to First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. By the turn of the century, black businesses that embodied the self-help impulse included the V. J. Williams training school for maids, cooks, and housemen in Kansas City and the Hardwick Brothers Grocery in Springfield. In 1909, the brothers Watkins, Theron B., and John established the Watkins Brothers funeral home in Kansas City. The business is still family owned and operated today. Watkins was also a co-owner with Reuben S. Street of the Street Hotel. The Street Hotel included the Rose Room, noted for fine dining, and the Blue Room. The Blue Room was considered to be ‘‘Kansas City’s favorite cocktail bar,’’ featuring a colorful bartender named Kingfish. After laboring over four decades, by 1950, the Reuben S. Street business enterprises were valued at over $300,000. Besides Kansas City’s Street Hotel, the Lincoln and Cadillac Hotels in Kansas City and the Booker T. Hotel in Jefferson City provided accommodations for African Americans in the age of Jim Crow. African American businesses in the early twentieth century benefited from the unlikely foe of segregation. Jim Crow laws in housing contributed to selfcontained neighborhoods where African American businesses and professionals catered to the economic needs of their communities. For example, Missouri’s first black city of Kinloch, a St. Louis suburb, thrived under segregation and by the 1950s had over eighty black-owned businesses. However, it was the 18th and Vine district in Kansas City and the Ville in St. Louis that became famous. The Ville originally, Elleardsville, was bordered by Taylor Avenue, St. Louis Avenue, Sarah Street, and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. The area was originally owned by Charles M. Elleard, a horticulturalist. Elleard operated a conservatory and greenhouse that employed black workers. As the area grew, it was called Elleardsville. By the turn of the century, most residents referred to their neighborhood as the Ville. In Kansas City, African Americans had migrated there to build the Hannibal Bridge in the late 1860s, and other workers found employment in the meatpacking plants. Immigrant migration to other parts of the city allowed blacks to move south and east of downtown. The African American neighborhood encompassed 12th as a northern border, with 28th the southernmost point. Charlotte was the western boundary, and Brooklyn was the eastern boundary. The 18th and Vine district was the hub of economic activity and immortalized in the song ‘‘Piney Brown Blues’’ by music legend Big Joe Turner. In both cities, the business districts had a plethora of services including taxis, drugstores, barbershops, hair salons, detective agencies, law offices, real estate companies, loan offices, shoe stores, clothing stores, medical and dental offices, insurance agencies, and grocery stores, but three cultural innovations in particular aided business and commerce: baseball, jazz, and barbecue. In St. Louis, Tom ‘‘Honest John’’ Turpin and his brother Charles

59

Black Business Development in Missouri

owned the Booker T. Washington Theatre. From around 1912 until the 1930s, entertainers like Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith performed there. Their father’s Rosebud Cafe´ had previously been the center of ragtime music in the 1890s. Homer ‘‘Jap’’ Eblon built and operated one of the most elaborate theatres in Kansas City. The Eblon Theatre located across the street from the Robert’s automobile dealership featured a twelve-by-eighteen-foot silver screen draped with velour curtains. The Eblon was noted for its beautiful frontage on Vine Street including brick work fashioned by skilled African American masons. The theater was also outfitted with the lasted technology including the RCA talkies for ‘‘talking and singing pictures.’’ In Kansas City, musicians like Count Basie, Julia Lee, Bennie Moten, Charlie Parker, Big Joe Turner, and Mary Lou Williams help to create the Kansas City style of jazz. This flowering of music also fueled the clubs and nightlife in the historic district. During the Great Depression, bands knew they could always come to Kansas City to get work. In 1920, Andrew ‘‘Rube’’ Foster established the National Negro League. His visionary business venture led to the Kansas City Monarchs and the St. Louis Giants, later the St. Louis Stars. The Negro League teams were integral to the business and social life in the African American community. For example, Elnora’s Cafe´ in Kansas City was open in the late hours to accommodate baseball players and jazz musicians. And it was not unusual for ministers to end church services early when the teams were in town. Besides sports and music, innovations in cuisine were also important in Missouri business history. In 1907, entrepreneur Henry Perry opened the first barbecue restaurant in Kansas City and perhaps the nation. His business was the forerunner of the nationally recognized Arthur Bryant’s. Located at 18th and Brooklyn, the establishment received international acclaim from a Calvin Twillin editorial in the New Yorker. It is not unusual for celebrities, sports figures, and even American presidents to visit Arthur Bryant’s. In 1946, George W. Gates established Gate’s old Kentuck BBQ renowned for its sauce. Later the name was changed to Gates BBQ and is equally famous for its quintessential greeting, ‘‘Hi, may I help you?’’ MISSOURI’S BLACK WOMEN MILLIONAIRES During the first half of the twentieth century, Missouri boasted two African American female millionaires. In Kansas City, Sarah Rector had inherited her money as a teenager when her land allotments, as a part of the Creek Indian nation, struck oil in Oklahoma. In 1916, the Rector family relocated to Kansas City, where Sarah was known for her lavish lifestyle. Her mansion remains on 12th and Euclid Avenue. Rector was considered to be a ‘‘gracious hostess’’ entertaining such notables as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Joe Louis, and Jack Johnson. Rector used her wealth to underwrite her husband’s business activities. Kenneth Campbell operated a Hupmobile

60

Black Business Development in Missouri

agency on 19th and Vine. Unfortunately, when her money dissipated, so did the marriage in the late 1920s. Annie Turnbo Malone was a hair-care entrepreneur and philanthropist. Malone established the Poro Beauty College in 1917 in the heart of the St. Louis Ville. Unlike Rector who spent most of her fortune on cars, clothes, and jewelry, Malone was an ardent philanthropist. Her gift of $25,000 to Howard University was the largest gift at that time to an African American college from an African American donor. Malone employed over 200 workers who trained beauticians in the Poro method of hair care and cosmetics. They also instructed salespeople how to market her products. Malone’s operations were global, with outlets in the Caribbean, Africa, and the Philippines. She also established a finance company that offered mortgages and business loans. In the 1930s, Malone moved her business to Chicago. Next to Malone, the most important business leader of the period was Homer B. Roberts. A World War I veteran, Roberts opened the first automobile dealership in Kansas City’s 18th and Vine district. Roberts, like Malone, was an innovator in advertising and property ownership. He made local headlines when he paid $70,000 for his two-story office building with seventy-foot frontage. Roberts Company Motor Mart boasted it was the ‘‘the only negro [sic] automobile sales room in America.’’ Like Malone, Roberts moved to Chicago and continued his business endeavors with Kenneth Campbell, former husband of millionaire Sarah Rector. While the civil rights era brought legal equality, desegregation and urban renewal signaled the decline and end of many African American businesses. Since the 1930s, the Stuart Parker Memorial Funeral home and the Warren Funeral Chapel had occupied the home of ragtime legend John William ‘‘Blind’’ Boone at 10 North Fourth Street in Columbia, Missouri. According to the City of Columbia, the Warren Funeral Chapel, with offices in Fulton and Mexico, is the only African American business to have survived the urban renewal in the city. However, the black power movements of the 1960s did encourage black economic development. In 1968, the Kansas City founded the Black Economic Union, a community development corporation. And across the state line, the Black Chamber of Commerce of Greater St. Louis was established in 2001. African American newspapers have continued to thrive throughout the twentieth century. In 1919, Chester A. Franklin founded the Kansas City Call. The newspaper is still published today under the helm of Donna Stewart in its original location in the historic 18th and Vine district. In 2005, the St. Louis Argus celebrated its ninety-third birthday, making it the oldest surviving African American business in St. Louis. St. Louis is also home to one of America’s wealthiest black-owned businesses. World Wide Technology, Inc., founded in 1990 by David L. Steward, is a leading systems integrator providing technology and supply chain solutions. It is the largest African American–owned business in the United States and only the second company to exceed $1 billion in revenues in a year. The company had 650

61

Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History

employees in 2003 and a total of $1.4 billion in revenue in 2004. In June 2000, the company ranked number 1 on the Black Enterprise 100, the annual listing of the largest African American–owned firms. Steward’s book Doing Business by the Good Book (2004) is symbolic of Missouri’s African American business history. He argues that serving others can be profitable, successful, and community affirming. John Berry Meachum, the slave who left a visible imprint on the community, would agree. See also: Real Estate Industry; Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources Durst, Dennis L. ‘‘The Reverend John Berry Meachum (1789–1854) of St. Louis: Prophet and Entrepreneurial Educator in Historiographical Perspective.’’ North Star: A Journal of African American Religious History 7 (Spring 2004): 1–24. Gillis, Delia C. Kansas City. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing, 2005. Kremer, Gary R., and Antonio F. Holland. Missouri’s Black Heritage. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003. Reese, DeAnna J. ‘‘Domestic Drudges to Dazzling Divas: The Origins of African American Beauty Culture in St. Louis, Missouri, 1900–1930.’’ Women in Missouri History in Search of Power and Influence. Ed. LeeAnn Whites, Mary C. Neth, and Gary R. Kremer. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2004. Wright, John A., Sr. Kinloch: Missouri’s First Black City. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing, 2000.

Delia C. Gillis

Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History One constant phenomenon in the black experience is the ability of African Americans to establish themselves in the business community of America. The African men and women transported to America beginning in the fifteenth century had been engaged in various business enterprises of their own. Once in America, they were relegated to a life of slave labor, which built economic wealth in mainstream America. Some slaves used their ingenuity and creativity to establish their own businesses, even though they seldom kept all of the monies earned and faced overwhelming racism, discrimination, and violence in the process. Slaves sometimes managed to save enough money to purchase the freedom of their family members. Free blacks in northern American cities not only engaged in self-employment, largely service-oriented enterprises, but also property ownership and real estate development as well. Sustained business ownership for blacks in America, however, was difficult at best and sometimes injurious because at the core of black business activity was the lack of capital to sustain themselves, and legislation was enacted to reinforce racism, segregation, and economic affliction. While several black-owned personal service enterprises were founded during the Reconstruction era, they were short-lived.

62

Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History

The post–Reconstruction years, namely, 1880 through the dawn of the twentieth century, introduced a new direction among black leadership and entrepreneurs and new ways for blacks to do business in America. Booker T. Washington’s theory of self-help and black uplift and W.E.B. Du Bois’s theory of black cooperative business ventures were instrumental in the new direction for black enterprises (Table 11). For example, African Americans founded and patronized black-owned banks. They founded insurance companies and purchased insurance from black insurers. Black journalists founded the black press, a phenomenal, informative tool that heightened prospective levels of business in the African American community. As a result, black entrepreneurs armed with courage and determination forged ahead, adopting and revising strategic marketing practices in search of results that would improve and sustain the economic quality of their lives in America. From the post–Reconstruction era through the mid-twentieth century, most African Americans founded Advertisement describing the surroundings and giving some of their own business enterprises to serve the business and living attractions of the Yazoo Delta town of black rather than white consumers. Mound Bayou, Mississippi, an all-black town founded in 1887. Source: Monroe N. Work, Negro Year Book and Annual EnHowever, Supreme Court and execucyclopedia of the Negro, 1912. Tuskegee, AL: Tuskegee Institute, tive rulings of the 1950s that rejected 1912, p. 6. segregation, discrimination, and racism greatly impacted the direction of their business ventures. On one hand, black-owned businesses welcomed the opportunity for new marketing avenues opened by the rulings. On the other hand, exclusivity in black sales and marketing amounted to irreparable selfinflected wounds and those who survived used innovative approaches to maintain their market share and adopt new strategies appealing to both black and white consumers. Two events in the 1960s profoundly changed the economic climate for African Americans in this country: manifestation of the civil rights era and manifestation of the black power movement. As African Americans became members of corporate America and higher-level

63

Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History

federal government employees, they gained more disposable income and acquired new Years in Kinds of Business Business Capital Invested personal associates. This phenomenon opened the doors for more opportunities for Real estate 5 $10,000 more African Americans to participate in Stock broker 3 2,500 mainstream American economic activities. Hotel 2 1,500 Though the recession of the 1980s negaClub house 2 700 tively affected the national economy and Barber 6 3,000 Saloon 2 1,000 legislative initiatives adversely affected Barber 3 500 African Americans, some black businessRestaurant 4 900 people, again, strategically changed the diRestaurant 9 1,000 rection of their business enterprises. At this Newspaper 6 2,000 point, African American businesspeople Source: W.E.B. Du Bois, ed., The Negro in Business began to merge their businesses, expand, (Atlanta, GA: Atlanta University Press, 1899), 37. acquire new ones, joint ventures, syndicate their products, and form conglomerates on large scales. The last decade of the twentieth century proved to be important years for black businesses in the economic sense, largely due to some White House initiatives but mainly due to a shift in concentration to strategic political positioning by black business owners (Tables 12 through 14). Many black enterprises have become megamillion-dollar establishments in America despite lingering political, economic, and racial issues, and despite the capitalistic society in which Africans still participate very lightly by comparison, thus limiting maximum productivity and profitability. This essay discusses black businesses in large cities as early as 1880 throughout the new millennium. Particularly, it points out the benefits of segregation to African American enterprises up to the mid-twentieth century. It Table 11. Businessmen of Seattle, Washington, 1899

Table 12. Top Ten Employment Leaders Company MV Transportation Inc. Manna Inc. Barden Cos. Inc. The Bartech Group Inc. V & J Holding Cos. Inc. Thompson Hospitality H. J. Russell & Co. RS Information Systems Inc. Radio One Inc. The Gourmet Cos.

Location

Employees

Sales*

Employee to Sales Ratio

Fairfield, CA Louisville, KY Detroit, MI Livonia, MI Milwaukee, WI Herndon, VA Atlanta, GA McLean, VA Lanham, MD Atlanta, GA

7,981 6,250 4,055 3,400 3,200 2,650 1,907 1,800 1,750 1,700

$271.863 185.000 372.000 195.000 90.000 165.600 304.241 321.000 363.982 167.000

1:34 1:30 1:92 1:57 1:28 1:62 1:160 1:178 1:208 1:98

*In millions of dollars as of December 31, 2004. Prepared by B. E. Research. Reviewed by the certified public accounting firm Edwards & Co. Source: Black Enterprise 35 ( June 2005): 108. Published by permission.

64

Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History Table 13. Top Ten Growth Leaders Company

Location

Bridgewater Interiors LLC

Detroit, MI

Peebles Atlantic Development Corp.

2004 Sales* 2003 Sales*

Percentage Increase

$645.309

$167.407

285.47

Coral Gables, FL

202.925

82.000

147.47

TAG Holdings, LLC

Troy, MI

103.00

57.000

80.70

CAMAC International Inc.

Houston, TX

987.00

573.347

72.15

Southeast Fuels Inc.

Greensboro, NC

55.884

34.238

63.22

Industrial Inventory Solutions (IIS)

Cleveland, OH

37.800

24.000

57.50

Telecommunication Systems Inc.

Annapolis, MD

142.685

92.100

54.92

Workplace Integrators Bingham Farms, MI

81.000

55.000

47.27

Q3 Industries

Columbus, OH

47.000

32.000

46.88

Logistics & Environmental Support Services (LESCO)

Huntsville, AL

73.900

52.000

42.12

*In millions of dollars as of December 31, 2004. Prepared by B. E. Research. Reviewed by the certified public accounting firm Edwards & Co. Source: Black Enterprise 35 ( June 2005): 108. Published by permission.

describes the economic changes to black businesses brought on by the integration movement of the 1950s and strategic approaches used by those enterprises to stay in business. It continues in discussion by focusing on the ability of black-owned businesses to thrive amid constant changes in the economy, marketing styles, politics, and capitalism. Several businesses were selected for discussion to note that large black businesses do exist and to demonstrate examples of various principles African Americans use to be successful concerns in America. Many of the principles include cutbacks, downsizing, restructuring, micromanaging, acquisitions, expansion, syndication, technology, joint ventures, and conglomerates. Prior to 1888, there were no black-owned and -operated banks in the United States. By 1912, sixty-four banks had been founded in large cities, and forty-seven of those were still operational. The first black-owned bank with no fraternal affiliation was the Capital Savings Bank of Washington, D.C., which opened in 1888. The Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers Bank of Richmond, Virginia, was founded by W. W. Brown and chartered by the Virginia legislature in 1888. Contrary to the credentials held by most banks established during the time, True Reformers had no fraternal affiliation. The Grand Fountain collected insurance premiums and

65

66 Table 14. Top Twenty Industrial/Service Companies This Year

Last Year

Company

Location

Chief Executive

Year Started

Staff

Type of Business

Sales*

1

1

World Wide Technology, Inc.

St. Louis, MO

David Steward

1990

620

IT Systems integrator, supply chain services of IT products

1,400.000

2

2

CAMAC International, Inc.

Houston, TX

Kase Lawal

1980

1300

Crude oil and gas exploration, production, and trading

987.000

3

22

Bridgewater Interiors LLC

Detroit, MI

Ronald E. Hall

1998

1100

Car seat and overhead systems manufacturer

645.309

4

3

Act-1 Group

Torrance, CA

Janice Bryant Howroyd

1978

300

Staffing and professional services

622.729

5

4

Johnson Publishing Co.

Chicago, IL

Linda Johnson Rice/ John H. Johnson

1942

1699

Publishing, TV production, cosmetics

498.224

6

5

Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

Philadelphia, PA

J. Bruce Llewellyn

1985

1900

Bottling and distribution soft drinks

450.000

7

10

Converge

Peabody, MA

Dala LeFebvre/ Frank Cavallaro

2002

283

Distributor of semiconductors and computer products

390.000

8

6

Barden Cos. Inc.

Detroit, MI

Don H. Barden

1981

4055

Casino gaming, real estate development, and international trade

372.000

8

7

Bing Group

Detroit, MI

Dave Bing

1980

1414

Steel processing, steel stamping, full seat assembly, mirror assembly

372.000

10

8

Radio One Inc.**

Lanham, MD

Alfred C. Liggins III

1980

1750

Radio broadcasting and other media businesses

363.982

11

9

Rush Communications of NYC Inc.

New York, NY

Russell Simmons

1991

180

Entertainment, fashion, and apparel licensing

360.000

12

15

RS Information Systems Inc.

McLean, VA

Rodney P. Hunt

1992

1800

Telecommunications, information technology, and system integration

321.000

13

12

H. J. Russell & Co.

Atlanta, GA

Michael B. Russell

1952

1907

Construction, real estate development, property management

304.241

14

—

Harpo Inc.

Chicago, IL

Oprah Winfrey

1986

284

Television and film production, publishing, and new media

275.000

15

16

MV Transportation Inc.

Fairfield, CA

Jon Monson

1975

7981

Public transit, paratransit, school bus services

271.863

16

14

Global Automotive Alliance

Detroit, MI

William F. Pickard

1999

700

Parts manufacturer for auto industry, warehousing and distribution provider

262.300

17

24

SET Enterprises Inc.

Warren, MI

Sid E. Taylor

1989

450

Metal processing for automotive industry

212.000

18

42

Peebles Atlantic Development Corp.

Coral Gables, FL

R. Donahue Peebles

1994

274

Real estate development and property management

202.925

19

17

Bartech Group Inc.

Livonia, MI

Jon E. Barfield

1977

3400

Professional staffing and outsourcing services and solutions

195.000

20

20

Manna Inc.

Louisville, KY

Ulysses Bridgeman Jr.

1988

6250

Wendy’s Old-Fashioned Hamburgers franchisee

185.000

*In millions of dollars, to the nearest thousand, as of December 31, 2004. Prepared by B. E. Research. Reviewed by the certified public accounting firm Edwards & Co. **Radio One Inc. is publicly traded. Majority ownership of voting class stock is held by African Americans. Source: Black Enterprise 35 ( June 2005): 113. Published by permission.

67

Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History

used the bank as its depository. True Reformers’ net worth in 1907 was $16,933,048. In 1903, Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker became the first black woman to own and operate a bank when she opened St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond. Her initial deposits totaled $9,000 and increased to over $375,000 by 1919. This bank afforded opportunities to blacks for education and housing. Jesse Binga in Chicago founded Binga State Bank in 1908. In 1922, Anthony Overton organized the Douglass National Bank in Chicago. When the banks merged and the new establishment became the BingaDouglass National Bank, this meld represented the largest black bank organized before 1932. The names of several other black-owned banks established at the turn of the century deserve an honorable mention, but only six of the sixty-four established survived World War II, and only four of those remained operational until 1996. They include First Tuskegee Bank; Consolidated Bank and Trust, Maggie Walker, 1903; Mechanics and Farmers Bank, 1908; and Standard Life Insurance Company and Citizens Trust, Herman Perry, 1921. Samuel W. Rutherford established the National Benefit Life Insurance Company in 1898. Also in 1898, the largest black-owned life insurance company in the country, North Carolina Mutual Insurance Life Insurance Company (formerly named North Carolina Mutual and Provident Insurance Company) was formed and continues to operate. While the initial formation failed in 1899, three black businessmen purchased the interests of the founders. By 1918, the insurance company earned over $16 million of inforce insurance. In the late 1990s, North Carolina Mutual’s in-force premiums totaled over $8 billion. Today, the company ranks number 1 on the Black Enterprise Top 100s list of black-owned insurance companies. In 1905, a former slave named Alonzo Franklin Herndon founded the Atlanta Life Insurance Company and sold premiums almost exclusively to the city’s black middle class. According to Charles Christian, Herndon was said to have been the wealthiest black businessman in the country at that time. Besides investing in the banking industry, in 1924 Anthony Overton founded Victory Life Insurance Company in New York. It represented the first black-owned insurance company in that city. Overton also established the Great Northern Realty Company in Chicago in 1911. In 1915 (the same year of Booker T. Washington’s death), the black businessmen of the Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association founded the Booster’s Club. The Washington–Du Bois theory had promoted the policy of blacks buying, selling, and trading with one another as the avenue to economic progression. Juliet E. K. Walker cites that in support of the theory, the purpose of the association was ‘‘to encourage Negroes to trade with one another; to buy groceries, take out insurance, buy medicine, and employ Negro professional men.’’ While many black-owned newspapers were established prior to the turn of the century, the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States is the Los Angeles Eagle, founded in 1879. The Philadelphia Tribune, founded by Christopher J. Perry in 1884, and the Baltimore Afro-American, founded in 1892 by John Murphy, also continue to publish newspapers.

68

Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History

These publications were invaluable sources of information to the black community. The 1920s were deemed the ‘‘Golden Years.’’ By 1920, thousands of African Americans had migrated to large cities and established themselves as independent businesspeople that sold goods and services almost exclusively to blacks consumers. Annie Turnbo Malone in 1902 in Chicago, Madam C. J. Walker in St. Louis in 1905, and Anthony Overton and Sarah Spencer Washington in 1913 and 1920 began the black hair-care and beauty industry for African Americans. While the stock market crash of 1929 devastated the black business community, especially banks, black enterprises resumed their growth during World War II and began to recover by the end of the 1940s, but with lower profits and fewer establishments. Manning Marable reports nearly 70 percent of all black businesses comprised restaurants, groceries, funeral parlors, shoe repair, laundries, barbershops and beauty parlors. Several black entrepreneurs, however, found niches in the publishing, health and beauty aids, music, and manufacturing industries, as they concern African Americans by mid-twentieth century. John H. Johnson, for example, established Johnson Publishing Company in 1942, in Chicago with an initial personal investment of $500. He released the first issue of Ebony magazine in 1945, which depicted the goals and successes of the black middle class on the rise. The magazine was created also to parallel Life, a mainstream America magazine. Ebony was the first black magazine to attract advertising from white companies and is recognized as the most successful and most widely circulated black-oriented magazine in the world. The astounding success of Ebony prompted Johnson to expand his productions to include cosmetics, hair-care products, Jet magazine, and television production, all of which still produce today. Fashion Fair Cosmetics was founded in 1973 and is the world’s leading company for cosmetics and skin care for women of color. Fashion Fair is sold in over 2,500 stores across the United States, Canada, Africa, England, France, Switzerland, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and the Virgin Islands. Johnson Productions Company, the holding company for the Johnson enterprises, was the first black-owned business to trade publicly on the American Stock Exchange (ASE) in 1973. In 1997, Johnson Publishing Company moved to reconstruct many of its major businesses. Some publications established in the 1980s, for example, were suspended. A catalog venture with Spiegel mail order catalog was discontinued. The hair-care division installed new management, and Johnson Publishing increased its ownership stake of Ebony South Africa from 51 percent to 85 percent, eliminating white investors. Gross sales for Johnson Publishing Company exceeded $490,000 in 2003. The 1950s ushered in the rock and roll era in black America. Black vocal artists were forced to sign and record at white Production companies because the capitalists owned the companies. Seeing the niche for a market that appealed to black artists, Berry Gordy Jr. founded the Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959. Gordy’s multimillion-dollar business recorded several gold records for artists such as: The Supremes, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas, and Mary Wells.

69

Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History

By 1973, Gordy had moved Motown Industries to Los Angeles and ranked number 1 on Black Enterprise’s Top 100s list with sales of $40 million. The company remained number 1 for the next ten years. Henry Green Parks Jr. established Park Sausage Company in 1958, which was also one of the top 100 African American enterprises in 1973. It was also the first black-owned enterprise publicly traded on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation exchange (NASDAQ) the same year. The Supreme Court ruling of 1954 denouncing segregation set the stage for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the civil rights movement that culminated in 1968. In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which outlawed disfranchisement against blacks. Up to this point, the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1870 that granted blacks the right to vote had been the most recent civil rights legislation. Between 1957 and 1970 several laws were signed into effect that opposed segregation, discrimination against blacks, and that were supposed to aid African Americans in founding successful business enterprises. Paradoxically, the same laws indirectly caused the demise of many black businesses heretofore established that exclusively served the black consumer market. Black-owned enterprises still marketed their goods and services mainly to black consumers through most of the 1960s even though integration in America had redistributed the black consumer market to various areas of the country. African American consumers who were no longer confined by law to neighborhood shopping, entertainment, and employment, were also no longer loyal, exclusive consumers to black enterprises. Blacks employed by corporate America and the federal government explored new economic and political avenues. They were able to participate more fully in mainstream retail purchases and remove African American dollars from that community. Some African Americans used the opportunities to propel themselves to new levels, such as business ownership and acquisition. Conglomerate building, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures and expansions and mergers became the ‘‘post–civil rights era phenomenon’’ in the black-owned business industry. Pierre Ellis Sutton pioneered black conglomerate building in 1972 when he purchased Inner City Broadcasting, based in New York. From that premise, Sutton added cable television, video productions, and record production companies. He is the owner of the Apollo Theatre in New York. According to Walker, Earl G. Graves [EGG], Limited is the ‘‘trendsetter in conglomerate building.’’ EGG, Limited is the holding company for Earl G. Graves’s several entities, including Earl Graves Publishing, namely Black Enterprise magazine based in New York; Earl Graves Marketing and Research; and EGG Broadcasting, Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. Graves also owns the Pepsi-Cola of Washington, D.C. franchise, which he purchased in 1990 for $60 million in a joint venture with Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr. James Bruce Llewellyn, a multimillion-dollar black businessman, completed a leveraged buyout in 1969 of a white corporation when he purchased Fedco Foods, a white-owned grocery chain of ten stores in the South Bronx,

70

Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History

for $3 million. To complete the deal, Llewellyn made a loan of $2.5 million with Prudential Insurance Company against the purchase price of $3 million. In 1984, he sold the chain, which had grown to twenty-seven stores and sales of $85 million, for $20 million. In addition, Llewellyn purchased a 36 percent interest in the Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company in a joint venture with entertainer Bill Cosby and basketball star Julius ‘‘Dr. J’’ Erving in 1983. In 1988, the trio purchased 100 percent interest in the company for $75 million. In 2004, the bottler and soft drinks distributor ranked number 4 on the Black Enterprise’s Top 100s list with annual sales of $447,000. In a joint venture in 1985, Llewellyn purchased Buffalo television station WKBW, Buffalo for $65 million. Just two years later, Camille Cosby, Julius Erving, and the Jackson family joined Llewellyn in the $125 million purchase of the New York Times Cable Company. After a $25 million down payment, they financed the remaining $100 million. Jackie Robinson was the first black American to play in a major professional sports league. In 1974, Robinson’s intellectual and financial abilities founded Freedom National Bank, the first black in Harlem. One of the most ingenious and successful business moves in African American history was the $985 million leveraged buyout of TLC Beatrice International by Reginald F. Lewis in 1987. Ten years later, the New York– based concern radically restructured the TLC assets. TLC sold its French food distribution business, which grossed $1.9 billion for $573 million. Despite the sale, TLC remained the largest black-owned business with annual sales of $1.4 billion. Having trimmed lots of excess, TLC remains significantly lean. It maintains a snack food company in Ireland, ice cream manufacturing companies in Spain and the Canary Islands, and bottlers in Europe and Thailand. Also in the 1980s many African American celebrities in the sports and entertainment industries set the stage for profound changes in black business ownership and development, which reigned throughout the turn of the century. Business decisions by black celebrities regarding their products affected the deposits to purses of mainstream America. Some African Americans no longer just accepted salaries for their performances but negotiated joint profits in exchange and even syndication rights to their own television shows. For example, multimillion-dollar entertainer and philanthropist Bill Cosby purchased syndication rights to his television shows, which include Fat Albert and the Cosby Show. In exchange for a salary, he joined in on the $333 million profits from the shows, plus syndication receipts. The Cosby Show went into syndication in 1988 for $500 million. Oprah Winfrey, syndicated television host of her own show, is highly recognized as one of America’s wealthiest women. She pioneered the most successful television talk show in Chicago in the 1980s. HARPO Productions, also based in Chicago, is Winfrey’s holding company for her television show, movie productions, and property ownership. Three other industries in large cities penetrated by African Americans include architecture, real estate development, and the automobile industry. Roberta Washington owns the New York–based Roberta Washington

71

Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History

Architects PC, which she founded in 1983. Washington has worked on numerous projects around the country, and for the postindependence government of Mozambique. One major U.S. project is the Jazz and Negro Baseball Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Missouri. Washington also designed a new eight-story, 128-unit condominium unit in Harlem. Her firm also contributed to a new subway station in Brooklyn. Roberta Washington Architects PC is the largest African American, female-owned architecture concern in the United States. In an effort to change the complexion of the commercial property industry, nine black-owned brokerage and design firms formed the first conglomeration of commercial brokerages called Concordis Real Estate LLC. The brokerage firm is based in Chicago and was formed in response to a huge Hewlett-Packard Company real estate contract, which stipulated substantial minority broker participation. Concordis brokerage has since landed some contracts by its own merit. A few examples include large companies such as Sears-Roebuck & Company, Bank One Corporation, and the City of Houston. In 1987, R. Donahue Peebles founded the Peebles Atlantic Development Corporation in Miami, Florida. The chief product of the company is real estate development and property ownership. He is the owner of a Marriott hotel in Washington, D.C. and several other commercial properties. In south Florida, Peebles is in the process of adding a twenty-story high-rise with 112 units to be sold at a minimum of $2 million each. One of Peebles’s most significant property acquisitions is the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Resort in Miami Beach. His real estate, financial, and political background stem from his Washington, D.C. hometown experiences. Peebles successfully acquired the 417-unit resort. Peebles Atlantic Development Corporation ranks number 42 on the Black Enterprise’s Top 100s list for 2003. Diversification, acquisition, and micromanagement are the marks for success in the automobile dealership industry. Since most African Americans had few, if any, avenues to secure sufficient capital to purchase dealerships, breaking into the automobile industry was a tough ordeal. Some were successful in acquiring dealerships during the 1970s, however, the several recessions in the country contributed to the demise of many black-owned dealerships before the dawn of the new millennium. Those dealerships that survived did so because of positive, strategic business practices. Reginald T. Hubbard, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Charlotte-based Hubbard Automotive LLC in 1986, which he founded for example, takes a hands-on approach to manage the several dealerships he owns. Cashing in on the age of technology, Hubbard generates computerized accounting reports through an integrated accounting system to all of his dealership management teams on a weekly basis. He then meets with the general manager of each to resolve strategically low sales issues. Hubbard also uses forward-thinking vision and is one of the first dealerships to establish business development center departments at each of his dealerships. Rather than use traditional advertising, Hubbard’s crews use a customer interactive approach searching for potential customers who will visit the dealership and contemplate

72

Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History

purchasing its products. The crews also use an automated system to alert existing customers of service and warranty dates, as well as send birthday and holiday greetings. They get leads from the Internet, retrieving inquiries from the manufacturers of those in search of new automobiles. Hubbard Automotive LLC reported gross sales in excess of $152 million for 2003. When major league baseball power hitter Henry ‘‘Hank’’ Aaron retired from playing baseball in 1976, he transferred his intellectual skills from the ballfield to the business arena. Aaron used the valuable contacts he had made while playing baseball to launch his first food franchise in Milwaukee. He sold his seven Arby’s fast-food stores by 1994 and moved on to ownership of luxury automobile dealerships. Along with the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers (NAMAD), Hank Aaron participated in a campaign for automobile manufacturers to create opportunities for blacks to become automobile dealers. The relationships he built while campaigning helped to land his first luxury automobile dealership. Hank Aaron BMW was acquired in 1999. Aaron’s name is also a big advantage to his business. His hands-on approach, including daily dealership visits, creates an owner-customer relationship and encourages potential customers to buy. Aaron’s holding company for his several dealerships grossed over $76 million in sales in 2003. Ellenae Fairhurst owns one other African American luxury automobile dealership located in Huntsville, Alabama. She was awarded a Lexus dealership in 1988 after completing the Chrysler Corporation training program. Fairhurst’s dealership reported gross sales of $28 million in 2001, at which time she built a $7.3 million multiplex for all three of her dealerships. Over the years she has maintained a lean staff and micromanaged expenses and purchases. Fairhurst is the first African American woman to open a Lexus dealership. See also: Black Banks: Their Beginning; Real Estate Industry; Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources Adams, Barbara L., and Viceola Stokes. ‘‘Performance Measures and Profitability Factors of Successful African-American Entrepreneurs: An Exploratory Study.’’ Journal of American Academy of Business 22 (March 2003): 418–424. ‘‘Auto Industry Leader Mel Farr Makes Big Investment in Urban Market.’’ Jet 95.8 (January 1999): 38. Bell, Derrick. Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism. New York: Basic Books, 1992. Brown, Ann, Carmen Brown, Terri Guess, et al. ‘‘Expanding the Horizon; 25 Influential Black Women In Business.’’ Network Journal 11 (April 2004): 30. Christian, Charles. Black Saga: The African American Experience. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995. Coles, Flournoy A., Jr. Black Economic Development. Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1975. Dingle, Derek T. ‘‘Dawn of the Black Millennium.’’ Black Enterprise 28 (June 1998): 93–106. ———. ‘‘100s 31st Annual Report on Black Business; Reinvention through Innovation.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (June 2002): 94.

73

Black Corporate Directors Conference ———. ‘‘Only the Strong Survive: B.E. 100s 32nd Annual Report on Black Business.’’ Black Enterprise 34 (June 2004): 101–103. Edmond, Alfred, Jr. ‘‘Milestones of the B.E. 100s: 25 Years of Black Economic Empowerment.’’ Black Enterprise 27 (June 1997): 86–90, 95–96, 102. Farley, Reynolds, and Walker R. Allen. The Color Line and the Quality of Life in America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1987. Fuller, Lorraine. ‘‘Are We Seeing Things?’’ Journal of Black Studies 32 (September 2001): 120–131. Gite, Lloyd. ‘‘The Road to Recovery.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (June 2002): 159–164. ———. ‘‘Switching Lanes.’’ Black Enterprise 31 (June 2001): 147–150, 154. Hughes, Alan. ‘‘Only the Strong Survive: The Prince of South Beach.’’ Black Enterprise 34 (June 2004): 128–140. Marable, Manning. How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America. Boston: South End Press, 1983. Scott, Matthew S. ‘‘The Top 50 Black Powerbrokers.’’ Black Enterprise 20 (August 1990): 126. Spruell, Sakina. ‘‘Only the Strong Survive: The Tough Get Going.’’ Black Enterprise 34 (June 2004): 111–116. Starkman, Dean. ‘‘Blacks Attempt to Raise Profile in Real Estate.’’ Wall Street Journal, October 22, 2003. Sykes, Tanisha A. ‘‘Only the Strong Survive: Power Hitter.’’ Black Enterprise 34 (June 2004): 161–169. Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference, 1998. ‘‘Years of Achievement.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (June 2002): 91.

Shelhea Owens

Black Corporate Directors Conference The Black Corporate Directors Conference was founded in 2001 and sponsored annually by John W. Rogers Jr., chair and chief executive officer of the Chicago-based firm Ariel Capital, and Charles A. Tribbett III, managing director of the global executive recruitment and management assessment firm Russell Reynolds Associates. Tribbett noted the purpose of the conference in Ebony magazine, saying that it aimed ‘‘to bring together African-American directors to discuss issues relating to diversity and to network with one another.’’ The third conference, held in Chicago in 2004, brought together eighty-five people who sit on boards of major corporations, community leaders, and academicians. Blacks continue to be underrepresented on boards in corporate America. Ebony cited the results of its own work as well as a Fortune magazine study that shows a total of 185 blacks in such positions in 2004. Beginning in 1963, the report shows no black corporate directors. In 1964, 2 blacks held such posts: Samuel R. Pierce Jr., who was named to the board of U.S. Industries, and Asa

74

Black Fund Managers

T. Spaulding, who was added to the board of W. T. Grant Company. Both appointments were made on the same day in June 1964. On January 4, 1971, Leon Howard Sullivan became the first black director of a major automobile company when he was elected to the board of General Motors. On March 18 of that year, John H. Johnson, founder and publisher of Ebony magazine, became the first black director of a major entertainment corporation when he was named to the Twentieth Century Fox board. Other black firsts on corporate boards included Jerome Heartwell ‘‘Brud’’ Holland, later president of Hampton University, who in 1972 was the first black to serve on the board of the New York Stock Exchange. Mary K. Bush was the first black woman elected to the board of Texaco Inc., in 1997. In 1979, Dolores Duncan Wharton was the first black and first woman on the board of Gannett Company. In 1982 Sybil Collins Mobley became the first black woman member of the board of Sears, Roebuck and Company. In 1997 Julius W. ‘‘Dr. J.’’ Irving became the first black board member of Proffits, Inc. The number of appointees to boards increased since 1964, showing 80 in 1987, 146 by 1994, 179 by 1997, and 185 by 2004. Participants in the 2004 conference of Black Corporate Directors represented a wide spectrum of corporations, among them Verizon, McDonald’s, Target, Exelon Corporation, and Delta. While some directors oppose being the sole black in the boardroom, others charged that black members should forget their race and hold fast to their position as a board member. They should ‘‘push for a shared American market.’’ Small group sessions of new-generation black men and women corporate board members shared ideas and concepts on successful board membership. They wanted to use their positions to make a difference for all Americans. Sources Holloway, Lynette. ‘‘Behind the Boardroom Door.’’ Ebony 60 (January 2005): 118–122. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Black Firsts. 2nd ed. Rev. and expanded. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 2003.

Jessie Carney Smith

Black Fund Managers In the world of high finance, mutual funds are combinations of stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments developed by investment companies that manage portfolios of securities for individuals or institutional investors. During the era of segregation, blacks of means could not, did not, or were not allowed to participate in the larger financial institutions and related industries; their response was to organize and develop financial services and entities within their own communities.

75

Black Fund Managers

In 1924 the National Negro Business League established the National Negro Finance Corporation (NNFC) to provide working capital for individuals and partnerships involved in business enterprises. Another purpose of the corporation was to create and develop a market for listing, exchanging, buying, and selling ‘‘Negro securities.’’ Its success was limited, impacted like the rest of the American economy by the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression of the 1930s, but the NNFC served as a precursor to future financial organization, activity, and development by black business professionals. While African Americans became professional fund managers for a variety of investment firms in the postsegregation era, it was not until the 1980s that the first black-owned and -operated mutual fund companies operating in the mainstream American economy were established. John W. Rogers Jr. is credited with starting the first African American institutional money management firm, Ariel Capital Management, in 1983, which was also the first black company to start a mutual fund. He was followed a few months later by Eddie Brown, who established Brown Capital Management. The Kenwood Group, owned and operated by Barbara Bowles, is recognized as being the first African American female-owned firm to launch a mutual fund, the Kenwood Growth and Income Fund. These pioneers have been joined by others in recent years, yet the Reverend Jesse Jackson has stated that the ten largest American mutual funds invest over $2.85 trillion, which is 500 times the assets of the largest African American–managed mutual funds. The Wall Street Project of the Rainbow/PUSH coalition, which began in 1998, seeks to address this disparity and increase diversity in the investment process through encouraging charities, pension funds, and mutual funds to place 5 percent of their funds with African American and other minority asset managers. African Americans as a group are also becoming investors in larger numbers. In addition to efforts led by Jackson, other entities, such as the Black Wealth Initiative developed by Black Enterprise magazine, the Black Wealth Network, the Coalition of Black Investors, the NAACP’s (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) economic reciprocity campaigns, and the National Urban League are stressing the importance of African American investments in and with black fund managers, specifically those who own and operate independent investment firms. In recent years, the perception that persons must have a substantial amount of disposable (excess) income to become active in financial investing has been altered. Small investors have been encouraged and are now appreciated as an important sector of the investment community. During the 1980s, when mutual fund ownership increased significantly, 16 percent of American households with annual incomes below $25,000 owned mutual funds and 55 percent among households with incomes above $75,000. The 2000 Ariel-Schwab study on African American investment patterns indicated that 64 percent of African Americans surveyed were active

76

Black Fund Managers

investors in the stock market. Black fund managers, along with the rest of the investment industry, have profited from the increasing numbers of new investors in money market mutual funds and other financial instruments. A report from the Milken Institute indicated that minority-owned investment businesses are a driving force behind the growth of financial investing by African Americans and other ethnic communities. Despite the negative impact of such events as the terrorist attacks on America of September 11, 2001, the downturn in the stock market that followed, and the collapse of high-profile corporations such as Enron and WorldCom, African American mutual fund companies managed to ride out the ‘‘bear market’’ and in some cases outperformed other investment firms as a result of careful planning and sound financial strategies (Table 15). Mark D. Lay, chairman and chief investment strategist for his company, MDL Capital Management, pursued a balanced approach involving stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments to preserve capital for investment clients during this period. Eric McKissack, portfolio manager and vice chairman of Ariel, indicated that their company would continue established investing patterns to ensure long-term value for their customers. Prominent African American money managers such as Harold Doley (Doley Securities, Inc.), Eugene Profit (Profit Investment Management), and Steven Sanders (MDL Capital Management) have been involved in the Money Show, considered the world’s leading producer of investment trade shows, cruises, and other events. They, as well as Rogers, Brown, Bowles, Lay, and others, have used platforms of this type as well as conferences of African American associations and organizations, traditional advertising, and Internet Web sites to promote minority participation in the investment markets. Alphonse ‘‘Buddy’’ Fletcher Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Fletcher Asset Management, announced in 2004 the establishment of a $50 million gift to individuals and institutions working to improve race relations and to honor the fiftieth anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Court decision. This leading Wall Street money manager had previously given $4.5 million to endow a professorship at Harvard, his alma mater, in honor of his father, Alphonse Sr. (African American scholar Cornel West has held this position). Black fund managers, such as the persons mentioned above and others, are demonstrating that economic empowerment through financial investment can provide immediate and long-term benefits for individuals, families, companies, educational institutions, and the community at large. Their collective vision is to bridge the ‘‘wealth divide’’ and build true multigenerational assets and net worth for African Americans and others who become actively involved in the investment industry. C. Kim Goodwin, senior portfolio manager, American Century Growth Fund, summarized the importance of investment for African Americans in this way: ‘‘We can’t pass on our jobs [to our descendants], but we can pass on our wealth.’’

77

Table 15. Top Asset Managers This Year

Last Year

1

1

2

2

3 4

3 4

5

6

6

5

7

10

8

7

9 10

9 8

11 12

12 11

13

14

14

13

15

15

Company Ariel Capital Management LLC EARNEST Partners LLC** Rhumbline Advisers Brown Capital Management LLC Advent Capital Management LLC MDL Capital Management Inc.** Holland Capital Management LP NCM Capital Management Group Inc. Edgar Lomax Co. Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP Swarthmore Group Inc. Utendahl Capital Management LP Goode Investment Management Inc. Hughes Capital Management Inc. Pugh Capital Management Inc.

Chief Executive

Year Started

Staff

Assets under Management*

Chicago, IL

John W. Rogers Jr.

1983

88

21,433.00

Atlanta, GA

Paul E. Viera

1998

35

13,934.000

Boston, MA Baltimore, MD

JD Nelson Eddie C. Brown

1990 1983

15 24

10,307.000 5,278.000

New York, NY

Tracy V. Maitland

1995

40

3,848.000

Pittsburgh, PA

Mark D. Lay

1992

32

2,821.000

Chicago, IL

Louis A. Holland

1991

24

2,628.000

Durham, NC

Maceo K. Sloan

1986

25

2,145.000

Springfield, VA Houston, TX

Randall K. Eley Gerald B. Smith

1986 1990

12 25

1,962.000 1,958.000

West Chester, PA New York, NY

Paula R. Mandle Penny Zuckerwise

1992 1992

18 15

1,877.000 1,770.000

Cleveland, OH

Bruce T. Goode

1999

4

1,282.000

Alexandria, VA

Frankie D. Hughes

1993

6

1,193.000

Seattle, WA

Mary Pugh

1991

8

894.000

Location

*In millions of dollars, to the nearest thousand, as of December 31, 2004. Prepared by B. E. Research. Reviewed by the certified public accounting firm Edwards & Co. **Includes subsidiaries and entities in which the firm has common control. Source: Securities and Exchange Commission. Published in Black Enterprise 35 ( June 2005): 192. Published by permission.

Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities Sources Austin, Kamau. ‘‘Black Wealth Network and Atlantic City Money Show to Feature Minority Money Managers Panel.’’ Einfonews, July 5, 2004. http://www.einfonews .com/blogs/kamausblog.htm. Bigelow, Barbara Carlisle, ed. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994. Black Wealth Network. ‘‘African American Mutual Funds.’’ http://www.bwonline .com. Dingle, Derek T. ‘‘The Path to Future Financial Empowerment.’’ Black Enterprise 31 (August 2000): 101–103. Fairley, Juliette. Money Talks: Black Finance Experts Talk to You About Money. New York: Wiley, 1998. Goodwin, C. Kim. ‘‘C. Kim Goodwin, Senior Portfolio Manager, American Century Growth Fund, on Investing and Taking Risk to Build Wealth.’’ Black Enterprise 31 (August 2000): 106. Greenwald, Douglas, ed. The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Economics. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994. Halsey, Nicole. ‘‘Wrestling with the Bear: Black Fund Managers Are Adjusting Their Strategies for the Long Haul.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (October 2002): 46. Korn, Donald Jay. ‘‘Staying Ahead of the Pack (African American Mutual Fund Companies).’’ Black Enterprise 31 (April 2001): 28. Nichols, James Lawrence, and William H. Crogman. The New Progress of a Race. Naperville, IL: J. L. Nichols, 1925. Rimer, Sara. ‘‘$50 Million Gift Aims to Further Legacy of Brown Case.’’ New York Times, May 18, 2004. Sheimo, Michael, ed. International Encyclopedia of the Stock Market. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1999. Stein, George. ‘‘Jackson Calls for Minority Asset Managers.’’ Seattle Times, January 13, 2004.

Fletcher F. Moon

Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities Whatever African Americans wanted to know or have validated about them they looked to the black press. They wanted information as well as affirmation. Beginning with the first publication of a black newspaper in 1827, the editors Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm of the Freedom’s Journal boldly emphasized their editorial purpose in the newspaper’s first edition: ‘‘We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us. Too long has the public been deceived by misrepresentations of the things which concern us dearly’’ (Freedom’s Journal). The black press continued to espouse a similar philosophy for decades after this publication. Advocacy became the major objective for black newspapers. The publishers and editors of black newspapers were primarily motivated to deliver information that centered African Americans in the dialogue of

79

Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities

what it meant to be an American and black. Prior to the first publication of any black newspaper, African Americans were usually referred to in the white or mainstream press in a derogatory manner. Following the U.S. government’s recognition of blacks as citizens through the Thirteenth Amendment, the mainstream press continued to espouse racial prejudice against blacks. Mainstream papers supported stereotyped images of blacks and ignored the political, economic, and cultural goals of African Americans. Therefore, the mission of publishers and editors of black newspapers was to vindicate the race, respond to the misrepresentation of blacks in the mainstream press, and tell the story of the black experience from their perspective. Black publishers highlighted everything from the living conditions of blacks to their concerns, their problems, and most important, their achievements. HISTORICAL TIMELINE The development of the black press can be divided into several phases. Newspapers that were published in the North before the Civil War dominated the first phase. The second phase of the black press followed the Civil War until the turn of the century. This second phase was prompted by the growing numbers of newspapers in the southern region of the United States, during a time when literacy among African Americans increased. Finally, scholars have marked the last two decades of the nineteenth century as the beginning of the third phase of the black press. The period does overlap with the second phase but was characterized according to its reaction and adjustment to the oppressive and violent conditions that African Americans experienced. During the latter phase, the antebellum and Reconstruction eras, newspapers shifted from campaigning for freedom to developing a proactive approach to assist the black community. The campaign of the late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century press was to educate and uplift the black community. The late-nineteenthcentury press was one of the major social institutions that equipped African Americans to handle the political, social, and economic hardships they faced during the post-Reconstruction years. Since blacks were often overlooked or discounted by the mainstream press, the black press occupied the role of informant to the black community, catalyst for political and social change, and cultivator of community cohesion during a period of growing prejudice and discrimination against African Americans. This growing press also attempted to create a sense of solidarity among African Americans. The press also promoted black entrepreneurship through its advertisements. The black press covered the full range of human experiences. From births, marriages, and deaths to college graduation and higher achievements in academia, the black press gave voice to its readers. The main goal was to reflect a perspective that centered on their concerns and those of the black community.

80

Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities

NEWSPAPERS AND PUBLISHERS IN FIVE MAJOR CITIES Afro-American (1892–Present) On August 13, 1892, the first edition of the Afro-American was published. The early edition of the newspaper was edited by Reverend William Alexander, a pastor of the Sharon Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland. Alexander and his associates William H. Daly, George W. Reid, and V. E. Toney, all skilled workers and small business owners, were disappointed and frustrated with the conditions that blacks were subjected to live under in the 1890s. They decided to use the press as a venue to protest against horrible conditions and to publicize community concerns, as well as the church and business activities in the community. The Afro-American was taken over by Reverend Alexander’s friend and business partner William Daly. Daly joined the newspaper with the Northwestern Family Supply Company in 1895. Unfortunately, the company filed bankruptcy, and John H. Murphy Sr., who had been a foreman and manager of the Afro-American’s printing department, found himself out of a job. Courageously, Murphy set out to chart a new path through the acquisition of the Afro-American newspaper. When the newspaper’s printing machinery came up for auction in 1897, Murphy borrowed $200 from his wife, Martha Howard Murphy, to purchase it. On March 27, 1897, the Afro-American was published with John H. Murphy’s name on its masthead as its owner and business manager. On January 1, 1900, Murphy and longtime friend George F. Bragg merged their two papers to form the Afro-American Ledger. The title Afro-American Ledger would remain until Bragg’s departure in 1915. Thus the newspaper’s masthead would read the Afro-American thereafter. The Afro-American is also the first African American newspaper to participate in book publishing. Through the Afro-American Company, Murphy released Harvey E. Johnson’s The White Man’s Failure in Government in 1900. The company would later publish This Is Our War in 1945. It is not surprising that the success of the Afro-American newspaper continued under the leadership of Carl James Greenbury Murphy, son of John Murphy. Carl Murphy’s presence and immediate success at the AfroAmerican won him his family’s faith and support. Following the death of their father, John Murphy Sr., in 1922, Carl Murphy was elected by his family as president and chief editor of the Afro-American newspaper. Carl Murphy’s forty-nine-year tenure as editor and head of the Afro-American Company began in 1918 and ended 1967. During his term, Murphy contributed to the paper in many ways. He diligently and passionately covered a range of issues at both the national and international levels. He used the editorial page to challenge local, national, and international injustices ranging from lynching, race and gender discrimination, poor housing, and poor schools to full citizenship for all Americans. He launched an editorial attack against the U.S. government for its military occupation of Haiti. Murphy sent Afro-American reporters abroad to report on the experiences

81

Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities

of black soldiers during World War II. Following the war, he wrote in support of the decolonization of Africa. Murphy frequently communicated with prominent leaders and the many organizations they represented. These included Thurgood Marshall, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) legal counsel and later U.S. Supreme Court justice; Walter White, another NAACP leader; Urban League executives Eugene K. Jones and Lester Granger; Mary McLeod Bethune of the National Council of Negro Women; and scholars such as W.E.B. Du Bois. Carl Murphy, reminiscent of his father, had a vision for the newspaper. He wanted to broaden the circulation of the Afro-American beyond Baltimore’s black community. Under his leadership the newspaper continued its growth by establishing bureaus in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, Newark, and Richmond. There were even some subscribers in Africa. The superior guidance of Murphy won the Afro-American the title of the most successful black publication in the mid-Atlantic region. The major differences between the national edition of the Afro-American in Baltimore and the other city editions was that local news in various other cities was covered along with national news coverage. The front page incorporated local news, but the editorial page remained essentially untouched. Murphy was very interested in providing readers with an understanding of the connection between their local experiences with national occurrences such as civil rights cases that were being filed in the courts, school integration, equal pay, and equal employment. He would often outline during meetings how each of the major stories would impact the other. Therefore, managing editors and city editors were asked to keep those issues in mind when deciding on the layout of the paper. Like his father, Carl Murphy believed in equal rights for both men and women. Murphy encouraged all five of his daughters to learn the business, particularly since they were to inherit the business in the future. They were also encouraged to pursue academic careers in journalism and work for the Afro-American. Two of Murphy’s daughters, Frances L. Murphy II and Elizabeth Murphy Moss, became chief officers of the Afro-American Company after his death. Frances became chair of the board and chief executive officer in 1971 until 1974, and Elizabeth became vice president and treasurer of the company. Elizabeth had served as the first black female war correspondent for the Afro-American during World War II. Today the Afro-American Company publishes both the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Afro-American news. The company claims a readership of more than 120,000 people, mainly in Maryland and the District of Columbia area. The newspaper is currently controlled by the fourth-generation Murphy family including Frances M. Draper, a granddaughter of the late Carl Murphy. She is also assisted by her cousin John J. Oliver Jr. and a host of family members who hold key management positions.

82

Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities

Chicago Defender (1905–Present) Robert Sengstacke Abbott along with John H. Murphy and many others have been credited with putting the black press on solid footing both as a successful economic enterprise and as a preserver of African American life and culture. Following in the tradition of his predecessors Russwurm and Cornish, Abbott founded the Chicago Defender in 1905. Abbott was born on St. Simon Island, Georgia, on November 24, 1870. He spent his early years attending school in Savannah, Georgia, and would later learn the printing trade while attending school at the Hampton Institute in Virginia. Abbott continued his education in Chicago, where he earned a bachelor of law degree from Kent College of Law in 1899. Unfortunately Abbott failed to be admitted to the bar in Illinois, in Gary, Indiana, and in Topeka, Kansas. He finally returned to Chicago, where he established the Defender. Abbott’s success in the newspaper business made him one of the most popular African American news publishers and journalists of his time. Under his leadership the Chicago Defender became one of the most widely circulated black newspapers of the twentieth century. When Abbott first produced the newspaper, he was the publisher, editor, reporter, treasurer, and circulation and business managers. He began circulating the four-page paper throughout his Chicago neighborhood. Abbott delivered as many as 300 newspapers door to door for the first few years of its history. By 1910, the Defender’s circulation began to surge, and Abbott hired his first full-time employee, J. Hockley Smiley. Smiley’s reporting style garnered reader interest, which prompted greater circulation of the newspaper. Moreover, southern blacks were subjected to oppressive conditions such as lynching, voter disenfranchisement, poor working conditions, and an economic depression that captured Abbott’s attention. He used his newspaper’s influence to start the ‘‘northern campaign,’’ which encouraged many southerners to move away from their southern homeland and travel north. Many African Americans had already begun to leave the South in search of better conditions in the North. Abbott’s southern ties made him aware of the situation, and he decided to use that information to his advantage. He and the Chicago Defender have been credited with helping to increase the number of black migrants to Chicago. In fact, between 1915 and 1917, more than 100,000 blacks migrated to Chicago from southern cities, almost tripling Chicago’s black population. Furthermore, the Chicago Defender’s circulation had grown to reach more than 230,000 readers during those years. Abbott not only used this media to advocate for racial equality; he also used it to raise readers’ awareness of racial problems in the North and the South. By 1939 Abbott’s health began to slowly decline; the newspaper’s popularity also decreased. In an effort to save the newspaper, Abbott appointed his nephew, John Sengstacke, son of his brother Alexander, as the news editor and publisher. In February 1940, Abbott died, leaving Sengstacke in

83

Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities

control of the newspaper. Under Sengstacke’s leadership, the Chicago Defender would remain as one of the leading black newspapers, but the circulation numbers would slowly decline through the years. Sengstacke’s tenure lasted over several decades, and by his death in 1997, the newspaper’s circulation had dwindled to 20,000. To his credit, Sengstacke Enterprises was established, with several newspapers under its umbrella. They included Detroit’s Chronicle, Pittsburgh Courier, and the Memphis Tri-State Defender. Today Sengstacke Enterprises, now Real Times, Incorporated, is headed by John Sengstacke’s son Robert, his daughter Myiti, and his nephew Tom Picou. The Defender and five other weekly newspapers that are controlled by Sengstacke Enterprises are under reconstruction. The new generation of leaders has made marketing toward a younger readership and community outreach programming an integral part of their campaign to return the Chicago Defender and its sister papers to their former glory. Pittsburgh Courier (1910–Present) Robert Lee Vann, a Pittsburgh attorney and journalist, founded the Pittsburgh Courier in 1910. Vann, like Abbott, migrated to the North from the South. Vann was born in Ahoskie, North Carolina, and attended school at the Waters Normal Institute in Winston Salem, North Carolina. He would later attend Virginia Union University in Richmond Virginia. Also like Abbott, Vann headed north to attend law school. He earned a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1909. Vann successfully passed the Pennsylvania bar examination and immediately started his law practice. Vann was very eager to establish a reputable business, so while waiting for the law practice to become profitable, he became interested in the newspaper business. His initial induction into the newspaper business was not as financially fulfilling as he had hoped. However, by 1914, the once mediocre paper had proved its staying power. Vann focused on attracting readers to his newspaper not by using flashy headlines or radical news coverage but rather by focusing the news on church concerns, local society news, entertainment, and sports. His goal was not to ostracize any particular segment of the community through the Courier’s news coverage. During the period of the Great Migration many African Americans selected Pittsburgh as their new home, which created overcrowded conditions, health and living concerns, unfair employment conditions, and poorly equipped schools. As a way to address the tense situation, Vann decided to alter the course of the Courier to focus mainly on these social issues. Vann encouraged African Americans who were in a position to serve in the areas of health, business, and education to work within the black community. He also believed in formal education as a means to racial uplift in the black community. Through the paper’s editorials, Vann encouraged African Americans to save their money in preparation for the return of white soldiers from the world war. Vann believed that their eventual return to the civilian workforce would render African

84

Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities

Americans jobless. Vann also editorialized about negative images of African Americans in mainstream media. He countered the negative coverage in the mainstream press by emphasizing African American achievement through his news coverage. Another strategy Vann used to attract readers was including a column in the Courier titled ‘‘News from Back Home.’’ Its primary focus was to provide the new migrants from the South with news information from their former southern regions. He also sent reporters into the South to cover the violent and oppressive conditions blacks experienced in areas like Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. The results of these types of news articles helped to increase the Courier’s circulation and profits. Finally, Vann also heavily criticized the local police agency for its frequent raids in the black community. By 1936, the Courier’s circulation had reached a total of 174,000. Under Vann’s leadership the Pittsburgh Courier gained a reputation for presenting the community with information with tact, diplomacy, and absolute accuracy. The Courier therefore became one of the leading black newspapers with regard to its editorials, its features, and its overall news coverage. In 1966, John H. Sengstacke purchased the newspaper and renamed it the New Pittsburgh Courier. It then became part of Sengstacke’s newspaper chain, the largest black newspaper enterprises in the country. Today the New Pittsburgh Courier remains under the leadership of the Sengstacke family and continues to serve the African American community. It publishes local editions twice weekly and serves primarily southwestern Pennsylvania. Norfolk Journal and Guide (1910–Present) Originally known as the Gideon Safe Guide and the Lodge Journal and Guide, the four-page weekly would become a leading southern black newspaper in the twentieth century. The newspaper evolved from the fraternal order of the Supreme Lodge Knights of Gideon in 1900. The weekly was purchased by P. B. Young Sr. in 1910 and became the Norfolk Journal and Guide. With a circulation of 500, Young purchased the newspaper and became its editor and chief until his retirement in 1946. The early Journal and Guide occupied a less radical position than some of its contemporaries like the Chicago Defender and the Pittsburgh Courier. Part of the reason for its moderate stance was due to its geographic southern location. Southern black newspapers were faced with the harsh realities of the Jim Crow South that did not allow black newspapers to speak critically of the economic, political, educational, and social injustices experienced by southern blacks. Therefore the Journal and Guide relied less on sensationalism and more on factual journalism. Consequently, some of the major benefits to the newspaper were its gains made from advertising revenue from local and national whiteowned businesses. The Journal and Guide appealed to these businesses because of its more conservative news coverage. The Journal and Guide gained advertisements from major national businesses including Goodrich, Pillsbury, and Ford as well as from local white-owned businesses.

85

Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities

Some of the major causes that the Journal and Guide crusaded for or against during the 1920s included lynching, voter rights, better water and sewage, crime reduction, improved housing, and education. Contrary to other black newspapers, the Journal and Guide did not advocate for African American migration to the North during the Great Migration period of the 1910s and 1920s. Young opposed the mass movement because it resulted in the loss of the large southern black labor force. He also believed that blacks could experience economic progress in the South if they supported racial solidarity and cooperation between blacks and whites. During the early period of the newspaper, Young founded and was elected the first president of the Norfolk chapter of the NAACP. In the 1930s Young was joined by two of his sons—P. B. Young Jr. and Thomas White Young—who worked as staff and management assistants for the newspaper. Also many well-known journalists including T. Thomas Fortune served as contributors to the Journal and Guide. During its third decade in press the Journal and Guide became directly involved in the news coverage and legal funding of the Scottsboro defense case. The Scottsboro case involved nine African American boys convicted of the rape of white women in Alabama. The case gained national attention when it made its way to the Supreme Court in 1931. The Journal and Guide, along with a few other black newspapers, began immediate in-depth, on-the-scene coverage of the trial. The Journal and Guide also spearheaded a funding campaign for the nine boys’ legal defense. By the 1940s the Journal and Guide’s humble beginnings had grown from a small circulation of 500 to a thirty-two-page weekly with a circulation of over 80,000. The newspaper thus became the fourth leading black newspaper, led by the Courier, Afro-American, and the Defender. Young began to publish multiple editions of the newspaper, including a national edition, and local editions in Richmond, Portsmouth, and Hampton-Phoebus, Virginia. The paper even reached subscribers in Washington, D.C. and Maryland. The 1940s was also the last decade that the paper was under the direct leadership of P. B. Young Sr. During his final tenure as the Journal and Guide’s editor and publisher, Young focused the newspaper’s coverage on integration in the defense industries and the War Department. In 1946, Young Sr. retired from the newspaper, leaving his sons to manage. Subsequently, in 1962 Young Sr. died. Tragically his youngest son Thomas White Young died in a plane crash in 1967. The Journal and Guide was then sold to outside buyers. Bishop L. E. Willis, a Norfolk businessman, bought the newspaper in 1972 and sold it to J. Hugo Madison in November 1973. Madison, a successful attorney in Norfolk, owned the paper for one year before he sold it to Reverend Milton Reid in April 1974. In 1987, the Norfolk Journal and Guide’s masthead had Brenda Andrews as the publisher, editor, and owner. In 1992 its name was changed to the New Journal and Guide. Today the New Journal and Guide continues in the tradition and mission of the black press as an advocate for the African American community. The newspaper’s major coverage includes events that give voice and

86

Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities

meaning to the black experience in America. Although its circulation numbers have dwindled to 25,000 weekly readers, its mission and news quality are nonetheless felt by its faithful readers and supporters of the black press. Kansas City Call (1919–Present) In April 1919, Chester A. Franklin founded the Kansas City Call and remained its owner, publisher, and editor until his death in 1955. His vision for the newspaper included a desire to build a strong business that would provide leadership in the local Kansas City, Missouri, community. He would eventually add to the success of the black press by making the Call one of the six largest African American weekly newspapers in the United States as well as the largest black business in the Midwest. The Call, like many other black newspapers, began as a four-page weekly. In its initial stage the Call’s circulation reached 2,000 people for five cents a copy. During his first few years of operation, Franklin relied on the help of his most vocal supporter, his mother Clara Bell Franklin. Clara Franklin served as his records keeper, delivery person, and countless other nondiscriminate titles. The Call’s popularity quickly grew among its midwestern readers. Part of the newspaper’s appeal to the local African American community can be attributed to its stance against lynching, police brutality, segregation, and discrimination in housing, the workforce, and education. The Call also supported a policy of high standard news reporting free of sensationalist columns. The newspaper’s editor Franklin wanted to record and highlight the achievements of the African American community rather than focusing on crime and negative stereotypes that were already highlighted in the mainstream press. The majority of the news that was reported in the Call was local newsworthy events that happened in Kansas City, including church news, sports and entertainment, and society news. Franklin’s thirty-six-year tenure as the chief editor and publisher of the Call ended in 1955. His wife, Ada Crogman Franklin, became the new owner and publisher of the Call. Lucille Bluford was appointed the new chief editor of the Call. She eventually became the owner and publisher of the newspaper, and her tenure with the newspaper spanned seventy-one years until her death in 2003. The history of the black press in the United States is a remarkable achievement. Beginning in 1827 with the founding of the first African American newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, African American publishers, editors, and journalists have been able to achieve on three fronts. First, as a business enterprise the African American press serves as one of the leading black institutions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Second, it perhaps has contributed more to preserving the legacy of black business enterprises, activities, and black entrepreneurship than any other scholarly work. Third, the black press has been and continues as a leading force in

87

Black Retail Action Group

helping to eradicate racial, economic, employment, and educational inequities both in their local communities and on the national scene. The African American press has focused on every major and minor event that provides insight into the black experience. This has been its mission since its inception in the nineteenth century and continues into the twenty-first century. See also: Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History; Women and Business Sources Afro-American. http://www.afro.com. Black Archives of Mid-America, Franklin Collection. ‘‘The History of the Kansas City Call.’’ http://www.blackarchives.org. Farrar, Hayward. The Baltimore Afro-American, 1892–1950. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998. Freedom’s Journal, March 16, 1827. Muhammad, Baiyina W. ‘‘What Is Africa to Us?: The Baltimore Afro American’s Coverage of the African Diaspora, 1915–1941.’’ Ph.D. diss., Morgan State University, 2004. New Journal and Guide. http://www.njournalg.com. New Pittsburgh Courier. http://www.newpittsburghcourier.com. Simmons, Charles A. The African American Press with Special References to Four Newspapers, 1827–1965. Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press, 1998. Suggs, Henry Lewis, ed. The Black Press in the Middle West, 1865–1985. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996. ———. The Black Press in the South, 1865–1979. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983. Wolseley, Roland E. The Black Press U.S.A. 2nd ed. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1990.

Baiyina W. Muhammad

Black Retail Action Group The Black Retail Action Group (BRAG) was founded in 1970 to encourage and stimulate black participation in retail and wholesale industries. It runs intern programs for college students and educational programs for persons already working in the industry. BRAG grew out of the National Negro Retail Advisory Group (NNRAG). Brag takes a pragmatic approach to professional development with its internship, career counseling, and scholarship programs. In addition, BRAG president Gail Monroe-Perry accentuates basic principles of organizational reinforcement: punctuality, ownership, consistency, reliability, and conflict resolution. It can be said that Abraham & Straus executives were right on time and punctual when they stepped to the plate and swung away at discrimination in America, becoming the first major retailer to sign on for President John F. Kennedy’s Plans for Progress commission on opportunities for African Americans in 1968. Technical assistance to businesses owned by minorities

88

Black Retail Action Group

and scholarships for minority interns in the retail industry emerged as BRAG was partially founded by Abraham & Straus executives in 1968 despite the fact that the official charter appeared in 1970. Founding member and president from 2003 and 2004, Gloria Hartley was largely responsible for expanding the group’s influence through marketing, public relations, fund-raising, and networking. With a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and a Master of Science degree in education from Fordham University, Hartley parlayed her life skills to establish a professorship at international acclaimed Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan and has successfully run an international marketing consulting firm as a sharp entrepreneur as well. BRAG executives develop professionally through educational activities such as executive roundtables and leadership cultivation through direct pipelines to corporate leaders. Significant opportunities for undergraduates include the Executive Excellence Program (EEP), the Consumer Distribution Committee (CDC) Internship and Corporate Internships. The EEP provides store management and merchandize planning skills. The CDC internships provide academic credit and pay. The program is supported by partnerships with such established companies as Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdales, Tommy Hilfiger, Coach, Foot Locker, and Macy’s. Focus courses such as Corporate Politics and Business Ethics, Presentation Skills, Security and Loss Prevention, Retail Mathematics, Customer Service, and Merchandising and Product Development expose interns to a wide range of industry issues. Although an impressive surge of urban clothing lines in the 2000s such as Sean John, FUBU, Roc-a Wear, Maurice Malone, and Echo testify to the growing presence of blacks in urban clothing lines, BRAG’s research concluded that many blacks still lack full understanding of behind-the-scenes activities. BRAG’s culminating gala and dinner/dance is the group’s primary fund-raiser for endowing scholarships and for linking promising high school and college students with the who’s who of fashion and retail. Scholarship recipients and gala attendees are treated to valuable lessons from BRAG Business Achievement Award honorees who offer priceless guidance and resources to help the process of transformation in the industry to ensure that eventually blacks have more influence behind the scenes. The 2003 recipient Jeffrey Tweedy, executive vice president of Sean John, launched into action by funding two scholarships. Quoted in ‘‘Something to Brag About,’’ Lloyd Boston, 2002 ceremony emcee and BRAG mentor, perhaps stated it best when he noted that ‘‘we have to own our own trends before they leave our community.’’ Such comments certainly did not fall on the deaf ears of youth participants—Boston also began his ten-year ascension to Tommy Hilfiger vice-president as an unpaid intern. Relying on BRAG for the inside track to opportunities and knowledge within the retail and wholesale industry has proven to be a sound human investment, for the return is limitless. In 2004, the Network Journal, a monthly publication dedicated to empowering and educating black business

89

Blacks in Agriculture

and small business owners, awarded former president Hartley with the 25 Influential Black Women in Business Award for BRAG expansion programs. Scholarships for fifteen students, the most in their history, were secured through programs for the Fashion Industries High School and the Fashion Institute of Technology Travel Abroad Scholarship. Clearly Hartley’s leadership and BRAG’s overall success provide something to brag about, not shallow rhetoric mired by theoretical jargon with no practical base. See also: Fashion Industry; Women and Business Sources Black Retail Action Group. http://www.bragusa.org. ‘‘BRAG Fetes Industry Achievers.’’ WWD, November 3, 2003, 7. web5.infotrac .galegroup.com/itw/infomark/961/275/67058023w5/purl¼rclGBFM. Federated Department Stores, Inc. http://www.federated-fds.com/pressroom. Smart-Young, Taiia. ‘‘Something to BRAG About: These Designers are Breaking Down Racial Barriers in the Retail Industry.’’ Black Enterprise (November 2002). ‘‘Tweedy Honored by BRAG.’’ Daily News Record, November 3, 2003, 8. web5 .infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/961/275/67058023w5/purl¼rclGBFM.

Uzoma O. Miller

Blacks in Agriculture Agriculture has always been an essential function of human societies; in Africa, the varied climates and regions (desert, savannah, rain forests, mountains, river valleys, etc.) necessitated differing approaches to land cultivation, while also sparking the development of trade and merchant activity. Groups and individuals began to barter the crops they harvested (beyond the amount needed for themselves) in their immediate locations and traveled beyond their local surroundings to buy and sell other products of their labor. The institution of chattel slavery took the merchandising process to a horrible extreme, with human beings, as well as agricultural and other natural resources, becoming products for purchase. In the case of Africans, this dehumanizing process led to their forced removal into other countries and regions of their home continent, Europe, Asia, and eventually, the Americas and the ‘‘New World.’’ The date 1619 is often cited as the beginning of African enslavement in what would become the United States, when twenty blacks arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, a colony of Great Britain. Blacks were brought to work as forced labor in what was primarily an agrarian society, benefiting white settlers and colonists who had begun the displacement of the Native American (Indian) tribes. For the most part, the Indians resisted servitude through warfare and/or relocation to areas away from the whites. The captured Africans were disengaged from their societies culturally and geographically and forced to endure the horrors of the ‘‘Middle Passage’’ in slave ships bound for the Americas; untold numbers of lives were lost in

90

Blacks in Agriculture

the brutal and savage journeys due to disease, murder, suicide, and other atrocities. The (un)fortunate ones who somehow managed to endure the voyages became a perverse example of ‘‘the survival of the fittest’’ and were sold at market as human livestock shortly after arrival. The majority of enslaved Africans were put to work in agricultural settings, primarily in the southern region of the colonies/states, where they provided unpaid labor producing large quantities of food and cash crops, including cotton, tobacco, and sugar. As a result, the landowners/slave owners profited immensely and, by extension, the American economy in both domestic and international markets. Beyond the meager amounts of food and clothing allowed for their subsistence, and the bare minimum in shelter, ‘‘field Negroes’’ (as they were called) in the ‘‘slave quarters’’ in most cases had little of value or substance and ‘‘no rights which a white man was bound to respect.’’ On the other hand, the ‘‘masters’’ enjoyed the fruits of slave labor in large farming and plantation settings, in cities and rural environments throughout the South. While the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation supposedly brought an end to slavery as a way of life, the former slaves, for the most part, were still ‘‘tied to the land’’ and the landowners. The promise of ‘‘40 acres and a mule’’ never materialized; as a result, relationships changed into a system that came to be known as tenant farming or ‘‘sharecropping.’’ Blacks continued to work as farmers, in many instances on the same land they worked as slaves, but their labor was provided in the faith and hope that over time they could earn enough money/equity to own some part of the land after working it and ‘‘sharing its crops’’ and other products with whites. This became another exploitative relationship, where white landowners benefited without giving up control of the land and its resources. Despite the obstacles, a number of blacks persevered to become owners of small family farms and homesteads. Large families were not uncommon, as children (and sons in particular) provided additional assistance to their parents as agricultural workers. James Clingman cites Robert D. Bullard, a leading expert on agriculture, who found that in 1910 black farmers owned over 16 million acres of farmland, and ten years later, there were 925,000 black farmers. Other sources indicate that the total amount of black-owned farmland may have been as high as 19 million acres at one point. AGRICULTURE AND BLACK EDUCATION: FROM RECONSTRUCTION TO SEGREGATION The overwhelming majority of Africans in America had been denied access to education, in fact and/or by law prior to the Civil War and emancipation. After the war ended in 1865, the reconstruction of the South involved a brief period where blacks were allowed to vote in significant numbers. Their impact on the southern political system resulted in the election of African American legislators and public officials on the federal, state, and

91

Blacks in Agriculture

local levels, who pushed for the rights of blacks to receive education and other rights of citizenship until 1876, when reactionary elements used violence and the electoral, judicial, and legislative systems to disfranchise black officeholders and voters and effectively end their short season of political power and influence. A number of entities, including the Freedmen’s Bureau, the American Missionary Association, and other religious organizations, became involved in efforts to establish schools for the education of blacks, with the majority of these institutions located in the South and border states. Even as these early schools were being established, education for blacks varied greatly, especially in rural areas where ‘‘book learning’’ took a backseat to required and necessary labor during planting and harvesting seasons. The debate over education for blacks after slavery reflected the realities of American society at that time. On the one hand, many felt that education for blacks should be designed to develop practical skills and trades that were necessary to ensure immediate survival, while others favored the development of schools that stressed the liberal arts and classical approach to intellectual development. The most negative groups and individuals did not want them to receive any education and actively sought to harass, disrupt, and even destroy persons, groups, organizations, and facilities that promoted educational development. The earliest institutions for the higher education of blacks also reflected these realities and stressed one of two approaches: The first was the classical/ liberal arts approach (for example, Fisk University in Tennessee and Howard University in the District of Columbia); others emphasized ‘‘normal’’ education focusing on agricultural and industrial skill development and applications, with Tuskegee Institute in Alabama as the best-known example. Some institutions, such as Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and Hampton Institute in Virginia, sought to achieve a balance between liberal and industrial education. Two African American leaders, Booker T. Washington (graduate of Hampton and first teacher/principal/president of Tuskegee) and W.E.B. Du Bois (graduate of Fisk and first black Ph.D. from Harvard), became symbols of these two different philosophies. Washington’s famous Atlanta Exposition address in 1895 and the publication of Du Bois’s literary masterpiece The Souls of Black Folk in 1903, among other works, became key documentation of their philosophical differences on the subject of black education. Prior to the emergence of the majority of higher education institution for blacks and leaders such as Washington and Du Bois, the U.S. Congress had begun the process of addressing the need for agricultural and industrial education alongside the liberal arts and classical educational model with the Morrill Act of 1862, which led to the development of state land-grant institutions. The recently established black colleges and institutions were excluded, for the most part, in the Morrill Act, although there were isolated instances where private and public institutions for blacks were allotted limited

92

Blacks in Agriculture

funding (for example, Alcorn State University in Mississippi, Claflin University in South Carolina, Hampton Institute in Virginia, and Kentucky State College). The majority of funds were clearly designated for white state-supported institutions. The success of the agricultural/industrial education philosophy, particularly at Hampton and Tuskegee, led to the Second Morrill Act in 1890. As neither of these institutions was state supported, they were denied land-grant status (Tuskegee would later receive a special designation alongside the other 1890 schools); however, these institutions became the model for the public black colleges that would achieve this distinction. Many schools actually came into existence or were assured survival as a direct result of the Morrill Acts, and some would incorporate the letter combinations ‘‘A&I,’’ ‘‘A&M,’’ ‘‘A,M,&N,’’ or ‘‘A&T’’ into their names to clarify their focus on agricultural education, along with industrial, mechanical, ‘‘normal’’ and/or technical training (i.e., Tennessee A&I, Florida A&M, Arkansas A,M,&N, North Carolina A&T). Tuskegee Institute’s outstanding scientist George Washington Carver, who came to the college as head of the division of agriculture in 1886, was a pioneer and innovator in developing agricultural research in the black landgrant college setting. His many other personal achievements, discoveries, and inventions, which had national and international implications in agriculture, business, and other fields of activity, brought worldwide recognition to the man and the college. Carver became director of the first agricultural research station on a black campus, created conferences and institutes for black farmers and workers, and practically applied agricultural research by traveling directly to farm settings to provide assistance, conduct research and studies, and share his findings to benefit farmers directly in their immediate environment. His discoveries and applications were credited with saving the southern agricultural system, and his products helped to create whole new industries. The ‘‘Tuskegee system’’ was replicated in the black land-grant colleges in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Overall, the model was successful, as it was perceived as useful, practical, and less threatening to the southern power structure and social order, which had evolved into the flawed doctrine of ‘‘separate but equal.’’ Segregation of the races, especially in the southern states, had been made legal as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case. AGRICULTURE IN THE TWENTIETH AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES Other factors such as the industrial revolution, which moved America away from being an agrarian society, continuing social and economic hardships faced by blacks in the South, and the possibilities of better living and working conditions in the North led to the migration of larger numbers

93

Blacks in Agriculture

away from the agricultural setting. In the first half of the twentieth century, the Great Depression of the 1930s, extended drought and other adverse weather conditions, and the demand for industrial workers during the two world wars became incentives for many blacks to abandon farming lifestyles and occupations. The increasing mechanization and industrialization of agricultural processes, involving huge tracts of farmland as opposed to small family farms, combined over time with the influx of immigrant workers from Mexico and other countries, further impacted the decline of blacks as farmers and/or agricultural laborers (Tables 16 through 19). Persons who chose to remain faced not only the dangers and humiliations of segregation in the South but the challenges of maintaining families, livestock, and farmland in the midst of numerous uncertainties such as weather and other natural conditions, quality of harvested crops, and efforts to disfranchise them from farmland and other property regardless of status, whether landowners or tenant farmers. Assistance to farmers from U.S. Department of Agriculture extension service programs was formally established in 1923, with the development of relationships with state agricultural agencies and land-grant colleges. In the era of segregation, black agents, supervisors, and other extension workers comprised a small percentage of the total number of persons employed in this capacity, worked almost exclusively in black land-grant colleges and rural communities, and were paid considerably less than whites performing similar work. In addition, overall funding for extension services to the black rural farm population and the number of blacks hired to implement service programs were not equitable, considering their percentage of the total U.S. rural farm population. The civil rights movement of the 1960s brought an end to legal segregation and reestablished voting rights for blacks in the South and elsewhere, leading to increased access to public accommodations, education, and elective offices. Even with these landmark changes, challenges remained for blacks in farming and agriculture in the ‘‘New South’’ as well as in other parts of the nation. One notable example of progress with connections to agriculture was Michael Espy, who, when elected from Mississippi in 1986, was the first African American from his state to serve in Congress since the Reconstruction period a century earlier. Espy made history again when he was appointed as the first African American secretary of agriculture in 1993, during the Clinton administration. Agricultural research has continued to thrive as an important component of the 1890 land-grant institutions, with ongoing support from the federal government, foundations, and/or national/multinational corporations. Collaborations, partnerships, and other initiatives have been established and maintained with universities, governments, and other organizations in the United States, emerging African nations, and other developing countries in various parts of the world to address immediate and long-term agricultural needs. Black agricultural scientists, engineers, and researchers continue to conduct their work from the black land-grant colleges and universities, as well

94

Table 16. Average Hourly, Daily, and Weekly Cash Wages, Average Hours and Days Worked during Week for Hired Farmworkers, by Race and Sex, United States and Major Regions, May 1945* Area, Race, and Sex

Cash Wages Earned May 20–26, 1945 (on reporting farm) Hourly Daily Weekly

Time Worked May 20–26, 1945 (on reporting farm) Hours per day Days per week Hours per week

Dollars

Dollars

Dollars

Number

Number

Number

United States White Nonwhite Male Female

.41 .28 .38 .33

4.00 2.70 3.70 3.00

19.80 10.60 18.20 10.20

9.8 9.7 9.8 9.1

4.9 3.9 4.9 3.4

48 38 48 31

Northeast White Nonwhite Male Female

.38 .65 .39 .59

3.60 5.70 3.80 4.90

21.60 27.70 22.20 22.30

9.7 8.7 9.7 8.3

5.9 4.9 5.9 4.6

57 42 57 38

North Central White Nonwhite Male Female

.30 .27 .30 .28

3.20 2.90 2.80 2.40

18.10 12.00 18.40 10.30

10.7 10.5 10.8 8.4

5.6 4.2 5.6 4.4

60 44 61 36

South White Nonwhite Male Female

.66 .23 .27 .21

2.80 2.30 2.70 2.00

11.10 8.60 11.10 5.80

9.6 9.7 9.7 9.4

3.9 3.8 4.2 2.9

38 37 40 28

West White Nonwhite Male Female

.30 .70 .66 .72

6.10 6.60 6.10 6.20

33.70 35.70 34.00 32.40

9.2 9.3 9.3 8.7

5.5 5.4 5.5 5.2

51 51 51 45

*Excludes approximately 87,000 custom workers since the hire of machinery, equipment, or workstock was included in their reported cash wages. Note: Estimates based on data from enumerative sample survey of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics. Source: Published in Jessie P. Guzman, ed., Negro Year Book: A Review of Events Affecting Negro Life, 1941–1946 (Tuskegee, AL: Department of Records and Research, Tuskegee Institute, 1947), 162.

Blacks in Agriculture Table 17. Farm Operators, by Race, for the United States, by Regions, 1940 and 1930 Race

Number of Operators 1940 1930

Increase 1930 to 1940 Number Percent

United States Classes Negro White

6,096,799 681,790 5,377,728

6,288,648 882,850 5,372,578


191,849
201,060 5,150


3.1
22.8 0.1

The North Classes Negro White

2,579,959 8,898 2,567,257

2,561,785 11,104 2,545,829

18,174
2,206 21,428

0.7
19.9 0.8

The South Classes Negro White

3,007,170 672,214 2,326,904

3,223,816 870,936 2,342,129


216,646
198,722
15,225


6.7
22.8
0.7

The West Classes Negro White

509,670 678 483,567

503,047 810 484,620

6,623
132
1,053

1.3
16.3
0.2

A minus sign (
) denotes decrease. Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Published in Jessie P. Guzman, ed., Negro Year Book: A Review of Events Affecting Negro Life, 1941–1946 (Tuskegee, AL: Department of Records and Research, Tuskegee Institute, 1947), 154.

as other institutions, and participate in the development of the next generation of scientists and scholars in the field. Their activities remain vitally important, as agriculture remains essential to the survival and progress of humanity in all parts of the world. The decline in the number of black and white farmers continued throughout the twentieth century, even as agriculture became the domain of large corporate interests. Black farmers, who continue to persevere despite their reduced numbers (from nearly 1 million in 1920 to around 18,000 by 1999; 1 percent of U.S. farmers) and decades of land loss, as recently as 2002 were still documented as owning 7.8 million acres of farmland. They have organized into associations such as the National Black Farmers Association and the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association and brought a class-action lawsuit involving approximately 22,000 black farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1997 for discrimination in farm lending practices and unfair foreclosures of farms owned by African Americans. The case was settled in 1999, with the government paying 12,597 farmers more than $629 million in claims and forgiving at least $17.2 million in outstanding loans, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics. However, nearly 9,000 lost in efforts to file claims that were

96

Blacks in Agriculture Table 18. Farms of Negro Operators by Tenure—Number, Acreage, and Specified Values, for the United States, 1900–1940 Tenure

1940

1930

1920 Number of Farms 925,708 218,612 2,026 705,070

893,370 218,972 1,434 672,964

Lands in Farms (acres) 41,432,182 — — —

— — — —

38,233,920 — — —

Value of Land and Buildings (dollars) 1,402,945,799 2,257,645,325 — 334,451,396 — — 14,844,767 — — 1,053,649,636 — —

396,145,262 — — —

Total Owners Managers Tenants

681,790 174,010 413 507,367

882,850 181,016 923 700,911

Total Owners Managers Tenants

30,785,095 10,314,283 153,601 20,317,211

37,597,132 11,198,893 249,072 26,149,167

Total Owners Managers Tenants

836,067,623 251,328,726 8,208,132 576,530,765

Total Owners Managers Tenants

224,388,138 81,129,400 1,998,971 141,259,767

Total Owners Managers Tenants

40,193,537 15,671,208 539,663 23,982,666

Value of Buildings (dollars) 340,409,360 — 105,741,696 — 4,023,544 — 230,644,120 —

1910

1900 746,715 — — —

— — — —

71,902,265 — — —

Value of Implements and Machinery (dollars) 60,327,856 — — 19,784,411 — — 623,050 — — 39,920,395 — —

18,859,757 — — —

Notes: Data for 1940 and 1930 relate to April 1; for 1920 to January 1; for 1910 to April 15; and for earlier years to June 1; — ¼ not available. Source: General Report on Agriculture, vol. 3, 1940, chap. 3. Published in Jessie P. Guzman, ed., Negro Year Book: A Review of Events Affecting Negro Life, 1941–1946 (Tuskegee, AL: Department of Records and Research, Tuskegee Institute, 1947), 154.

challenged by the USDA, and many say that they still face the same kind of discrimination that led to the lawsuit. According to Gary Grant of Tillery, North Carolina, head of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, the average age of black farmers is sixty years old. The next generation is turning away from farming as an occupation, due in part to witnessing the hardships and challenges faced by their parents and elders, as well as the many other educational and career options now available to young black people. Leaders and advocates for black farmers indicate that if current trends are not reversed, agriculture, which was blacks’ first occupation in America, will become virtually nonexistent as a career choice and lifestyle. The National Black Farmers Association, Black Farmers and Agriculturalists

97

Table 19. Trends in the Number of Farms in the United States by Color and Tenure of Operators, 1910–1940 (Decennial Censuses) 1940

Number of Farms 1930 1920

1910

1940

Percent 1910, 1930, and 1940 Are of 1920 1930 1920

1910

Number of Farms (total)

6,097

6,289

6,448

6,362

94.5

97.5

100

98.6

By color of operators White operators Nonwhite operators

5,378 719

5,373 916

5,498 950

5,441 921

97.8 75.7

97.7 96.4

100 100

98.9 98.9

By tenure of operators Full owners Part owners Managers All tenants Proportion of tenancy (percent) Croppers (southern states)

3,084 615 36 2,361 38.7 541

2,912 657 56 2,664 42.4 776

3,367 559 68 2,455 38.1 561

3,355 594 58 2,355 37.0 *

91.6 110.1 53.1 96.2 101.6 96.5

86.5 117.6 81.6 108.5 111.2 138.2

100 100 100 100 100 100

99.6 106.3 84.9 95.9 97.1 *

*Not available for 1910 census. Source: Published in Jessie P. Guzman, ed., Negro Year Book: A Review of Events Affecting Negro Life, 1941–1946 (Tuskegee, AL: Department of Records and Research, Tuskegee Institute, 1947), 163.

Booker T. Washington Business Association

Association, and other organizations are seeking to influence and collaborate with 1890 land-grant colleges, black churches and religious organizations, other institutions, and individuals to educate African Americans and others about the plight of the black farmer and the continuing significance of agriculture. Black people spend billions of dollars on food every year but presently own only nineteen supermarkets in the entire United States, according to reports and commentaries. Without black farmers and landownership, others would completely control the supply of food. These realities underscore the ongoing need for, and importance of, continued African American involvement in all phases of agriculture in the twenty-first century. Sources Burrell, Thomas. ‘‘History of African American Landownership.’’ Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, Inc. http://www.bfaa.net. Clingman, James. ‘‘Economic Empowerment: Black Farmers Still Fighting.’’ http:// www.coax.net/people/lwf/ee_black.htm. Gilbert, Jess, Spencer D. Wood, and Gwen Sharp. ‘‘Who Owns the Land? Agricultural Land Ownership by Race/Ethnicity.’’ Rural America 17 (Winter 2002): 55–62. McGee, Leo, and Robert Boone, eds. The Black Rural Landowner—Endangered Species: Social, Political, and Economic Implications. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1979. National Black Farmers Association. http://www.blackfarmers.org. Neyland, Leedell W. Historically Black Land-Grant Institutions and the Development of Agriculture and Home Economics, 1890–1990. Tallahassee: Florida A&M University Foundation, 1990. Parker, Suzi. ‘‘The Vanishing Black Farmer.’’ Christian Science Monitor, July 13, 2000. Schapsmeier, Edward L., and Frederick H. Schapsmeier. Encyclopedia of American Agricultural History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1975. Smith, Jessie Carney, and Carrell P. Horton, eds. Historical Statistics of Black America. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.

Fletcher F. Moon

Booker T. Washington Business Association Founded in Detroit in 1930 at the beginning of the Great Depression, the Booker T. Washington Trade Association, as it was known then, aimed to support and create more black businesses and at the same time create more employment opportunities for blacks. It was named for the noted black educator and founder of the National Negro Business League, Booker T. Washington. It was one of several strong local organizations established in cities with large black populations and extensive black business enterprises. Its founder, the Reverend William H. Peck, was pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church and an activist as well; he witnessed a need to help blacks establish

99

Booker T. Washington Business Association

businesses at a time when many were coming to Detroit in flight from poverty and racism that they experienced in the South. The founding members were local black professionals. From the start the association held weekly meetings and missed only one due to a temporary city ordinance forbidding meetings from occurring during serious race riots. The sessions were luncheon meetings held each Wednesday and provided a time for members to raise questions regarding the improvement and development of business enterprises. Prominent local black entrepreneurs were invited as speakers. Until World War II, the association published a monthly trade journal and also mounted business exhibits; the monthly trade journal was resumed later on. The association has always been a strong supporter of the National Negro Business League and has attended its various conferences. Established initially as the Booker T. Washington Trade Association, in time the organization changed its name by replacing ‘‘Trade’’ with ‘‘Businessmen’s.’’ As women became involved, members changed the name again to become the Booker T. Washington Business Association (BTWBA) to make its name gender neutral but retained its vision. The noon luncheon, first held in 1932, continues to attract women. When its seventieth luncheon was held in 2004, only women attended. Ethnic groups, such as the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Arab American and Asian American organizations, are encouraged to work with the association and may send representatives to board meetings. In 1987, BTWBA elected Betty Pulliam of the Payne-Pulliam School of Trade and Commerce, Inc. as president (for the years 1987–1989), making her the first woman to head the organization. Since then, Margo Williams became a vice president and, along with other women, helped to revitalize the organization. She began networking and soon received business from major companies who sought her work as head of a media relations and training firm. She spearheaded a successful drive to invite Michigan’s 34 black millionaires to a dinner. Working with Black Enterprise magazine, the annual affair now attracts 500 people, an increase over the 100 who first attended. Located at 2885 East Grand Boulevard, the BTWBA has now become the African American Chamber of Commerce in Detroit. Its goals, according to its Web page, focus on ‘‘business development and growth, business and financing opportunities, technical assistance and referral services, entrepreneur training for area youth, economic stability in the African American Community, [and] reciprocal business/trade practices.’’ There are 360 corporate and individual members. Its members or supporters include Detroit automobile dealer Melvin Farr, manufacturer Dave Bing, former National Basketball Association star and entrepreneur Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr., and Michigan’s former Secretary of State Richard Austin. Corporate members include churches, banks, casinos, International Business Machines (IBM), and the Henry Ford Health Corporation. BTWBA’s efforts continue to be analogous to a ‘‘black chamber of commerce’’; it supports the work of small and large businesses owned by blacks. It

100

Ruth Jean Bowen

is the preeminent organization in the city for black entrepreneurs and offers programs, luncheons, seminars, training sessions, and conferences for aspiring black entrepreneurs. While recent leaders prefer not to dwell on race, they do focus on the bright future of black businesses ‘‘in a town that has just elected its third black mayor,’’ wrote Alan Fisk. The mayors—Coleman A. Young, Dennis W. Archer, and Kwame M. Kilpatrick—all have been BTWBA members. Sources BTWBA. http://www.btwba.org/web/html. Fisk, Alan. ‘‘Association Trades in Business Success.’’ Detroit News, February 26, 2003. http://www.detnews.com/2003/detroit/0303/05/s06-p4271.htm. Oak, Vishnu V. The Negro’s Adventure in General Business. Yellow Springs, OH: Antioch Press, 1949.

Jessie Carney Smith

Booker T. Washington Trade Association. See Booker T. Washington Business Association

Ruth Jean Bowen (1925– ), Businesswoman, Entertainment Agent, Booking Company Executive Ruth Jean Bowen is the first African American woman to own her own talent agency. Her first company was founded in 1959. By the late 1960s, the Queen Booking Corporation, a talent clearinghouse located in New York City, was the largest black-owned booking agency in the world. For nearly fifty years, Bowen has been responsible for overseeing and managing the careers of some of the world’s greatest performers including Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, and Sammy Davis Jr. She booked her clients in national as well as international venues. Using her astute management techniques, she has succeeded in a male-dominated industry and has survived against fierce competitors. Born September 13, 1925, Ruth Jean Baskerville completed her elementary and part of her secondary education in Danville, Virginia. She graduated from Girls High School in Brooklyn after the family moved to New York. She studied business administration at New York University for two years. In 1944, at the age of nineteen, she married singer Billy ‘‘Butterball’’ Bowen, who was an original member of the Ink Spots. She met this saxophonist who later became a member of the famed singing group at the Savoy Ballroom. The Ink Spots had vocal styles and musical arrangements that reached both black and white audiences. Traveling with the group she learned valuable practical information about the entertainment business.

101

Ruth Jean Bowen

She became even more knowledgeable about the industry by managing her husband’s business affairs. Being on the road with the group, she faced the same racial discrimination in lodging and restaurants that blacks encountered during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Having a spouse as a successful entertainer for over thirty years allowed Bowen to socialize with musicians, singers, and newspaper writers. She was introduced to rhythm and blues singer Dinah Washington in 1945, and a year later Washington became Bowen’s first client. At Washington’s encouragement, she became her press secretary and later assumed responsibility for the singer’s personal affairs. Before Bowen became her manager, unscrupulous managers and booking agents had exploited Washington, as had been many singers of the 1940s and 1950s. As publicist and business manager for this gifted vocalist, Bowen significantly impacted the singer’s career by bringing an organized approach to the business side of her career. In 1959, the team of Bowen and Washington formed a publicity company with a small investment of $500; Washington named their business Queen Artists. Bowen booked the engagements and Washington provided the contacts. Before getting her booking license from the state of New York, Bowen studied the management style of Joe Glasser, who was the agent for Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, and Dinah Washington. Bowen observed Glaser’s attention to the details of every contract and took note of the time he took reading and answering all correspondences relating to his client. When Glaser refused to book Washington for European engagements, Bowen assumed responsibility for this aspect of Washington’s career as well. Some of Bowen’s other early clients included saxophonist Earl Bostic, songwriter and vibe player Johnny Lytle, guitarist Kenny Burrell, and the Basin Street East nightclub. Ten years after the agency was formed, it was renamed the Queen Booking Agency (QBC) in 1969. In 1959 the agency began with a staff of four that booked acts in Washington, D.C., Harlem, and Chicago. As the company grew, Bowen hired and trained agents who were required to follow her exacting example of putting the needs of the client first. Because they were competing with established agencies like Rockwell-O’Keefe and William Morris, her agents had to place their talent in the best venues, get top dollar for their services, and take care of lodging, security, and other services associated with each performer’s individual needs. For almost fifty years, Bowen has represented some of America’s most talented artists. Her clientele included individual performers, groups, gospel choirs, and comedians. During the zenith of her career, she managed over 100 performers. Some of her clients include Lola Falana, the Dells, Al Green, Patti LaBelle, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Redd Roxx, Richard Pryor, the O’Jays, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Delfonics, the Stylistics, Shirley Caesar, the Staples Singers, the Isley Brothers, Kool & the Gang, the ChiLites, the O’Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, Ike and Tina Turner, the Four Tops, Dee Dee Warwick, Reverend James Cleveland, Andrae Crouch, Slappy White, Clara Ward, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, Stu Gilliam, and Willie Tyler.

102

Richard Henry Boyd

Bowen learned business theory at New York University. She learned the practical side of the entertainment industry traveling with her spouse and managing Dinah Washington’s career. She is a shrewd businesswoman who has not only survived but has excelled in an arena dominated by men. During the 1950s and 1960s she was a member of the Rinky Dinks, a club formed by the wives of New York musicians that raised funds for charitable organizations. She has been a member of Operation PUSH and presently works for the Parkinson’s Foundation. Bowen is currently chief executive officer of the Bowen Agency, Ltd. In a 1993 article, the Chicago Defender featured her in its ‘‘Black Legends’’ column. The legendary Ruth Bowen is a superagent. She used her formal and informal training along with her special talents to work on behalf of her clients. She made unknown artists household names and improved the careers of performers whose careers were stifled by poor managers. See also: Women and Business Sources ‘‘Africa and the Diaspora Timeline.’’ http://home.acceleration.net/clark/papervu/ timeline.htm. Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/101907p-92151c.html. Goodson, Martia Graham. ‘‘Ruth Jean Bowen.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book II. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996. Hine, Darlene Clark, ed. Facts on File Encyclopedia of Black Women in America; Business and Professions. New York: Facts on File, 1997. Locke, Tara Y. ‘‘Black Legends: Ruth Bowen Founded a Booking Corporation.’’ Chicago Defender, March 31, 1993. Original Ink Spots—Newspaper articles from January 1, 1943. Cleveland Call and Post, July 9, 1949. http://inkspots.ca/ispress2.htm#49 Smith, Jessie Carney. Black Firsts: 4,000 Groundbreaking and Pioneering Historical Events. 2nd ed. Rev. and expanded. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 2004. Washington, Dinah. http://www2.worldbook.com/features/aamusic/html/washington2 .htm.

Gloria Hamilton

Richard Henry Boyd (1843–1922), Entrepreneur, Banker, Educator, Preacher, Publisher, Civil Rights and Political Activist, Author Richard Henry Boyd may have been born a slave, but by the time of his death in 1922, he was one of black America’s most leading business personalities. An adherent of Booker T. Washington’s economic selfsufficiency philosophy and founder of the National Baptist Publishing Board, one of his greatest entrepreneurial endeavors was his role as a founder of the One-Cent Savings Bank and Trust Company, now known as Citizens Savings Bank and Trust Company (the nation’s oldest continuous African American–owned and –operated banking institution). A founder and owner

103

Richard Henry Boyd

of one of the city’s first black newspapers, the Nashville Globe, and a principal in the Union Transportation Company, Boyd also served as vice president of the National Negro Business League. During the early 1890s, he cautioned his fellow citizens of African descent that the dominant members of society were engaged in retracting the advances made in the African American civil rights struggle. The combination of his religious prominence, business ventures, and his reputation as a ‘‘race man’’ catapulted Boyd into a national leadership position among African Americans of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born to a slave mother, Indiana Ann Dixon (1820–1915), on March 15, 1843, in Noxubee County, Mississippi, Boyd was originally given the name of Dick Gray. As a slave lad, the young Gray played with white children until age ten. After age ten, Gray labored as a slave, serving as a mule boy, hauling cotton to the weighing wagons, ginning cotton, and bailing it for hauling to the market. After the death of his mistress, one of her family members purchased Gray and took him to Texas, where he remained until the outbreak of the Civil War. During the war, Gray accompanied his master and served as his body servant in the army of the Confederate States of America. After the battle of Chattanooga, he returned to Texas and worked on and managed the Gray plantation. Gray, as all other American slaves, received his freedom in December 1865 with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. However, slaves in Texas did not receive notification of the amendment’s ratification until June 19, 1866. After the death of the surviving head of the Gray family, Dick became a cowboy. In 1868, he married Laura Thomas, who died within a year of the marriage. The following year, he joined the Baptist church, changed his name to Richard Henry Boyd, and became a Baptist minister. In 1871, Boyd married Harriett Albertine Moore, and they became the parents of six children, three boys and three girls (Henry Allen, J. Garfield Blaine, Theophilus Bartholomew, Lula, Mattie, and Annie). With the assistance from his wife, he attended Bishop College in Marshall, Texas. However, because of the growth of his family and the paucity of financial resources, he withdrew from Bishop to support his family. Refusing to acquiesce from his work as a Baptist minister, the Reverend Boyd used his time and talents organizing African Americans and churches of the Baptist faith across the state of Texas. Boyd, with the assistance from a southern white minister, organized the Texas Negro Convention. In 1875, he organized the Lincoln District Baptist Association. Serving as a district missionary between 1870 and 1874, the Reverend Boyd became educational secretary of the Texas Negro Baptist Convention. In 1879, he was elected moderator of the Central Baptist Association. As educational secretary for the Texas Negro Convention, Boyd abhorred the paternalistic authority that white Baptist officials from the North exhibited with respect to vested African American Baptist officials. He and others resented the white American Baptist Publication Society’s (ABPS) endeavor to control the writing and distribution of African

104

Richard Henry Boyd

American Sunday School literature as well as the ABPS refusal to publish and distribute religious materials written by African American sermonizers. Tired of the paternalistic domination of the northern APBS, Boyd conceived of the idea of African Americans supplying their own congregations with religious periodicals. In the mid-1890s, Boyd moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he became an influential leader among those in the African American community. A contemporary of attorney James Carroll Napier, the Reverend Preston Taylor, and others who adhered to the philosophy espoused by Booker T. Washington, which emphasized the acquisition of property and economic independence, he developed into the quintessential ‘‘race man.’’ BECOMES ENTREPRENEUR The Reverend Boyd and others organized the National Baptist Publishing Board (NBPB) that provided African Americans churches with religious literature, church pews, and other appurtenances for church services. He established or supported the National Negro Doll Company, the first business enterprise to market black dolls to African American consumers; the One-Cent Savings Bank and Trust Company; the Globe Publishing Company, which published the Nashville Globe; the National Baptist Union Review, an African American denominational newspaper; and the Home Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention, which distributed religious literature and supported missionary efforts. A man for all seasons, Boyd cautioned Tennesseans of African ancestry that whites were intent on castigating their civil rights. When Nashville implemented the state’s legislatively mandated ‘‘Jim Crow’’ streetcar law, the Reverend Boyd and others called for African Americans to boycott the city’s public transportation company. They followed the instituted tradition of political and economic protest of the pre-1890s against racial injustice and oppression that demanded racial equality. In keeping with the Washingtonian philosophy, they established the Union Transportation Company. Chartered in 1896 by the Reverend Richard Henry Boyd and a group of African American businessmen, the National Baptist Publishing Board became operational by 1898. Incorporated according to the laws of Tennessee on August 15, 1898, the National Baptist Publishing Board occupied three buildings on Market Street (now Second Avenue) in downtown Nashville. According to Bobby Lovett in The African American History of Nashville, Boyd strongly felt that African Americans must ‘‘furnish his Sunday School with religious knowledge, his choirs with music, and his firesides and parlors with wholesome literature, written and manufactured by his own energy.’’ Said the Reverend Boyd, ‘‘The literature that is best for the Caucasian of today is not always best for our children, under the present ‘Jim Crow’ crisis. Whatever is taught in the Sunday schools of this generation will be the doctrine of the church in the next generation.’’ By the end of the first decade of the twentieth century, the NBPB employed over 100 African

105

Richard Henry Boyd

Americans and became a successful symbol of ‘‘race enterprise.’’ Initially printing Sunday school lessons penned by whites, by 1910 the African American–owned and –operated board employed African Americans to write short sermons and moral discourses, which were distributed to thousands of African American churches throughout America. Additionally, the NBPB published song sheets and religious hymnals that became the standard for African American churches. The gospel community knew Thomas Dorsey, the ‘‘father of gospel music,’’ because many of his songs were published through the NBPB before he moved to commercial presses. Bringing pride to an oppressed people, the board also published numerous books. Between 1899 and 1901, the board published twenty-four book titles, including Boyd’s Pastor’s Guide and Parliamentary Rules (1900). Between 1902 and 1905, the NBPB continued publishing hymnals and books by African American authors, including but not limited to the third edition of the National Baptist Hymnal (1903). Rendering a useful service to the general African American populace and authors as well, many of the books represented an indispensable collection of early-twentieth-century African American Baptist history. Continuing to advocate race pride among African Americans, Boyd established the National Doll Company at NBPB Nashville headquarters. Management of the National Doll Company was under the leadership of Henry A. Boyd, while his father handled the company’s monetary affairs. Established with the purpose of instilling race pride in African American children, Boyd purchased the black dolls from a manufacturer in Europe and advertised them in the Nashville Globe. According to Bobby Lovett in A Black Man’s Dream, one Globe advertisement read: ‘‘These dolls are not made of that disgraceful and humiliating type that we have grown accustomed to seeing Negro dolls made of. They represent the intelligent and refined Negro of the day, rather than the type of toy that is usually given to the children and, as a rule, used as a scarecrow.’’ In 1908, the National Baptist Convention endorsed the Negro dolls. Boyd, a strong proponent of the ‘‘buy black’’ campaign that was directed by the country’s African American leaders, faced insurmountable criticism from some inside the convention because of the National Doll Company being operated in the publishing board’s facilities. Viewed as a private venture of the Boyds, opponents wanted an operational separation of the publishing board’s affairs from those of the doll company. While the National Baptist Doll Company failed to be a profitable business undertaking, it nonetheless illustrated Boyd’s sensitivity to the unrelenting demoralizing and psychological effects of African American oppression within the U.S. borders. Seven years after arriving in Nashville and becoming one of the city’s principal African American leaders, Boyd and several other prominent African American leaders discussed the reestablishment of a banking institution for their community. On November 5, 1903, the executive committee members of the Negro Business League met in James C. Napier’s

106

Richard Henry Boyd

offices and seriously contemplated the opening of an African American bank. Agreeing upon the concept, the attendees scheduled another meeting a week later. At that conclave, the One-Cent Savings Bank and Trust Company was organized and capitalized with $1,600. Elected officers included the Reverend Preston Taylor as chair of the board of directors, the Reverend Robert H. Boyd as president, and attorney James C. Napier as cashier (manager). The new banking establishment opened two months later on January 16, 1904, in the Napier Court Building on 411 North Cherry Street (now Fourth Avenue, North). With Napier’s assistance, the Reverend Boyd supervised the direction of the new banking institution with parsimony and competent management. In 1908, according to the Nashville Globe and cited in A Black Man’s Dream, Boyd emboldened stockholders to reinvest their annual 6 percent dividends in the banking enterprise and stated: ‘‘It should be clearly understood by the stockholders that this institution was born out of real necessity.’’ Said President Boyd, ‘‘It was not organized as a loan company and investment company, an industrial insurance company, nor a pawn shop, and the idea of ‘getting rich quick’ was never in the minds of the officers of this institution.’’ After the 1874 collapse of the Federal Savings Bank and Trust Company (founded by the U.S. Congress in 1865, there were thirtythree branches, including one in Chattanooga, Nashville, Columbia, and Memphis, Tennessee), Boyd worked arduously to restore the African American community’s confidence and to encourage pride in the aptitude and capability of blacks to own and operate their own commercial institutions. The incisive banker and those who followed him became members of the National Bankers’ Association, which was organized at the 1905 National Negro Business League convention. The One-Cent Savings Bank and Trust Company weathered America’s recurring economic depressions of 1914, 1921, and 1929. Growing slowly and remaining fiscally sound under the conventional economic strategies of its board members, the bank’s name was changed to Citizens Savings Bank and Trust Company in 1920. Two years later, the bank’s functionaries relocated the financial institution from the Napier Court Building to the Colored Young Men’s Christian Association Building. Surviving for more than 100 years, Citizens Savings Bank and Trust Company is the nation’s oldest continuous African American–owned and –operated banking institution. A year after entering the banking business, R. H. Boyd and other African American community leaders found themselves embroiled in civil rights issues emanating from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which enunciated the ‘‘separate but equal’’ doctrine. When the Tennessee General Assembly convened in January 1905, Davidson County Representative Charles P. Fahey introduced Bill No. 87 ‘‘to separate white and colored passengers on streetcars.’’ Tennessee’s ‘‘streetcar law’’ passed the legislative body on March 30. Effective on July 5, the law required streetcar operators to designate by conspicuous signs which part of the car was for ‘‘white’’ or ‘‘colored’’ passengers. African American

107

Richard Henry Boyd

leaders who were angered by the law’s passage met at NBPB’s headquarters on the same day the law went into effect and organized a boycott against Nashville’s public transportation system. An adherent of economic selfdetermination, the Reverend Boyd said in A Black Man’s Dream: ‘‘[T]hese discriminations are only blessings in disguise. They stimulate and encourage, rather than cower and humiliate the true, ambitious, self-determined Negro.’’ As vice president of the Negro Business League, he hosted another meeting on July 31. A month later, they established the Union Transportation Company. Chartered by fourteen men on August 29, 1905, they elected the Reverend Preston Taylor as president and Boyd as treasurer. Numerous community rallies were held to raise $16,000 in needed capital to finance the company’s public transportation venture. Boyd went to work putting the company into business. He traveled to Tarrytown, New York, and purchased nine steam cars from the Mobile Machine Company. The Union Transportation Company began serving its African American clientele on September 29. Charging five cents, the lines operated three routes. However, because of Nashville’s hilly terrain, the steam-driven cars prove to be less than effective. Boyd traded the steam cars for fourteen electric cars that became operational in July 1906. He installed generators in the facilities of the NBPB, where the batteries were charged at the end of the business day. Three months before Boyd purchased the electric cars, the Nashville City Council passed a ‘‘privilege tax’’ of $42 per car on private streetcars, which was a contributing cause to the African American–owned transportation company’s failure. During a May 1907 meeting, Boyd, Taylor, and others officers decided to sell the electric cars and pay off the company’s indebtedness of $735. Selling the cars to the Jamestown Exposition, the Union Transportation Company, Nashville’s only African American– owned public transit corporation, ceased operation. Notwithstanding the business defeat, the struggle against racial discrimination and inequity continued, and the Reverend R. H. Boyd continued to be a combatant in the African American battle against systematic racial segregation. FINANCES THE NASHVILLE GLOBE The Reverend Richard Henry Boyd was not only an author, banker, publishing house executive, and civil rights activist; he was also a newspaperman. The 1905 Nashville streetcar boycott provided Boyd and the NBPB an opportunity to enter the newspaper business. The same year he financed the Nashville Globe, which was printed at the NBPB’s facilities. Boyd’s son Henry Allen Boyd and Joseph O. Battle served as the newspaper’s editors, and his son J. Blaine Boyd and Frank Battle also participated in the newspaper business. Boyd stated that the Globe’s mission was to enlighten African Americans about the boycott against segregated streetcars. To divest the newspaper’s enterprise from the NBPB’s operations, the founders of the Nashville Globe chartered the Globe Publishing Company. Managed by Dock A. Hart, the Globe Publishing Company paid the NBPB for printing the Globe.

108

Richard Henry Boyd

In 1909, when the Tennessee General Assembly approved a normal school in each of the state’s grand divisions and one for the state’s 472,987 African Americans, editors of the Nashville newspaper used its pages to wage a successful campaign for the state normal college (now Tennessee State University) to be located in the Davidson County. After Battle’s 1910 death, H. A. Boyd served as the Globe’s editor. During its first decade of existence, the Globe’s readership reached approximately one-fifth of Nashville’s total population. Between 1910 and 1930, it had the largest circulation of any African American newspaper in the state. Mirroring with specificity the values and ideologies of the Boyds and the leadership of the African American Baptist Church and the African American community in general, the Globe served as the community’s griot, chronicler of events, and promoted the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History’s Negro History Week. It became the African American community’s political voice, publicized social and cultural development, and served as an important organ advancing African American businesses. The newspaper published reports about the fiscal viability of both the One-Cent Savings Bank and Trust Company and the People’s Bank. Through its leaders, the Globe endorsed the ‘‘buy black’’ campaign, and its editorial page critized those who oppressed African Americans, opposed the nation’s system of racial apartheid, promoted morality, and praised all who made constructive contributions to the African American race. It also encouraged African American political participation and emboldened city functionaries and African American businessmen to improve living conditions within the community. As Nashville’s most successful African American newspaper, it served as the community’s voice and conscience for more than a half a century. It ceased operation in 1960, less than a year after the death of Henry Allen Boyd. While pursuing business developments, Nashville’s African American leaders created an active chapter of the YMCA. They perceived this as an opportunity to holistically address the needs of individuals. After all, it was the YMCA’s mission to develop ‘‘body, mind, and spirit.’’ The Boyds, both Richard and Henry, Preston Taylor, James C. Napier, and others felt this was particularly important when the dominant society rebuffed African Americans and considered them nonconstructive participants in and contributors to the social order. Although an earlier YMCA movement died, with assistance from William N. Sanders and the Rosenwald Fund, African American leaders in Nashville revitalized the ‘‘Y’’ movement. In 1917, the Boyds, Taylor, and others purchased the Duncan Hotel facility to use as the site for the Colored YMCA. Considered a ‘‘mission’’ of the white YMCA, which also held the facility’s $70,000 mortgage, the prominent leaders of the African American community sought an independent charter from the Y’s national headquarters. Disillusioned by the display of white paternalism, the Boyds, Taylor, Napier, and William Beckam again stepped forward and raised the necessary funds to take over the Duncan’s mortgage. Each man, with the exception of Napier, contributed $1,000 to the Colored YMCA. Attorney Napier contributed $500 to the cause.

109

Richard Henry Boyd

With judicious management, the NBPB became the largest publishing enterprise operated by African Americans in the United States. However, the 1915 dispute over the relationship of the NBPB to the National Baptist Convention split black Baptist churches across the nation and caused a chasm within the convention. This chasm became the basis for the convention to split into two different denominational conventions, the National Baptist Convention and the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Incorporated. Notwithstanding, the NBPB remained in Nashville, and the Reverend R. H. Boyd presided over its operations until his 1922 death, when he was succeeded by his son, Henry Allen Boyd (1976–1959). H. A. Boyd expanded the company’s business during leadership of thirty-seven years. After H. A. Boyd’s death on May 28, 1959, his nephew and R. H. Boyd’s grandson, Theophilus Bartholomew Boyd Jr., headed the company. During his twenty-year leadership, he acquired and developed the NBPB’s $1 million modern printing plant in west Nashville on Centennial Boulevard. On April 1, 1979, T. B. Boyd died, and the mantle of leadership fell upon his son, Theophilus Bartholomew Boyd III, who became the fourth generation of Boyds to head the NBPB’s operations. In 1978, he was elected to the board of directors of Citizens Savings Bank and Trust Company, of which he became chairman in 1982. The Reverend Richard Henry Boyd’s work was ceaseless. He assisted in the work of the American Missionary Convention, the American Foreign Mission Convention, and the Education Convention. He traveled to various parts of the world, including the World’s Baptist Alliance Meeting in London. Boyd wrote numerous denominational books, including Plantation Melody Songs (1910) and The Story of the Negro Publishing Board (1915). In addition to his denominational writings, in 1909 he also penned The Separate or ‘‘Jim Crow’’ Car Laws, or Legislative Enactments of Fourteen Southern States. The Separate or ‘‘Jim Crow’’ Car Laws, which encapsulated the National Baptist Convention’s expostulation against racial bigotry and intolerance, served as a constructive compilation of Jim Crow laws in various states. Boyd earnestly entreated African Americans to employ the booklet to demand enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court’s, infamous as it may have been, ruling in the ‘‘separate but equal’’ case of Plessy v. Ferguson. A leader of the 1905 streetcar boycott staged by Nashville’s African American community, he served as purchasing agent for the Union Transportation Company. In the forefront of establishing the One-Cent Savings Bank and Trust Company, the Nashville Globe newspaper, the National Baptist Church Supply company, the National Doll Company, and the Baptist Sunday School Congress, Boyd was a member of numerous fraternal, civic, and professional organizations. Preceded in death by his son, J. Blain (April 6, 1922), the Reverend Richard Henry Boyd died at home on August 22, 1922. He was survived by his wife Hattie M. Boyd and children Mattie B. Johnson, Annie L. Hall, Lula B. Sanders, Henry Allen Boyd, and Theophilus Bartholomew Boyd. The remains of the Reverend Richard Henry Boyd, entrepreneur, banker, educator, preacher, publisher, political and civil rights activist, and author were left

110

Sheila Bridges

uninterred until the National Baptist Convention of America met in Nashville from September 6 through 11, 1922. On September 9, 1922, convention delegates met at Greenwood Cemetery for the interment of Boyd’s remains. See also: Black Banks: Their Beginning; Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities Sources Harvey, Paul. ‘‘ ‘The Holy Spirit Come to Us . . .’: Richard H. Boyd and Black Religious Activism in Nashville.’’ Tennessee History: The Land, the People, and the Culture. Ed. Carroll Van West. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1998. Lovett, Bobby L. The African American History of Nashville, Tennessee, 1780–1930. Elites and Dilemmas. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1999. ———. A Black Man’s Dream, the First One Hundred Years: The Story of R. H. Boyd. Nashville, TN: Mega Corporation, 1993. McDougald, Lois. ‘‘Richard Henry Boyd (1855–1922).’’ Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee. Ed. Bobby L. Lovett and Linda T. Wynn. Nashville, TN: Local Conference on African American Culture and History, 1996. Scribner, Christopher MacGregor. ‘‘Nashville Globe.’’ Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Ed. Carroll Van West. Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1998. Wynn, Linda T. ‘‘Nashville’s Streetcar Boycott, 1905–1907.’’ Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee. Ed. Bobby L. Lovett and Linda T. Wynn. Nashville, TN: Local Conference on African American Culture and History, 1996.

Linda T. Wynn

Sarah Breedlove. See Madame C. J. Walker

Sheila Bridges (1964– ), Interior Designer, Entrepreneur Sheila Bridges is one of the most talented and successful interior designers in America. Her trademark, urban chic style has brought her wide acclaim and a clientele that would be the envy of any professional designer. Bridges is also a savvy entrepreneur. Since she founded the business in 1994, Sheila Bridges Designs, Inc. has grown into an over $1.5 million company. Bridges’s experience in business is one of the cornerstones of her accomplishments, and she continues to do her own marketing and managing. Her work has been showcased in publications across the country, and she was named America’s best designer by Time magazine and CNN in 2001. She currently hosts her own television show, Sheila Bridges Designer Living, on the cable TV network Fine Living. The paperback version of her book Furnishing Forward, originally published in 2002, was rereleased in the spring of 2005. Bridges was born on July 7, 1964, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The daughter of a dentist and a schoolteacher, Bridges went on to Brown

111

Sheila Bridges

University, Providence, Rhode Island, to study sociology. She graduated in 1986, completing her senior thesis on race and gender in advertising. With a career in advertising in mind, she set her sights on New York City. Upon her arrival in New York, initially Bridges found it difficult getting the type of work she sought. Originally she had hoped to become the accounts executive for the advertising firm Ogilvie & Martha. However, that was not to be, and Bridges turned to the fashion industry, taking a job at Bloomingdale’s and training to become a retail buyer. She later landed a job with Georgia Armani, but the world of fashion retail failed to hold Bridges’s attention. She enrolled at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, continuing to work in the day and taking classes at night. During this transitional phase, Bridges secured a job at the prestigious architecture firm Shelton, Mindel and Associates. The firm undertook both commercial and residential projects, exposing Bridges to a whole host of creative and vocational possibilities. And thus it was there that she discovered her passion—interior design. After graduating from college in 1993 with a degree in interior design, she did a stint in Florence, Italy, where she studied decorative art at Polimoda design school, further refining her sense of style and composition. Subsequently, Bridges decided to establish her own interior design business. The decision to launch her own company, Sheila Bridges Designs, Inc. the selfassured designer attributes to the lack of African Americans in the industry. Bridges’s objective was to fill the apparent void and provide African Americans with the resources and services to create living environments that were stylish, yet also a reflection of their own cultural experience and tastes. Consequently, out of her own basement, in 1994, Bridges began to ply her trade as an interior designer. She continued to work for the architecture company but used her breaks, lunch times, and weekends to solicit clients and market her talents. Ironically, it was Bridges’s own home that became the showcase for her dazzling designs. Bridges moved into her landmark historic apartment in Harlem, New York, in 1993. With a spacious canvas before her, she fashioned a masterpiece that became a testament to her creativity and style. Prior to her arrival, Bridges’s apartment served as the set for Spike Lee’s movie Jungle Fever, but it was as a classic display of interior decorating that the apartment would find its fame. Again Bridges’s astute understanding of business came into play. She submitted pictures of her apartment to design magazines to promote her up-and-coming company, and people began to pay attention to the young and talented Bridges. Nevertheless, success did not come easily for Bridges; the New York world of interior design is not for the faint of heart, and Bridges’s one-woman show had to battle against staunch competition from well-connected, established companies. Her big break came when she heard that former Uptown Records president Andre Harrell was looking for a new apartment. The determined Bridges called Harrell for four months before he agreed to let her assist him. Bridges ended up selecting and providing the interior design for the apartment. Fashioned in the style of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, Bridges’s talents were so artistically and authentically applied that the

112

Sheila Bridges

finished product was featured in House & Garden. Yet that was just the beginning of an ever-increasing list of celebrity clients. Publicity for Bridges’s growing talents continued to grow, as she was interviewed or featured in all the leading design publications and appeared on newsstands across the country. Recognized in House Beautiful magazine’s list of ‘‘America’s Most Brilliant Decorators,’’ and proclaimed best interior designer in America by Time magazine and CNN in 2001, Bridges went from strength to strength, building her professional portfolio and receiving critical acclaim from a myriad of critics and clients. Indeed, it is her ability to capture the imagination of such a diverse audience that sets Bridges apart form other interior designers. Despite the original impetus for founding Sheila Bridges Designs, Inc., she is reluctant to be pigeonholed as an exclusively African American designer. Bridges has the rare and uncanny ability to envision and bring to life the decorative desires of any client. She is able to inspire trust in her clients, allowing them to share in the creative process, while ensuring they feel comfortable with the decisions that are made. Her celebrity clientele include former President Bill Clinton, hip-hop entrepreneur and rapper Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs, computer software elites Eileen and Peter Norton, former MTV host Bill Bellamy, and acclaimed author Tom Clancy. Bridges embraces the cultural significance of design, but her calling card is the timeless style she encapsulates in the homes and workspaces she decorates. Although Bridges describes herself as a high-end designer, her work is not colored by the pretentious and gregarious taste that limitless finances can often bring. Bridges is equally at home in designer furniture stores or flea markets. Her creative modus operandi is to craft comfortable homes that are a timeless fusion of antique pieces with modern style that fit the client’s requirements and budget. Moreover, it is Bridges’s goal to branch out and bring her designs to a wider audience, particularly the twenty-fiveto forty-five-year-old homemaker—a feat she is accomplishing with her characteristic aplomb and hence the release of her book in 2002, Furnishing Forwards: A Practical Guide to Furnishing for a Lifetime. The book provides useful tips to those who enjoy interior design and want to create wonderful homes but who cannot necessarily afford to hire a professional. Bridges gained further exposure with the launch of her network TV show Sheila Bridges Designer Living, which is now in its fourth season. Bridges also appears frequently on NBC’s Today Show. In 1999 Bridges opened her own antique furniture store in Hudson, New York; however, the store subsequently closed. Ultimately, Bridges aspires to brand her style and products and make them available nationwide. She is particularly interested in producing and marketing furniture, bedding, rugs, and her own line of paint. Her zeal for quality design has already put her among the elite interior decorators in the country, yet according to Bridges, the greatest design ventures evolve over time, so maybe the best is yet to come. See also: Women and Business

113

Andrew Felton Brimmer Sources Arango, Jorge. ‘‘Eminent Domains.’’ Essence 31 (June 2000): 134–138. Bridges, Sheila. ‘‘Places of the Heart.’’ Victoria 16 (October 2002): 42. Brown, Carolyn M. ‘‘Timeless Designs for Modern Tastes.’’ Black Enterprise 28 (July 1998): 30. Coleman, David. ‘‘Harlem Renaissance.’’ Elle Decore Style, May 2005. http://www .elledecor.com. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 36. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Galts, Chad. ‘‘Designing Women.’’ Brown Alumni Magazine 99 (1999). http://www .brownalumnimagazine.com. Kelly, Marsha. ‘‘I Love This Job!’’ Essence 35 (December 2004): 126. Luscombe, Belinda. ‘‘Nest Maker.’’ Time 158 (September 2001): 60. McGrady, Catherine. ‘‘Sheila Bridges Designs.’’ USA Weekend, June 10, 2001. http:// www.usaweekend.com. Philadelphia, Desa. ‘‘People to Watch: Sheila Bridges.’’ Time 156 (October 2000): 32. Whitcomb, Claire. ‘‘Design Shrine.’’ Detroit News, May 18, 2002. http://www.ded tnews.com. ———. ‘‘Sheila Bridges’s Study in Serenity.’’ Victoria 13 (May 1999): 64.

Gabriella R. Beckles

Andrew Felton Brimmer (1926– ), Economist, Government Official, Educator Andrew Brimmer, the son of sharecroppers, is an economist whose interest includes monetary policy, international finance, economic development in the African American community, and education. He moved from the cotton fields in Louisiana to become the first African American governor of the Federal Reserve System and from the segregated schools of Louisiana to visiting professor at Harvard University. Brimmer was born in Newellton, Louisiana, on September 13, 1926, to Andrew Brimmer Sr. (a sharecropper and warehouseman) and Vella Davis Brimmer. He spent part of his young life picking cotton, and he attended segregated elementary and high schools. However, this did not preclude his parents from holding him to high standards and values. They encouraged him to have self-confidence and constantly urged him to ‘‘do something worthwhile.’’ After graduation from high school, he moved to Bremerton, Washington, lived with an older sister, and worked as an electrician’s helper in a navy yard. He was drafted into the army in 1945; upon the completion of his military service, in 1946, he entered the University of Washington, where he earned a B.A. degree and was awarded a John Hay Whitney Fellowship in economics (1951). Brimmer’s interest in foreign economics led to his winning a Fulbright Fellowship to India, where he engaged in postgraduate work at the Delhi School of Economics and the University of Bombay. As a result of this period of study, he published several articles on

114

Andrew Felton Brimmer

Indian economy. Of this experience in India, Brimmer has indicated that India afforded him new opportunities and served as a major influence in his maturing into his professional interest, economics. In 1952, he enrolled in Harvard University, became a teaching fellow, and completed the Ph.D. in 1957. While enrolled at Harvard University, he worked as a research assistant at the Center for International Studies Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and from 1955 to 1958, he worked as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York City. During this time, he served as a member of the Federal Reserve Central Banking mission to Khartoum, Sudan, and aided in establishing a central bank (1956). As a result of his travels, he published an article in the South African Journal of Economics (March 1960) titled ‘‘Banking and Financing in the Sudan.’’ Following the completion of his Ph.D., he taught economics at Michigan State University (1958–1961) and at the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania (1961–1966). In 1963, he took a leave from teaching and began working as a part of President John F. Kennedy’s administration in the U.S. Commerce Department in Washington, D.C. He became more knowledgeable and experienced in U.S. foreign investment policies and practices. Brimmer was also a proponent of tax increase as a way of curbing inflation. In 1966, he was appointed deputy assistant secretary for economic affairs in the U.S. Department of Commerce. In this capacity, he was the chief economist and in charge of the voluntary program. President Lyndon B. Johnson swore Brimmer in as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the first African American governor of the Federal Reserve System (1966–1974), in 1966. He later (1974) became the Thomas Henry Carroll Visiting Professor at Harvard Business School, a post he held for two years. Brimmer left Harvard and formed his own company, Brimmer & Company, Incorporated (1976), an economic and financial consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. He returned to the Federal Reserve as governor of the Federal Reserve in 1997 and moved on to become the first African American to become vice chairman of the Federal Reserve System. From 1995 to 1998, he chaired the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority; one of the tasks of this group was to initiate a comprehensive study of the University of the District of Columbia and its challenges. Brimmer has served as a member of the Board of Governors and vice chairman of Commodity Exchange, Inc.; Board of Directors of Bank America; Board of Trustees (chairman) of Tuskegee University; Advisory Board, North American Economics and Finance Association; trustee of the Black Student Fund, Board of Directors of Gannett Company; a Harvard trustee (twice elected); and cochair of the Interracial Counsel for Business Opportunity. His involvement and business expertise have been appreciated through such awards and recognitions as Government Man of the Year by the National Business League (1963); Arthur S. Fleming Award and Russwurm Award (1966); and Horatio Alger Award of

115

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

the National Urban League (1974). He was renamed president of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (1989), and he became the chairman of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C. In addition to the posts Brimmer has held, he has been productive as a scholar. His publications include Trends, Prospects, and Strategies for Black Economic Progress (1985); International Banking and Domestic Economic Policies: Perspectives in Debt and Development (1986); ‘‘Central Banking and Systematic Risks in Capital Markets’’ in Journal of Economic Perspectives (1989); ‘‘Economic Cost of Discrimination against Black Americans’’ in Economic Perspectives on Affirmative Action, edited by Margaret C. Simms (1995); and The World Banking System: Outlook in a Context of Crisis (The Joseph I. Lubin Memorial Lectures). He contributed a column to Black Enterprise magazine titled ‘‘Economic Perspectives.’’ His scholarship was instrumental in his being elected to the Washington Academy of Science in 1991. Sources ‘‘Andrew F. Brimmer.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 48. Thomson Gale, 2005. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1606002957. ‘‘Andrew F. Brimmer.’’ Notable Black American Men. Gale Research, 1999. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1622000043. ‘‘Andrew F. Brimmer, Dr.’’ Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Gale, 2005. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1645522574.

Helen R. Houston

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was established on August 25, 1925, in the hall of the Imperial Lodge of Elks at 160 West 129th Street in New York City. During that first meeting, 500 porters chose A. Philip Randolph to lead the fledging union and adopted their rallying cry, ‘‘Fight or Be Slaves.’’ The event was the culmination of a long and multifaceted relationship between the Pullman Company and the black railroad porters. On one hand, the Pullman corporation provided jobs, salaries, and intangible benefits to blacks after the Civil War. On the other hand, the company had deliberately exploited its porters for decades. Though treated badly by the company, the black community held railroad porters in high esteem.

116

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

In 1937, twelve years after the first Brotherhood meeting in New York, the Pullman Company and the porters’ union signed an agreement. It was the first labor contract between a large American corporation and a union of black personnel. The agreement provided union representation, a reduction in the number of hours worked, a pay hike, and job security. The historical prelude, the intervening years, and the subsequent outcomes encompass a compelling story. The story of the Pullman porters is symbolic of and parallel to the struggle for equal rights of African Americans after the Civil War. George Pullman’s first sleeping cars, which were a vast improvement over earlier versions, went into service in September 1859. However, Pullman’s business acumen made him realize that providing great service to his customers was the means to increased profits. Fortuitously for Pullman, the end of the Civil War resulted in a large potential workforce of unemployed former slaves. The newly freed men needed jobs, and Pullman needed staff members who were used to working long hours and accustomed to taking orders. Nowadays, few people less than fifty years old remember overnight travel on a railroad train. An integral ingredient to that type of travel was the Pullman porter. The porter helped people on and off the trains and helped them with baggage. Overnight passengers, who could afford it, purchased berths in which they could sleep at night. To ensure the comfort of the Pullman travelers, the porter made up the berths, served refreshments, polished shoes while riders slept, mopped floors, cleaned cuspidors, and responded to any other needs throughout the day and night. The job of Pullman porter represents the dichotomy many African Americans experience in the workplace. The attendants were well paid in comparison to more menial jobs. They earned good tips, which during preincome tax days sometimes enabled them to double their salary. Although the porters were exploited, they also had the opportunity to observe the comportment, plush belongings, and speech of their affluent clientele. Using the circumstances to their advantage, the railcar attendants studied and learned from their exposure to the prosperous travelers. After witnessing this unfamiliar, enviable lifestyle, porters realized that education was an important step to social and financial success. The porters decided that they wanted to give their children the opportunity to obtain a good quality, formal education. Because of the opportunity to travel, their sophistication, their exposure to important people, and even because of their uniform, family members and the broader African American population admired them. During an era when jobs for black workers were scarce, black American men were pleased to obtain employment on the trains, but the job had serious drawbacks. For example, porters, the lowest rank on the train, earned the poorest wages. In addition, the company required them to spend unpaid time to prepare the sleeping cars for passengers and to pay for their uniforms, lodging, and food. Company policy allowed the porters only four hours of

117

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

rest each night, when they could sleep on a couch in the men’s restroom. Relying on tips to supplement their salaries, the attendants, while maintaining their ubiquitous smiles and decorum, were expected to act as servants and to endure all types of demeaning behavior from white travelers. For example, in the tradition of slavery, when slaves were called by the first name of the master, passengers called all of the porters ‘‘George’’ (after George Pullman) or ‘‘boy.’’ Under the guidance of Asa Philip Randolph (1889–1979), a union organizer and civil rights activist, the porters sought to improve wages, work conditions, human rights, and treatment. Although Randolph never worked for the railroad, his reputation as champion for the rights of workers earned him a leadership role in the organization of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Randolph was born on April 15, 1889, in Crescent City, Florida. As a boy, he experienced the growing trend against equal rights for African Americans, following the passage of Jim Crow laws by southern state governments. However, he had a positive role model in his father, who encouraged learning and who required that his sons walk, rather than use segregated public transportation. As a young man, Randolph became infuriated by Booker T. Washington’s moderate approach to racism but inspired by W.E.B. Du Bois’s early, assertive philosophy. While a college student, he developed an interest in socialism, which viewed unions as a tool for obtaining better working conditions. Randolph and a friend, Chandler Owen, used the sidewalks of Harlem and the press to communicate their rebellious and militant ideas. In 1917, they launched a magazine, The Messenger, which urged African Americans to form labor unions. Using The Messenger as their ‘‘soapbox,’’ the friends vehemently denounced capitalism, writing, ‘‘Capitalism is a system under which a small class of private individuals makes profits out of the labor of the masses by virtue of their ownership of the machinery and sources of production and exchange,’’ wrote Daniel Davis in Mr. Black Labor. Linking capitalism to racism, the journalists urged worker revolution and industrial democracy. Randolph and Owens made an abortive attempt to organize a union of black elevator operators, but inevitably such rhetoric and activity attracted the attention of sympathizers, as well as U.S. government officials who branded Randolph as ‘‘the most dangerous Negro in America.’’ In June 1925, Pullman porter Ashley Totten approached Randolph and solicited him to help Pullman porters form a union. Totten reasoned that Randolph understood the porter’s problems and was a persuasive speaker. In addition, since Randolph was not a railroad employee, he could not be fired for his involvement in organizing the workers. By using facts along with his powerful, fiery, oratory, Randolph convinced gatherings of porters that they were powerless as individuals but potentially influential as a group. As a result, he won support for a union from porters across the nation. To help spread the message across the nation, Randolph enlisted the assistance of former porters, including Ashley Totten, Milton

118

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Webster, E. J. Bradley, C. L. Dellums, and Morris ‘‘Dad’’ Moore, whose contributions were indispensable to the success of the Brotherhood. The Pullman Company did not take the union’s threats lightly. They planted informants to report on the involvement of porters in union activities, resulting in dismissal of those workers, including Ashley Totten, the man who had recruited Randolph. Hundreds of union supporters were fired, requiring many of the members to keep their membership in the Brotherhood secret. Randolph was a prime target of character assassination and fabricated lies, which suggested that he was planning to run off with the porters’ money. To diminish the efforts of Randolph and the Brotherhood, the Pullman Company asked several employees to start a competing union, the Pullman Porters Protective Association. However, a large majority of porters voted for the Brotherhood to represent them. BROTHERHOOD BECOMES RECOGNIZED UNION Despite years of constant and consistent effort to achieve better working conditions, Randolph was unsuccessful. It took twelve years for the Brotherhood to obtain concessions from the Pullman Company when, in 1935, the National Mediation Board certified the Brotherhood as the legally recognized representative of the porters and maids. Monthly pay for porters increased from the average 1925 salary of $67.50 to a minimum of $89.50, and the work hours were reduced from 400 hours a month to 240 hours. Though the gains were modest, the concessions inspired the entire race. In addition, in 1935, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) granted an international charter to the union, under the name of International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids. While the Brotherhood presented a predominantly male public image, there was a significant female presence in the background. A. Phillip Randolph’s wife, Lucille Campbell Greene Randolph (1883–1963), contributed to the financing of her husband’s union work and The Messenger with proceeds from her Madame Walker beauty salon. Knowing that success of the union required support from the porters’ spouses, Randolph organized the women into separate Women’s Economic Councils, which offered political, financial, and moral support to their husbands and to the cause. Following the signing of the contact with the Pullman Company, the wives believed that they too had won respectability and the status of ‘‘ladies.’’ In September 1938, delegates from the Women’s Economic Councils held a convention in Chicago and established the International Ladies Auxiliary Order to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Through these organizations, the women contributed significantly to the union’s efforts. Typical of the era, the Brotherhood gave low priority to the working conditions of the black Pullman maids, even though their lives were more difficult. In addition, despite the fact that they attended union meetings and paid union dues, the maids did not receive the equal respect and treatment from the Brotherhood. They, unfortunately, were the victims of the sexism as well as the racism of the times.

119

Todd C. Brown

The success of the Brotherhood made other African Americans realize that they were entitled to freedom and equal rights. The organizational struggles of the Brotherhood became a breeding ground for activist ideas, protest tactics, and the development of a core of leaders who would make significant contributions to the subsequent civil rights movement. Involvement and support of the members of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters led to other activities and accomplishments, including the integration of blacks in the broader labor movement, the March on Washington of 1941, the Fair Employment Practices Committee, and the 1963 March on Washington. In addition, Randolph’s radical and revolutionary positions in the early 1900s foreshadowed the views of black militants in the 1960s and 1970s. However, perhaps the most significant legacy of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was the individual and collective commitment to providing an education for their children, thus producing the beginning of the African American professional class. Numerous successful African Americans have a family connection to Pullman porters or other railroad workers. The list includes noteworthy individuals such as, Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, Robert Dellums, Roy Wilkins, Vernon Eulion Jordan, William Kennard, Ellen Story Martin, Leroy Richie Jr., Tom Bradley, Wellington E. Webb, Willie Brown, Matthew Henson, Claude McKay, Gordon Parks, and Benjamin Mays. Sources ‘‘Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.’’ The Reader’s Companion to American History. Ed. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991. http:// www.answers.com/topic/brotherhood-of-sleeping-car-porters. Chateauvert, Melinda. Marching Together: Women of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998. Davis, Daniel S. Mr. Black Labor: The Story of A. Philip Randolph, Father of the Civil Rights Movement. New York: Dutton, 1972. Reef, Catherine A. Philip Randolph: Union Leader and Civil Rights Crusader. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2001. Santino, Jack. Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggles: Stories of Black Pullman Porters. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989. Tye, Larry. Rising from the Rails. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2004. Wright, Sarah. A. Philip Randolph: Integration in the Workplace. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Silver Burdett Press, 1990.

Cheryl Jones Hamberg

Todd C. Brown (1949– ), Food Marketing and Banking Executive Todd C. Brown is an outstanding corporate marketing executive who made his reputation with Kraft Foods of North America. He held several positions over a twenty-year span, which finally culminated with an executive vice presidency of the company and president of Kraft’s E-Commerce Division. Brown’s fields of expertise cover executive and operations

120

Todd C. Brown

management, new business and product development, sales leadership, branding, and customer relationship management. In 2003, Brown made a career transition to the community banking business and became vice chairman of ShoreBank Corporation, chairman of the board of directors of ShoreBank in Chicago, and chairman of the board of directors of ShoreBank Cleveland. Brown has had three successful careers—one in higher education, another in marketing, and one in community banking. A native of Rahway, New Jersey, Brown was born on June 12, 1949. He graduated from Colgate University in 1971 with a baccalaureate degree in sociology and completed a master’s degree in higher education administration from Columbia University in 1974. Brown began his early career serving in various positions in the New Jersey education system, which led to jobs in higher education, including the assistant dean of students at Colgate University and director of student services at The Wharton Graduate School at the University of Pennsylvania. Brown completed his Master of Business Administration degree (M.B.A.) at the Wharton Graduate School in 1980 and made the transition to the business sector that same year, when he became the assistant product manager for the Meals Division with General Foods. General Foods was later purchased by Kraft Foods, a subsidiary of the Philip Morris Companies, Inc. Both companies are a part of the Altria Group, which enjoys Fortune 500 status. Brown left Kraft from 1982 to 1985 to become vice president of marketing for SSA, Inc., a direct marketing firm. When Brown returned to Kraft, he continued to achieve increasing levels of executive managerial responsibilities. In 1998, Brown was promoted from executive president of Kraft Foods and general manager of the Beverage and Desserts Division to executive vice president of Kraft Food Services Division. In that position, he supervised the manufacturing and distribution of Kraft Food Services to hotels, restaurants, hospitals, schools, and other markets. Brown was employed with Kraft Foods for twenty-three years, while being promoted to high-profile positions, including two executive vice president appointments. At the time of his retirement in June 2003, Brown was the executive vice president of Kraft Foods North America, as well as the president of its E-Commerce Division, making him one of a few African Americans executives to attain such prominence in the food service industry. According to Brown, the e-commerce Web site was the ‘‘internet market leader in consumer package goods.’’ Under his leadership, the Web site integrated Internet marketing with the launch of Kraft Food & Family Magazine, a free innovative publication, distributed in print and electronic versions. The print version is sometimes distributed in Sunday newspapers, but individual customers can also subscribe to it via the Kraft Web site. The online edition (http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/FoodandFamily) encourages customers to sign up for free recipes and menus. Demonstrating a lifelong commitment to mentoring, Brown has used his leadership skills and knowledge to help others, especially young people. He has actively participated with Operation Opportunity, a General Foods–

121

Dorothy E. Brunson

sponsored program focused on encouraging high school students to seek summer employment. Among his many accomplishments at the food megacorporation was the implementation of Kraft’s African American Council, a development effort and network charged with recruiting, retaining, and advancing African American executives employed by Kraft Foods. In August 2003, Brown launched a new career in the banking business, when he accepted executive positions with ShoreBank Corporation, a $1.4 billion asset financial institution, specializing in community and environmental banking. ShoreBank supports community growth and revitalization by implementing and promoting financial and informational services. Brown supervises the company’s marketing campaign and branding initiatives. His job includes building ShoreBank’s customer base, attracting new deposits, broadening the company’s loan portfolio, and expanding its branches. Brown will also endeavor to open new services to financially stressed communities. He currently sits on the boards of ADVO, Inc., JohnsonDiversey, and Colgate University. He is a member of the Executive Leadership Council, an organization of African American executives who promote a business leadership mentoring for African Americans on a national level. Within that organization, he leads the Corporate Board Development program, which endeavors to place more African Americans in corporate boardrooms across the United States. Brown also serves on the board of the Jesse Owen Foundation in Chicago, which targets youth development, and he is a member of the Community Action Council in Danbury, Connecticut. In October 2004, the Chicago Tribune reported that Brown had been elected to the Metropolitan Planning Council’s board of governors. Brown married his wife Sheyrl in 1973, and they have one daughter, Heather. See also: E-Commerce and the African American Community Sources Introducing Todd C. Brown. Chicago: ShoreBank, 2003. Jackson, Ben. ‘‘Kraft Veteran at Shore Bank Likes Development Recipe.’’ American Banker, November 6, 2003. ‘‘Krafts General Foods Names New V.P. of Pollio Division.’’ New York Voice, June 29, 1994. ‘‘People: A Look at Local Promotions and Career Moves.’’ Chicago Tribune, October 4, 2004. ‘‘Speaking of People.’’ Ebony 50 (August 1995): 10.

Dorothy E. Brunson (1938– ), Radio and Television Executive Dorothy Edwards Brunson has accumulated impressive credentials in radio and television communications. A pioneer and visionary in the field, she is the first African American woman owner of a radio station, and the first black female to own a full-power television station. Brunson was born in Glensville, Georgia, March 13, 1938, but grew up in Harlem, New York. Her childhood dream was to be wealthy and to

122

Dorothy E. Brunson

accomplish something noteworthy in her life. Brunson’s inspiration developed from her love of reading about the black experience. One heroine in particular, Mary McLeod Bethune, influenced her belief that economics is a greater factor in oppression than color or ethnic differences. Brunson assumed that since her literary heroes were successful she would be, too. She is the founder and president of Brunson Communications Incorporated, owner of broadcast and cable operations and other enterprises that include Citimedia, a company that secures national advertisers for radio. An innovative leader in the field of broadcast media management, Brunson began college at Tennessee State University, but left disillusioned after a year and a half. Returning to New York, she studied accounting and finance at Pace College and Empire State College, receiving her bachelor’s degree from Empire in the late 1960s. While attending college, Brunson worked in a variety of jobs gaining valuable experience that would later benefit her career. At the W. T. Grant retail chain she attained bookkeeping skills. Experience with newspaper layouts, advertising, and promotions came from a position with an advertising agency. In 1964, Brunson joined Sonderling Broadcasting as an assistant comptroller at WWRL-AM, Long Island, New York. She began immediately to build on her existing skills in accounting and advertising by taking courses, reading books, and working overtime in order to make the transition from employee to entrepreneur. Brunson organized the changeover in station format from foreign language to black programming. After only three months as the assistant comptroller, she was promoted to comptroller. Brunson credits her success to hard work, being goal oriented, persistent, and eager to learn. Brunson left her position at Sonderling in 1969 to join Howard Sanders in launching the first black-owned advertising agency on Madison Avenue. Her partnership with the agency was short lived. Brunson invested her buy-out funds into a retail dress shop catering to plus sizes for women. Unfortunately, the business folded, as it was unable to compete with large discount merchandisers. In 1973, at the request of Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, Brunson pulled together a group of investors, most of them personal friends, who contributed $5,000 to $10,000 each to help the financially troubled company. Brunson was offered the job of general manager for Inner City’s radio station in New York, WLIB-AM. She accepted the challenge, despite her reservations concerning the company’s financial future. Brunson’s experience at Inner City marked the beginning of a period of station revitalization that distinguished her career from that point forward. She cut staff, redesigned jobs, and restructured programming to a more community-oriented focus. Brunson is credited with creating a winning programming formula consisting of marketing and management techniques that focused on the station as the voice of the community. She pioneered the urban contemporary format, a strategic mix of pop music coupled with black rhythm and blues. She instituted the call-in and talk show formats that had been rarely used in black radio. As senior executive, she restructured the indebtedness of the station to enable the purchase of WLIB-FM, its sister station. With increased

123

Dorothy E. Brunson

advertising revenues, the business expanded to a total of seven radio stations with a value approximating $50 million. As an entrepreneur Brunson was always on the lookout for new challenges. In 1979, she left Inner City to pursue her own quest in broadcast communications. With $3 million in loans, she acquired the failing WEBB-radio in Baltimore. Although this purchase made her the first black woman in the country to own a radio station, there were many obstacles to overcome. The station had a long list of Federal Communications Commission violations and unpaid taxes. Brunson faced mounting community opposition from both blacks and whites, who were opposed to having additional radio station towers. Reluctantly she settled for lower wattage at another location where the towers could be constructed. Her primary purpose was to build the station as the mouthpiece of the black community. Her success in expanding the business was in part enabled because she had won the confidence of her investors who saw her potential to raise ratings and profits. By 1986, she had transformed WEBB into a twenty-four-hour station that was one of the best in the community. Brunson acquired two additional radio stations, WIGO-AM in Atlanta and WBMS-AM in Wilmington, North Carolina. In 1990, seeking to expand through acquisitions, she sold her three radio stations to venture into the television industry. Her communications media company, Brunson Communications, successfully sought to acquire the independent Baltimore-based WGTW-TV broadcasting to Philadelphia and Delaware valley audiences. The frequency had not been in operation for nine years, and it was another four years before the legal battle for the FCC site license was won. At a time when only about 2 percent of minorities owned television and radio stations, Brunson ventured into ownership of a full-power TV station. She revamped the programming with new shows to target wider audiences, particularly minorities in New Jersey and Delaware. Brunson’s goal was to give a voice to the black community with alternative news, current events, health issues, and shows that portrayed blacks in a positive light. This type of programming geared specifically for the black community marks the kind of revitalization and outreach that Brunson has provided during her forty years in the media business. Lecturer and speaker Brunson is a board member of the Association of Local Television Stations and a charter member of the Association of Black Owned Television Stations. The latter organization works to boost minority ownership by acting as role models for black would-be station owners thus helping to ensure their success. Brunson is the recipient of many accolades and honorary awards for her pioneer spirit, leadership, and visionary entrepreneurship in radio and television. Sources Frost, Randall. ‘‘Dorothy Edwards Brunson.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book III. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Group, 2003. Mueller, Michael. ‘‘Dorothy Brunson: Broadcasting Executive.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 1. Ed. Michael L. LaBlanc. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992.

124

Thomas J. Burrell Paris-Chitanvis, Jacqueline. ‘‘Dorothy Brunson: The Making of an Entrepreneur.’’ Women Making History: Conversations With Fifteen New Yorkers. Ed. Maxine Gold. New York: Ed. Maxine Gold. New York City Commission on the Status of Women, 1985. (ERIC microfiche ED 266 707) Simpson, Peggy. ‘‘[Women Who Have Changed the World] The Revolutionary of Radio.’’ Working Woman 11 (August 1986): 45–46. Smikle, Ken. ‘‘[Three Powerful Women] Dorothy Brunson.’’ Black Enterprise 17 (April 1987): 45–46.

Janette Prescod

Thomas J. Burrell (1939– ), Marketing and Communications Mogul Thomas J. Burrell’s 1960s meteoric ascension through corporate Chicago ranks in the advertising field ultimately led to the independent establishment of Burrell Communications Group, a full-service marketing and communications firm that has revolutionized multicultural penetration. By 1980, Burrell was the largest African American agency in the country; by 1998 it had surpassed $168 million in billings; and in 2005 it was quickly approaching the $200 million billings plateau. Burrell’s legacy in target marketing of the emotional appeal of such noted corporations as Procter & Gamble, CocaCola, and McDonald’s is firmly cemented and has garnered him substantial recognition, the least of which is his illustrious induction into the American Advertising Federation’s (AFF) Hall of Fame in March 2005. As a forward-thinking visionary, Burrell, a Chicago native, graduated with a B.A. degree in English from Roosevelt University in 1962 but while still a student received his entry as a mailroom clerk with Wade Advertising in 1961. Taking advantage of the wealth of information available to him, Burrell parlayed this opportunity into management interaction, wherein he was promoted to copywriter in 1961. This experience afforded him lateral movement to Leo Burnett in 1964 before advancing to copy supervisor at London’s Foote, Cone and Belding (1967–1968). He returned to Chicago and landed the position of creative supervisor for Needham Harper and Steers (1968–1971). With the requisite knowledge, demonstrated skills base, and necessary confidence to actualize one’s entrepreneurial spirit, Burrell opened Burrell McBain Advertising with business colleague Emmett McBain in 1971. With the phrase ‘‘Black people are not dark-skinned white people,’’ Burrell immediately set out to debunk stereotypical marketing ploys to an African American demographic by offering strategies instead that focused on black buying power, intelligence, and multilayered dimensions that encompass the diasporic experience. The essence of Burrell’s genius can be appreciated as one considers how his firm convinced McDonald’s and Coca-Cola in the early 1970s that appealing more realistically to black consumers could be achieved without marginalizing the white demographic at the same time. Furthermore, the strength in such a formula has resonated to the tunes of billions in

125

Thomas J. Burrell

advertisement spots through the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s where, in many instances, youth-driven black culture has proved more influential on the white population as a whole. Accordingly, his proven advertising model focuses on appealing to positive realism instead of preemptive and trite methodologies and has bolstered his impressive client lists to include Lexus, Bacardi, Toyota, General Mills, Verizon, Marriott International, and Nielsen Media Research. By keeping step with current socioeconomic realities, Burrell has demonstrated the necessity of staying ahead of the times from a research perspective, in that the pulse of the nation ultimately sets the very trends co-opted by advertisers attempting to capitalize on such innovations. In a 2000 article published in Advertising Age, Burrell identified the increasing need for niche marketing because data indicate that nonwhites in America will be the majority demographic by the middle of the century. With this in mind, he points to what he terms the ‘‘psychographic’’ approach to marketing, whereby an attempt is made to understand how individuals’ selfimages are conceptualized and manifested. How to personally address these visions is the desired marketing objective. Burrell further points out that older marketing formulas must constantly evolve by embracing substantive youth movements. The thrust of this argument is based on the central role that urban youth, particularly the African American sector, plays in impacting global popular culture. He notes that this demographic in reality sets trends of extreme proportions, to the degree that influence spreads through race, gender, and age demarcations in ways that become second nature, impulsive, and routine. Burrell’s insightful analyses concerning advertisers’ need to address the appealing qualities of the lay public have proven to be accurate. One need only consider ads such as McDonald’s 2004 ‘‘I’m Loving It,’’ which uses a jingle by Justin Timberlake, a white male singer with obvious African American rhythm and blues sensibilities, with an ethnically diverse cast of young actors and actresses to sale hamburgers and fries. Burrell’s influence can also been seen from an impressive list of prote´ge´s who have graduated from what has affectionately come to be known as the Burrell School. One such person of the hundreds is Steve Conner, architect of the awardwinning Budweiser commercial ‘‘Whassup!’’ By accentuating an urban vernacular phrase throughout the 2000s, the ad proved to be a virtual crossappeal hit. Feeling that his primary work was now secure enough to leave in the hands of his able students, Burrell implemented a strategic succession plan where Conner, Fay H. Ferguson, and McGhee Williams became Burrell’s new managing partners in 2004. As many organizations and/or businesses falter after the primary leader stops working with it from a hands-on perspective, the businesses that continue to prosper and flourish are the ones whose vision and organizational scope prepared for such a time from inception. Such is the case with Burrell Communications because Burrell left it in able hands to carry on his mission. Conner, Ferguson, and Williams have proven committed to expanding their leader’s vision by further broadening its reach throughout the black diaspora. Additionally, they have exemplified an ability to engage

126

Thomas J. Burrell

the broader advertising world in research proprietorship where one could capitalize on such data as consumer reports on spending by African American mothers. Despite Burrell’s passing of the baton, he still remains active by serving on the board of directors, the Chicago Urban League; the board of visitors, the John H. Johnson School of Communications, Howard University; the corporate advisory board, the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund; the American Advertising Federation Foundation Standing Committee on Diversity and AAF Board Taskforce on Diversity and Multicultural Advertising, cochair; and director at large, the Ad Council, Inc. In 1985–1986, Burrell was recognized with the Albert Lasker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Advertising by the Chicago business community. In 1988, he was featured in the article ‘‘Going Once, Going Twice . . . Sold!’’ for his renaissance appreciation and collection of African American art in Black Enterprise. The next year he was profiled on the PBS show ‘‘Bridgebuilders.’’ The University of Missouri’s School of Journalism awarded him the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism in 1990. In 1995, Burrell was named by Advertising Age as ‘‘One of 50 Who Made a Difference’’ and in 1999 included him on its list of the ‘‘Top 100 Advertising People’’ of the century. In 2003, the famed Chicago DuSable Museum honored Burrell with the History Maker Award, and in 2004, he was a recipient of McDonald’s National Lifetime Achievement Award. Such accolades are most fitting for one whose marketing zeal has so substantially impacted how blacks and other minorities in America are viewed: as people first, then as consumers, buyers with faces. See also: Advertising and Marketing Sources AdAge.com. http://www.adage.com/century/people078.html. American Advertising Federation. http://www.advertisinghalloffame.org/members/ member_bio_text.php?memid¼832. Burrell, Thomas J. ‘‘Make It Personal: Urban Leadership, Reaching the Consumer Who Doesn’t Fit Neatly into a Demographic Group Is the Critical Challenge for Marketers.’’ Advertising Age 23 (February 14, 2000): S18–S20. Chandler, Dahna M. ‘‘Burrell CEO Steps Down: Succession Plan Will Help Maintain the Vision of This Advertising Firm.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (August 2004): 23–25. Davis, Tonya Bolden, and Kevin D. Thompson. ‘‘Going Once, Going Twice . . . Sold!’’ Black Enterprise 19 (December 1988): 73–76. Howard University. John H. Johnson School of Communications. http://www .howard.edu/schoolcommunications/Development/Thomas-Burrell.htm. McDonald’s. http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/news/2004/conpr_09172004.html. Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. http://www.kellogg .northwestern.edu/BMAConference/tburrell.htm. ‘‘Thomas J. Burrell to Be Inducted into Advertising Hall of Fame.’’ Jet 107 (February 7, 2005): 52. Who’s Who among African-Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Uzoma O. Miller

127

Roland W. Burris

Roland W. Burris (1937– ), Accountant, Banker, Lawyer, State Official Roland Burris began his career in 1963 as a comptroller and national bank examiner in the Office of the Comptroller of Currency in the U.S. Treasury Department. This gave him the honor of being the first African American to examine banks in the United States. He later held two high-ranking positions, Illinois’s first African American comptroller and its first African American attorney general. Roland Wallace Burris was born on August 3, 1937, in Centralia, a small coal mining town in Illinois, located in the south central part of the state. His father Earl ran a small grocery store to supplement his income as a laborer for the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad. His family lived there for four generations. It was a racial incident in Centralia at a local swimming pool—and the words of his father, who said, ‘‘[I]f we as a race of people are ever going to get anywhere in this society we need lawyers and elected officials who are responsible and responsive’’ (Chicago Citizen, February 5, 1995)—that sparked Burris to become a lawyer, then a statewide elected official. Burris earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, in 1959. He then studied for a year at the University of Hamburg in West Germany. Burris described his time there as an interesting experience. In a February 1995 interview with the Chicago Citizen, Burris said that ‘‘at first they thought I was African, and when they found out that I was ‘Negro’ American, they were dumbfounded. And when I spoke their language, they were even more intrigued.’’ He said that during his second day there he was waiting at the train station to pick up his clothes trunk, and a little German boy became very fascinated with him and even went as far as to grab his hand and rub it to see if his color would rub off. Burris says he was treated very well in Germany, and the families there were constantly trying to explain how good the Germans were. After studying in Germany, Burris entered the Howard University School of Law, earning his J.D. degree in 1963. Burris entered the workforce, serving as vice president of Continental Illinois National Bank, from 1964 to 1973, making significant contacts in both the corporate and African American communities. He began his government career in 1973, when he was appointed to the governor’s cabinet as director of the Illinois Department of General Services. In 1968, Burris ran for a seat in the Illinois state legislature but finished last place among five other candidates. Then in 1976 he ran for comptroller on the ticket with Dan Walker, who ran for reelection to the gubernatorial seat but lost. Burris’s break came in 1978 when he became the first African American to be elected to state office in the history of Illinois, where he began the first of three consecutive terms as state comptroller. As comptroller, Burris raised the bar of fiscal management and reform, cutting waste and reducing the time it took

128

Roland W. Burris

the state to pay bills from as much as five weeks to as little as twenty-four hours. During his years as comptroller, he served as national executive director for Reverend Jesse Jackson’s Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity). Burris said that he was hired by businessmen to help Jackson organize PUSH when it was just getting off the ground. He took care of the funds and the administration of the organization. In 1984, Burris decided to run for one of Illinois’s seats in the U.S. Senate. He came in second in the Democratic primary to Paul Simon, who would eventually make a bid for the White House. ELECTED STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL On November 6, 1990, Burris was elected attorney general of the State of Illinois. At that time, the only African American ranking higher in state office was Douglas Wilder, the governor of Virginia. He served as Illinois attorney general from 1991 to 1995. As attorney general, Burris was more than just an enforcer of state laws; he was an advocate for law and order. His initiative added grand jury powers to the office of attorney general to help other law enforcement agencies go after drug dealers doing business across county lines. He created the Women’s Advocacy Division to help protect women who are victims of stalking and domestic violence. He established a Child Advocacy Division to focus on the prevention of child abuse. And he also created the Civil Rights Division to ensure the protection of Illinois residents’ civil rights. In 1993, he announced his bid for governor of Illinois and seemed to have an excellent chance of winning, given his extensive public service background. However, Burris lost the Democratic primary by less than 100,000 votes. He then rejoined the Jones, Ware and Grenard Law Firm but soon pursued political office again. He ran a second time for mayor of Chicago against the popular incumbent Richard Daley and was defeated. He once again entered the governor’s race in 1997 and again in 2001. Despite numerous attempts, and his twenty-six years of involvement in politics, Burris failed to win the necessary political support from the more homogenous white ‘‘downstate’’ region of Illinois. In a March 21, 2002, interview with the Chicago Defender, Burris said that his third bid for governor would be his ‘‘last political outing.’’ He said that ‘‘he did his best but wonders if there isn’t a ‘concrete ceiling’ when it comes to Blacks getting elected governor.’’ Burris is currently a counsel with the Chicago law firm of Burris, Wright, Slaughter and Tom, LLC, and since leaving politics in 2002 continues to be a strong force in the Illinois community. In January 2003, Burris’s name was suggested by the Laborers’ International Union of North America as a candidate to oversee the administration of Chicago’s Local 1001 as part of a voluntary reform agreement. The Laborers’ Local 1001 represents nearly 3,000 municipal government employees. Also in 2003, Burris and his wife Berlean were made Advocate Trinity Hospital’s honorary chairs of the Campaign for Advocate Health Care in Chicago. Advocate fosters community involvement in health care.

129

John Edward Bush

Through the years, he has belonged to numerous professional organizations and associations, including the American Bar Association, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Boy Scouts of America, Chicago Cook County Bar Association, American Institute of Banking, Financial Accounting Foundation (trustee, 1992–1995), Howard University School of Law Board of Directors, Chicago Urban League, Southern Illinois University Alumni Association, and the National Association of Attorneys General, for which he served as chairman of the Civil Rights Committee. Burris has been active politically throughout his life and has served as leader of the Illinois delegations to several National Democratic Conventions and also served as vice chair of the National Democratic Committee in 1992. He has received numerous awards and accolades, including being inducted into the African American Hall of Fame and receiving the Distinguished Service Award from the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and the Howard University Alumni of the Year award. Burris has been married to Berlean Miller Burris for over forty years. She is a career educator with a doctorate from Northwestern University in social policy and higher education administration. They have two children, Rolanda Sue Burris and Roland Wallace Burris II. Sources ‘‘Advocate Health Care’s Mission Tour Comes to Trinity Hospital.’’ Chicago Citizen, June 12, 2003. Alex-Assensoh, Yvette. ‘‘Roland Burris.’’ Notable Black American Men. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. Bayliss, Deborah A. ‘‘Roland Burris: An African-American History Maker.’’ Chicago Citizen, February 5, 1995. Brennan, Carol. ‘‘Roland Burris.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 25. Ed. David G. Oblender. Detroit: Gale Research, 2000. Business/City Editors. ‘‘Appointment of Former Attorney General Roland Burris Urged for Role as Overseer in Union Administration.’’ Chicago: Business Wire. http://www/thelaborers.net/LOCALS/LU1001/appointment_of_burris.htm. Stausberg, Chinta. ‘‘Burris to Leave Politics.’’ Chicago Defender, March 21, 2002.

Sheila A. Stuckey

John Edward Bush (1856?–1916), Politician, Organization Founder From slavery to founder of a national fraternal order, the Honorable John Edward Bush worked his way off the streets all the way to the U.S. Land Office. With honesty, tenacity, and drive to overcome his beginnings, he surmounted many of the barriers that hindered African Americans in the post–Civil War era. He never gave up, never backed down, and always displayed strength of character, becoming the proud founder of the Mosaic Templars of America in order to morally, socially, intellectually, and financially elevate African Americans.

130

John Edward Bush

John Bush was born a slave in Moscow, Tennessee, in 1856, and after the Emancipation Proclamation, he and his mother traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas, to avoid the federal troops’ invasion of Tennessee. Soon after the move, his mother died, leaving the seven-year-old an orphan, and much of his childhood was spent seeking shelter from whomever would accept small labors in return for a place to sleep and food. His status as an orphan placed Bush in a suspicious light by most townspeople. A catalyst for his future success was his place of refuge in a schoolhouse, where he was befriended by the teacher. He taught himself because he could not afford to regularly attend public school and later became a schoolteacher. Bush was later dismissed from this post because he supposedly married outside his station in 1879, when he wed Cora Winfrey and later raised three children. He lived in several cities and worked as a principal, but his heart always remained in teaching. While pursuing various interests, Bush was an active political figure for the Republican Party, appointed as a railroad postal clerk, serving as county clerk of Rosalie County, Arkansas, in 1884, and appointed twice as the U.S. Land Office receiver under Presidents William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and William H. Taft. During Taft’s administration, Bush survived the Republican Black Broom, a purge of all African Americans from federal offices. In addition to heading the Republican Party in Arkansas, he was also the last minority to attend a National Republican Convention as a ‘‘Big Four’’ state delegate. As a politician, Bush was known for his bitter honesty with all and as an activist against segregation. In 1891, Bush directed a large-scale protest of the Jim Crow laws at Little Rock’s First Baptist Church and another on the steps of the State House. He continued his protest against segregation in 1903, this time regarding the Gantt streetcar law, which segregated passengers of the same car. In addition, African Americans across Arkansas boycotted the streetcar system, cutting minority traffic by 90 percent in Little Rock. The actions led by Bush directly impacted the racial unity of the state, with African Americans escaping the violent outcomes that normally befell protestors of their race. In 1882, Bush and Chester W. Keatts founded the National Order of the Mosaic Templars of America, which cites as its purpose to unite all persons of Negro descent from all professions and give its members moral and material aid through lectures, funding, and encouragement. By the 1920s, the order was considered one of the largest centers of African American capital, power, and influence in the United States. Bush’s biggest accomplishments were his illustrious political career— including surviving an assassination attempt—and his contributions to the progress of his race, creating the Mosaic Templars Society as a tool to empower women and African Americans during the Reconstruction era. His political influence was widespread and empowered African Americans all across the South. Sources Bush, A. E., and P. L. Dorman. History of the Mosaic Templars of America—Its Founders and Officials. Little Rock, AR: Central Printing Company, 1924.

131

Business Ownership in Select Academic Institutions Dillard, Tom. ‘‘John Edward Bush.’’ Dictionary of American Negro Biography. Ed. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982. Hamilton, G. P. 1911 Biography of Hon. J. E. Bush, Little Rock, Arkansas. Beacon Lights of the Race. Memphis, TN: E. H. Clark and Brother, 1911. Mosaic Templars Building Preservation Society. http://www.mosaictemplarspreser vation.org/default.asp. Richardson, Clement, ed. ‘‘1919 Biography of John E. Bush, Little Rock, Arkansas.’’ The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race. Vol. 1. Montgomery, AL: National Publishing Company, 1919. Sarto, Constance. ‘‘Saving the Mosaic Templars of America Headquarters Building in Little Rock: An Update.’’ Newsletter of the Historic Resources Committee. http:// www.aia.org/nwsltr_hrc.cfm?pagename¼hrc_a_mosaic.

Thura Mack

Business Ownership in Select Academic Institutions Business ownership in academic institutions is a crucial means for educating business students, increasing faculty and staff wealth, and building capital and endowment funds for the institutions. The African American and urban markets in the United States are a trillion-dollar market that has traditionally been underserved by the African American community. Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, Howard University in Washington, D.C., Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama, and Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta are among a group of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that have business ownership ventures to benefit the universities and educate future entrepreneurs and businessmen. Hampton University has several types of business ventures. The most traditional business is the real estate of the university that is used for other than academic programs. For example, located around the campus and the city of Hampton are numerous houses and buildings owned by the university that are not used for classroom or dormitory space. Faculty and staff rent most of the homes located near campus. In the Phoebus section of Hampton, the university owns a building used as a business incubation center. In 1990 Hampton University constructed Hampton Harbors, a shopping center and apartment complex on campus that generates over $1 million a year for scholarship programs. When Hampton Harbors was in the planning stage, faculty and staff were offered the opportunity to invest in the project in a profit-sharing agreement. In the university Student Center, spaces are rented in the food court area to businesses such as Chic-Fil-A and Subways. Gourmet Services, a private catering service founded by African American Nathaniel Goldston III, services Hampton University’s student cafeteria and caters most university affairs.

132

Business Ownership in Select Academic Institutions

Hampton University’s president William R. Harvey is an astute businessman who routinely advises students to invest in real estate. Harvey is sole owner of the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Houghton, Michigan. He serves on the board of many corporations and organizations such as Fannie Mae, Trigon Blue Cross Insurance, Signet Bank, National Merit Scholarship Corporation, and the Harvard Cooperative Society. Harvey has been appointed by five U.S. presidents to serve on various national boards such as the President’s National Advisory Council on Elementary and Secondary Education, the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Service, and the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. One recent venture of Hampton University is investment in the Town Center project in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Hampton University is lending developer Armada/Hoffler $18 million of its endowment fund to finance a hotel in Town Center. This hotel is expected to be revenue generating and to serve as a teaching facility for Hampton University’s hotels and resorts management program that has opened in the Hampton University Virginia Beach campus located in the Town Center. In 2005 Hampton University purchased the last piece of land that originally belonged to its founder Samuel Chapman Armstrong. This land is one of the last undeveloped parcels on Hampton Creek, situated cross the water from Hampton University. Historically black colleges and universities are building hotels and conference centers to fill the void in African American ownership of this type of facility. In 1994, Tuskegee University opened a 108-room hotel and conference center. The W. K. Kellogg Foundation largely funds this facility. It has a 300-seat amphitheater, a 500-seat ballroom, a teleconference studio, a computer laboratory, executive boardroom, and 17,000 square feet of meeting space. It has hosted student conferences, professional meetings, regional conferences, family reunions, and other civic meetings. In 1996, Clark Atlanta purchased Paschal’s Hotel and Restaurant in Atlanta and renovated it to provide graduate student and guest housing. This restaurant and hotel was widely known as a meeting place for leaders of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, often referred to as ‘‘the kitchen of the civil rights movement.’’ Even though Clark Atlanta replaced the historic Paschal’s structure with student residence halls, the Paschal’s tradition is carried on by surviving brother James Paschal at two new locations—one near the Hartsfield Airport and the other on Northside Drive in Downtown Atlanta. Howard University attempted a conference center venture with the opening of Howard University Hotel in the early 1980s. For this facility, Howard purchased the Harambee House Hotel from the Federal Economic Development Administration. The first few years of the Howard Hotel were profitable, but in 1995 Howard closed the hotel because it was not profitable. Gwynette Lacy, chair of the School of Management at Howard, believes that among the reasons the hotel failed were lack of support from the African American community and competition from other hotels that were

133

Business Ownership in Select Academic Institutions

built in Washington, D.C. during the same time period. In place of the Harambee Hotel, Howard often uses its Blackburn Center, which has meeting room space. Often, business ownership ventures in academic institutions serve to improve the neighborhoods in which they are located. In 1997, the Clinton administration awarded $6.5 million to seventeen HBCUs to help them revitalize distressed communities near their campuses. Business ownership in academic institutions trains future entrepreneurs, builds up neighborhoods near campuses by job creation, new building development, and new homeownership, and enriches the scholarship and endowment programs of the institutions. It is vital to educating business leaders and to keeping the institutions financially viable. See also: Centers for Entrepreneurship in Academic Institutions Sources ‘‘Clinton Administration Awards $6.5 Million in Grants to 17 Historically Black Colleges and Universities.’’ Columbus Times, October 14, 1997. Foston, Nikitta A. ‘‘Hampton University: Educating for Life in the New Century; Virginia Institution Celebrates 135th Anniversary.’’ Ebony 58 (September 2003): 62. Harvey, William R. Announcement to faculty of Hampton University. November 2004. Howard University. Office of the Secretary. ‘‘Commencement 2004 Honorees.’’ http://www.howard.edu/commencement/2004/honorees.htm. ‘‘Preparing Future Business Leaders Today.’’ Black Enterprise 27 (February 1997): 92–100. Roach, Ronald. ‘‘The Promise and the Peril: Filling the Black Hotel and Conference Center Ownership Void; Tuskegee Has High Hopes; Clark Atlanta Moves Slowly; Howard Throws in the Towel!’’ Black Issues in Higher Education 14 (March 10, 1997): 26–29. Skog, Jason. ‘‘Hampton U. Joins Town Center.’’ Virginian Pilot, January 17, 2003.

Elizabeth Sandidge Evans

134

C Cardozo Sisters, Hair Salon Owners and Stylists In 1929, Elizabeth Cardozo Barker (1900–1981), with less than $50 in startup money, began a beauty shop in her Washington, D.C. apartment, where it was not unusual for her to have customers until midnight. Four years later, Barker asked her older sister, Margaret Cardozo Holmes (1898–1991), to join her in the business venture. In 1937, they moved the business out of Barker’s apartment to a location where Barker and Holmes named the shop Cardozo Sisters Hair Stylists and ran one of the best-equipped and most popular hair salons in Washington. Emmeta Cardozo Hurley and Catherine Cardozo Lewis joined their siblings by the mid–1940s, and from 1948 to 1965, Lewis was the salon’s general manager. The thriving business expanded to five storefronts, consumed a city block on Georgia Avenue near the campus of Howard University, had twenty-five employees, coifed as many as 200 clients daily (approximately two dozen of whom had their hair styled by a Cardozo sister for forty-two years), and grossed more than $325,000 yearly by the time the salon was sold in 1971. As the Cardozo sisters’ influence increased in the hairdressing industry over the years, they used their clout to demand that the industry meet the needs of African American clients and end discriminatory practices. The Cardozo sisters were not the only prominent members of their family. Their paternal great-grandfather was Isaac Nunez Cardozo, who was a Sephardic Jew, veteran of the Revolutionary War, a weigher in the Charleston customs house, and vice president of the Reformed Society of Israelites. Isaac Cardozo later married a woman in Pennsylvania, and as a result of that union, he was the great-great-grandfather of Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Nathan Cardozo. However, prior to his marriage, Isaac Cardozo had a relationship with Lydia Williams, who was a free woman of African American and Native American ancestry as well as the Cardozo sisters’ paternal great-grandmother. The couple had one daughter and two sons, one of whom was the Cardozo sisters’ grandfather, Francis Lewis Cardozo Sr., a Congregational minister, educator, South Carolina’s secretary of state

Cardozo Sisters

(1868–1872), and South Carolina’s state treasurer (1872–1876). Cardozo High School in Washington is named in his honor. His son and the Cardozo sisters’ father was Frances Lewis Cardozo Jr., a school principal in Washington and the husband of Blanche (ne´e Warrick) Cardozo, a schoolteacher. In addition to their aforementioned daughters, Francis and Blanche Cardozo were the parents of William Warrick Cardozo, who was a pediatrician, a pioneering sickle cell anemia researcher, and an associate professor of pediatrics, and Frances Cardozo Payne, who taught school. Francis Cardozo hoped that his daughters would become schoolteachers; however, Payne was the only Cardozo daughter who became an educator. The six Cardozo siblings’ first cousin was Eslanda Goode Robeson, the daughter of Francis Cardozo Jr.’s sister, Eslanda Cardozo Goode; Eslanda Robeson was a chemist, anthropologist, activist, and the wife of Paul Robeson, the renown entertainer and activist. The Cardozo siblings’ mother Blanche was the great-granddaughter of a woman who was reputed to have been an Ethiopian princess before she became an American slave. Blanche Cardozo’s maternal grandfather was Henry Jones, who ran a catering business with a primarily white clientele; and her mother, Emma Jones, married William H. Warrick Jr. Warrick, a master barber, owned a chain of barber shops in Philadelphia, and his wife was a hairdresser and wigmaker, who owned salons in Philadelphia and Atlantic City. Blanche and her sister Meta worked as hairdressers in their mother’s shops, and Blanche eventually became Emma Warrick’s business partner. The Cardozo children’s Aunt Meta did not become a partner in the hairstyling business. Instead, Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller pursued her passion in art and became a famous sculptress whose works predated, included, and extended well beyond the Harlem Renaissance in a career that spanned seven decades. Her husband, Solomon Carter Fuller, was a neurologist and psychiatrist. Margaret Holmes, the eldest of Blanche and Francis Cardozo’s six children, was born on July 5, 1898, in Washington; and Elizabeth Barker was born in 1900. Holmes, Barker, and their other siblings summered in Atlantic City with their mother, and the older girls helped in the hair salon. By the time Holmes was nine, she was drying the customers’ long hair with a palm leaf fan, and when she was ten, she was setting the clients’ hair as well as helping Emma Warrick, a prizewinning wig-stylist, weave hair for wigs. At least two of the girls (Holmes and Barker) were taught by their grandmother how to make hair products. The patrons at the shop on Atlantic Avenue at the shore resort as well as the clients at the Broad Street salon in Philadelphia were white. During the summer when Holmes was eleven years old, her mother became ill, and her siblings returned to Washington while Holmes remained in Atlantic City to care for Blanche Cardozo; Holmes was kept out of school from September 1910 to February 1911. Prior to Blanche Cardozo’s death in 1911, she told Holmes to return to Washington in order to help Barker and their paternal grandmother with the younger children. Meta Fuller was

136

Cardozo Sisters

especially fond of Holmes, who, like her mother and aunt, had artistic talent. Holmes rejected Fuller’s offer to adopt her and train her as artist because her family needed her. In 1915, Francis Cardozo Jr. enrolled Holmes, Barker, and Hurley in St. Francis DeSales Convent School, located in Rock Castle, Virginia. Holmes also attended Armstrong High School in Washington, which had an impressive art department. The younger girls, Payne and Lewis, attended school in Pennsylvania. In 1927, Hurley, who was considered the beautiful, Spanish-looking sister, traveled to Paris, where she was trained as a hairdresser. However, from 1930 to 1936, she lived in New York, passed for white, and was a showgirl with the Ziegfeld Follies. Hurley was ambivalent about her actions; she enjoyed the glamour, yet feared her identity would be revealed. After the Ziegfeld Follies, Hurley owned a beauty shop in Harlem and later owned a hair salon in Detroit. During the period in between the two salons, Hurley worked at an aeronautics plant, and during World War II, she joined the Women’s Army Corps (WACS). After Hurley worked with her sisters for a brief time in the Georgia Avenue salon, she opened a branch in the Anacostia section of the District of Columbia. When Barker opened the salon in her apartment in 1929, she was separated from her first husband, Julian Nicholas. Although Barker worked long hours, working at home was a successful arrangement because it allowed her to support her two young sons and herself as well as look after the boys. Barker was continuing the hairdressing tradition established by her grandmother with one major difference: Barker’s clientele was African American. When Holmes joined her sister in the business in 1933, she left Philadelphia, where she was employed as a milliner, and began learning about all types of hair. She married Eugene Clay Holmes, who later became a professor and chair of the Philosophy Department at Howard University. Barker moved into a larger apartment to have more space for the salon. Barker and Holmes were determined that their hairdressing business would become even more successful. They experimented on their own hair and developed some of the shop’s products. When their customers wanted marcel waves, Barker passed for white (or ‘‘scouted’’ as she and her sisters, who were all fair enough to pass for white, called it) and studied with Emile, a leading hairdresser on Connecticut Avenue. Barker and Holmes, in their passing mode, would go to white salons as clients in order to learn new hair techniques and procedures as well as business operations. Other Jim Crow restrictions kept African American hairdressers from attending white trade shows, so Barker and Holmes scouted and attended the shows where they learned new techniques and gained information. Although their white supplier knew that the Cardozo sisters were African American, he did not block their attendance at the shows because they purchased his products. By the 1950s, Cardozo Hair Stylists had such status that the sisters insisted that all of their salon’s operators be invited to the shows. The Cardozo sisters continued to be forces to be reckoned with in the hairdressing industry. They aided some manufacturers in the development of hair-care products. Holmes, who

137

Cardozo Sisters

was one of the salon’s fastest stylists, specialized in product testing, trained the shop’s operators in the application of a variety of hair relaxers, and wrote an article about hair relaxation that remains unpublished. In 1963, Barker was appointed to the D.C. Cosmetology Board, and from 1967 to 1970, she was president of the board. During Barker’s tenure on the board, the members voted to require salons and barbershops to serve all patrons regardless of their race and to install an integrated curriculum in cosmetology schools so that all licensed graduates would be able to work with all hair types. Barker was also a member of the Small Business Development Center’s Board of Directors. Holmes was a member of the Business and Professional Women’s Club in Washington. Barker and Holmes were considerate of their customers. The owners used a permanent scheduling system where clients were able to book the dates, hours, and hairstylists for as far into the future as they wished and receive a written confirmation, which the Cardozos viewed as a contract. Two-thirds of their clientele had standing appointments, and many of them kept their appointments for years. At ten o’clock each morning, four clerks handled phone calls from women asking about cancellations. A section of the shop was devoted to taking care of the customers’ wigs. The salon had a luxurious decor with air conditioning, and employees wore white uniforms. As long as the Cardozo sisters owned the business, they did not become complacent with their success; instead, they sought new styles and trends. Clients of the salon appreciated the talents, professionalism, and amenities of Cardozo Sisters Hair Stylists and continued to patronize the establishment after its location was not as fashionable as it was in the 1930s and after many people avoided the area following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 and the subsequent riots. Barker and Holmes were also considerate of their employees. The salon had its own training program and workshops. Cardozo Sisters Hair Stylists closed one day every three months in order for the operators to attend demonstrations by top hairstylists. As early as the 1930s, the Cardozo sisters allowed their employees scheduling flexibility in order to balance the demands of work and home. The salon included a large kitchen and family room for the employees. From 1949 to 1965, Barker and Holmes’ youngest sister, Catherine Lewis, was their general manager. She was married to Harry Lewis, who taught history at Howard University for forty-five years, and she helped him with his research. When she resigned as the salon’s general manager, Camilia Bradford Fauntroy, a longtime employee and sister-in-law of Congressman Walter E. Fauntroy, became the new general manager. In 1971, the Cardozo sisters sold the salon to her. Barker and Holmes then served as consultants to Fauntroy. Barker and Holmes, with their husbands, moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the 1970s. In 1981, ten years after the sale of the salon, Barker died at the age of eighty at Cape Cod Community Hospital in Hyannis Port. In addition to her four sisters, her survivors included two sons, Julian

138

Albert Irvin Cassell

Nicholas and Frank Nicholas; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Barker was preceded in death by her second husband, Beltran Barker, who died in 1979. Holmes’s husband Eugene died in 1979 or 1980. Two years after Elizabeth Barker’s death, Margaret Holmes left Massachusetts and resided in Columbia, Maryland. In 1991, twenty years after the salon was sold, Holmes died at the age of ninety-two. Her survivors included two sisters: Catherine Lewis and Frances Payne. A perusal of Barker’s and Holmes’s obituaries indicates that Emmeta Hurley died in the interim between the deaths of her two oldest sisters. Cardozo Sisters Hair Stylists is a prototype that continues to be emulated by subsequent generations of salon owners. Indeed, the talents, efficiency, professionalism, and consideration for clients as well as employees displayed by Elizabeth Cardozo Barker, Margaret Cardozo Holmes, Emmeta Cardozo Hurley, and Catherine Cardozo Lewis serve as a model worthy of emulation by all entrepreneurs. See also: Minority Businesses in Major Cities; Women and Business Sources ‘‘Elizabeth Cardozo Barker Dies; Owned Beauty Shop.’’ Washington Post, November 28, 1981. Hill, Ruth Edmonds. ‘‘Margaret Cardozo Holmes.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book I. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Hobson, Lillian. ‘‘From One-Room Emporium to Empire in Namesake Neighborhood.’’ Washington Post, June 9, 1967. Medea, Andra. ‘‘Cardozo Sisters.’’ Facts on File Encyclopedia of Black Women in America: Business and Professions. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. New York: Facts on File, 1997. Miller, Margo. ‘‘The Legendary Sisters Cardozo.’’ Boston Globe, March 16, 1980. Trescott, Jacqueline. ‘‘From Bobs to Afros, 50 Years of Beautifying Black Women.’’ Washington Post, October 25, 1977.

Linda M. Carter

Albert Irvin Cassell (1895–1969), Architect, Educator, Planner, Entrepreneur A prominent architect in the mid-twentieth century, Albert Irvin Cassell was best known for planning and designing buildings at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and for designing other buildings in the Washington area. He was architect for a number of other institutions and designed Masonic temples, hospitals, commercial and residential buildings, and structures at academic institutions. Late in life he joined a group of black architects to form Cassell, Gray, & Sulton architectural firm. Cassell had a wide range of interests that included providing employment, economic opportunities, and housing for blacks in the Washington, D.C. area during a portion of the Great Depression years, or 1932–1935, and into World War II.

139

Albert Irvin Cassell

Born on June 25, 1895, in Towson, Maryland, Alvin Irvin Cassell was the third child of Albert Truman Cassell and Charlotte Cassell. The family soon relocated to Baltimore, where young Cassell attended segregated public schools. When he was fourteen Ralph Victor Cook, a teacher at Douglas High School, began to teach Cassell the art of drafting. When he graduated from the school in 1914, he had completed a four-year carpentry program. The next year Cassell entered the architecture program at Cornell University, where he studied for two years before enlisting in the U.S. Army. His military service came during World War I and took him to France but not in combat. He became a second lieutenant in the 351st Heavy Field Artillery Regiment and was honorably discharged in 1919. Students whose studies at Cornell had been interrupted by war were honored by receiving ‘‘war degrees’’; Cassell was one such student and received a B.A. degree from Cornell in 1919 without having to return to the campus. Immediately after receiving his degree, Cassell began his career as an architect and worked with William Augustus Hazel to design five trade buildings at Tuskegee Institute (now University) in Alabama. The next year he was chief draftsman for Howard J. Wiegner, an architect in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Then he joined Hazel at Howard in late 1920, and the two were architects for the design of the Home Economics Building. After Hazel left the school in 1922, Cassell was named university architect and head of the Architecture Department; his tenure lasted until 1938, when Howard’s president fired him after a long feud between the two, each accusing the other of various improprieties. The case was resolved in 1941, in Cassell’s favor, and he and the university negotiated a small settlement. Cassell’s departure from Howard, however, was not until he had created a ‘‘Twenty Year Plan’’ for Howard, transformed the physical appearance of the school, and created a visual order that had been lacking. He worked as surveyor and land manager, acquiring properties that were adjacent to the campus and bringing them into the campus fold of hilly terrain. Cassell’s buildings at Howard included the gymnasium, field house, armory, College of Medicine, and three women’s residence halls. The Chemistry Building and Frederick Douglass Memorial Hall—a classroom building—were completed in 1935 and became two of the most durable contributions to the university’s setting. His crowning glory, however, was Founders Library, completed in 1939, in which he used the Georgian Revival style and gave the university an enduring architectural and educational symbol. During and following his Howard years, Cassell engaged in various architectural projects that took him beyond the campus. He worked alone and/or partnered with other architects and engineers between 1924 and 1969, engaging in property appraisals, land planning, site planning, and architectural practice to create sizable private ventures. His buildings included a women’s residence center at Virginia Union University in Richmond (1923) and men’s residence buildings at Morgan State College in Baltimore. In Washington, D.C., he was architect for the Masonic Temple (1930); the Margaret Murray Washington Vocational School Addition

140

Catering Industry

(1938); and the James Creek Alley Housing Development (1940–1941). Both in the District of Columbia and in Maryland he built civic structures. Either independently or with the black architectural firm Cassell, Gray & Sulton, his buildings included the Washington Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, municipal buildings for the District of Columbia, alterations to the Pentagon (1964), and U.S. Army installation at National (now Reagan) Airport. His interest in providing blacks an opportunity to work was seen in 1932– 1935—in the midst of the Great Depression—when he purchased with his own funds a 380-acre site on the Chesapeake Bay, in Calvert County, Maryland, to become a summer resort for blacks and to include a motel, shopping center, a marina, a beach, and other amenities. He built roads and several houses there, but the ‘‘Calverton’’ development was never realized. In the view of some, racial and political problems interfered. In 1942 he began the Mayfair Mansions (or Mayfair Gardens), Mayfair Extension Housing Developments, and Mayfair Extension commercial facilities in northeast Washington. Although the buildings were delayed due to the war and other reasons, they were finally completed. Cassell managed the Mayfair apartments and received a hefty income. Later he lost majority ownership of Mayfair Garden. Cassell took great interest in public housing projects for blacks. He designed and supervised construction of three federally funded housing projects for blacks: the George Washington Carver Public Housing project in Arlington, Virginia (1942); Soller’s Point, built for black war workers and their families in Dundalk, Maryland (1942); and James Creek dwellings in Washington’s southwest section. Notwithstanding the setbacks that he faced in his career, Cassell secured a place in history by the timeless design and integrity of his buildings and for his success in helping to meet the housing needs of blacks in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere. Sources ‘‘Albert I. Cassell and The Founders Library: A Brief History.’’ http://www/howard .edu/library/Cassell/Founders.htm. Lebovich, William. ‘‘Albert Irvin Cassell.’’ African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary 1865–1945. Ed. Dreck Spurlock Wilson. New York: Routledge, 2004. Logan, Rayford W., and Michael R. Winston. ‘‘Albert Irvin Cassell.’’ Dictionary of American Negro Biography. Ed. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982.

Jessie Carney Smith

Catering Industry The catering business for black Americans predates the Civil War. Such businesses, however, were generally found outside the South, where slavery still existed and where blacks were forbidden to operate their own

141

Catering Industry

businesses. Some of these businesses grew out of the skills of black entrepreneurs, such as emancipated slave Emanuel, and fine cooks, such as Duchess Quamino. In the mid-eighteenth century, Emanuel established the first oyster and ale house in Providence. When he died in 1769, he was said to have a sizable estate. He was also the forerunner of many black saloon keepers, restaurant owners, and caterers who established businesses in the next century. Quamino (c. 1739–1804) was an accomplished pastry chef. Originally named Charity, she was an eighteenth-century chef who was so talented that she became known as ‘‘Rhode Island’s Pastry Queen.’’ Since slavery existed outside the South as well, laws governing the lives of slaves directed her life. When she was brought to Rhode Island as a slave child, she was already a talented pastry cook. As she worked for one of Newport’s most prominent families—the Channings—her talents flourished. Her skill and enterprising ability led her to sell enough pastries to buy her freedom and that of her family. There is no doubt that Quamino had a fine reputation as pastry cook, for she was sought out for her skill, especially for her specialty— plum cakes. The black catering business began during early-nineteenth-century America and for the most part was centered in northern cities such as Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, and perhaps elsewhere, catering took first place among several parallel enterprises for blacks, such as barbering, cabinetmaking, and upholstering. Many of the professions or businesses that involved blacks were considered an outgrowth of domestic service. The heyday for black caterers there appears to be between 1845 and 1883. Although these early caterers lacked formal education, they were very persuasive, charming, and polite and were masterful politicians. According to Juliet Walker in The History of Black Business in America, Robert Bogle became known as ‘‘the originator of catering’’; he also professionalized the industry by dressing his staff in uniforms and ensuring that they had impeccable manners that equaled those of English butlers. He is credited with making Philadelphia the center of the catering industry. Willard Gatewood writes in Aristocrats of Color that Bogle ‘‘set in motion catering as it is known today.’’ He was among Philadelphia’s old families. At first he was a hotel waiter and later owned a coffee shop. He used his skills and polished manners to develop a prosperous catering business and acquired substantial wealth. Bogle contracted with the city’s black and white elite and served elaborate banquets as well as formal dinners in fine homes. After he died in 1837, his name and reputation seem to have moved into obscurity, but his descendants were recognized among the city’s black aristocracy. Interestingly, William Dorsey’s Philadelphia and Ours fails to recognize Bogle; instead, much credit is given to Thomas Dorsey (1810–1875), once a fugitive slave, and his son William Henry Dorsey (1837–1923). Among the black caterers who figured prominently in Philadelphia’s history during the eighteenth century were Henry Minton (d. 1883), Levi Cromwell, and Andrew F. Stevens. There was also Henry Jones (d. 1875), a native Virginian who became wealthy after operating a catering business for thirty years;

142

Catering Industry

he served Philadelphia’s elite as well as wealthy whites in New York and New Jersey. Other prosperous caterers included Jeremiah Bowser, James Le Count, and James Prosser. John McKee, of Alexandria, Virginia, moved to Philadelphia in 1821, worked in Prosser’s catering business, married Prosser’s daughter, and later directed the business, becoming wealthy as well. He invested in real estate and land development, and by 1902, when he died, he was a millionaire. Like Prosser’s and McKee’s prosperous counterparts, their descendants figured prominently in Philadelphia’s life for some time to come. Haitian refugee Peter Augustine and his family of caterers, the Baptistes, ran a successful restaurant and catering business there, dating back to 1816 and continuing at least into the first of the twentieth century. When the black catering business in Philadelphia began to decline, it appears that fads in food and fashion were the chief causes. The increasing interest in French foods took hold, contributing perhaps to the continued success of Augustine and his family, the Baptistes, and to the Dutrieuille family that included Peter Dutrieuille (1838–1916) and his son Albert E. (1877–1944). Caterer John S. Trower, born in Northhampton County, Virginia, in 1849, moved to Baltimore and worked as an oyster opener. He saved a part of his meager earnings and then in 1870 settled in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. In 1870 as well, Trower opened his first business, a restaurant, located near a local railroad station. His business was an immediate success, which prompted him to expand it into a catering enterprise. He needed more space for his lucrative business, and he knew that Germantown was ready for a first-class caterer’s establishment. With the encouragement of wealthy citizens of the area, Trower purchased and refitted the Germantown Savings Fund building located within two blocks of his restaurant. The first floor of the facility held his office, a dining room, delivery department, and ice cream plant. On the second floor were a reception room, dining hall that seated 150 guests, and the baking department. A store room and laundry were on the third floor, and china closets and storage rooms were in the basement. Trower employed five black clerks as well as twenty people in the culinary, baking, and delivery services departments. Now with first-class quarters, he was in a position to take on more customers. In 1889, he won a contract to provide food for Cramp’s Shipyard, a sizable corporation on the Delaware River and one of the world’s largest shipbuilders. As many of the world’s renowned war vessels entered the area, they called upon Trower for service. Unlike the early black caterers, Trower did not need to depend entirely on rich whites for business; instead, his prized contract made him a relatively rich man. On occasions, however, he catered for John Wanamaker, when Wanamaker was postmaster general. He also catered a reception for Wanamaker that was said to be the most elaborate ever given in Washington, D.C., where it was held. Trower extended his business beyond the shipyard to the entire state of Pennsylvania. He also extended his business into the South and West, shipping out orders to those areas. In Washington, D.C., wealthy caterer James Wormley (1819–1884), who had founded his business before the Civil War began, expanded his enterprise

143

Catering Industry

when he opened a restaurant at 314 I Street, North. Soon his clients included Washington’s Radical Republicans as well as Senator Charles Sumner, with whom he had a close association. He expanded his business more in 1871 when he established the Wormley Hotel, located at the corner of H and 15th streets. It was ideally located near Lafayette Square, the White House, and other federal buildings. His clients included well-known national politicians and foreign dignitaries. It was a pacesetter for post–Civil War luxury hotels, containing five stories, an elevator, telephone in each room and apartment, elegant dining facilities, a bar, and a barbershop. After Sumner’s death, Wormley bought his furnishings for the hotel and used them to set up a ‘‘Sumner Parlor.’’ Wormley acquired an estate worth $100,000. After his death, his son James managed the catering and hotel business until 1893, when it was sold. Boston had its successful black caterers; in 1865, the leading catering enterprise there was headed by a black, Joseph Lee, who was at least a selfproclaimed descendant from the prominent Lees of Virginia. He served Boston’s ‘‘first families.’’ He also invented a bread-making machine. New York’s black catering business appears to have started with women. They had gained a fine reputation in service as cooks, and they used this experience to begin their own enterprises. Among the most notable women caterers who prospered between 1780 and 1820 was Cornelia Gomez. She catered for prominent, old families of the day, including the Rhinelanders, Goelets, Robinsons, and Gerrys. In The Negro in Business, Booker T. Washington recognized these names as still prominent in New York society by the turn of the century. Gomez’s successor was ‘‘Aunt’’ Katie Ferguson, who continued the business until 1820, when a white male owner took charge. Other blacks in New York who had successful catering businesses included Peter Van Dyke and Boston Crummell. Crummell was also an oysterman and the father of colonizationist, educator, and religious leader Alexander Crummell (1819–1898). There was also Thomas Downing, who operated Downing Oyster House in New York’s business district and had a clientele of leading merchants, bankers, and foreign travelers. His son, George L. Downing, increased the family business when he relocated to Newport, Rhode Island, opened a catering business, purchased the Sea Girt Hotel, and accommodated the wealthy. George L. Downing also became a caterer on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. in 1866, serving in that capacity for thirteen years. He associated with white abolitionists on the ‘‘Hill,’’ including Charles Sumner. He would return to Rhode Island and work in the area of equal rights. The Downings were prominent caterers in New York and Rhode Island for nearly a century. Other caterers who prospered in New York were David Roselle, a successful businessman of early years; W. H. Smith and his wife, who served the Wall Street district; William A. Heyliger, who served the same district and catered evening affairs; William E. Gross, who found ways to flatter his patronage; George Moore; and Jacob and Charles Day. Westchester County, one of the wealthiest settlements in New York State, was the site of Francis J. Moultrie’s business. From his birthplace in

144

Catering Industry

Charleston, South Carolina, he came north shortly after the Civil War and worked in various catering houses in New York. Then he and his wife operated a small catering business from their home in Yonkers and in 1878 rented a downtown store to accommodate the growing business. He also operated with ten delivery wagons. He served Yonkers, Westchester County, and New York City as well. His business led him to a small fortune. In time, the catering industry flourished in urban areas of the South. Walker found that Philadelphia was known for its elite black caterers, while southern blacks were more successful in the fine hotels and restaurants that they operated. Still they were not without their fine caterers. Among those who prospered were Jack Mccrae, a free black in Petersburg, and John Brewer, who at one time partnered with Mccrae. Jehu Jones prospered in South Carolina as owner of the Jones Inn, later known as Jones Hotel., which he purchased in 1816. He, too, served wealthy and well-known white clients, including South Carolina’s governor. Among his staff were six slaves whom he owned. CATERING INDUSTRY DECLINES As black catering enterprises declined in some areas, it flourished in others, for example, in Chicago, where Charles H. Smiley (1851–?) had a prosperous business. He was born poor in St. Catherine’s, Canada, and was compelled to support himself early in life. He, too, had little formal education. The family relocated to Philadelphia when he was fifteen, and he remained there until 1881. He moved to Chicago in search of better employment. There he worked as a janitor and in his spare time as a waiter at dinners and parties. Soon he established an acquaintance with wealthy whites but gave up his janitorial work to serve as a waiter full-time. He catered weddings, where he provided the cake as well as appropriate floral decorations, ribbons, pillows, and other items and even supplied the waiters. He was known for providing employment for more blacks in Chicago than any other employer up to then. He maintained a fleet of delivery wagons and sixteen horses that he used to take his services out to various functions. By then his services included male and female security guards. As black businesses emerged and prospered in Chicago at that time, his was one of the few with white clientele. Athens, Ohio, was the site of Edwin C. Berry’s restaurant established before he opened his hotel in 1893. Edwin Berry (1854–1931) was born in Oberlin, Ohio, moved to Athens, and from 1868 to 1872 apprenticed himself as a cook in a local restaurant. It was that position that influenced him to become a caterer and to open his own restaurant. In 1892 he opened Berry Hotel and became a highly successful hotel proprietor as well. The hotel became noted for its fine meals and precision service. U.S. Census reports, cited in Smith and Horton’s Historical Statistics of Black America: Agriculture to Labor and Employment, document the number of black caterers in select cities having twenty or more black merchants in

145

Centers for Entrepreneurship in Academic Institutions

1899. There were six black caterers in New York City, five each in Baltimore and Philadelphia, and two in Washington, D.C. Other census reports cited show catering as a business profession among blacks in 1863, 1865, and 1919. Accounts of black catering cited elsewhere show that many black caterers in Philadelphia, once the leading city for such enterprises, had closed their businesses by the late nineteenth century. Among the factors that caused the black catering businesses to close was a demand for French food, or ‘‘haute cuisine,’’ that the new white clients preferred. No longer was the old ‘‘meat and potatoes’’ menu of earlier times attractive to clients. Services were reduced to small functions, including dinner parties and social events for middle-class whites, although some caterers prepared services daily for special events. The black catering industry no longer enjoyed the income of antebellum caterers. The decreased number of caterers was seen in membership in the Public Waiters Association, founded in 1869; the next year there were nearly 500 black workers in the business, while there were only 33 members in 1905, when the association folded. Another cause of the decline was clients’ demand for alcoholic beverages. Black businesses increasingly became unable to afford the bond required by law and the license needed to serve liquor. Even so, the business had to be permanently located, and scarcely any black businesses fit this requirement. Black caterers began to rely on all-black trade—not because of racial preference but owing to the reasons just cited. Those who wished to continue catering did so, when they could, through service in hotels. See also: Food Service Industry Sources Brod, Joanna. ‘‘Duchess Quamino.’’ In Notable Black American Women. Book III. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 2003. Gatewood, Willard B. Aristocrats of Color: The Black Elite, 1880–1920. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990. Lane, Roger. William Dorsey’s Philadelphia and Ours. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Smith, Jessie Carney, and Carrell Peterson Horton, eds. Historical Statistics of Black America: Agriculture to Labor and Employment. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995. Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998. Washington, Booker T. The Negro in Business. Boston: Hertel, Jenkins and Co., 1907.

Jessie Carney Smith

Centers for Entrepreneurship in Academic Institutions African American business thrives on the spirit of entrepreneurship. According to recent reports from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of the Census, minority-owned small businesses are growing at a rate of

146

Centers for Entrepreneurship in Academic Institutions

30 percent, compared to 7 percent overall for new U.S. businesses. However, the failure rate in African American new business ventures is higher than average. Entrepreneurship programs at academic institutions strive for innovative means to pass along successful business practices and conduct case research with the goal of improving black business success rates. Although the visionary qualities of entrepreneurs cannot be taught in school, centers for entrepreneurship in academic institutions attempt to teach strategic concepts of business to students who possess an innate entrepreneurial talent. Entrepreneurship programs also support the colleges’ and universities’ traditional business and marketing curricula and give students a chance to meet and be mentored by successful businessmen and -women. Several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have started entrepreneurship programs to support the aspirations of their students and to tap into the trillion-dollar African American and urban market. In 1970, University of Washington professor Karl Vesper began collecting data on centers for entrepreneurship and found that there were only 16 in the country. Today, there are over 400 such programs, but African Americans fall behind other groups in the number of new businesses launched. Some of the reasons for this are lack of capital funding and an inability to secure Small Business Administration loans. Some African American businessmen like Robert Wallace, president of Bith Group, point to a lack of motivation among African Americans to risk starting a new business. The failure rate for all new business ventures is 70 percent, and many people including African Americans are reluctant to take the risk. African American businesses have become smarter, but an uncertain economy and elimination of set-aside and affirmative action programs have made it more difficult for African American business in recent years. Centers for entrepreneurship at HBCUs are attempting to fill the void in training and support for new African American businesses. Howard University is establishing the Institute for Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Innovation (ELI) after being awarded a $3.1 million grant by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in 2003. The ELI will enhance existing programs and create new ones. Howard plans to work in four areas—academic programs, a research center, business and community development programs, and a center for entrepreneurial thought. As of 2006, the Institute for Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Innovation remains in the planning stage. When operational, the research areas will study the development of black entrepreneurship and African American/urban demographics. Research programs will host symposia, provide fellowships for faculty and students, publish a journal, and establish a clearinghouse of data about African American entrepreneurs and market opportunities. Babson College in Massachusetts has a strong entrepreneurship program that dates back to 1919 when the college was founded. Babson, which is not an HBCU, has partnered with four HBCUs to create entrepreneurship programs. Babson’s Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, named for the cofounder of the Home Depot, is the nucleus of the school’s

147

Centers for Entrepreneurship in Academic Institutions

entrepreneurship program. Babson has joined Clark Atlanta, Spelman, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and Southern University to create curricula focusing on African American business and minority-owned new business ventures. The partnership between Babson and the HBCUs was financed by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation to fill the need for current research on African American new business ventures. Studies show that African American men with graduate degrees are twice as likely to start businesses as white men with the same level of education, but few case studies exist on African American businesses. Another collaboration between Babson, several HBCUs, and Ford Motor Company aims to train African American students in the skills needed to succeed in new or expanding businesses. Babson faculty participates in exchange programs with faculty from the participating HBCUs—Morehouse, Clark Atlanta, Jackson State, North Carolina A&T, Grambling State, and Southern University. Through this program, students meet and study successful entrepreneurs and enhance networking skills. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) started an ‘‘industry cluster’’ in 1968 as part of the Johnson administration ‘‘Plans for Progress’’ initiative. The goal of this initiative was to increase minority representation in business, industry, and technology. FAMU has one of the largest business cluster groups in any HBCU. The cluster concept benefits the industrial community as well as FAMU. Industry recruits the brightest and the best from the university, and the students are trained in the skills required by the industry. Companies like Ford Motor, Sears, 3M, and others participate in the FAMU Industry cluster, which is touted as possibly the best program of its type in an HBCU. The federal government benefits by having an educated and diverse workforce. Clark Atlanta’s Center for Entrepreneurship was established in 1992 and emphasizes participatory learning for students. Students undertake a residency program with successful entrepreneurs, write business plans, and do case studies and data collection. In 1999, civic leader Herman Jerome Russell Sr., chairman of H. J. Russell & Company, donated $1 million to Clark Atlanta’s Center for Entrepreneurship. Russell also donated $1 million to Tuskegee University, Morehouse, and Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business. With this donation, Georgia State’s J. Mack Robinson College has established the Herman J. Russell, Sr. International Center for Entrepreneurship. The three areas of importance for the center are degree programs, worldwide knowledge creation, and participation in the community. The center provides scholarships and has won awards for its faculty and doctoral students. Engagement with the community is ensured through participation with the Society of Entrepreneurs. Access to successful innovators gives students a chance to learn business skills from experienced businessmen. Members of the Society meet with students and provide sites for student internships. Tuskegee University will fund the Herman J. Russell Scholarship fund with the gift. This fund will ensure that students in business, hospitality

148

Centers for Entrepreneurship in Academic Institutions

management, and engineering and construction science are able to complete their degree requirements. Morehouse College will create a lecture series, provide curriculum emphasis in entrepreneurship, and contribute to building construction for the facility to house the entrepreneurship program. Other HBCUs with entrepreneurship programs include Langston University, Spelman College, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University, and Tennessee State. At North Carolina A&T, the Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization works with the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship to provide a small business incubator for new business in the service and light manufacturing arenas. In 2003 A&T also established a Center for Entrepreneurship and E-Business, a joint program of the School of Business and Economics, the School of Technology, and the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. This ensures an interdisciplinary program in a collaborative learning environment. Students work with local entrepreneurs and bankers, write business plans, and make formal presentations. The center also partners with the East Market Street Development Corporation to revitalize the corridor next to the campus. Those who complete the program are given a Certificate in Entrepreneurship. At Tennessee State University, business students can minor in entrepreneurship. Also, through the business department, Tennessee State participates in several venues such as the Nashville Business Incubation Center, the Small Business Development Center, and the Women’s Institute for Successful Entrepreneurship, which focuses on female business owners. With the development of Centers for Entrepreneurship, historically black colleges and universities nurture future entrepreneurs and advance the economic status of the community by providing leadership and opportunities for job growth. Through the study of successful models, entrepreneurship programs provide successful business leaders destined to return to the community to mentor younger businessmen and -women. See also: Business Ownership in Select Academic Institutions Sources ‘‘Babson College, HBCU Consortium to Develop Entrepreneurship Curriculum.’’ Black Issues in Higher Education 20 (June 19, 2003): 15. Florida A&M University. Florida A&M University Industry Cluster. http://www.famu .edu/cluster/clusterinfo.htm. ‘‘Ford Launches First Ever Academic Program for Black Entrepreneurship.’’ Atlanta Inquirer, July 10, 2004. http://www.proquest.com. ‘‘The Founder of One of the Country’s Largest Black-Owned Businesses Has Given $4-Million to Promote Entrepreneurship at Four Southern Colleges.’’ Chronicle of Higher Education 46 (November 26, 1999): A41. Herbert J. Russell Sr. International Center for Entrepreneurship. http://www.robinson .gsu.edu/rec/aboutcenter.htm. Howard University Institute for Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Innovation. Howard University School of Business. http://www.bschool.howard.edu/dean/ELI.htm. McEwen, Thaddeus. ‘‘Entrepreneurship Program Affects Economic Development.’’ North Carolina A&T State University’s School of Business & Economics. Newsletter, n.d.

149

Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade of the 1920s and 1930s Office of Technology Transfer and Commercialization. North Carolina A&T State University. http://dor.ncat.edu/under/ottc/contact.htm. Phillip, Mary-Christine. ‘‘Entrepreneurship Education: More Business Schools Are Focusing on Present-day Opportunities.’’ Black Issues in Higher Education 12 (September 7, 1995): 8. Williams, Stephen M. ‘‘Giving Students a Taste of the Executive Life.’’ Black Enterprise 19 (1989): 181. http://www.proquest.com.

Elizabeth Sandidge Evans

Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade of the 1920s and 1930s As the 1920s and 1930s ushered in a new age of African American business with the founding of private African American banks, insurance companies, and other businesses, members of the new African American business community organized chambers of commerce and boards of trade to promote economic advancement, civic projects, and black trade with black businesses. Between 1910 and 1930, the African American population grew by 21 percent, with the urban population showing an increase of over 90 percent. This increase in population and urban concentration contributed to the rise of African American business. The chambers of commerce and boards of trade served as vital links to the corresponding white organizations, ensuring communication among businessmen. In the aftermath of the Civil War a segregated society grew up in which two groups of African American businessmen emerged—the older traditional group employed primarily in service industries for white society and a newer group serving the African American market. The spokesmen for African American business were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Both men urged African Americans to seek economic self-sufficiency through business ownership. Washington contended that African Americans were responsible to address racial inequality themselves by making it clear that African American labor and capital were essential for the commerce of the nation. Du Bois was more assertive, urging political action as well as entrepreneurship to advance the status of African Americans. In 1900, Washington organized the National Negro Business League (NNBL). Following that, chapters were founded in other cities. In 1902, for example, a group of Nashville businessmen organized the Nashville chapter of the NNBL, dedicated to arousing business interest among African Americans, promoting existing businesses, and developing new business. Eventually, conflicts arose in the group with the not-so-wealthy members accusing the wealthy members of being elitist. Charles Moore, an organizer for the NNBL, had to be called in to mediate in 1909. The Nashville chapter eventually disbanded, but Nashville’s African American businessmen founded a new group in 1912, the Nashville Negro Board of Trade. Claiming to be the first group of its kind in the country, the Nashville Negro

150

Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade of the 1920s and 1930s

Board of Trade paralleled the white chamber of commerce and board of trade. THE NASHVILLE NEGRO BOARD OF TRADE The Nashville Negro Board of Trade was essentially a conservative organization that accepted racial segregation but worked to lobby for improved services for African Americans such as public parks, a public library, a new high school building for the black community, and city-sponsored nurses in the black public schools. The group also pooled money for disaster relief and poverty assistance funds. There was internal strife in the Negro Board of Trade. Robert H. Boyd had been president of the Negro Board of Trade for a brief time and had adopted an accommodationist posture toward the white city leaders. In 1912, the Negro Board of Trade accepted the city’s decision to locate the Negro Carnegie Library in a working-class neighborhood. This decision offended Nashville’s elite blacks, and a call was put forth to remove the leadership of the Negro Board of Trade. In 1913, James Carroll Napier was elected president, but the Negro Board of Trade was never able to force a relocation of the proposed Negro Carnegie Library. The Negro Board of Trade was instrumental in a change of leadership at Fisk University. After the death in 1900 of Erastus Milo Cravath, Fisk’s longtime American Missionary Association–oriented president, the climate of leadership changed. The next two presidents, George Augustus Gates and Fayette Avery McKenzie, were men who worked independently of the black population of Nashville. They treated the students and black administrators with paternalism. McKenzie was especially detrimental to relations with the school. He was aloof, showed no interest in getting involved with the students or getting to know the black community, and fired many of the black staff to replace them with whites. He was autocratic, suppressing the student newspaper, refusing to allow establishment of a chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and refusing to listen to recommendations made from the alumni society, the local black press, and even his own trustees. By 1924, many people were calling for a new president. The entire climate in Nashville by 1924 was racially charged. Many incidents of murder, beating, and lynching of blacks occurred. Young black soldiers returning from World War I were appalled by the lack of civil liberties facing them at home. Many of these soldiers were students at Fisk. Fisk students requested the right to have student organizations like fraternities, sororities, and other clubs that existed in similar institutions. They requested a more informal dress code and an examination schedule that would allow them to go home for the holidays. When McKenzie refused to consider these requests, Fisk students working with the Nashville Negro Chamber of Commerce and the Negro Board of Trade were eventually able to remove McKenzie as Fisk president. In 1926

151

Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade of the 1920s and 1930s

Thomas Elsa Jones became the new president. Jones, a white Quaker, established a more relaxed atmosphere at Fisk. ATLANTA NEGRO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE The Atlanta Negro Chamber of Commerce was one of the earliest black chambers of commerce. The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce—the segregated group—assisted in the formation of the Negro Chamber of Commerce. In Atlanta, as well as other cities, the Negro chambers of commerce promoted cooperation and goodwill through campaigns, contests, special weeks, and charitable works. According to a 1939 issue of the Journal of Negro Education, there were more than fifty Negro chambers of commerce listed at that time. There were chambers in Atlanta, Memphis, Shreveport, Norfolk and Newport News, Virginia, San Antonio, Chicago, New York, and other cities. These early organizations created a forum where small businessmen and church and school leaders met to advance the economic and political status of the black community. Other important chambers of commerce are the Houston Chamber, which had ties to the Houston College for Negroes and the National Negro Business League. Cities such as Birmingham, Miami, Jacksonville, Boston, Cleveland, Durham, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and others boasted Negro Chambers of Commerce. These organizations served as places of progress and commerce that advanced peaceful political challenges to unfair practices against black communities. For example, in Memphis, the Negro Chamber of Commerce was instrumental in settling an incident that involved an advertising billboard that offended the black community. At a time when race relations in Memphis were already strained by the 1866 Memphis race riot during which forty-six African Americans were killed, the White Rose Laundry erected a sign depicting a Negro Mammy bending over a wash tub with her undergarments showing. The local black community was insulted by this, and the Negro Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter to the owners of the laundry requesting removal of the sign. After several months of negotiations, the sign was removed. Lobbying for social change and working behind the scenes to improve the business climate for African Americans, chambers of commerce and boards of trade made an incomparable contribution to the development of African American business. Both historically and currently, African American chambers of commerce have specialized in goodwill campaigns, public relations, and gala events such as the Dallas and Chicago annual elections of a ‘‘bronze mayor.’’ There is a strong education and research component to African American chambers of commerce. These organizations often provided forums, conferences, publications, and human resource development. Today’s black chambers of commerce continue to serve as goodwill and networking organizations to bring together members of the business community and

152

Debra Martin Chase

promote the cities or regions they represent. Chambers of commerce are essential networking organizations where educational leaders, church leaders, and entrepreneurs meet to foster economic growth for the community. See also: National Black Chamber of Commerce Sources Blayton, J. B. ‘‘Are Negroes Now in Business, Business Men?’’ Journal of Negro History 18 (January 1933): 56–65. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Lamon, Lester C. ‘‘The Black Community in Nashville and the Fisk University Student Strike of 1924–1925.’’ Journal of Southern History 40 (May 1974): 225. Lovett, Bobby E. The African-American History of Nashville, Tennessee, 1780–1930. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1999. Pierce, Joseph A. Negro Business and Business Education: Their Present and Prospective Development. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1947. Suggs, Henry Lewis. ‘‘P. B. Young of the Norfolk Journal and Guide: A Booker T. Washington Militant, 1904–1928.’’ Journal of Negro History 64 (Autumn 1979): 365. Walker, Juliet E. K., ed. Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. ———. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, and Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998.

Elizabeth Sandidge Evans

Debra Martin Chase (1956– ), Film Producer, Production Company Owner Debra Martin Chase seems more of a savvy businesswoman than a corporate lawyer, which is evident in the establishment of her own production company, Martin Chase Productions. Although she is relatively new to the film industry, she has done in fifteen short years what many producers take lifetimes to accomplish. Her films have garnered award nominations as well as critical acclaim. Chase’s primary motive is not the accolades but the difference her films can make in the lives of people, especially women. Her quick wit and background in law have provided her with an edge in her field. Born in Great Lakes, Illinois, Chase spent most of her childhood on both the East and West Coasts but mainly in Pasadena, California. Her father was a film fanatic, which rubbed off on Chase. Weekends were often spent watching movies in the local theater, which became the centerpiece for dinner conversation. Chase graduated from Mount Holyoke College with high honors and from Harvard Law School. After practicing corporate law for several Fortune 500 companies for five years, she was dissatisfied with her career path. Leaving law, Chase went

153

Debra Martin Chase

back to her childhood love of movies. She spent a year and a half in New York learning about the film industry and the chain of command on a movie project. After discovering that the studio executive and the producer were the people responsible for coming up with movie ideas, Chase’s goal was set. Her path up the film industry ladder has been dotted with chance meetings with important Hollywood names. Soon after joining Columbia Pictures staff in the legal department in 1990, Chase met Frank Price, Columbia’s chairman, at a luncheon. A few months later, she was working as Price’s executive assistant. During this time, she learned everything she could about producing movies by attending meetings with Price, reading scripts, and asking every question she wanted. A year later, Chase was Columbia’s director of creative affairs, but she spent only six months in that capacity before another chance meeting changed her path—this one with Denzel Washington. The next week, she was running his production company, Mundy Lane Entertainment. With Washington, Chase produced Courage under Fire (1996) and The Preacher’s Wife (1996) and was well on her way to becoming a filmmaking presence. While filming The Preacher’s Wife, Chase met her next influential Hollywood contact—Whitney Houston. In 1995, the duo created their company, BrownHouse Productions, and in January 2000, Chase started her own production company, Martin Chase Productions. The Disney-based company has a first-look deal for any potential projects. Most great producers have a niche they work from—an overarching theme that runs through their films—and Chase is no different. The majority of her projects support her personal philosophy of ‘‘female wish-fulfillment and empowerment’’; however, she is steadily seeking projects to expand her role as a producer. Her beginnings in the female wish-fulfillment genre stem from Chase’s belief that all individuals want to be the best they can be, to be loved, to have fun and enjoy life. Chase’s belief that women constantly struggle with society’s changing role for them manifests itself in the positive images she produces onscreen, which are centered on a heroine who works to take charge and gain control of her life to achieve happiness and fulfillment. To Chase, everyone is chasing a dream of becoming more than who they are, but oftentimes children do not understand that people have to work to gain success. She wants to showcase the drive and work needed in the quest to become more. One of Chase’s most successful films, The Princess Diaries (2001), exemplifying wish-fulfillment and empowerment, set her apart as a major Hollywood talent and grossed more than $153.7 million worldwide in the box office. Perhaps part of her ambition to empower young girls derives from the hard work Chase has put in to be recognized in a white male-dominated field. For African American women, filmmaking is a difficult field to break into because other filmmakers believe they can exclude those who are new, young, and different. She has worked hard to get her share of the glory from the already established filmmakers in the business. For African Americans to

154

Debra Martin Chase

get recognition in the entertainment business, especially in mainstream movies, Chase believes that a power base needs to be built on success. However, African American film professionals have a harder time realizing success because of the limited number of minorities in the business. While her career path has diverged from her original destination, Chase has made the most of her law education. She got her foot in the door at Columbia Pictures as a lawyer and now uses her jurisprudence skills when making deals—often ‘‘rolling up her sleeves’’ and talking all the parties involved through the contract process. Chase’s unique perspective and her dynamic rise to the top were a direct product of her drive—she has not wasted time observing and waiting for a breakthrough. She has confidence, but she also has the perfect balance of skills to succeed in the world of filmmaking. Her professional talent, sophistication, and maturity stem from a backbone of clean, fresh integrity. Her work ethic speaks volumes to her peers, so she is often considered for new projects, expanding her credibility as a profitable producer. Chase is hands-on with her projects; she realizes who is needed to make them a success and has a savvy, almost preternatural sense of what will be a box-office hit. One of the most significant of her career building blocks is her innate strength for identifying productive partnerships. In her collaborations, Chase has made impeccable business contacts and decisions. While sometimes being at the right place at the right time, she always takes the initiative to make what she wants happen. Her natural knack for the best business practices, coupled with a formal expertise in law, set Chase apart from others in her field. For Chase, life exists outside the realm of Hollywood. She maintains a mantra of balance by playing as hard as she works. She reserves dinners for family and friends, tries to exercise five days a week, and reads frequently. Also, Chase stays involved in politics; she served on the national and New York finance committees for Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential race and raised funds for Democratic candidate John Kerry in the 2004 election. She also was a founding member of the Contemporary Friends of the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, and serves on the board of trustees for Columbia College of Chicago. See also: Women and Business Sources Alexander, George. Why We Make Movies: Black Filmmakers Talk about the Magic of Cinema. New York: Harlem Moon, 2003. Chase, Debra Martin. Interview by Travis Cox. ‘‘Interview: Debra Martin Chase Discusses Her Career as a Hollywood Film Producer.’’ Tavis Smiley Show, National Public Radio, March 26, 2004. Collier, Aldore. ‘‘Making It real: Blacks in Los Angeles.’’ Ebony 57 (May 2002): 150– 162. ‘‘Debra Martin Chase’’ (filmography). http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0153744. Dingle, Derek T., et al. ‘‘The Producers: Whether Creating Groundbreaking Movies, Developing Original TV Programs, or Making Soulful Music, These 50 Power

155

Leah Chase Brokers Call the Shots in America’s Most Dynamic Industries.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (December 2002): 76–83. Dunkley, Cathy. ‘‘10 Producers to Watch Dealmakers.’’ Variety 380 (May 7–13, 2001). http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117798553?categoryid¼1043&cs¼1&query¼ dunkleyþandþcathyþandþdebraþandþchase&display¼dunkleyþcathyþa1. Hines, Crystal Nix. ‘‘Hollywood Hit Maker.’’ Essence 33 (April 2003): 138–142. Longino, Bob. ‘‘Black Film Directors Land Mainstream Jobs.’’ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 25, 2003. Stanley, Carol. ‘‘Wonder Twins.’’ Hollywood Reporter, December 18, 1999. Struass, Bob. ‘‘The Hype Chasing a Big Dream.’’ Los Angeles Daily News, August 16, 2001.

Thura Mack

Leah Chase (1923– ), Executive Chef, Restaurant Co-owner When Leah Lange Chase married, she gained more than a husband; she also gained a restaurant. Chase transformed Dooky Chase’s, a small eatery created by her father-in-law and mother-in-law, into a culinary landmark in New Orleans, and in the process, Chase became known as the ‘‘Queen of Creole Cuisine.’’ For more than fifty years, Chase has been the restaurant’s executive chef and has fed a diverse range of people. During the 1950s and 1960s, Dooky Chase’s served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders such as James Farmer, Martin Luther King Jr., and Thurgood Marshall as well as other civil rights workers. Other well-known individuals who dined at the restaurant include James Baldwin, Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lena Horne, the Jackson Five, John F. Kennedy, and Sarah Vaughn. Chase’s culinary influence extends beyond her restaurant. She is the author of two cookbooks: The Dooky Chase Cookbook (1990; 2nd printing, 2000) and And Still I Cook (2003). In addition to hosting her own television show, Creole Cooking with Leah Chase, that premiered in 2000 and aired nationally on PBS, Discovery Channel Digital, and the Home & Leisure Channel, Chase has appeared on a number of other cooking shows including In Julia’s Kitchen with Master Chefs, where Chase prepared fried chicken, biscuits, and sweet potato pie on a pecan crust with Julia Child. In 1996, she was a visiting culinary professor at Nicholls State University. Chase, a community leader, is also recognized for her work with numerous nonprofit organizations in New Orleans. She has prepared meals for people at homeless shelters and public housing residents. When Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans in 1965, Chase and an assistant cooked up all the food in the freezers at Dooky Chase’s and gave the meals to the city’s police officers, who distributed the food to people whose homes had lost electricity. Chase is also a patron of the arts, and her restaurant showcases the works of African

156

Leah Chase

American artists. In 1995, Chase, speaking on behalf of the American Arts Alliance, the American Association of Museums, the Association of Art Museum Directors, and the New Orleans Museum of Art, addressed a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee and urged Congress members not to cut the National Endowment for the Arts budget. Chase was born on January 6, 1923, in Louisiana (according to some sources, she was born in Madisonville, while other sources assert that Chase was born in New Orleans). She is the eldest of eleven children born to Charles R. Lange, who was employed at Jenke Shipyard, and his wife, Hortensia Raymond Lange. The Langes were Catholic Creoles. Chase, her eight sisters, and two brothers were raised in Madisonville, which was a rural area between Lake Pontchartrain and the Tchefuncte River. The Lange family was poor, yet the family ate well because Chase’s father maintained a large garden. Although Hortensia Lange substituted an oilcloth for a tablecloth and used a wash bench for seating when she fed her family during the years of the Great Depression, she demanded that her offspring display good table manners. She also taught Chase and her siblings to be courteous and to pronounce words correctly. Charles Lange taught his progeny the alphabet and how to count before they were enrolled in school. When he sent the Lange children to the store, he insisted that they count the change owed them because that way, the elder Lange elaborated, they would never let anyone cheat them. When Lange sold vegetables from his garden, he only sold the best ones and would give the buyers something extra (a few cayenne peppers, for example). Lange’s family knew that his motto was ‘‘Give the best of whatever it is you have to give.’’ Chase and her siblings observed their parents’ strong work ethic. Whether sewing, preparing food, maintaining the garden, or cleaning tools, standards had to be met. If not, the task had to be repeated. The husband and wife valued education and made their children do their homework after dinner. When the principal at the nearby white school threw books on a trash pile, Chase’s father retrieved the texts before the pile was set on fire and used a wheelbarrow to take the books home to his children. Chase’s mother sold ‘‘bricks’’ to as many individuals as she could, from the insurance agent to the mayor, in order to raise money for the new school the church planned on building; when the school opened, Hortensia Lange was the first president of the PTA. Chase started school a year earlier than most of her peers; she attended St. Francis Xavier Catholic School, the parochial school for African American children. In 1937, Chase enrolled in St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans; while matriculating at the high school, she lived with her aunt. After graduating from St. Mary’s, Chase’s first job in New Orleans was at a laundry. Approximately one week later, she quit the job in order to work as a waitress at the Colonial Restaurant. When the owner closed the restaurant and opened the Coffee Pot, Chase and two other teenaged girls were in charge of the eatery that only served breakfast and lunch. Chase also held

157

Leah Chase

several other jobs during this period; for example, she served as a manager of several boxers from 1943 to 1944. She met Edgar ‘‘Dooky’’ Chase II in 1945 and married him three months later in 1946. Her husband was a trumpet player, composer, and leader of the Dooky Chase Orchestra. His orchestra played throughout the Southeast and was hailed as the pride of New Orleans. He was the son of Edgar ‘‘Dooky’’ Chase Sr. and his wife Emily; they had opened a street-corner stand in 1941 where Edgar Chase Sr. sold lottery tickets and his wife’s sandwiches. By the time their son married, the Chases no longer sold lottery tickets, and the eatery was extended to the adjacent building. When the elder Chase became ill, his son disbanded his orchestra in order to work at the restaurant. Between 1946 and 1953, Edgar Jr. and Leah Chase became the parents of four children: Emily, Stella, Edgar Chase III, and Leah. Chase did not work at Dooky Chase’s while her children were small. Instead, she started sewing for other people and became quite successful at it. In addition, Chase was very active at her offspring’s school, Corpus Christi Elementary, where she was the president of the PTA, head of fund-raising, and Girl Scout leader. After Chase’s youngest child was in school, Chase thought she would be the restaurant’s hostess until she realized that no one in the kitchen knew how to prepare the meals she wanted to serve. In the beginning, Chase prepared dishes such as meatballs and spaghetti. When she cooked lobster thermidor, the customers did not like it, so Chase stuffed the lobster heads with shrimp dressing and boiled the tails; Dooky Chase’s patrons liked it. When Chase changed the entire menu to Creole dishes, she was successful. Looking back at her arrival at the restaurant, Chase admitted that she had to ‘‘wing it’’; she learned as she went along. After cooking all day and into the evening, she washed the walls and ceiling as well as took care of whatever else needed to be done. Indeed, Chase had to call upon the values and work ethic her parents taught her as well as the skills she learned while working at the Colonial Restaurant and the Coffee Pot. During her early years at Dooky Chase’s, she had to be very persuasive. Emily Chase was more upset with her daughter-in-law’s proposed changes in the restaurant’s decor than in the kitchen. Although the older lady would not let Chase redecorate the upstairs room that was used for private parties, she relented and allowed Chase to redecorate the downstairs dining room. Chase even found time to sew new satin draperies for Dooky Chase’s. She had to convince her husband, who has been in charge of the restaurant’s finances since his father’s death in 1957, that a variety of expenses were justified because they were needed to increase profits. The restaurant underwent its first extensive remodeling in 1984. Today, Dooky Chase’s has evolved from an eatery where customers walked in, were handed eating utensils, and sat in chrome chairs at tables with plastic tablecloths into an elegant restaurant with three beautifully appointed rooms: the gold room, the main dining room, and the Victorian room. The most memorable aspect of the restaurant’s decor is the artwork.

158

Leah Chase

Each room contains items from Chase’s collection of African American art; among the works on display are paintings by Elizabeth Catlett and Jacob Lawrence. Indeed, the artwork is second only to the cuisine that includes such dishes as crab bisque, eggplant with crab and shrimp, gumbo, jambalaya, and veal grillades. Chase has ignored the suggestions that she move the landmark restaurant from its 2301 Orleans Avenue location to a more upscale neighborhood. She is proud that Dooky Chase’s has been part of the same community for more than fifty years; the community supported Dooky Chase’s in its earliest days and continues to support it today. To date, Chase has received more than thirty honors and awards. Among them are the Coalition of 100 Black Women’s Candace Award (Chase was selected as one of ten outstanding African American women), 1984; Freedom Foundation Award, 1985; Women in the Forefront Award, 1986; AntiDefamation League’s Torch of Liberty Award, 1989; NAACP’s (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Human Understanding Award, 1990; National Conference of Christians and Jews’ Weiss Award, 1992; University of New Orleans’ Entrepreneurship Award, 1996; National Council of Negro Women’s Outstanding Woman Award, 1997; New Orleans Times-Picayune Loving Cup, 1997; House of Blues Foundation’s Spirit of the Dream Award, 1998; Top Ladies of Distinction Community Service Award, 1998; Amistad Patronage of the Arts Award, 1999; Urban League’s Golden Gala Award: Community Service, 1999; Holy Cross College’s Humanitarian Award, 2000; Nicholls State University, Chef John Folse Culinary Institute’s Lafcadio Hearn Award, 2000; Third Inductee in Chef John Folse Culinary Institute’s Hall of Honor, Nicholls State University, 2000; American Federation of Chefs, Louisiana Chapter’s Ella Brennan Savoire Faire Award for Excellence, 2000; Southern Foodways Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award, 2000; Penn College of Technology’s Distinguished Hospitality Student Award (scholarship given in Chase’s name), 2001; Honorary Doctorate of Education, Madonna College, Lavonia, MI, 2001; and New Orleans Museum of Art’s Honorary Trustee for Life. In addition, Chase is one of seventy-five women featured in photographer’s Brian Lanker’s exhibit I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America, which premiered at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. in 1989 and appeared in book format that same year. A revised edition of I Dream a World was published to commemorate the tenth anniversary celebration in 1999. Chase is a member of a variety of organizations including the Girl Scout Council of Greater New Orleans; Greater New Orleans Art Council; International Women’s Forum; New Orleans Arts Council; New Orleans Chapter of Links, Inc.; New Orleans NAACP; Southern Food Alliance; and Urban League of Greater New Orleans. Chase has been appointed or elected to the Loyola University’s Community Advisory Council, Nicholls State University’s Advisory Council, and University of New Orleans’s Community Advisory Council.

159

Kenneth Irvine Chenault

Chase and her restaurant have gained national and international prominence. The restaurant has even been immortalized in song. Ray Charles, whose favorite meal at Dooky Chase’s was red beans, rice, and fried chicken, sings in ‘‘Early in the Morning Blues,’’ ‘‘I went to Dooky Chase/To get me something to eat/The waitress looked at me and said/Ray you sure look beat/ Now it’s early in the morning/And I ain’t got nothing but the blues.’’ Decades after that song was written, many people continue to sing the praises of Leah Chase, master chef, restaurant co-owner, community leader, and patron of the arts. See also: Food Service Industry Sources Allen, Carol. Leah Chase: Listen, I Say Like This. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Co., 2002. Jenkins, Nancy Harmon. ‘‘A Lover of Food Who Nurtured a New Orleans Institution.’’ New York Times, June 27, 1990.

Linda M. Carter

Kenneth Irvine Chenault (1951– ), Corporate Executive, Lawyer As chief operating officer of the American Express Company, a worldwide travel, financial service, and network service provider, Kenneth I. Chenault is one of the most prominent leaders in American business. When Chenault joined American Express, it was on the brink of collapse, feeling pressure from other large credit card companies. Under his leadership, American Express fought back through a painful restructuring process. Known for his powerful communication and people skills, Chenault motivates and inspires as he leads the American Express Company to financial successes. Chenault was born on June 2, 1951, in Mineola, New York, to Hortenius and Anne N. (Quick) Chenault. His father graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta and was first in his 1939 class at Howard University’s Dental School in Washington, D.C. During World War II, Hortenius served in the U.S. Army. Racial discrimination kept him out of the Allied Dental Corps until he joined the corps as an international member, after befriending officers from other Allied nations and learning French. Anne Quick’s family owned a small shipping business in South Carolina. One of her ancestors was Thomas E. Miller, a representative in the U.S. Congress and a founder of South Carolina State College (now University). His mother graduated at the top of her class at Howard University’s School of Dental Hygiene. Meeting her husband at Howard University, the Chenaults set up their own dental practice in New York and prospered together. Chenault, second son and third of four children, grew up with his two brothers and a sister in Hempstead, Long Island, New York. Instilled with a love of poetry and art from his mother, Chenault’s lack of success in his early school work worried his parents. His grades did not reflect his abilities.

160

Kenneth Irvine Chenault

He loved history and was an avid reader, especially biographies of great leaders. A late bloomer, he was nurtured by his teachers during his twelve years at the Waldorf School of Garden City on Long Island. The more innovative, upscale, private day school brought out the best in him. He was class president all four years of his high school years and graduated an honor student and captain of the basketball, soccer, and track teams. Chenault won a sports scholarship to Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. He spent a year there but transferred to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, at the suggestion of the head of his high school. One of 23 African American students, in a student body of 950, in a then small white all-male liberal arts college, Chenault graduated magna cum laude, with honors in history, in 1973. Chenault holds a juris doctor degree from Harvard Law School, where he was moot court champion. He was certified by the Massachusetts Bar Association in 1981. Upon completing law school, Chenault worked two years in the New York City corporate law firm of Rogers & Wells. Intrigued by the theory and practice of business, he gave up the practice of law. From 1979 to 1981, he worked for the Boston management consulting firm of Bain & Co. His Harvard Law School classmate W. Mitt Romney, son of the former governor of Michigan, encouraged him to join Bain & Co. At Bain, Chenault was involved in the research and design of business strategies for some of the country’s largest corporations. He acquired an extensive knowledge of all aspects of the corporate world while making contact with important business executives. In 1981, on the recommendation of an executive search firm, Chenault was hired as the director of strategic planning for the American Express Company. The company is a leader in charge and credit cards, travelers checks, financial planning, investment products, insurance, and international banking. Within two years he was promoted to senior vice president of the Merchandise Services department. After more than tripling revenues to $500 million, Chenault was made department head. In 1986, he became executive vice president and general manager the Card Member Services department. Chenault introduced card application by telephone and the year-end account summaries for Gold and Platinum members. By 1988, American Express’s market share of the card business was at an all-time high of 26.2 percent. He was named president of the Consumer Card Group in 1989. Disappointing business decisions resulted in the decline of American Express’s market share of charge cards to 22.3 percent, as rival Visa’s share rose to 43.9 percent in 1991. He promoted offering the company’s revolving credit products to the general public and courted mass merchandisers to honor the company’s credit cards. Chenault was promoted to president of American Express Travel Related Services in the United States, the company’s largest unit, in 1993. He was responsible for the Consumer Card Group, Consumer Financial Services, Travel Services Group, and Establishment Services. On January 24, 1995, Chenault was named vice chairman of the American Express Company. The promotion made him the highest-ranking

161

Kenneth Irvine Chenault

African American executive in America. As vice chairman, he also joined the Office of the Chief Executive, the company’s senior-most management group. He added the responsibilities for worldwide brand management and advertising while continuing to oversee the Travel Related Services unit. His responsibilities included formulating policy and business strategy companywide and overseeing the consumer charge card and consumer lending businesses globally. In 1997, Chenault was named president and chief operating officer (CEO) of American Express. He oversaw the creation of the Membership Rewards, the Blue card, and continued to compete with Visa and MasterCard for customers. In 1999, chief executive officer Harvey Golub announced that Chenault would succeed him as the company’s CEO in 2001, upon Golub’s retirement. The announcement assured an easy transition and enabled Chenault to increase his responsibilities. Early on, in 1997, Golub had selected Chenault as the primary internal candidate to lead the corporation. He had praised him for spearheading a number of initiatives at the company over his career, such as his efforts to segment American Express’s charge card business, expand the credit card and other consumer lending businesses, increase merchant coverage, and reengineer other key business programs. In January 2001, Chenault assumed the mantle of chief executive officer. Prepared to reverse the company’s economic decline, Chenault’s first year faced an overwhelming challenge. On September 11, 2001, American Express lost eleven employees and had many injured in the shocking terrorist attacks. The victims were in the World Trade Center directly across the street from the American Express Co. headquarters. The 3,200 employees in the headquarters building had to set up temporary offices in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey, where Chenault relocated. September 11 had a devastating impact on the travel and entertainment business, which accounted for about half of the company’s charge card revenue. The company’s customer service helped more than 500,000 stranded cardholders get home. The company was able to move back into its headquarters in the World Financial Center in May 2002. Chenault had begun cost cutting before September 11 but was forced to cut deeper, slashing budgets and laying off some 13,400 employees, 15 percent of the workforce. In 2002, American Express expanded its promotions and reward programs for the holders of its consumer cards. He expanded the company’s corporate card base by attracting small- and medium-sized business customers. By 2003 and in 2004, American Express posted record earnings of $3 billion and $3.4 billion, respectively. In 2004, American Express held 22 percent of U.S. credit card charges, Visa has 43 percent, and MasterCard holds 30 percent. While the company has a smaller market share, its customers spend more money. Chenault wants American Express to sign up unconventional merchants and accept payments for insurance, college tuition, health care, and mortgages. He has plans for the use of radio frequency identification technology to facilitate purchases with the wave of a small key fob across a

162

Kenneth Irvine Chenault

reader. Such proactive and forward approaches under Chenault’s leadership position the American Express Company to continue its prosperous ascent. Chenault has served on the boards of IBM, the Quaker Oats Company, the American Council for Drug Education, Junior Achievement of New York, Mount Sinai New York University Medical Center and Health Center, National Collegiate Athletics Association, and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health. He is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for Harvard Law School and a member of the Council of Foreign Relations in New York City and the American Bar Association. He holds honorary degrees from Adelphi University (1995), Bowdoin College (1996), Howard University (1998), Iona College (1996), Morgan State University (1990), South Carolina State University (1997), Stony Brook University (1996), the University of Notre Dame (1998), and Xavier University (1997). Committed to serve the community, Chenault cosponsored fund-raisers for the political campaigns of Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder and Atlanta mayor Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. He chaired the fiftieth anniversary gala for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense Fund. He has received the Robie Award for Achievement in Industry from the Jackie Robinson Foundation, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith Torch of Liberty Award, the Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership, and the Morehouse College Candle in the Dark Award. He was named Corporate Patron of the Arts by the Studio Museum of Harlem. Black Enterprise magazine named Chenault its 1999 BE Corporate Executive of the Year, and in 2001, Fortune magazine named him one of the Fifty Most Powerful African American Executives in America. Chenault, a Congregationalist, and his wife Kathryn (Cassell), an attorney, live in New Rochelle, New York, with their two sons, Kenneth Jr. and Kevin Addison. They have a summer home in Sag Harbor, New York. Kathryn, a political science major at Tufts University, went to New York University Law School. She has worked at the law firm of Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine and the National Programs Division of the United Negro College Fund. The couple met at a party while he was attending law school, and they married on August 20, 1977. Though much of his time is spent with business clients, Chenault likes to spend time with his family, attend basketball games, play tennis, golf, swim, and ski. Sources Branch, Shelly, and Alfred Edmond Jr. ‘‘Kenneth I. Chenault.’’ Black Enterprise 23 (February 1993): 88. Creswell, Julie. ‘‘Ken Chenault Reshuffles His Cards.’’ Fortune 151 (April 18, 2005): 180–186. ‘‘Kenneth I. Chenault Appointed President and COO at American Express Company.’’ Jet 91 (March 17, 1997): 8–9. Pierce, Ponchetta. ‘‘Blazing New Paths in Corporate American: American Express President Set to Become First Black to Lead a Fortune 500 Company.’’ Ebony 52 (July 1997): 58–62, 135–136.

163

Robert Reed Church Sr. Schwartz, Nelson D. ‘‘What’s in the Card for Amex? New CEO Ken Chenault Has No Shortage for American Express. No. 1 on the List: Staying on Top.’’ Fortune 143 (January 22, 2001): 58–70. Shook, Carrie. ‘‘Leader, Not Boss.’’ Forbes 160 (December 1, 1997): 52–54. Smith, Eric L. ‘‘Someone’s Knocking at the Door: Kenneth Chenault’s Appointment as President and COO of American Express Threatens to Shatter One of the Final Barriers to Corporate America’s Top Spot.’’ Black Enterprise 27 (May 1997): 97–99.

Kathleen E. Bethel

Robert Reed Church Sr. (1839–1912), Businessman, Philanthropist, Community Activist, Political Leader Recognized as the South’s first African American millionaire, Robert Reed Church Sr. was a noted Memphis businessman, philanthropist, community activist, and political leader. During the 1860s, he successfully invested in several business ventures that netted him financial wealth. A contributor to many civic and philanthropic causes, when the city of Memphis was reduced to a Taxing District, Church was the first citizen to purchase a $1,000 bond to help restore the city’s charter. Church established the city’s first park for African Americans, which included an auditorium that became a center for cultural, civic, and recreational activities. Later, in 1906, he founded the Solvent Savings Bank and Trust Company. Today he is remembered as one of Memphis’s most distinguished citizens and entrepreneurs. Church was born on June 18, 1839, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, to Emmeline, a slave seamstress, and Charles B. Church, a white steamboat captain. Church’s mother died when he was twelve years of age. After the death of his mother, Church lived with his father until he reached young adulthood. He worked for his father as a cabin boy and steward before an illfated accident caused him to leave the life of a river steamboat. In 1855, when the luxury steamer Bulletin No. 2 burned and sank, Robert and his father were among the few who lived. After surviving the fateful river disaster, Church’s life took another turn for the worse, when federal forces captured him during America’s war against itself, while he was serving as a steward on the steamer Victona. Later he settled in Memphis, Tennessee, where he became one of the nation’s most successful African American businessmen. Church used the experience and edification he obtained on the river to enter the world of entrepreneurial enterprises. Although real estate was Church’s main interest, he engaged in other business pursuits, including hotel, restaurant, saloon, and bank undertakings. In May 1866, one year after the close of America’s Civil War, when whites attacked black Memphians, illustrating southern intolerance in the face of

164

Robert Reed Church Sr.

defeat and indicating unwillingness to share civil or social rights with the newly freed American blacks, Church was among the more than seventy people wounded. Shot and left for dead, he recovered and rebuffed the idea of leaving the ‘‘Bluff City’’ in spite of the carnage left in the city’s black community. When Memphis experienced the dreadful yellow fever outbreak of 1878, Church again demonstrated his allegiance to the city and chose to remain, as others sought safer places of residency. He invested in local real estate, and when Memphis was reduced to a Taxing District, Church was the first citizen to purchase a $1,000 bond to restore the city’s charter. He established his hotel in downtown Memphis, on the southwest corner of South Second and Gayoso streets. Promoted as the only first-class ‘‘colored’’ hotel in Memphis, it had large airy rooms and a dining facility, and he furnished it with the best equipment of the day. The knowledge he gained as a steamboat steward equipped him to meet the individual needs of his clientele in a lavish style. In 1882, Church unsuccessfully ran for the Board of Public Works, on both the People’s Ticket and as an independent candidate. Although his political aspirations never came to fruition, his business acumen continued to produce positive results as his investments grew. Recognized as the South’s first African American millionaire and philanthropic in disposition, Church contributed to many civic causes, including the purchase of land for the establishment of a park for the city’s African American populace. Because of the era’s zeitgeist, the City of Memphis did not provide public parks and recreational facilities for African Americans. In addition to not providing park and recreational facilities, black performing arts groups had no place to perform their productions. In 1899, Church purchased over six acres of land on Beale Street near Fourth and Turley and constructed Church Park and Auditorium. The only undertaking of its kind in the United States, Church Park and Auditorium contained a playground, with all of the recreational accoutrements to entertain children, and an auditorium with the latest equipment and a seating capacity for more than 2,000 people. One of the largest stages in the South, its fire-proof drop curtain was a copy of an oil painting of the burning steamer Bulletin No. 2, which hung in the parlor of the Church residence. Beneath the auditorium was a large banquet hall and bar, with a soda fountain located near the entrance to provide refreshments for visitors. The recreational and cultural facility also contained a large bandstand where evening band concerts were held during the summer months. Later known as the ‘‘Father of the Blues,’’ W. C. Handy functioned as orchestra leader at the park and auditorium. Internationally renowned musicians such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Cab Calloway, among others, all performed at Church’s facility. Serving Memphis’s African American community, Church Park and Auditorium was built, owned, and operated by Church. As the community’s cultural, recreational, and civic center, Church Park and Auditorium hosted some of the period’s most popular theatrical groups, as well as some of the country’s most noted leaders, black and white. On November 19, 1902,

165

Robert Reed Church Sr.

President Theodore Roosevelt spoke to approximately 10,000 people at the auditorium. Roosevelt’s appearance gave an outward indication of Church’s political influence. Two years earlier, he served as a Memphis delegate to the Republican National Convention. On a tour through Tennessee, the ‘‘Wizard of Tuskegee,’’ Booker T. Washington, and party also visited the site. Additionally, other noteworthy visitors included James Shlliday, Herbert J. Seligmann, James Weldon Johnson, and Walter White, all officials of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Established and organized by Robert Reed Church Jr. in 1916 to register and train African American voters, and to pay poll taxes, the Lincoln Republican League held its meetings in the auditorium, as did the state’s first branch of the NAACP (founded by Church Jr. in 1917. Two years later, he was elected to the organization’s national board). In addition, before the Church of God In Christ, founded by the Bishop C. H. Mason, built Mason Temple, the denomination held its convocations in Church’s Park and Auditorium. With Church’s success in the cultural, recreational, and civic enterprise, he continued to make inroads into America’s capitalistic society. Five years after establishing Church Park and Auditorium, Church embarked upon another business adventure when he established the first African American–owned bank in Memphis since the 1874 collapse of the Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Company Bank. Following the lead of Nashville’s African American business leaders and Booker T. Washington’s National Negro Business League, he established the Solvent Savings Bank and Trust Company. Described by some as Memphis’s most important African American business institution, Church founded the bank in 1906. Located on Beale Street across from the park and auditorium, shares in the banking enterprise could be purchased for $10 a share. Depositors could open an account with a minimum of $1. One year after its opening, Solvent Savings Bank and Trust Company withstood the economic hysteria of 1907, which closed the doors of older and larger banking institutions. To solidify the depositors’ confidence and to forego a run on the bank’s reserves, Church placed piles of money in the bank’s windows with a notice declaring that there was adequate capital to pay off its depositors. One year after withstanding the financial panic of 1907, Church and his bank came to the aid of the Beale Street Baptist Church, which faced foreclosure. The bank paid off the church’s notes and saved it from being sold. After fifteen years in business, the bank boasted that it was the largest bank in the world owned and operated by African Americans, with deposits over a million dollars. Church and his son Robert Jr. served as successive presidents. In the early 1920s, Solvent Savings Bank and Trust Company faced financial crisis. After the failure of several borrowers in the early 1920s and to remain afloat, Solvent merged with the Fraternal Savings Bank and Trust Company in 1927. Robert R. Church Jr., who succeeded to the presidency of the bank following his father’s death in 1912, deposited $50,000 to halt the panic, although no longer president. However, a year later, bank examiners found

166

Citizens’ League for Fair Play

a deficit of $500,000, and the bank’s president, Alfred F. Ward, was incarcerated. The failure of the bank preceded the stock market crash by one year. Church married twice, and two children were born to each marriage. His first marriage to Louise Ayers Church ended in divorce, but their union produced a son, Thomas Ayers Church, who became an attorney, editor of his own journal, and the author of several books. Church’s daughter Mary Church Terrell became the first president of the National Association of Colored Women (1896) and was an activist and one of the twentieth century’s most prominent African American leaders. In 1885, he married Anna S. Wright, and they became the parents of Robert Reed Church Jr., who was known as the most powerful African American in the Republican Party, and Annette Elaine Church. A staunch Republican like her brother, she was one of three female charter members of the Memphis branch of the NAACP. As asserted in ‘‘Robert R. Church Scholarship Fund,’’ Church Sr. was a ‘‘self-made man in the broadest sense of the term.’’ He had ‘‘no opportunity of the schools; he had no nucleus of wealth left to him by ancestor . . . but he made his way to success over every possible obstacle.’’ His contributions to the City of Memphis were felt in all of its sectors until his death on August 29, 1912. Church’s remains were interred at Memphis’s Elmwood Cemetery in the Church Family Mausoleum. See also: Black Banks: Their Beginning Sources Church, Annette E., and Roberta Church. The Robert R. Churches of Memphis: A Father and Son Who Achieved in Spite of Race. Ann Arbor, MI: Privately Published, 1974. Lamon, Lester. Black Tennesseans, 1791–1970. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1981. Miller, M. Sammye. ‘‘Last Will and Testament of Robert Reed Church, Senior (1839–1912).’’ Journal of Negro History 65 (Spring 1980): 156–157. Mitchell, Reavis L. ‘‘Robert R. Church, Sr. (1839–1912).’’ Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee. Ed. Bobby L. Lovett and Linda T. Wynn. Nashville, TN: Local Conference on African American Culture and History, 1996. ‘‘Robert R. Church Scholarship Fund.’’ Scholarship Funds. Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, Memphis: 2004. Walter, Ronald A. ‘‘Robert R. Church, Sr. 1839–1912.’’ Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Ed. Carroll Van West. Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1998.

Linda T. Wynn

Citizens’ League for Fair Play During the Great Depression of the early 1930s, the nation was experiencing severe hardships in the economy and significant depreciation of the American dollar. As a historic minority and systematically alienated group,

167

Citizens’ League for Fair Play

African Americans felt the heaviest brunt of this most futile condition. In 1934, in Harlem, New York, one of the leading per capita habitations of African and African-descended people outside the continent of Africa itself, the Citizens’ League for Fair Play (CLFP) was formed as a nonpartisan and nondenomination coalition of social organizations, fraternal brotherhoods, and political groups. Though only in formal existence for less than a year, CLFP accumulated good mileage through mass picketing of white-owned business establishments that prevented blacks from working in nonmenial capacities. Hence, such 125th Street establishments as Blumstein’s, Woolworth’s, W. C. Grant Company, and Beck’s Shoe Store all felt the sting of CLFP picketing in the pocketbooks and subsequently at least began hiring black women as clerks in response to their demands. As a cross-based coalition, CLFP was composed of bipolar ideological points of view representing a moderate integrationist approach in the vein of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Urban League, on one end, and the Black Nationalist model espoused by Marcus Garvey’s potent United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), on the other. Internal strife significantly impacted divisiveness that splintered the group, but the exemplified collective spirit of unity is a shining example of the power inherent in a cohesive front. Moreover, events that followed CLFP’s demise underline the social tensions that made its formation a miracle to begin with. For example, many of its previously mentioned establishments admitted to hiring overtly only lightskinned black women, which reinforced class tensions among many in the black community. This class wedge was a sticky topic because the ideologically diverse leadership segment—consisting of Reverend John Johnson, pastor, St. Martin’s Protestant Episcopal Church; Fred Moore, New York Age publisher; Ira Kemp, president, African Patriot League; and Arthur Reid, Marcus Garvey supporter from Barbados—ultimately had different views as to the policies and courses of action that should be taken by the coalition. The rallying call and immediate impetus igniting CLFP’s formation rang from Effa Manley, pioneering co-owner, with her husband Abe, of the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues’ professional baseball fame. The initial meeting was with other progressive women, but from the agreed-upon findings, Manley decided to solicit broad support from black ministers in the cause of tearing down discriminatory employment walls plaguing 125th Street. The dire conditions of black unemployment were addressed through participation from eighteen black churches with assistance from organizations that included the Democratic Club, the Cosmopolitan Social and Tennis Club, the Premier Literary Circle, the Unity Democratic Club, the Young West Indian Congress, and the New York UNIA chapter in CLFP’s massive formation. Manley’s 1934 call for organized boycotting of Harlem stores who refused hiring black salesclerks resulted in the six-week picketing that grabbed the attention of profit-driven merchants whose business bottom line was impacted substantially from the slogan ‘‘Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work.’’ Within one year, 300 blacks were hired in 125th street stores.

168

Citizens’ League for Fair Play

Another point that warrants attention is that despite the divisiveness that would splinter CLFP, it was the united picketing that produced tangible outcomes. Furthermore, the Negro Industrial Clerical Alliance (NICA), under the leadership of Sufi Abdul Hamid, and the Harlem Labor Union Incorporated (HLUI), led by Ira Kemp and Arthur Reid, would prove to have vibrant lifelines after a New York state court ruled that picketing on the grounds of race was illegal, all but bringing CLFP to a screeching halt. Hamid never was formally a member of CLFP leadership cadre, but his organization worked side-by-side with CLFP initiatives during the picketing campaigns and is historically aligned with the ensuing events. Feeling that picketing was the most effective strategy, his NICA resumed the practice and demanded further jobs for blacks by Blumstein’s. In addition, HLUI started when Kemp and Reid grew fed up and became disillusioned with CLFP’s lack of commitment to addressing the class issue within the platform of equality for all blacks. The salient feature of a slavery-induced psychosis by African descendants cannot be ignored when analyzing how CLFP was plagued ideologically. Consider the life of Effa Manley herself. As a fair-skinned woman, evidence from oral interviews with her indicate that she actually was Caucasian but grew up in a household with black step siblings, as her mother of German, Asian, and Indian descent married a black man. Accordingly, she consciously led the life as a black woman. By black in this context we are referring to her politics and where her interests lay. This reality is evidenced from her devotion to CLFP causes in 1934 and her business affiliation with the Negro Leagues where she promoted Anti-Lynching Day at Ruppert Stadium in 1939. Still, she was identified by mainstream white society as white, or as a light skin, or ‘‘redbone’’ black woman at worst. So the Black Nationalists’ appeals and criticisms launched on what they perceived to be conciliatory rhetoric from the likes of Blumstein was not simply hot air. In fact, as one reads an interview conducted in 1935, Blumstein was forthright in stating that his store naturally picked ‘‘the most attractive’’ personalities of the selection pool of black females. As revisionist history can prove to be quite futile, the broader context of mass movements can be most appreciated from focusing on the right things. Thus, the fact remains that CLFP’s existence, though relatively brief, was focused in its operation, and its greatest legacy lay in its ability to act in an effort of solidarity. The areas where it splintered should not be ignored because the differences were indeed real. However, students of history should not glorify and/or disproportionately revel in the obvious ideological tensions. Conversely, a more beneficial approach is to look at the possibilities afforded when artificial barriers are superceded. Moreover, institutionalized racism, sexism, and classism as social forces should not be marginalized either. Instead, when acknowledging the utility of umoja (the operational quality behind actualizing the sustenance of maintaining unity in the family, nation, race, and community), CLFP shines brightly. See also: Retail Industry

169

Alexander G. Clark Sources Crawford, Aimee. ‘‘The First Lady of Black Baseball, Manley Was an Innovator in the Negro Leagues.’’ http://mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/history/mlb_negro_leagues_ story.jsp?story¼effa_manley. Greengerg, Cheryl Lynn. ‘‘Or Does It Explode?:’’ Black Harlem in the Great Depression. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Lowery, Charles D., John F. Marszalek, and Thomas Adams Upchurch, eds. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African-American Civil Rights: From Emancipation to the 21st Century. Vol. 1. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003.

Uzoma O. Miller

Alexander G. Clark (1826–1891), Entrepreneur, Civil Rights Worker, Church Leader Alexander G. Clark rose from modest beginnings to become a man of wealth. He balanced his career by mixing interests in real estate, politics, the military, religion, the newspaper media, and law. He fought for a number of causes, such as suffrage for black men and women, school integration, and civil rights of blacks in general. Born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, on February 25, 1826, Clark was the son of John Clark, a former slave of an Irish master, and Rebecca Darnes Clark, a full-blooded African. He began his education in Washington County but was moved to Cincinnati in 1939 to live with an uncle. He attended school for one year and at the same time learned his uncle’s barber business. At age fifteen, he left to go south as a bartender on the steamer George Washington. In May 1842 Clark went to Muscatine, Iowa, where he opened a barbershop. Continuing his business ventures, he supplied wood to steamboats and used his profits to purchase real estate; this proved to be a wise choice, for he became a wealthy man. In 1848, Clark married Catherine Guffin and had five children. Clark had a variety of interests. He began his public career in 1849, when he cofounded the local African Methodist Episcopal Church and served as trustee, steward, and superintendent of the Sunday school. His church activities took him to the Methodist Ecumenical Conference held in London in 1881. He had an interest in the military as well and enlisted in the First Iowa Colored Volunteer Infantry in 1863, where, until the end of the war, he served primarily as a recruiter throughout the West. A physical disability prevented him from becoming physically active and accepting an appointment as sergeant-major. Clark spent much of his life working with Masonic circles and held several high offices with the Grand Lodge of Missouri; he had jurisdiction over six states. In 1884, he organized the Hiram Grand Lodge of Iowa, then merged it with another grand lodge to form the United Grand Lodge of Iowa and served as its president.

170

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists

A man with a vision, he became active in politics and was chairperson and spokesperson for the first Convention of Colored Men held in Iowa in 1868. He called for political equality of black men of Iowa. In 1869 year he became one of the vice presidents of the Republican State Convention of Iowa. In 1872, he was delegate-at-large from Iowa to the 1872 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and later alternate delegate from his state to the Cincinnati convention. A great orator who had been favorably compared to his long-standing friend Frederick Douglass, Clark was often called the ‘‘Colored Orator of the West.’’ Clark supported a number of causes, including women’s suffrage and civil rights. He successfully sued the local school board when his daughter was denied entrance to the Muscatine public schools. The state supreme court heard the case and ruled in his favor. He entered law school when he was in his fifties and graduated from the University of Iowa Law School in 1884, then opened a law office in Chicago. He became one of the three owners of the newspaper the Conservator and used the paper to speak out against the ill treatment of blacks. President Benjamin Harrison appointed him minister and consul-general to Liberia on August 8, 1890. He died there on May 31, 1891, but was returned to Muscatine for a state funeral. Although little else is known about Clark as an entrepreneur, his wealth enabled him to live well and to engage in a variety of activities that benefited his race. Sources Davis, Aldeen L. ‘‘Alexander G. Clark.’’ Dictionary of American Negro Biography. Ed. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982. Simmons, William J. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive, and Rising. Cleveland, OH: Geo. M. Rewell, 1887.

Jessie Carney Smith

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) was established in 1972. It was a response to the failure of the ALF–CIO (American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organization) leadership to champion actively the interests of black and minority workers. Spearheading the efforts of CBTU in Chicago, Illinois, for its initial steering and planning committee on September 23–24 were William Lacy, international secretary-treasurer, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); Nelson Edwards, vice president, United Auto Workers (UAW); William Simmons, president, Washington Teachers Union (WTU), Local # 6; Charles Hayes, international vice president, United Food & Commercial Workers Union (UFCWU); and Cleveland Robinson, president, Distributive Workers of America (DWA), District 65.

171

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists

From its inception, CBTU has aimed to erect bridges with other labor organizations and/or civic groups whose objectives are organizing black and minority workers in trade unions and working toward fair wages and economic rewards, as well as increasing political awareness and participation. Among the slogans and objectives sought after by the organization are ‘‘Living Wages,’’ ‘‘Job Safety,’’ ‘‘Support for Public Schools,’’ ‘‘Coalition Building,’’ ‘‘Environmental Justice,’’ ‘‘Voice at Work,’’ ‘‘Union Contracts,’’ ‘‘Comprehensive Health,’’ ‘‘Town Hall Meetings,’’ ‘‘Pay Equity,’’ and ‘‘The Right to Organize Is a Civil Right Which No Worker Should Be Denied.’’ From the inception too has been advocacy for the rights of women and the international labor connection. CBTU estimates that approximately 40 percent of the first 1,200 delegates were women and since that time have proven necessary elements, without whom their success could not have been attained. Moreover, they have served in high-ranking leadership positions including five on the initial executive committee in 1972. On the international front, in 1974 CBTU was the first American labor organization to pass strong resolutions calling for an economic boycott and change in U.S. policy toward South Africa. Though not defined as a civil rights organization, CBTU has always fostered tendencies and a familiarity with this movement. In 1990 civil rights approaches to organizing the African American community were openly called upon by Richard Trumka, president of the United Mine Workers (UMW) and CBTU member who championed minorities in the labor movement in the United States to adopt approaches used in the civil rights movement of the 1960s to rally the African American community behind labor’s struggles. Of further note from this appeal made in Buffalo, New York, was that for the first time CBTU received recognition from the very entity it had to distance itself from in the first place, the AFL–CIO. This acknowledgment grew not from a sudden benevolence toward the cause of minority rights but instead from CBTU’s proven commitment to advancing the universal plight of workers and their inherent right to have decent wages. CBTU’s commitment to protecting business interests of minorities is apparent from its consistent youth development, consumer protection, and political literacy campaigns. Youth represent tomorrow’s workforce, thus initiatives to decrease the nearly 50 percent black unemployment rate of persons under the age of eighteen and scholarship programs are sponsored. The inner cities, where black youth are disproportionately schooled, are target areas for programs designed to give students skill-based and living wage competency on workplace safety and labor law. CBTU also is a staunch advocate for programs that limit inflation rates on food, clothing, housing, and medical care and programs that will help minorities. Lastly, CBTU correlates the dynamics mentioned above with the degree to which political education and advocacy are instilled in its members. Therefore, CBTU has constantly devised and implemented workshops, projects, and drives to enhance involvement by union members in voter registration, education, and turnout.

172

Daniel C. Cochran

The organization has remained consistent, however, and has been vocal in attacking what it perceives as contradictory practices by former allies in struggle. CBTU president William Lucy criticized Robert Mugabe, current president of Zimbabwe and former freedom fighter for Zimbabwe’s independence from British colonialism in 1980, for failing to allow a Malawian labor organizer in 2003 entrance into Harare International Airport. Lucy was quick to note that he felt Mugabe continuously attacked the rights of workers who wished to assemble and abused his privileges to disrupt working-class interests. According to Mthulisi Mathuthu, Mugabe’s government was accused of turning its back on principles that defined their independence. Although not a black separatist or civil rights organization, CBTU has maintained a proven track record of protecting economic, political, and social justice for trade workers and is composed of members who represent seventyseven unions throughout the world and forty-two chapters in the United States. Sources Coalition of Black Trade Unionists: Organizing to Empower Working People. http:// www.cbtu.org. Dinkins, David, Richard Trumka, and Kenneth Young. ‘‘N.Y. Mayor, Mine Workers President and Kirkland’s Assistant Salute CBTU Convention.’’ Labor Today 29 (Spring–Summer 1990): 5. Glynn, Matt. ‘‘Trade Unionists Aim to Help Recruit Minorities for New York Construction Jobs.’’ Buffalo News, February 21, 2002. Mathuthu, Mthulisi. ‘‘Unionist Denied Entry.’’ Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, January 10, 2003. Williams, Fred O. ‘‘Mentoring Program for Students Expanding.’’ Buffalo News, January 31, 2005. Williamson, Willie. ‘‘CBTU President Sets Framework for Action.’’ Labor Today 25 (July 1986): 4. ———. ‘‘CBTU Spurs Fight against Reaganism.’’ Labor Today 24 (July 1985): 7.

Uzoma O. Miller

Daniel C. Cochran (1946– ), Financial Executive Daniel Cochran is a senior vice president and the chief operating officer for Merrill Lynch, making him one of the first African Americans to hold a position of importance on Wall Street, a place traditionally difficult for African Americans to enter and advance. In fact, in 2002, Cochran was named one of the top fifty African Americans in the financial industry. Cochran was born on November 14, 1946, in Chicago, Illinois. Cochrane earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Amherst College in 1968. He received a Master of Public and International Affairs from Princeton in 1974. Cochrane speaks three languages in addition to English: Farsi (Persian), Spanish, and French. His knowledge of other languages was useful in 1969 when he joined the U.S. Department of State as a foreign services officer

173

Marie Therese Coincoin

and was stationed in Iran. In 1974, Cochrane joined Exxon Corporation as assistant treasurer and finance manager for Exxon’s U.S. operation. He stayed with Exxon until 1989, when he joined Merrill Lynch as first vice president and deputy treasurer for finance. Cochrane has held several positions at Merrill Lynch. In 1995, he moved to Hong Kong and served as chief administrative officer for Merrill Lynch’s Asia Pacific Region. Cochran returned to New York in 1999 and assumed the position of senior vice president of Merrill Lynch’s Corporate and Institutional Client Group. In addition to his financial responsibilities, Cochrane serves as trustee of Merrill Lynch’s Winthrop H. Smith Memorial Foundation. He is senior adviser to Merrill Lynch’s Rainbow Employee Network and a member of Merrill Lynch’s Employee Advisory Council. Cochrane maintains connections with Amherst College and serves as a member of Amherst’s Trustee Nominating Committee. Cochran remains a groundbreaking African American in the Wall Street world. His dedication and hard work have opened doors that have previously been difficult to open. Cochrane, like many other powerful businessmen, is not content to just help himself. He is also active with charitable programs within Merrill Lynch and maintains ties with his alma mater. Sources Black Achievers Industry. ‘‘National Salute to Black Achievers in Industry.’’ http:// www.black-achivers.org/bailist.htm. BlackEnterprise.com. ‘‘The Top 50 African Americans on Wall Street.’’ About Us, September 18, 2004. http://www.blackenterprise.com/AboutUsOpen.asp?Source¼ AboutBe/1002.pr.html. ‘‘Daniel Chester Cochran.’’ Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005. Dow Jones Newswire. ‘‘Merrill Lynch Appoints Ausaf Abbas Asia Chief Admin Officer.’’ January 27, 1999. http://global.factiva.com/en/arch/display.asp. Merrill Lynch. Foundation Trustees Global Philanthropy. 2002. http://www.ml.com/ philanthropy/winsmith/mission.html. Multicultural Advantage. ‘‘Black Enterprise Names the Most Influential Leaders of the Financial Industry.’’ http://www.multiculturaladvantage.com/contentmgmt/ anmviewer.asp?a¼268. ‘‘People.’’ Securities Week, October 23, 1989. http://global.factiva.com/en/arch/ display.asp. Scott, M. S., A. Hughes, et al. ‘‘B.E. Wall Street All Stars.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (October 2002): 88–101. http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct¼true&db¼aph&an¼ 7387251.

Anne K. Driscoll

Marie Therese Coincoin (1742–c. 1816), Creole Matriarch, Entrepreneur Marie Therese Coincoin rose from slavery to become a wealthy landowner in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, founding

174

Marie Therese Coincoin

a lineage of ‘‘free people of color,’’ who occupied an intermediate position between the mass of slaves and the dominant whites. She serves as a reminder of the multilayered dynamics associated with slavery in pre–Civil War Louisiana. In spite of her birth into slavery on the plantation of one of Louisiana’s founding fathers, four decades of servitude as a domestic servant, and the responsibility of nurturing fourteen biological children, Coincoin would emerge as a major shaper of Creole history in Louisiana and as one of the richest free blacks in North America. Determined to free her children and extended family members from bondage, she used the wealth and land acquired from her common-law union with a Frenchman to found and develop Melrose Plantation, which cultivated tobacco, corn, indigo, and cotton and raised cattle on thousands of acres with many slaves. Coincoin was born in 1742, the second-born daughter of two enslaved Africans on the plantation of Louis Juchereau de St. Dennis, the first commandant of Fort St. Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches, the oldest Royal French Colony in the state. While her rise in status was connected to her being a privileged house servant of a leading colonial family in Louisiana, the buildings on her plantation reveal clear traces of her African heritage. Coincoin would become a leading landholder and slave owner herself, whose wealth measured favorably with that of the shrewdest and wealthiest white male landowners of her era. This black woman’s rise to wealth is exceptional in light of the constraints on both blacks and women during this time period. By the age of twenty-five Coincoin had born four children with a black man, but she then entered a relationship with a newly arrived Frenchman, Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer, that produced ten additional children. The two lived together for nineteen years. Documented records and oral legend conflict as to certain specifics regarding such matters as her year of manumission, whether she or Nicolas Augustine Metoyer, her oldest son, founded the Melrose Plantation, and what arrangements were made between her and Metoyer regarding the lives of their offspring. But what is undisputed is the outcome. Coincoin would purchase the freedom of all fourteen of her children and that of countless grandchildren as well. The rights of her four all-black children were secured without any assistance from Metoyer, and many slaves were purchased to clear land, to cultivate indigo, tobacco, corn, and cotton, and to raise cattle on Melrose Plantation. There is no question of the extent to which African carryovers are manifest at Melrose. Of the eight colonial buildings erected, more than a third have overt African names: Yucca (c. 1796), the African House (c. 1800), and Ghana, which is generally believed to be nearly as old as the original foundations. As for Coincoin, her name is derived from the Ewe linguistic group of Central/West Africa and translates to ‘‘second-born daughter,’’ the phonetic equivalent of ‘‘Ko Kwe.’’ Oral tradition points to her parent’s place of origin as the Congo. In contrast to these memories of Africa, the Creole class that emerged from the African-Franco unions was one where color consciousness was

175

Virgis William Colbert

pervasive—so pervasive in fact that the first generations were taught to distance themselves from their African roots and embrace only their French side. Discrimination may also be evident in the treatment of Coincoin’s first four children. Documents suggest that in order to have Metoyer agree to manumit his own children, Coincoin had to agree to forgo the annuities he otherwise would have granted her. Coincoin appears to have demonstrated the qualities of a shrewd businesswoman, as she was methodical, systematic, purposeful, and earnest in her dealings. From donations in 1786, grants in 1794, and purchases made in 1807, she was able to secure her financial base, become a landed lady, and found her family’s fortunes. For ten years she employed Spanish manager Jose´ Mare to manage her properties on the west bank of the Old River Branch of the Red River. Mare managed Coincoin’s crops and cattle and assisted in directing the operations on the plantation, while she continued to acquire land. Coincoin’s career underlines how local conditions affected slavery. It would have been well nigh impossible elsewhere than in Louisiana. It also illustrates a persistent tendency for light-skinned and relatively wealthy blacks to attempt to distance themselves from dark-skinned blacks. This three-way social division could develop in Louisiana with its ‘‘free people of color,’’ but adamant white insistence on a sharp twofold distinction did not allow this idea to take deep root elsewhere. Coincoin’s endeavors measured within strictly business terms are remarkable; she acquired upward of 13,000 acres of land covering a nearly thirty-mile radius, making her family the wealthiest free black family in antebellum America. Sources Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches (APHN). http://www .natchitoches.net/melrose.htm. Ingersoll, Thomas N. ‘‘Free Blacks in a Slave Community: New Orleans, 1778– 1812.’’ William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 48 (April 1991): 173–200. Mills, Gary B. The Forgotten People. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977. Ringle, Ken. ‘‘Up Through Slavery.’’ Washington Post, May 12, 2002. Spivey, Christine. ‘‘Early Success of the Metoyer Gens de Coleur Libre.’’ http:// www.loyno.edu/history/journal/1995-6/spivey.htm.

Uzoma O. Miller

Virgis William Colbert (1939– ), Corporate Executive, Philanthropist Virgis William Colbert serves as executive vice president of operations at the Miller Brewing Company. In 2002 he was ranked twenty-sixth on Fortune magazine’s list of ‘‘The 50 Most Powerful Black Executives.’’ He was born on October 13, 1939, in Jackson, Mississippi, but grew up in Toledo,

176

Virgis William Colbert

Ohio. He is the youngest of the eight children of Quillie, a factory worker, and his wife Eddie May. Colbert lives in Milwaukee with his wife Angela, an attorney, formerly employed with the Milwaukee law firm of Quarles & Brady. They have two daughters and one son. After high school, Colbert attended the University of Toledo but dropped out in 1967 after one year. He settled into an assembly-line job at the Chrysler machining plant in Toledo. Although his hard work was rewarded with promotions to supervisory positions, he realized that his chances of entering upper management would be stymied if he did not further his education. While working at Chrysler, he attended classes at Central Michigan University, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in industrial management in 1974. He was promoted to general superintendent of plant operations in 1977. Colbert’s successful twelve-year career at Chrysler ended in 1979 when he was hired by the Miller Brewing Company as an assistant to the plant manager in Reidsville, North Carolina. The interpersonal and leadership skills he had developed at Chrysler proved beneficial in the brewing industry. Colbert’s expectations regarding management opportunities were realized as he rapidly advanced to positions with increasing responsibilities. His future at Miller seemed assured. In 1990, he became chief of plant operations overseeing brewing combinations, container manufacturing, and product distribution. In 1993, he rose to vice president of operations and was elected to Miller’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee. He moved into a senior vice president position in 1995, in charge of worldwide operations, and in 1997 was promoted to executive vice president with responsibility for brewing, quality assurance, purchasing, operations planning, and improvement and information systems. With customers from all ethnic backgrounds, there is no doubt that Miller values diversity. Colbert is the company’s only African American vice president. His responsibility includes working with about 400 minority vendors. Early in his career, he declined offers to move from plant services to public relations because he preferred the labor and staff operations side of the business. With responsibility for production, packaging, and shipping operations, he oversees a staff of 8,000 workers and a multibillion-dollar budget. His colleagues view his management style as team oriented. He considers his staff not just an assembly line but a production team. He leads by example. Colbert strongly believes that those who have benefited from the positive outcomes of the civil rights struggle owe a debt to the community and have a responsibility to repay what they owe. The obligation to repay—nicknamed the ‘‘black tax’’—is not merely a token gift but generous personal donations of time, money, and expertise. Colbert is particularly concerned about providing black youth with positive role models and visible connections through community service commitments. Along with education, role models present opportunities for youth to follow in the footsteps of successful executives. To this end, Colbert has blazed a trail of civic involvement working with several organizations within the community.

177

Virgis William Colbert

Colbert plays a major role in developing Miller’s corporate social responsibility philosophy. The company has spearheaded a number of partnership initiatives that help people achieve economic success and contribute to the community’s sustainability and future economic development. The Milwaukee Tutorial Program partners Miller employees with third-graders twice a week for tutoring. He is an avid supporter of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund that was created by Miller and the Office for the Advancement of Public Black Colleges to provide financial assistance to students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). He was also involved with the National Urban League’s Black Executive Exchange Program and the Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America, an organization that provides technical skills to persons wanting to enter the workforce. Many programs have benefited from Miller’s scholarship fund mainly because of Colbert’s commitment of time and resources. His excellence in leadership has been honored on numerous occasions. In 1996, Colbert was presented with the Distinguished Leadership Award from 100 Black Men of America, Inc. for his commitment and outstanding leadership in the nation’s black community. In 2001, he was named Beverage Industry’s Executive of the Year for his leadership at Miller and his commitment to many civic and community organizations. This was the first time in the award’s twenty-seven-year history that it was presented to an executive in the brewing industry. He was also named to the list of best chief executive officers (CEOs) in America by Institutional Investor magazine. In 2004, the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund honored him with a community leadership award. In 2005 Fisk University awarded him an honorary degree for his genius in counseling corporate and community efforts. Colbert attributes his success in part to the strong work ethic he inherited from his father who died when Colbert was thirteen years old. Like his father, Colbert is a disciplined, determined, hard worker. He especially values education as the key to empowerment. In his public speaking engagements he talks about his drive to achieve, attributing his phenomenal success to going above and beyond the expected and being always on the lookout for new opportunities. His strategy for dealing with racism in the workplace is to focus on achieving results through stated goals and objectives rather than obsessing about the color barrier. He asserts that strong leadership, excellent interpersonal and organizational skills, a broad-based understanding of the business, and knowing when to take risks are absolutely essential to success. Colbert devotes significant time to serving on the boards of various educational organizations and corporations. He was elected chairman of the Board of Trustees at Fisk University in 1999. He is a director at Delphi Corporation, the Manitowoc Company, Stanley Works, and the Weyco Group. In 2004, Colbert and his wife purchased a majority share in the Production Stamping Corporation of Milwaukee. They view this as a great opportunity to grow a minority business. Mrs. Colbert will assume control of daily operations. With his responsibilities at Miller, his leadership in this

178

Donald Alvin Coleman

new business, community endeavors, and his passion for golf, Colbert will continue to juggle a demanding schedule of engagements. Sources Colbert, Virgis. ‘‘Securing the African-American Future: A Challenge for Today and Tomorrow’’ (address, September 21, 1993). Vital Speeches of the Day 60 (December 15, 1993): 141–143. Doherty, C. ‘‘The Man from Miller.’’ Black Enterprise 22 (June 1992): 370–373. Holley, Paul. ‘‘Paying Back His Community: Miller Brewing Executive Follows in the Footsteps of Those Who Opened Doors for Him.’’ Business Journal-Milwaukee 13 (July 6, 1996): 8. Johnson-Elie, Tannette. ‘‘Couple Buys Majority Stake in Milwaukee Metal Stamping Factory.’’ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 18, 2004. Theodore, Sarah. ‘‘Leading by Example.’’ Beverage Industry 92 (November 2001): 22–26. ‘‘Virgis Colbert: Corporate Executive with a Mission.’’ Ebony 46 (September 1991): 31–33. Williams, Marilyn, and Allison M. Marion. ‘‘Virgis William Colbert.’’ Contemporary Black Biography: Profiles from the International Black Community. Vol. 17. Ed. Shirelle Phelps. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998.

Janette Prescod

Donald Alvin Coleman (1952– ), Advertising Executive Donald A. Coleman is chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of GlobalHue, the first and largest minority-owned marketing communications agency focusing on multicultural audiences. Expanding to include branch offices in San Antonio, Dallas, New York, and Miami, Coleman’s firm provides African American, Hispanic, Asian, and urban marketing expertise. Coleman was born on January 11, 1952, in Toledo, Ohio, and is the son of Dorothy Bowers Coleman and Augustus Coleman. He received a B.A. degree in journalism in 1974 from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. in 1976 from Hofstra University. Teaming as a linebacker for the University of Michigan, the New Orleans Saints, and the New York Jets, Coleman was permanently sidelined with knee injuries and in 1977 turned his professional attention to advertising. He married Jo Moore Coleman in 1976 and has a child, Kelli. Beginning his career with Campbell-Ewald Advertising in Warren, Michigan, and holding several positions including vice president from 1977 to 1985, Coleman advanced to senior vice president of Burrell Advertising in Chicago from 1985 to 1987. In 1988, he founded Don Coleman & Associates, Southfield, Michigan, and served as president and CEO until the establishment of GlobalHue in 2002. In 1999, Coleman became chief executive officer of the multicultural New America Strategies Group. This group, now known as GlobalHue, was

179

Donald Alvin Coleman

formed in 2002 and includes the former Don Coleman Advertising and Montemayor y Asociados (a Hispanic agency), Innovasia Advertising (an Asian agency), New Perspectives Media, New Day Entertainment, and GlobalHue Publishing. It is the first and largest minority-owned national advertising and marketing communications agency dedicated to the multicultural consumer. In timely and effective response to the changing dynamics of the brand marketing and advertising industry and with increased spending in the multicultural and urban communities, and under Coleman’s leadership, GlobalHue rethinks and reshapes its strategic planning to meet current representative client expectations. As reflected in the agency name, GlobalHue is no longer focusing on the African American client alone but has seriously expanded to include the existing and rapidly emerging multicultural and urban markets. Due to the increasing competition from mainstream advertising and marketing agencies and urban boutiques, GlobalHue has also expanded to more effectively focus its expertise through its astute approach to the identification of and service to client and consumer needs and demands. GlobalHue is quite well known for its innovation in creating unique campaigns that reflect the essence of its clients’ products, to which all client and consumer cultural groups can relate, that are adept at focusing on specific cultural groups, and that show cutting-edge expertise in diversity marketing. Facile at seamless business, financial, and creative functions, GlobalHue, with its consistently productive long-term vision, expands its services by utilizing a combination of magazine print ads, posters, radio and television spots, and Internet banners to reach its target diversity consumers and to gain market share. It continues to search for more innovative nontraditional brand messaging, including product placement in motion pictures and film, and continues to delve into cobranding opportunities as it competitively and effectively increases its distribution points. A privately owned company headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, GlobalHue ended the fiscal year in December 2003 with estimated sales at $49 million, a one-year sales growth estimated at 6.7 percent, 160 employees, and a one-year employee growth of 5.9 percent. With branch offices in New York, Dallas, Miami, San Antonio, and Los Angeles, GlobalHue’s clients include American Airlines, Hilton Hotels, DaimlerChrysler Corporation, KMart, Johnson & Johnson, Miller Brewing Company, Solomon Smith Barney, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of California, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Verizon Wireless, the U.S. Navy, and Microsoft. GlobalHue’s mission is to provide efficient and effective multicultural marketing expertise while reflecting the diverse consumer marketplace including different ethnic groups, the urban, young adult, gay, and transgender markets. Its range of expertise includes advertising, community relations, direct and urban marketing, celebrity entertainment, event marketing, research, media buying, and consulting—a multiplicity of services beneath one roof. With a keen instinct regarding America’s changing demographics and market growth attributed to population increases as well as rising income

180

Donald Alvin Coleman

levels, Coleman sees that GlobalHue consistently and strategically remakes itself to identify trends and meet the demands of the true emerging multicultural market. Coleman has been involved in numerous activities outside his work arena. His professional memberships over his career have included the American Association of Advertising Agencies, National Football League Players Association, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Association of Market Developers, the advisory committee of the Reggie McKenzie Foundation, the Adcraft Club of Detroit, and the University of Michigan Athletic Department Board in Control. Coleman also serves on the board of the Children’s Center of Michigan and the Ad Council’s Board of Directors and is chairman of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) Foundation and a member of its Multicultural Task Force. Coleman recently won the prestigious Founders Award from St. John’s Jesuit High School, where he has been a Board Council member since 1992. He helped found the Toledo 2020 program that incorporates an endowment of over $1.5 million in tuition assistance for bright minority students. Coleman was also honored in May 2004 by Junior Achievement’s 12th Annual Southeastern Michigan Business Hall of Fame selection as a leader achieving enduring career success and exemplifying community commitment. For his work with GlobalHue, Coleman has been recognized as a leader in his field of expertise. His firm has received top rankings on Black Enterprise’s list of Top Advertising Agencies as number 3 in 1999, number 2 in 2000, and number 1 in 2002, 2003, and 2004. Coleman’s cutting-edge status springs from a fresh multicultural perspective, unique client partnerships, excellence in creativity and strategic planning, internal talent growth, synergy, and teamwork. His keen insight into multicultural business perspectives has proven to consistently assure the development of highly effective strategic marketing plans and creative execution. See also: Advertising Agencies; Advertising and Marketing Sources Black Enterprise. http://www.blackenterprise.com/BE100sAdItem.asp. ‘‘Chrysler Group Retains GlobalHue as Its Multicultural Agency.’’ Hispanic Business. http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/news_print.asp. Coleman, Donald A. ‘‘Generate Insight for Strategic Plans.’’ Advertising Age 69 (February 16, 1998): S12. ———. ‘‘Playing to Win in a Brand New Arena.’’ Multicultural Marketing Resources, Inc. http://www.multicultural.com/experts/art_multicultural.html. ‘‘Donald A. Coleman, Chairman and CEO, GlobalHue.’’ Marketing Opportunities in Business & Entertainment. http://www.mobe.com/next/bio/dcoleman.html. Hayes, Cassandra. ‘‘30 Years of the BE 100s.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (June 2002): 199– 207. Hayes, Cassandra, and Jules Allen. ‘‘A Creative Point of View: BE Advertising Agency of the Year.’’ Black Enterprise 28 (June 1998): 164.

181

Kenneth L. Coleman Hughes, Alan. ‘‘United Colors of GlobalHue.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (June 2003): 186– 190. Irwin, Tanya. ‘‘GlobalHue Names a President.’’ Adweek Midwest Edition 43 (September 2, 2002): 4þ. ‘‘Junior Achievement Honors Outstanding Business Leaders, May 20, in Dearborn.’’ Hoover’s. http://www.hoovers.com/free/co/news/detail.xhtml. Miley, Michael. ‘‘Faster Than FedEx.’’ http://cgw.pennet.com/Articles/Article_Dis play.cfm. Multicultural Marketing Resources, Inc. Sponsor’s Profile. http://www.multicultural .com/experts/multicultural.html. Target Market News. Recent Headlines. http://www.targetmarketnews.com/recent news.htm. ‘‘Three Men Receive St. John’s Highest Honors.’’ St. John’s Jesuit High School. http://www.sjjtitans.org/web/nhonorsalums.htm. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Linda Combs Hayden

Kenneth L. Coleman (1942– ), Technology Executive, Entrepreneur Instead of retiring to his Hawaii home after twenty-five years as a successful executive in the technology industry, Kenneth L. Coleman has embarked on a new career as an innovator of a software product designed to improve information technology (IT) management for chief information officers (CIOs). The start-up company, ITM Software, is Coleman’s brainchild. He is one of the founders, its chairman, and the chief executive officer (CEO). Even before he began ITM Software, Coleman was recognized by Black Enterprise as one of its top twenty-five blacks in the technology industry for 2001. Coleman began his technology career in 1972, following completion of his education at Ohio State University (OSU) and four years in the U.S. Air Force. He was hired by the consumer information technology giant Hewlett Packard and worked there for ten years in many capacities including corporate staffing, personnel, and manager of northern European personnel. His next position was with Activision Inc., a company that develops, publishes, and distributes interactive entertainment and leisure products. During his years at Activision, he served as vice president of human resources and vice president of product development. For the next fourteen years he worked for Silicon Graphics Inc., a technology organization that produces servers, supercomputers, visualization systems, workstations, storage solutions, and software. At the Californiaheadquartered $2.3 billion company, he was promoted from senior vice president of administration and business development to executive vice president of Global Sales, Services, and Marketing. His responsibilities included overseeing sales, marketing, and services, and he was responsible for revenue and gross margins.

182

Kenneth L. Coleman

After he retired in August 2001 from his career as a senior technology manager, he began a new adventure that would become ITM Software. Even though the market for technology companies was weak in 2001, ITM Software was the result of an attempt to resolve a problem that had plagued Coleman when he was a manager of information and technology. According to ITM Software Company, the dilemma centered on the frustration of ‘‘communicating the value of IT . . . to executives across the company . . . and the inability to answer many of the basic business questions relating to IT in a timely manner.’’ He was willing to start his company during the weak technology market. In a Black Enterprise article in November 2002, he expressed that during an economic downturn expectations are low, good people can be found, and rents are cheaper. In order to put his vision into action, he gathered around him experienced information technology experts. The other founders and members of the company’s management team, board of directors, and advisory committee are VIPs (very important persons) of the technology and financial industries. Coleman went from being an executive at a large company of over 4,000 to an entrepreneur of a company with 30 employees. In his new position, he uses all his previous experiences and contacts, tapping available resources to raise funds for his start-up company. His effective explanation of his product and services along with his stellar record as a manager brought major investors on board despite the current climate of fear of losing money in yet another technology company with great promises and little delivery. ITM Software is privately held. Its product is an integrated business suite that aids company CIOs and IT departments. ITM not only creates the software package but also provides services to its customer that only a company with the expertise of its staff can present. Significant in his approach to launching this new company is that he has sought advice as well as investors from the African American community. Coleman is described as a visionary, a pioneer, and a coalition builder with an active mind filled with ideas. Since its founding, the company has been described by Business Wire as an emerging leader in the enterprise software industry because of its skilled management team, its products, and its best practice expertise. ITM Software seeks customers from Fortune 2000 corporations, government agencies, and universities. It has gained a reputation for its customer service relations and its single focus to help chief information officers be more successful in their management of the information technology function. That is a direct reflection of the CEO’s philosophy, which is to serve the customers’ needs. His goal is to earn more than $10 million in revenues per year. Based on the leadership of its CEO, one of the values of the company is its commitment to involvement in the community. Throughout his career he served on the board of directors of Acclaim Entertainment, MIPS Technologies, and United Online. He has served as a member of the Ohio State University Alumni Advisory Council and the Dean’s Advisory Council for the business schools at Ohio State and Santa Clara universities. He has

183

Kenneth L. Coleman

served as board member of the Bay Area Black United Fund, the University of Santa Clara Industrial Advisory Commission, the Children’s Health Council, the University of California San Francisco, and City National Bank. For his achievements, Coleman has received recognition and awards. From his alma mater, Ohio State University, he received the Distinguished Service Award during the 2003 commencement. He is the recipient of the National Alliance of Black School Educators Living Legend Award, the American Leadership Forum of Silicon Valley Exemplary Leader Award, and the One Hundred Black Men of Silicon Valley Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Junior Achievement Hall of Fame Honoring Business Leaders of Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay in 1998. He received the Award for Excellence in Community Service for San Jose, California, and the Marketing Opportunities in Business and Entertainment Award. A popular speaker, Coleman has spoken at the Stanford Business School Conference on ‘‘People of Color in the Economy.’’ He is a member of the OSU Fisher College of Business Dean’s Advisory Council. Before he retired from SGI, he, along with the staff, helped design the college’s computer/ communications network. He provides advice to students in the OSU Advanced Center of the Arts and Design. Coleman grew up in the small southern Illinois town of Centralia with only 10 percent of the population of 14,000 African Americans. He left Centralia to attend Ohio State University, where he earned both a B.S. degree in industrial management and an M.B.A. Coleman would one day manage at a company that employed as many people as there were African Americans in his hometown. He is a retired U.S. Air Force captain. He is married to Caretha Coleman; they have five children—Kennetha, Karen, Kimberly, Kristen, and Kenneth. He lives by the creed of the company motto: ‘‘We say what we do; we do what we say . . . we act together in harmony, which allows us to execute with excellence and deliver on our promises.’’ Sources Activision Investor Relations. Company Background. http://investor.activision.com/ background.cfm. Dean’s Advisory Council. ‘‘Kenneth L. Coleman.’’ http://fisher.osu.edu/About/ Office-of-the-Dean/DAC/Coleman. Donaldson, Sonya A. ‘‘Anatomy of a Startup.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (November 2004): 112–123. ———. ‘‘Back to Business.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (November 2002): 60. ‘‘ITM Software Closes $6 Million Equity Financing Round.’’ Business Wire, May 12, 2005. http://www.businesswire.com. ITM Software Company. http://www.itm-software.com. Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley & Monterey Bay, Inc. ‘‘Business Hall of Fame Laureates of 1998: Kenneth L. Coleman.’’ http://www.jascc.org/hall/hfkcoleman .htm. Maui Aloha Investment Fund. http://mauialohafund.com/about.asp.

184

Colored Merchants’ Association Standard & Poor’s Register of Corporations, Directors and Executives. New York: Standard and Poor’s Corporation, 2003. Stanford Graduate School of Business. ‘‘Kenneth L. Coleman and Mozelle W. Thompson to Keynote Stanford Business School Conference on People of Color in the New Economy.’’ News Release, April 3, 2001. http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/ news/bbsa.html. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Gloria Hamilton

Colored Merchants’ Association Black economic development of the early twentieth century included a black cooperative movement that involved department stores, shoe stores, grocery stores, and other retail establishments. The most notable among these cooperatives was the Colored Merchants’ Association, or CMA, founded on August 10, 1928, in Montgomery, Alabama, under the efforts of A. C. Brown—a local grocer. Members of this early group of twelve black grocers who attended the founding meeting agreed to operate their businesses under the banner ‘‘C.M.A. Stores.’’ Members would be a part of a voluntary chain, yet the proprietor’s name would be written below the title ‘‘C.M.A. Stores.’’ As the organization grew and spread to other states, it adopted the slogan: ‘‘Quality, Service, and Price.’’ It also considered using a uniform color scheme in its member stores. The CMA differed from other cooperatives in its reliance on cooperative buying as well as intensive selling. Members were taught to move their merchandise rapidly to increase profit. The stores also did cooperative advertising, promoting their businesses weekly in local newspapers when they had special bargains that the organization’s efforts made possible. Although the national effort was shortlived, it had successfully helped blacks solidify the economic gains that they had made up to and during this period. During its founding meeting, the CMA elected H. C. Ball as president and David F. Lowery Jr. as secretary. Lowery had shared Brown’s enthusiasm for such an organization. The organi- View of a model Colored Merchants’ Association (CMA) zation moved swiftly to secure each store bearing the name Horne’s. Source: Thomas O. Fuller. store’s financial resources. A uniform Pictorial History of the American Negro. Memphis: Pictorial accounting system was installed in History, Inc., Publishers, 1933, p. 139.

185

Colored Merchants’ Association

member stores. The group met each Tuesday night at a member store and identified their purchasing needs as a whole. The next day local wholesale grocers quoted prices for the combined order. President Ball was the buyer at first and served without salary; then a buying committee was established under Ball’s chairmanship. Each member had a specific assignment, such as to obtain price of a commodity—meat, flour, sugar, rice, and so on. Members of the association agreed to sell their goods as rapidly as possible, hoping that the fast turnover would lead to Interior of a model Colored Merchants’ Association (CMA) larger profits and stabilize operating store. Source: Thomas O. Fuller. Pictorial History of the Amer- conditions. To do this, they pooled ican Negro. Memphis: Pictorial History, Inc., Publishers, 1933, the money set aside for promotional p. 140. activities, and each week advertised their specials in the local press—the Montgomery Advertiser and the Montgomery Journal. They reprinted the advertisements on fliers and distributed them to all black homes within each store’s vicinity. So successful was the CMA in Montgomery that the Negro Business League of Montgomery and its president invited the secretary of the National Negro Business League (NNBL) to visit the city and examine firsthand the work of the CMA stores. On November 1928, Albon L. Holsey, the national secretary, met with the association’s entire membership and visited some of the member stores. Holsey was immediately impressed with what he called the ‘‘Montgomery Plan’’ and presented it to the league’s president, Robert R. Moton, who was also president of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, with the recommendation that the league should spread the idea to other cities. Holsey became national CMA organizer and successfully encouraged grocers to join the chain of stores. In following the plan, Holsey knew that in areas where there were ten or more retail stores, the stores would be eligible to join CMA. He knew also CMA’s three primary objectives: to bring retail grocers into a group that would study the then-modern methods of selling, to teach them the psychology of the black consumer, and to unite them with local jobbers and wholesalers. Around this same time the president of the local business league in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, called for help to stimulate local interest in the plan and the work of the NNBL in promoting the CMA. The plan had spread to Winston-Salem, making it the second city to organize CMA stores; the first such store opened in May 1929. The Winston-Salem project was well thought out. It embraced the Montgomery Plan, required a connection with national advertisers, and called for a

186

Colored Merchants’ Association

model grocery store patterned after one set up earlier in Louisville and arranged to handle a sizable stock. The local black college, Winston-Salem Teachers College, provided students and faculty from its Home Economics Department; they joined local high school students and helped to set up demonstrations in the ‘‘model store.’’ After a local store was remodeled to become the model store, it was stocked with fresh goods, and young men from a local high school, who worked under the supervision of Atlanta University president John Hope Jr., inventoried the stock. Doors opened to the public on May 4. The local campaign, spearheaded by the NNBL, had widespread interest. Housewives took a new interest in the black stores, storekeepers saw amazing financial results, and large numbers of citizens turned out to hear Moton and his campaign and a representative of the Domestic Commerce Division of the U.S. Department of Commerce. On May 6, heads of commercial departments at Hampton Institute in Virginia and Bluefield Institute in West Virginia—both black colleges—came with some of their students to inspect the model store. When the NNBL’s campaign in Winston-Salem ended on May 6, CMA membership had reached Advertisement for one of the Colored Merchants’ Association twenty-four; by July there were thirty- stores located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Source: five members. Nearly all of the stores Albon L. Holsey. ‘‘The CMA Stores Face the Chains.’’ Opreported immediate and accelerated portunity 7 (July 1929), p. 210. growth and a rapid increase in profits for its affiliates. As the stores saw an increase in profit, they provided employment for blacks in the local community. Further, as the Winston-Salem plan was promoted, Albon Holsey noted in an article on ‘‘The C.M.A. Stores Face the Chains’’ that organizations such as the ‘‘Association of National Advertisers, the Associated Negro Press, the Commission on Race Relations, the National Association of Retail Grocers, and the National Urban League’’ supported the work of the NNBL. Clearly, the plan had great potential for the local and national community. Quoted in the same article, the Norfolk Journal and Guide said,

187

Colored Merchants’ Association

‘‘If it could be possible to carry the plan (Winston-Salem Campaign) to other cities in rapid succession, Negro business would undergo a real rehabilitation.’’ CMA STORES SPREAD RAPIDLY Through Holsey’s efforts, stores were organized in most of the major American cities. Those in the South were Dallas, Tulsa, Atlanta, Jackson (Mississippi), Nashville, Louisville, Richmond, Hampton, and Norfolk. Those outside the South were in Omaha, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, New York, Brooklyn, and elsewhere. Within three years the members paid cash for their goods and received larger discounts. They also sold mostly for cash, especially on heavy shopping days—Fridays and Saturdays. They aroused the interest of national advertisers, who realized the rapidly developing purchasing power of blacks. Before the CMA moved into Harlem, there were more than 200,000 blacks living in some 300 city blocks in that area. Whites owned 98 percent of the grocery stores that served the residents. Edwin E. Hurd reported in the Southern Workman that blacks tended to patronize the white stores, and the few black grocers that were there failed to cooperate with each other in business ventures. Not only were they unacquainted with each other; they never consolidated interests, showed no unity of action, lacked general direction, and had no buying power. They knew nothing about good business procedures, such as bookkeeping and merchandizing. ‘‘The appearance of the stores was noted with anything but pride,’’ he said. Holsey moved on to New York and campaigned for the CMA. He distributed circulars to the grocers and encouraged them to attend a series of meetings where the purpose of CMA was explained. Training became essential to the success of CMA members; thus, they met two or three nights each week to study modern merchandizing methods under the tutelage of experts. The lecturers included an official of the Associated Grocery Manufacturers, a representative of the U.S. Department of Commerce, a bank cashier, and an editor of the Progressive Grocer. Some of the stores had an insufficient variety of fresh goods, sold at higher prices than white-owned stores, and gave customers poor service. Then the CMA said that its members should appeal to customers on the basis of quality, service, and price and that the idea of using racial pride as a factor for shopping at the CMA stores should be incidental. As soon as this plan became operational in the Harlem stores in October 1929, membership began to increase; in two years there were twenty-three member stores, two model stores, and several others that were transforming themselves into model stores. That the growth occurred during the stock market crash of 1929 was at most an interesting coincidence: One remodeled store saw its sales increase from $450 a week to $1,200 a week. Some sources claimed that CMA failed during the Great Depression; however, Vishnu Oak asserts that they were unaffected by this economic downfall.

188

Colored Merchants’ Association

The CMA established national headquarters in New York in October 1929 as well. Members were required to purchase one share of its stock and to pay a small, weekly fee for CMA services. It was through the headquarters that training, bookkeeping systems, printing, advertising, and other services were handled for members. The stores continued to operate under the CMA banner, yet they retained ownership of their business. So impressed with CMA’s progress was its chief advocate, the National Negro Business League, that it devoted the program of its thirty-first annual meeting in Detroit in 1930 to the analysis of blacks’ purchasing power. In time, the effects of the Great Depression may have been felt. Added to that, various signs of internal dissension and disruption emerged. By 1933, three stores in Harlem were sold at public auction; they cited a lack of operating capital as the chief reason for the failure. The problems mounted. Some members withdrew from the CMA. Although prosperous, some members were in debt to wholesalers. In The History of Black Business in America, Juliet Walker found some of the wholesalers ‘‘racketeering in character.’’ When some grocers were in debt to wholesalers, the wholesalers threatened them with foreclosure if they joined CMA. A lack of cooperation among members, failure to attend the training sessions, and a growing question concerning the professionalism of CMA management were cited as threats to the security of CMA. There were also claims that the CMA was, in fact, white owned and that Holsey, the organizer, was no more than a front man. Further erosion came when black consumers lost confidence with CMA and when some members undersold or intentionally oversold each other, especially the ‘‘specials.’’ Some preferred to advertise or sell chain brands rather than CMA-labeled brands. Wholesalers also fought the CMA movement openly and vigorously. For black grocers, the very idea of ‘‘oneness of action’’ was lost completely in this venture, yet up until World War II blacks established many other cooperatives. By 1936, many stores began to withdraw from CMA membership, thus causing little need to continue the New York warehouse; it was then liquidated. When CMA ceased operations, member stores owed the organization over $7,000 for the branded merchandise. While at first CMA stores increased by leaps and bounds, their closure came with similar rapidity. Yet what is important about CMA’s work is its success in organizing a chain of stores nationwide, which had operated under similar purposes, filled similar needs in the black community, and when in their heyday, brought increased and substantial profits to stores that previously reaped little profits. CMA’s plan of operation, especially as seen in the Winston-Salem project, reaped benefits as well. No doubt the idea of involving the community in business development, using scientific approaches to business development, catering to the needs of the community, and providing muchneeded jobs in the black community, especially for its youth, weighed heavily on the minds of those who wanted to see success. But for those who wanted to steer business away from CMA-affiliated stores, the failure was welcomed.

189

Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs

The CMA was an experiment that stood the test of time. One of its primary interests—that of cooperation—continues as a practice observed in current business enterprises. The experiment was an example of ‘‘black selfhelp’’ put to practice. See also: Advertising and Marketing; Consumer Cooperatives; Grocery Store Enterprises; Retail Industry Sources Harris, Abram L. The Negro as Capitalist: A Study of Banking and Business among American Negroes. 1936. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969. Holsey, Albon L. ‘‘The C.M.A. Stores Face the Chains.’’ Opportunity 7 (July 1929): 210–213. Hurd, Edwin E. ‘‘A New Co-operative Movement: Colored Merchants’ Association.’’ Southern Workman 60 (January 1931): 38–40. Oak, Vishnu V. The Negro’s Adventure in General Business. Vol. 2. Yellow Springs, OH: Printed for the author by Antioch Press, 1919. Pierce, Joseph A. Negro Business and Business Education: Their Present and Prospective Development. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1947. Reprint, Westport, CT: Negro Universities Press, 1971. ‘‘Survey of the Month.’’ (‘‘The Colored Merchants’ Association’’) Opportunity 8 (June 1930): 187. Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998.

Jessie Carney Smith

Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs (1969– ), Entrepreneur, Multimedia Executive, Popular Culture Mogul Sean Jean Combs’s success began as a trend-setting executive in the world of urban hip-hop music but has transcended race, class, and gender to penetrate the essential fabric of American popular culture through music, fashion, and ultimately persuasive attitude. The onetime college sophomore found his path from intense determination and the refusal to be refused. His hard work now beats to the tune of almost billionaire status at the preprime age of thirty-six years young and finds him in colleague company with the likes of Bill Gates, Donald Trump, and Hugh Hefner financially. Combs emerged in 1988 as an unpaid intern, only to have his own label by 1994. Throughout the next decade, no dialogue could properly be mentioned on music and culture in America without him in the conversation. In her review of Bad Boy: The Influence of Sean ‘‘Puffy’’ Combs on the Music Industry published in Black Issues, Janine Gardner states, ‘‘A conglomerate all his own, ‘Puffy’ has made his presence known in just about every medium. From hip-hop to fashion, and even the restaurant business, Puff Daddy (P. Diddy) is worth his weight in gold.’’ To have a full-length book written about you by a leading music journalist on your impact on one

190

Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs

of the most lucrative industries in America at the young age of twenty-nine speaks volumes. Yet considering his accomplishments, Combs’s accolades cannot be ignored. He is the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group, an annual $300 million global empire that is made up of Bad Boy Records, Combs Music Publishing, Janice Combs Management, Sean John Clothing, Justin’s Restaurant Chain, and Daddy’s House Studios. He has undergone several name changes during his career, becoming known as ‘‘Puffy,’’ ‘‘Puff Daddy,’’ and ‘‘P. Diddy’’; since August 2005 he prefers to be known as simply ‘‘Diddy.’’ He was born Sean Jean Combs in Harlem, New York, on November 4, 1969, and attended Mount Vernon Montessori School and Mt. St. Michael Academy before attending Howard University in Washington, D.C. While at Howard, an eager and aggressive Combs landed an internship with Uptown Records that would lay the groundwork for the eventual independent entrepreneurial zeal that would sustain his career. Though only nineteen, his immediate contributions and consistent quality produced a promotion to A & R director. Under his direction, a new subgenre termed hip-hop soul was branded in the early 1990s that would solidify his place on the landscape of hip-hop historiography. The sound, image, and routes to success for Mary J. Blige and Jodeci were crafted by Combs. His production and marketing teeth were cut at this stage due in large part to mentorship from Andre Harrell. As Uptown president and hip-hop pioneer with legendary Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde fame, Harrell would mold Combs’s raw tenacity and attention to detail with the craftsmanship needed to have longevity in this most fickle business. Ever full of ambition, Combs was not content with limitations on his creative and business judgments, so he founded Bad Boy Records in 1994. Combs’s reputation for delivering quality goods would be further solidified with the judgment he rendered in signing Christopher Wallace, better known as Biggie Smalls and/or The Notorious B.I.G., whose debut CD Ready to Die achieved platinum success in 1994. Along with B.I.G.’s second album in 1997, Life after Death, Bad Boy’s place in hip-hop legend was firmly implanted. In just three years, Combs’s company was producing chartsmashing records and shaping a definitive sound in the case of B.I.G., who is widely regarded as one of the most prolific lyricists in the history of hip-hop. Though Combs’s top-selling artist B.I.G. would succumb to an untimely murder in 1996, the legacy his work left will always be associated with the relationship he shared and careers catapulted with Combs. Bad Boy is much more than a production company, however, but many critics at the time of B.I.G.’s passing were openly skeptical of whether Bad Boy could sustain itself. Referring to entrepreneurial embodiment by African American hip-hop record executives in the mid-1990s, David Sanjek includes Combs in his narrative. In American Music, Sanjek notes how Combs of Bad Boy Entertainment has a distribution agreement with a larger company but retains control over the content of his recordings in addition to significant shares of

191

Conferences and Studies on the Negro in Business: The Early Years

profit. This is where the effectiveness of Combs’s business acumen is to be most appreciated. As the handler of his own business matters, he was successfully able to negotiate a 50–50 deal for distribution with Arista records in 1996, which was unprecedented at the time and fostered guaranteed support for his growing roster of artists including Faith Evans, Junior Mafia, 112, Carl Thomas, Black Rob, Craig Mack, New Edition, and his own solo projects. Consistent with Combs’s mastery of business sophistication, he split with Arista in 2002—but not without 100 percent of his artist’s catalogs, master recordings, and publishing rights. In 2003 he signed a distribution deal for his company with Universal that still gives him total control and ownership of company records. In 1997 Combs established Justin’s Fine Dining Restaurants in New York City, and in 1999, the second operation opened in Atlanta, Georgia. Estimated gross revenue from each restaurant was $8 million in 2004. In 1998, Sean John Clothing was established, which by 2002 was reaping annual gains of $175 million a year. Feeding the men’s urban clothing market was a no-brain decision for Combs, but its success lay in the fact that he virtually defined the hip-hop urban world from a marketing standpoint through his production and cultural influence from previous years. One hand feeding the other is an ideal desired by all involved in the process of business making. However, few have been as successful as Combs in penetrating a culture and market as affectively. Sources BBO (Bad Boy). http://www.badboyonline.com/flashindex.htm. ‘‘Business of Entertainment.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (December 2002): 76–98. Gardner, Janine. ‘‘Hip Hop with an R & B Twist.’’ Black Issues Book Review 4 (January–February 2002): 47. McKinney, Jeffrey. ‘‘The Hip-Hop Economy.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (September 2002): 98–103. Ogbar, Jeffrey O. G. ‘‘Slouching Toward Bork: The Culture Wars and Self-Criticism in Hip-Hop.’’ Journal of Black Studies 30 (November 1999): 164–183. Ro, Ronin. Bad Boy: The Influence of Sean ‘‘Puffy’’ Combs on the Music Industry. New York: Pocket Books, 2001. Sanjek, David. ‘‘One Size Does Not Fit All: The Precarious Position of the AfricanAmerican Entrepreneur in Post–World War II American Popular Music.’’ American Music (Winter 1997): 535–562. Sanneh, Kelefa. ‘‘Believe the Hype.’’ Transition, no. 80 (1999): 120–148.

Uzoma O. Miller

Conferences and Studies on the Negro in Business: The Early Years The development of black business enterprises traditionally has been a primary concern among those who aimed to provide economic uplift to the black community in America. Atlanta University saw a need for a sys-

192

Conferences and Studies on the Negro in Business: The Early Years

tematic and thorough investigation of problems affecting blacks in cities and initially planned to hold a conference in November 1895 to address such issues. It was to coincide with the Atlanta Exposition. Instead, the first conference was postponed until 1896. Efforts to enhance the social conditions of blacks were reported during the Third Annual Conference for the Study of the Negro Problems held at the university on May 25–26, 1898. Among the findings was a list of ‘‘Co-operative Business Enterprises’’ for blacks; reports of new business enterprises, such as the Coleman Manufacturing Company in Concord, North Carolina; and ‘‘Organized Benevolent Efforts’’ showing examples of economic provisions for blacks. Resolutions passed at the Third Annual Conference prompted planners to develop the next conference around the theme ‘‘The Negro in Business.’’ The resolutions committee included such prominent people as W.E.B. Du Bois as well as a publisher, minister, iron foundry manager, and grocer. On May 30, 1899, Atlanta University held its Fourth Annual Conference to further the discussion on issues affecting African Americans. Noting the ‘‘disproportion in the distribution of Negroes in the various occupations,’’ as seen in the report The Negro in Business, participants sought to remedy the situation by encouraging an increased number of blacks to enter into a variety of business ventures, thus avoiding a one-sided development in business life and increase competition in specific lines of industry. Second, the resolutions called for well-trained merchants who were well grounded in English and who held high school but preferably college education. Third, the resolutions called for businessmen to meet customer demands for courtesy and honesty. Fourth, black masses should ‘‘buy black’’— that is, patronize black-operated businesses. Fifth, many of the 1,900 business leaders who attended the conference were recognized as having made a creditable record in businesses and were ‘‘pioneers of a great movement.’’ The sixth resolution was the most encompassing and suggested ways to further develop black businesses, such as to agitate through schools, churches, and the press to encourage young blacks to enter businesses; to encourage young people to be thrifty and to save money; and to encourage every town, hamlet, and community where blacks lived to develop Negro Business Men’s Leagues. Among the papers presented were ‘‘The Meaning of Business’’ by John Hope, president of Atlanta Baptist College (now Morehouse College) in Atlanta, who noted the change in the status of blacks since the Civil War but that the black remained ‘‘the laborer, the day hand, the man who works for wages.’’ He called for workers to take their wages, turn the wages into capital, and then increase it. Employment of blacks was a critical need and would have to come to ‘‘Negroes from Negro sources.’’ Other papers addressed topics such as ‘‘The Need of Negro Merchants’’; ‘‘The Negro Grocer’’; ‘‘A Negro Cooperative Foundry,’’ or the Southern Stove Hollow-ware and Foundry Company temporarily organized on February 15, 1897, and permanently organized and incorporated in Chattanooga on August 15, 1897; ‘‘Negro Business Ventures in Atlanta, Georgia’’; and ‘‘The Negro Newspaper.’’

193

Conferences and Studies on the Negro in Business: The Early Years

The Negro Yearbook for 1947 reports that between 1939 and 1946 various conferences on black business were held. Around 1940–1941 black as well as white business leaders gave considerable discussion to the general importance of the ‘‘Negro’’ market. These leaders concluded that the nation’s largest minority market should be equipped with the means of increasing its purchasing power. As result, the nation as a whole would prosper economically. Among the many conferences held was a meeting in Savannah, Georgia, that attracted 200 business and professional women from Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Although the group was not identified, the Yearbook notes the women’s final recommendations: ‘‘Develop a Negro market by the creation and operation of agencies for that purpose; through cooperatives, government and private loans, and reinvestment earnings, bring about a continuous and progressive increase in available capital for business expansion.’’ In 1950, the Virginia Trade Association met at Hampton Institute in Virginia and called for a ‘‘movement to speed economic security by opening more opportunities in business through ownership and employment.’’ Over thirty years after the Atlanta Conference, in 1941, the U.S. Department of Commerce began a series of conferences on black businesses, the first held on April 18–19, 1941. Emmer M. Lancaster, adviser on Negro Affairs in the department, called the conference together. Those in attendance included prominent business leaders, business educators, and laypeople who had an interest in black business. Among the successful business ventures reported was the Brown Belle Company, a bottling business in Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennessee, that offered carbonated water and carbonated soft drinks. Although a second conference was planned, the country’s entrance into World War II delayed it for five years, until October 17–18, 1946. It was held in Washington, D.C. There was a report on the George W. Kerford Quarry Company, established in 1886; its location was unnamed. A third conference was convened on April 1–3, 1948, still under Lancaster’s leadership. At each conference various government officers who had an interest in small black enterprises gave lectures and demonstrations. Entrepreneurs who had established unusual business ventures also gave accounts of their work. Some of the successful ventures cited at the third conference were reports of the Cameron Dairy Company (Canton, Mississippi, 1936); the Rose Meta House of Beauty, (Harlem, 1947) under the leadership of Rose Morgan; an engineering firm, A. A. Alexander, Inc. (Des Moines, Iowa, 1914), founded by Archie Alphonso Alexander and later became Alexander and Repass Company; Commons Coal and Ice Company (Birmingham, 1920); the G. W. Brown Drayman Corporation (Scranton, Pennsylvania, 1882); and Bell & Hudgins— A Mail Order Firm (New York City, 1942). It was at the third conference that a group of business teachers formed the National Business Education Association. All three conferences attracted large attendance. Conferences on black businesses had also been the focus of the National Negro Business League (NNBL). NNBL was one of the early organizations

194

Conferences and Studies on the Negro in Business: The Early Years

founded to support blacks in business. A vital organization, it operated early on as a federation of chambers of commerce or state and local business leagues. According to Vishnu Oak in The Negro’s Adventure in General Business, the U.S. Department of Commerce attracted much greater attendance at its conferences than the NNBL. Studies of black business and business education continued and enhanced much of the work of the early Atlanta conferences. Notable among these studies was the Atlanta University/National Urban League study begun February 1, 1944, and extended to about February 1, 1946. A grant from the General Education Board funded the study. Those who were invited to Atlanta to participate in the original planning meeting included representatives of the National Negro Business League and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Joseph Alphonso Pierce, then professor of mathematics at Atlanta University, led the investigation and published the results under the title Negro Business and Business Education: Their Present and Prospective Development (1947). Black-owned and -operated business enterprises studied were found in Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Durham, Houston, Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans, Richmond, Savannah, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. Of special importance also was the attention given to business education courses offered at the participating black colleges, including Atlanta University, Fisk University, Morehouse College, North Carolina College for Negroes (now North Carolina Central University), Spelman College, Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State College (now Tennessee State University), and Wilberforce University. Findings showed that black businesses captured a small percentage of their potential patronage; for example, 99 percent of black consumers who bought clothing and shoes did so at a white-owned business. While there were 293 black-owned grocery stores, only about 28 percent of black consumers traded at these stores. Other findings were reported. Among the problems responsible for the lack of black patronage at black-owned businesses as well as issues that affect business operations were: little attention given to sales promotion by the entrepreneurs; inadequate business training among black managers and their personnel; and poor and inadequate recordkeeping practices in black enterprises. The results provided the groundwork for Atlanta University to go forward with its plan to establish a graduate School of Business Administration, for the National Urban League (NUL) and its various branches to enlarge job opportunities for blacks, and for NUL to link with cooperating colleges and universities to improve services to local black communities. The business leaders would also be encouraged to venture out into new areas of growth and to satisfy needs of the new black consumer. See also: Black Business Development and the Federal Government; Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade in the 1920s and 1930s Sources Du Bois, W.E.B., ed. The Negro in Business. Atlanta, GA: Atlanta University Press, 1899.

195

Conferences on African American Businesses Guzman, Jessie Parkhurst, ed. The Negro Year Book: A Review of Events Affecting Negro Life 1941–46. 10th ed. Tuskegee, AL: Department of Records and Research, Tuskegee Institute, 1947. Oak, Vishnu V. The Negro’s Adventure in General Business. Yellow Springs, OH: Antioch Press, 1949. Pierce, Joseph A. Negro Business and Business Education: Their Present and Prospective Development. New York: Harper Brothers Publishers, 1947. Reprint, Westport, CT: Negro Universities Press, 1971.

Jessie Carney Smith

Conferences on African American Businesses African Americans have been involved in business enterprises since their arrival in the areas that would eventually become the United States. Even in slavery, many were able to develop skills and trades that they would use for the benefit of their owners and over time managed to secure funds to purchase freedom for themselves and for others. Before the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, the smaller number of free blacks (located primarily in the northern states) included persons who also turned their abilities into trades and businesses. In a few rare instances, African Americans even were documented as being slaveholders. In 1830, the National Negro Convention Movement (NNCM) was founded by free blacks as a response to efforts of the American Colonization Society, which promoted efforts to relocate free and enslaved African Americans to Liberia in West Africa. The NNCM represented the first national organization of blacks that was not church based or religious in nature; opposed slavery, colonization, and other racial hostilities; and encouraged landownership and economic advancement. The majority of NNCM members were African American businessmen from northern states who advocated the development of additional black businesses, commercial farming, international trade with African nations, and the establishment of a national black bank. The organization held eleven national conferences before the Civil War, sponsored state conventions, and was a forerunner of the major African American organizations that would appear in the twentieth century. In 1898, W.E.B. Du Bois convened the Fourth Atlanta Conference and focused its agenda on ‘‘The Negro in Business.’’ He urged that Negro businessmen’s leagues be formed in every local community where there was a considerable black population, then organize on the state and national levels. The National Negro Business League (NNBL) was founded in 1900 by Booker T. Washington, who used the opposite approach. The first meeting, held in Boston, included 300 blacks from thirty-four states in varying occupations, with the purpose of promoting the commercial, agricultural,

196

Conferences on African American Businesses

educational, and industrial advancement of African Americans. One primary focus of the organization was to encourage more black people to go into business independently or in collaboration with others. During the period Washington served as president of the NNBL, the organization grew quickly, with 320 chapters by 1905, 3,000 members by 1907, and estimates as high as 40,000 members in more than 600 state and local chapters by 1915. The annual national conferences included testimonies and case studies of successful black business owners and operators, who shared strategies and Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton techniques for developing and expand- University) in Hampton, Virginia, advertises its annual Negro ing consumer markets for products and Conference for June 17–18, 1912. The Hampton conference was one of several held for African Americans during the services. Several other black business associ- late 1800s and into the first third of the twentieth century. ations were direct descendants of the Source: Monroe N. Work, Negro Year Book and Annual EnNNBL, or began as caucuses of the cyclopedia of the Negro, 1912. Tuskegee, AL: Tuskegee Institute, organization, including the National 1912, p. 11. Negro Insurance Association, the National Negro Bankers Association, the National Negro Bar Association, and the National Negro Undertakers Association. Other major black organizations and institutions that developed in the early years of the twentieth century—such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP; 1905), National Urban League (1910), Marcus Garvey’s UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association) (1914; 1917 in United States), the Hampton Normal Agricultural Institute, and the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs (1934)—also stressed business and economic development during their annual conventions and conferences as one of many key factors in the progress of African Americans. African American female entrepreneur Madame C. J. Walker, the first American woman to independently become a millionaire by developing the model for the modern ethnic hair/beauty industry, had a national network of salespersons promoting the products and services of her companies. It is documented that she and her daughter, A’Lelia Walker, traveled throughout the United States to meet with groups of their salespeople, but not necessarily in the format of a formal business conference or convention. Despite success, wealth, and subsequent fame, Walker faced sexism as well as racism, being ignored at a meeting of the NNBL in 1912 until boldly interrupting the proceedings; the next year, Walker was a presenter at the convention. The national headquarters building for the Walker companies

197

Conferences on African American Businesses

in Indianapolis, the first black-owned and -operated building of its kind in the country when erected in 1928, became an informal convention center for black professionals and entrepreneurs. The theme of economic empowerment continued as one facet of the larger agenda of newer organizations that came to prominence in the middle years of the twentieth century. Examples of such organizations and their leaders were the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (Asa Philip Randolph), Congress of Racial Equality (James Forman and Roy Innis), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy), the Nation of Islam (Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X), and People United to Save (later Serve) Humanity, which evolved into the Rainbow/PUSH coalition led by Jesse Jackson Sr. Since these and other organizations were more oriented toward direct action in response to a variety of social and civil rights issues facing African Americans, business and economic development, while considered important, were not the primary focus of their conventions and conferences. One notable exception was Black Expo, which was developed in the early 1970s by PUSH in cooperation with a number of African American businessmen. The four-day event, first held in Chicago, highlighted black culture and black business and set the stage for a number of African American business conferences sponsored by established and emerging organizations. Black Enterprise magazine, founded in 1971 by Earl G. Graves, became the first national monthly publication devoted specifically to African American businesses and businesspersons, economics, and personal finance issues. Its success spurred additional interest in business operations, blacks in corporate America, graduate business schools, investment, entrepreneurship, and business networking among African Americans. The magazine would eventually create and sponsor its own annual event, the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference, beginning in 1996. Federal assistance for black business, one of many governmental responses to the civil rights movement, included the development of new and existing programs under agencies such as the Small Business Administration, the Office of Economic Opportunity, and the Office of Minority Business Enterprise, which was later renamed the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). The MBDA began support of the Minority Enterprise Development Week national conference in 1983 and as of 2005 described it as the largest federally supported activity held for the benefit of minority businesses. The 1990s brought more organizations and conferences, convened by such diverse groups as the National Black Chamber of Commerce, African American Women in Business, Black Business Professionals and Entrepreneurs Conference, National Black MBA Association, and the Black Business Expo and Trade Show, among others. In recent years, author and speaker George Fraser has been cited as a leading authority on business networking and has convened the national PowerNetworking Conference on Professional Growth and Development in his hometown, Cleveland, Ohio.

198

Ward Connerly

Critics of these numerous events express the view that they generate more profits for sponsors and high-profile individuals than substantial and long-term benefit to the larger African American community, even as business and economic development still require the marketing of products and services, the exchange of ideas and information, along with actual financial transactions. While technology and the Internet have provided new approaches to communication and created entire new industries (email, interactive videoconferences, Web sites), the conference setting remains viable for in-person contact and the development of business relationships. In the largest sense, whenever African American associations organize and convene conferences, black business and economic development is not only discussed but put into action through networking; mentoring; sharing of best practices, new ideas, and technology; and developing business relationships through actual transactions that take place in these settings. Sources Black Enterprise. http://www.blackenterprise.com. Elliott, Joan Curl. ‘‘Madame C. J. Walker.’’ Notable Black American Women. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. FraserNet/George Fraser. http://www.frasernet.com. Hutchinson, Earl Ofari. ‘‘The Lucrative Business of Black Leadership.’’ Black World Today, June 13, 2000. Smith, Jessie Carney. ‘‘National Organizations.’’ The African American Almanac. 9th ed. Ed. Jeffrey Lehman. Detroit: Thomson/Gale Group, 2003. Walker, Juliet E. K., ed. Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. ———. ‘‘The Federal Government and Black Business.’’ First Annual Conference, University of Texas Center for Black Business History, Entrepreneurship, and Technology, Austin, October 17, 2003. Woodard, Michael D., and Hollis F. Price Jr. ‘‘Entrepreneurship.’’ The African American Almanac. 9th ed. Ed. Jeffrey Lehman. Detroit: Thomson/Gale Group, 2003.

Fletcher F. Moon

Ward Connerly (1939– ), Consultant, Political Activist Ward Connerly is a California businessman who has become a leader in the effort to abolish affirmative action, that is, the consideration of racial or gender factors in such areas as admission to educational institutions, award of government contracts, and employment. His most publicized victory is the passage in 1996 of the highly controversial California Civil Rights Initiative (Proposition 209), which banned preferential treatment of women and minorities by the state of California. He is a political supporter and friend of then governor Pete Wilson, who appointed him to a twelve-year term on the University of California Board of Regents in March 1993. As a

199

Ward Connerly

university regent Connerly’s antiaffirmative action stance first received wide publicity in the discussion leading up to the board’s decision in July 1995 to end the use of race as a factor in admission to the university. He continues to support similar efforts elsewhere. In fall 2003 he supported an initiative to bar the collection of racial data in California. This initiative did not pass. Connerly was born in Leesville, Louisiana, on June 15, 1939. His family has a very mixed-race ancestry, and he was officially labeled ‘‘colored’’ by the state on his birth certificate—Louisiana also classified people as ‘‘white’’ and ‘‘Negro.’’ His father disappeared from his life before he was two; by the time Connerly saw his father again, in 1998, the man’s memory was gone, and he was soon to die. Connerly’s mother died when he was four. The child was cared for by his extended family, headed by his grandmother Mary Smith Soniea, the child of a marriage between a Choctaw Indian and a white mother. Soniea herself had married a light-skinned Cajun. The children of this marriage were light-skinned enough to experience rejection by their dark-skinned fellow students at school. Some family members claim that Soniea was prejudiced against dark-skinned blacks; other members deny this bias. Persons opposed to Connerly’s position on affirmative action point to this family background as part of their effort to ‘‘explain’’ his rejection of racial preferences as due to antiblack bigotry inculcated by his family. They see Connerly’s marriage to a white woman as further proof of prejudice. Connerly rejects these ideas. Since Connerly’s grandmother feared that the boy’s father would attempt to reclaim the child, Connerly was sent to live with his aunt Bertha and her husband James Louis on the West Coast. The Louises soon settled in Sacramento, California, where they were over time joined by other members of the family, including his grandmother. James Louis, a laborer, had a major influence on Connerly, inculcating the values of hard work, pride, and responsibility. When Connerly was eleven, his grandmother took him to live with her. She was a strict disciplinarian, and in addition to insisting on regular church attendance, she supervised his studies and insisted he read aloud to her everyday something from his studies or from the Bible. It is alleged that some of the stories Connerly tells of his childhood poverty are exaggerated, but his life was far from affluent. He attended Sacramento State University, graduating in 1962. At the university, where he was a Young Democrat, he pledged an all-white fraternity, Delta Phi Omega, and was elected student body president. After graduation Connerly’s political views shifted sharply to the Right. Connerly entered state government, joining the Department of Housing and Community Development and serving as the department’s liaison to the legislature. There he met state representative Pete Wilson, who recruited him for a staff position on the assembly’s housing committee. A close friendship between the two endured as Wilson became in succession mayor of San Diego, a U.S. senator, and in 1991, governor of California. Connerly became a very successful consultant in Sacramento, where he was an expert on compliance with state land-use laws. Some business came

200

Ward Connerly

his way as a black because of the mandates of affirmative action, but his success owed much more to his skills in his work and his political connections. When Wilson became governor, he offered Connerly a variety of positions; since Connerly was absorbed by his work, he accepted the post of regent of the University of California with the idea that the job would not require much time. QUESTIONS RACE-BASED ADMISSIONS In 1994 Connerly was led to consider the role of racial background in admissions to the university. His sense of justice was outraged by the disparity in such things as the high school grades of the freshmen admitted. In that year, on a scale where A is equal to 4, Asian American students averaged 3.75; whites, 3.69; Hispanic Americans, 3.50; and blacks, 3.24. His outrage opened a debate that led to the decision of the board of regents on July 21, 1995, to abolish racial preferences in admissions for women and minorities. The uproar over his stance led Connerly to commit much time and effort to his cause. Many blacks labeled him a traitor to his race, calling him such things as a ‘‘house slave’’ and a ‘‘puppet of the white man.’’ Connerly’s race was a consideration when he was later asked to head the effort to pass Proposition 209, which extended antiaffirmative action to the state level, but his political skills were also rated highly. Far from a figurehead in the effort, he displayed considerable fund-raising abilities. When he took over in November 1995, the campaign was broke, but he was able to attract money and supporters to lead to a successful outcome. The proposition passed on November 5, 1996. On Martin Luther King’s birthday the following year, Connerly announced the creation of the American Civil Rights Institute to continue the battle against affirmative action. Since then he has been involved in such efforts in many areas of the United States. He remains constant in the antiaffirmative action stance he assumed in 1994, taking time from his work as consultant to further his cause. Sources ACRI (American Civil Rights Institute) People. http://www.acri.org/people. Ayres, B. Drummond, Jr. ‘‘Fighting Affirmative Action, He Finds His Race an Issue.’’ New York Times, April 18, 1996. Bearak, Barry. ‘‘Questions of Race Run Deep for Foe of Preferences.’’ New York Times, July 27, 1997. Connerly, Ward. Creating Equal: My Fight against Race Preferences. San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2000. Murphy, Dean E. ‘‘Affirmative Action Foe’s Latest Effort Complicates California Recall Vote.’’ New York Times, August 3, 2003. Wallace, Amy. ‘‘He’s Either Mr. Right or Mr. Wrong: What Drives Ward Connerly in His Crusade to End Affirmative Action? Faith in America, Loyalty to His Old Friend, the Governor, and the Certainty That His Life Story Holds a Lesson for Us All.’’ Los Angeles Times, March 31, 1996.

Robert L. Johns

201

Consumer Cooperatives

Consumer Cooperatives The modern consumer cooperative movement began in England in 1846. While there is no strict definition of a consumer cooperative, the general principles are that the cooperative is owned by the members and exists to provide services to the membership, usually in the form of consumer items such as food at a lower price than they would be available at privately owned retail stores. Principally, the cooperative removes the profit motive, as any profits are either redistributed to members or used to expand the cooperative’s services or are applied to other community needs such as education. Consumer cooperatives cross into the realm of politics in that they were and are often organized as a response to perceived abuses by the business community or the economic inability of members to meet their needs as individuals. Consumer cooperatives are often seen as a rejection, at least in part, of capitalist principles. American farmers turned to cooperatives both as consumers and as producers in the 1870s. Today, there are millions of members in cooperatives across the United States; most are buying clubs or small supermarkets. African Americans have formed consumer cooperatives on their own and also in concert with other nationalities since the late 1800s. The first examples are African American farmers in the Grange movement in the 1860s and 1870s. Other examples of African American farmers attempting to form cooperatives in the South and Southwest are cited in various sources, but there is little information on their longterm success. In part, the success of consumer cooperatives is based on their members’ ability to support them. The dire economic straits and political oppression faced by African Americans in the South would have made maintaining cooperatives difficult, if not impossible. It is particularly important to note that any cooperative would require organization and the conscious promotion of the group’s interest. Southern planters or large landowners were reported Advertisement for the Tuskegee Co-operative Book Associato have had a major influence in both tion located at Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. This is an example of the cooperative movement in the African American the Grange movement and the Farmers’ community. Booker T. Washington’s autobiography Up from alliances during the late 1800s, reinSlavery is promoted here. Source: Monroe N. Work, Negro Year forcing the belief that any truly indeBook and Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1912. Tuskegee, pendent economic initiatives would have been difficult for black farmers. AL: Tuskegee Institute, 1912, p. 227.

202

Consumer Cooperatives Table 20. Names, Addresses, Organization Dates, and Principal Officers of Eleven Selected Cooperatives, 1945 Address of Cooperative

Date Organized

College Co-operative Union

Fort Valley State College Fort Valley, GA

1939

R. H. Beasley Fort Valley, GA

Georgia State College Co-op Association

Georgia State College Savannah, GA

1935

J. H. Gadson Jr. Georgia State College, Savannah, GA

Altgeld Gardens Co-operative, Inc.

1025 E. 130th Street Chicago, IL

1944

Wilmoth Bowen 13342 Corliss Avenue, Chicago, IL

United Transport Service Employees of America (CIO)

3451 S. Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL

1945

Ernest Calloway 3451 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL

Gibraltar Consumer Co-operative, Inc.

1720 Emerson Street Evanston, IL

1940

R. S. Simmons 1720 Emerson Street, Evanston, IL

Co-operative Commonwealth, 2556 Monroe Street Inc. Gary, IN

1941

Leslie Joseph 2556 Monroe Street, Gary, IN

Northwestern Co-operative Buying Club

1716 Madison Avenue Baltimore, MD

1944

Rev. C. Baker Pearle Payne Memorial, A.M.E. Church

Modern Co-operative Inc.

479 W. 150th Street New York, NY

1940

W. A. Beckles 160 W. 133rd Street, New York, NY

Hood Theological Seminary Book Service

Livingstone College Salisbury, NC

—

Aberdeen Association, Inc.

Aberdeen Gardens Hampton, VA

1937

T. D. Lane 7 Russell Road, Hampton, VA

Red Circle Stores, Inc.

900 James Street Richmond, VA

1937

E. E. Storrs 500 W. Clay Street, Richmond, VA

Name of Cooperative

Principal Officer

Wilson Q. Welch Jr. Livingstone College, Salisbury, NC

Source: Joseph A. Pierce, Negro Business and Business Education: Their Present and Prospective Development (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1947), 167.

An essay by Bruce Baker in the journal of Labor History on the Hoover Scare of 1887 in South Carolina records white reaction to black farmers’ organizing independent groups including a consumer cooperative. White leaders in the South saw any such organizing efforts by blacks as a direct threat to their power. Consumer cooperatives in an urban setting and as part of a conscious campaign to resist racial oppression and improve the economic standing of African Americans began to evolve after World War I (Tables 20 through 22). It appears that both the increased nationalism in black communities as well as the existence of new urban communities spurred this development. The most comprehensive discussion of cooperatives during the period was led by W.E.B. Du Bois in the pages of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) journal the Crisis. Du Bois and the NAACP encouraged the formation of cooperatives as early as 1917. With the economic crisis of the 1930s and the growing popularity of

203

Consumer Cooperatives Table 21. Outstanding Problems and Achievements of Seven Selected Cooperatives, 1945 Name of Cooperative

Problems

Achievements

Georgia State College Co-op Association, Savannah, GA

Creating and maintaining membership interest; securing component managers.

Financing through reinvestment of earnings. Grew from 54 members in 1935 with $32 capital to 600 members and $4K capital in 1943. Have recently organized a co-op housing project.

Altgeld Gardens, Chicago, IL

Leaders somewhat inexperienced in tasks of setting up an organization of this type.

Were assisted with organization problems by other co-op groups in the city and by central organizations.

Co-operative Commonwealth, Gary, IN

Educating ministers and the general public.

Number of people joining constantly. Good location.

Northwestern Co-operative Buying Club, Baltimore, MD

Small attendance at meetings; getting information about co-ops over to the people.

—

Modern Co-operative Inc., New York, NY

Small capital.

Survived four years of struggle against tremendous odds, yet has a fine, loyal nucleus of members.

Aberdeen Association, Inc., Hampton, VA

Employment of competent manager.

Community has developed a school co-op in the elementary school. Also a chicken-raising co-op.

Red Circles Stores, Inc., Richmond, VA

Government regulations and manpower shortage; capital investment per member needs to be more than doubled in order to finance the store operations adequately.

Opportunity for youth development. Won out in price war started by chain store competitor. Pioneer co-op in Richmond. Operates three branch stores, has 1,250 members—more than any predominantly Negro group.

Source: Joseph A. Pierce, Negro Business and Business Education: Their Present and Prospective Development (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1947), 169.

socialist ideas, cooperatives gained support throughout the country and in African American circles as well. Du Bois first brought up the idea of consumer cooperatives in the Crisis in 1917. James Peter Warbasse provided a more extensive discussion under the heading ‘‘The Theory of Cooperation’’ in the March 1918 issue of the NAACP journal. In 1923, at an ‘‘All Race’’ conference in New York sponsored by major African American groups including the NAACP, the African Blood Brotherhood, and others, Richard B. Moore of the African Blood Brotherhood called on African Americans to pursue Gandhi’s methods and specifically to establish consumer cooperatives. Robert Weems notes a growing interest in the idea of cooperatives during the 1930s and that the distribution of profits within the African American community held a special appeal. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, led by A. Phillip Randolph, supported the formation of cooperatives in Harlem and other black communities. Ella Baker, then living in Harlem, was active in

204

Table 22. Services Provided, Annual Volume, Patronage Rebates, and Central Cooperative Affiliation of Eleven Selected Consumer Cooperatives, 1945 Name of Cooperative

Services Provided

Annual Patronage Volume Rebated (percent)

Co-op Affiliation

College Co-operative Union

Merchandise and service, school supplies, books, cold drinks, sandwiches, and sundries $12,000

Georgia State College Co-operative Association

Bookstore, cafeteria, clothing and notions, confectionary and groceries

Atlgeld Gardens Co-operative, Inc.

Groceries and meats

United Transport Service Employees of America (CIO)

Federal Credit Union and Co-op Study Club

Gibraltar Consumer Co-operative, Inc.

Groceries

Co-operative Commonwealth, Inc.

Not yet in operation; erecting a $50K building

Northwestern Co-operative Buying Club

Groceries

$9,260

None

Consumers’ Co-operative of Baltimore, MD

Modern Co-operative Inc.

Books and school supplies

$5,200

None

Eastern Co-op League

Hood Theological Seminary Book Service

Books and school supplies

Not indicated

None

None

Aberdeen Association, Inc.

Retail groceries and meats

$34,000

5

None

Red Circles Stores, Inc.

Groceries and meats

$100,000

3 (three years)

$25,000 $6,150 Not indicated $9,600 —

6

Southeastern Co-operative League*

10, 5, 4

Southeastern Co-operative League

None (too young)

Central States Co-operatives, Inc.

—

None —

Council for Co-operative Development; CUNA Central States Co-operative, Inc. C.L., USA Not indicated

Potomac Co-operative Federation

*The league was inactive during the period 1943 to 1946. Plans are being made for its reactivation in 1947. Source: Joseph A. Pierce, Negro Business and Business Education: Their Present and Prospective Development (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1947), 168.

Consumer Cooperatives

promoting these cooperatives. The Housewives’ League of Detroit was founded by Fannie B. Peck in June 1930 with 50 members. It had grown to 10,000 members by 1935. Members pledged to buy from black-owned businesses and purchase products and services produced or delivered by blacks. Similar organizations existed in Chicago, Baltimore, Washington, Cleveland, and New York City and were considered powerful in their communities. In part, there was a growing sophistication among black consumers who began to see the call to patronize black-owned businesses as benefiting the business owners more than the community. If black business wanted the black community to patronize them, they should transform their businesses into cooperatives. Writing in 1936, African American intellectual St. Clair Drake stated that the ‘‘plea to make the dollar do ‘Double Duty’ often falls on deaf ears’’; a shift to cooperatives would have greater appeal because the dollar would do ‘‘triple duty.’’ The purchase would support black enterprise, and the increased purchasing would lead to an end-of-the-year dividend to members of the cooperative community. Ultimately, advocates argued, a successful cooperative movement, if it genuinely spread, would give black communities real economic clout, and tied in with that would be political power. An example of this movement was the Consumers’ Cooperative Trading Company, organized in Gary, Indiana, in 1932 by Jacob L. Reddix, a local African American teacher. Reddix was responding to the problems African Americans faced in the depression; over half of the 20,000 African Americans in Gary were on public relief. He familiarized himself with the principles of organized cooperation and started the organization as a buying club with 15 families and $24. Reddix began teaching night classes at Roosevelt High School on cooperative economics. By 1935 there were 450 families in the cooperative, which included a grocery store with annual sales of $35,000, a credit union, and a cooperative ice cream and candy shop run by children. With the end of the depression, however, Reddix’s cooperative ended during the early 1940s. DU BOIS’S VIEW OF COOPERATIVES W.E.B. Du Bois saw consumer cooperatives as a key part of a larger cooperative state, a ‘‘nation with-in a nation’’ during the 1930s. It is important to note that Du Bois’s emphasis on cooperatives and the nationalist concept of nation within a nation reflected both his socialist economic beliefs and his growing frustration with the resistance of whites to integration and racial justice. African Americans would only be able to rely on themselves, and economic, along with political, cooperation would be at the heart of this change. According to Joseph DeMarco, Du Bois believed that African Americans were exploited as consumers; they lacked their own capitalist class. Cooperatives formed in neighborhoods would, out of necessity, buy from white-owned wholesalers. Lower prices would lead more people to join the cooperatives, encourage people in the African American community to work together, and bring even lower prices. Ultimately, they

206

Nathan G. Conyers

would be able to place more pressure on wholesalers and even support emerging African American businesses with their buying power. African American cooperatives, then, contributed to the general sense of cooperation and community building. There is also some evidence of a consumer cooperative movement in African American communities during the 1960s and 1970s, when the movement for cooperatives revived. During 1966–1967, two white sociologists, Gerald Schaflander and Henry Etzkowitz, took their students and worked with the African American community in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, to build a neighborhood cooperative that emphasized interracial principles. The cooperative included medicines, food, and other goods and also reinvested profits back into the neighborhood. The reinvested profits were used to support social services such as child care, medical care, and education. By 1968, they operated a parking lot, gas station, general store, pharmacy, and child-care center. Founders saw themselves as rejecting both the ‘‘growing racialism of black nationalism and a testament against the unchecked immorality of American capitalism.’’ The Bedford-Stuyvesant effort reflects the ideas that Du Bois, St. Clair Drake, and others promoted in the 1930s. An oral history of this effort is available at Duke University. It is evident neither that cooperatives pose a serious challenge to traditional businesses nor that they relieve the economic stresses that African American communities face. It does appear that they represent significant examples of self-help, community organization, and an alternative vision of how people and communities may work together. Sources Baker, Bruce E. ‘‘The ‘Hoover Scare’ in South Carolina, 1887: An Attempt to Organize Black Farm Labor.’’ Labor History 40 (August 1999): 261–282. Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Cooperative Audio Tapes. http://scriptorium.lib .duke.edu/franklin/OralHistory.html. DeMarco, Joseph. ‘‘The Rationale and Foundation of Du Bois’s Theory of Economic Cooperation.’’ Phylon 35.1 (March 1974): 5–15. Drake, St. Clair. ‘‘Why Not Cooperate?’’ Opportunity 14 (August 1936): 233. Hughes, C. Alvin. ‘‘The Negro Sanhedrin Movement.’’ Journal of Negro History 69 (Winter 1984): 1–13. Warbasse, James Peter. ‘‘The Theory of Cooperation.’’ Crisis 15 (March 1918): 222. Weems, Robert E., Jr. Desegregating the Dollar: African American Consumerism in the Twentieth Century. New York: New York University Press, 1998.

John W. Wood III

Nathan G. Conyers (1932– ), Automotive Executive Nathan G. Conyers would not have graced Black Enterprise’s list of Top 100 Black Businesses without his family. His road to winning Time magazine’s

207

Nathan G. Conyers

‘‘Quality Dealer Award’’ began with a family dream and a coin toss and continues with innovative business practices as well as family and community involvement. In the last thirty years, Conyers has proven time and time again why he has endured in a field that has swallowed so many individuals. His business savvy and shrewd understanding of race relations have propelled his auto dealership, Conyers Riverside Ford, to be Black Enterprise’s 1995 ‘‘Dealership of the Year’’ and Conyers as the 1995 ‘‘Auto Dealer of the Year.’’ Although the odds have consistently been in Conyers’s favor, he is a firm believer of corporate social consciousness and always doing the right thing. The Great Depression hit the ‘‘Black Bottom’’ neighborhood of East Detroit especially hard because of the downturn in the automotive industry, which affected the predominantly African American factory workers. In this environment, Conyers was born on July 3, 1932, to John Conyers Sr., a worker at a Chrysler factory and an international representative for the United Auto Workers, and Lucille Simpson Conyers. As John Sr. never progressed past elementary school, he set high aspirations for his four surviving children and stressed education and self-reliance during kitchen-table family conferences. At these family conferences, the Conyers began laying the foundation for owning their own business. It took the discipline of the U.S. Army to instill the importance of education in Conyers. He graduated from Northwestern High School, where he was known as a ‘‘bright and likeable underachiever,’’ in 1950 and later received his bachelor’s and law degrees from Detroit’s Wayne State University. He passed the Michigan bar in 1959 and spent the next year as a special assistant attorney for the state attorney general and as a closing attorney for the Veteran’s Administration and the Small Business Administration. In 1960, Conyers joined the firm of Keith, Conyers, Anderson, Brown and Wahls, a historic practice specializing in civil rights. The 1960s was a time of turmoil for the city of Detroit; the reversal of demographics in the inner city, police abuse, and social inequality gave rise to the Detroit Riots of 1967. The riots lasted five days, left 43 dead, 1,189 injured, and more than 4,000 incarcerated. The National Guard, 82nd Airborne, and police force fought to contain the fires, looting, and vandalism that spread from the 12th Street area of northeast Detroit to the east side. In the aftermath of this chaos, a partnership of business, political, and community leaders formed New Detroit, a coalition dedicated to putting the city back together after the carnage, devastation, and social unrest of the riots. New Detroit realized they needed to establish proactive race relations and extend business opportunities to the city’s minorities to replace the flight of white businesses. In this dynamic climate, the Conyers family finally got their chance to go into business for themselves in 1969 when an auto dealership became available. Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company chairman, stressed the need for more African American auto dealers, and the Ford Company financed the franchise purchased by John Jr. and Nathan for $400,000. Both brothers were doing well in their professions—John Jr. was a Democratic congress-

208

Nathan G. Conyers

man for the First District, and Nathan was a senior partner in his law firm— but someone had to give up his job to run the dealership. The post fell to Nathan with a flip of a coin, and Conyers Ford (later Conyers Riverside Ford) was established in 1970. The company employed ninety-one people as of 1995, grossed $35.2 million in sales in 2002, and graced the Black Enterprise 100 largest African American owned businesses for thirty consecutive years. During his thirty years as president of Conyers Riverside Ford, Conyers has been the model of adaptability. Perhaps his consistent and flexible approach to change is one of his best business practices for the dealership. When the community around Conyers Ford deteriorated in the early 1980s, he relocated to the downtown edge of the Detroit River. With this move, his clientele shifted as well, from predominantly African American to Caucasian, white-collar workers and commuters from the suburbs. However, Conyers quickly formulated a comfort-centered business plan to attract his new consumer market. He increased the number of white salespeople and managers and aggressively marketed his service component to the downtown officeworkers to bring them into the dealership. Conyers always ‘‘courted’’ his customers, which was another key business tenant. He made his dealership’s presence known with an enormous blimp visible to commuters to the city, offered workers limousine transportation from the dealership to a large office complex, and found financing for lowincome African American car buyers. He specializes in government contracts, which accounted for almost 70 percent of the dealership’s annual sales. In 1999, he broadened his dealerships by securing a deal to franchise a Jaguar dealership in Novi, Michigan, located thirty minutes from downtown Detroit. Conyers was only the second African American to own a Jaguar dealership in the United States. The success he has enjoyed has largely come from the support of his family. Like many other minority-owned businesses, the Conyers dealerships have been kept in the family. All five of Conyers’s children have helped the family business in some way, and as of 2002, three were actively working for the dealership. Steven, his oldest son, was the general manager of Riverside Ford and set to be the next president of the company; Peter is part of the Jaguar dealership; and Nancy, the most independent child, serves as the director of marketing, advertising, promotions, and community relations. Nancy stated in a 1995 Black Enterprise interview with Dan Holly that the pull of responsibility to the family company prevails in even the most reluctant children. A Detroit native through and through, Conyers has never considered following his white counterparts to the suburbs, where everything costs less and people have more money to spend. The suburban flight is widely considered to be an effect of the high proportion of minorities in the city, around 88 percent in 2000, and Conyers does not want to contribute to what he considers ‘‘racist attitudes.’’ The Conyers dealership has given back to the community at large with a tradition called ‘‘Community Awareness

209

Nathan G. Conyers

Day,’’ which has introduced the community to much-needed services such as homeless shelters, adoption agencies, job placement agencies, and an AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) testing mobile unit. Conyers has also continued to champion minorities in the business world and has used his dealerships as a jumping-off point for African Americans to open their own dealerships. As of 2002, thirty-six former employees, several of which are women, had opened their own businesses, which is something Conyers believes to be one of the greatest rewards of the company. He established and served as the first president of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, which is committed to keeping minorities in the auto dealership business. His advice for any minority getting into entrepreneurship is location, capitalization, comprehension, and vision. Through his illustrious career, Conyers has been lauded as the ‘‘Dean of America’s Black-Owned Automobile Dealerships’’; recognized for excellence in business and community service by the Howard University School of Business and Public Administration and by former President Jimmy Carter; and presented the keys to the cities of Atlanta, New York, Chicago, and Detroit. He is a board member of the Greater Detroit Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Detroit Area Hospital Council, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan. Although Conyers has been the golden child of the minority-owned auto dealers, he could not prevent the economic downturn at the turn of the twenty-first century. A decline in the sales of American-made cars claimed the Riverside Ford operation in 2003, and afterward, rival Bob Maxey bought it. The Jaguar dealership, however, remains strong; Conyers knows how to roll with the punches the economy can bring. His career began on complete chance and continues with a flexible, accommodating business plan to ensure the comfort of his customers. A relentless drive to expand and strong family ties have repaid Conyers with widespread success and the knowledge that minority business owners can and will succeed. See also: Minority Businesses in Major Cities Sources ‘‘African-American Dealers—Ford Motor Dealers.’’ Ebony 56 (March 2001): 54–57. http://www.findarticles.com. Gite, Lloyd. ‘‘Marathon Men: Revisited.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (June 2002): 92. The History Makers: Business Makers. ‘‘Nathan Conyers.’’ 2001. http://www.thehistory makers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex¼215&category¼businessMakers. Holly, Dan. ‘‘Heads, We Win.’’ Black Enterprise 25 (June 1995): 134. ‘‘Outstanding Business Leader: Nathan G. Conyers.’’ Northwood University. http:// www.northwood.edu/pr/fl/index.asp?section¼2000&subsection¼2000&id¼16.n. Rohan, Rebecca. ‘‘Pumping the Brakes.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (June 2003): 11. Walker, Juliet E. K., ed. Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. Walsh, Tom. ‘‘Ford Dealer Fights Blight.’’ Detroit Free Press, November 30, 2003. http://66.54.33.107/money/business/walsh30e_20041130.htm.

Thura Mack

210

Edith W. Cooper

Edith W. Cooper (1961– ), Investment Company Executive Edith W. Cooper, at a young age of forty-one, became the managing director, Global Head of Futures, at Goldman Sachs & Co. Cooper oversees Goldman Sachs’s global listed derivatives business. She works with and manages various teams to successfully implement highly sophisticated financial transactions for Goldman’s clients worldwide. Goldman Sachs announced on October 18, 2000, that it had invited 202 individuals to serve as managing directors, and 114 others would join their Partnership Pool when the firm’s fiscal year began on November 25 that year. Chairman and chief executive officer Henry M. Paulson Jr. commented on the selections, saying, ‘‘These leaders represent the best of Goldman Sachs and their contribution will continue to drive the firm’s worldwide growth.’’ The selection placed Cooper among some of the most promising executives in the nation. Cooper has a strong academic background that serves her well in the business world. She has a B.A. degree from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University. In addition to Cooper’s education, her experience in the business world played a big part in her current position and career success. Cooper had coheaded Goldman’s commodities division in Europe and Asia. She has also worked at Morgan Stanley, Bankers Trust, and First Chicago Bank, where she gained a broad range of experience in marketing and executing overthe-counter derivatives transactions. Cooper believes that in order to be successful on Wall Street one must create value for one’s client, colleagues, and organization. It is apparent that Cooper’s education and experience in the business world prepared her for her current position and career success. In an article online in 2005, Black Enterprise (BE) announced what it called ‘‘the most influential black leaders of the financial industry,’’ having published the selections in the October 2004 issue. Here the editors’ picks for the top fifty black leaders on Wall Street represent an expansion from the twenty-five named in 1992 and 1996. Calling Wall Street the ‘‘capital of free-market America and the seat of global financial power,’’ Black Enterprise saw Wall Street as a strong symbol of African American’s struggle for full and equal access to the economic power that mainstream Americans consistently enjoy. Cooper shared BE’s top fifty list with such executives as Franklin Delano Raines (then with Fannie Mae), Kenneth Irvine Chenault of American Express, E. Stanley O’Neal with Merrill Lynch, John W. Rogers Jr. with Ariel Capital, Carla Ann Harris and Melissa James of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, and Vernon Eulion Jordan with Lazard Fe´res. Leaders such as Cooper continue to move forward, however, removing barriers to economic advancement and to leadership posts in the financial market. Both Goldman Sachs and Black Enterprise acknowledge her as

211

Corporation of Caterers

a leader in the financial industry and one who can bear the intense pressure and high performance standards that accompany advancement. See also: Women and Business Sources ‘‘Black Enterprise Names the Most Influential Black Leaders of the Financial Industry.’’ http://www.multiculturaladvantage.com/contentmgt/anmviewer.asp?a¼268. ‘‘Goldman Sachs Announces New Managing Directors and New Members of the Partnership Pool.’’ http://www.gs.com/our_firm/media_center/articles/press_release_ 2000_article_919110.html. ‘‘The Top 50 African Americans on Wall Street.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (October 2002): 96. http://www.blackenterprise.com.

Nkechi Amadife

Corporation of Caterers Waiters’ Beneficial Association Before the Civil War, black caterers appeared to dominate the industry; they were elite themselves, and they served ‘‘the rich, well-born, and powerful,’’ wrote Juliet Walker in The History of Black Business in America. Black caterers in New York realized that white caterers acknowledged and challenged their success. Thus, in 1869 twelve local caterers founded the Corporation of Caterers as well as the Public Waiters Association. Since the industry had become so successful for blacks, they wanted their success to continue. One sure way to accomplish this, they reasoned, was to set and maintain high professional standards. The large weddings, parties, banquets, balls, and social functions that they served placed a demand on them for good, high-quality service. Those who were irresponsible were not to jeopardize the industry by attempting to serve such functions. Thus, the corporation had a genuine interest in its members, their business ventures, and the black catering industry as a whole. By now, some of the members had acquired costly possessions: They owned fine, imported china and silver; and they had other caterer’s provisions, ranging in value from $1,000 to $4,000—a considerable sum at that time. The size of the organization increased, and by 1870, membership, now including other black employees in the industry, reached 500. The Corporation of Caterers reorganized in 1872 to become the Waiters’ Beneficial Association, yet membership in the new organization was just over 100. Like other beneficial organizations, the members emphasized mutualaid insurance benefits. The original purpose of the corporation had changed to focus on other important issues, such as sickness and provisions for burial. Other organizations that aided black caterers were established. In 1866, for example, leading black caterers in Philadelphia—once the center of the catering industry—organized the Philadelphia Caterers’ Association. Peter

212

Credit Unions

Dutrieuille (1838–1916), who in 1873 established his own catering business, was credited with founding the new group. Its purpose was to keep intact the stronghold that blacks had on the catering industry. Yet as the end of the century neared and the industry’s needs changed, so did the number of blacks working as caterers. Several blacks, however, entered the industry late in the century and enjoyed success. The Caterers Manufacturing and Supply Company, organized in 1894, served its membership by either renting or providing at wholesale prices items such as china, silver, tables, chairs, and linens. Their efforts were to assist blacks in the industry and help them to maintain their businesses. The Public Waiters Association folded in 1905, when it had a membership of only thirty-three. The caterers who had supported the association were no longer in demand. Those who continued their businesses supported a declining patronage; the large affairs that they had served previously were no longer available to them. New licensing laws were passed to regulate the industry and put demands on black caterers that many were unable to meet. The elite antebellum black caterers who had flourished before the Civil War as well as those who carried on the industry much later made important contributions to the history of black business development. They met high standards—those imposed by their clients as well as those that were set by themselves or their organization. See also: Food Service Industry Sources Walker, Juliet E. K., ed. Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. ———. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998.

Jessie Carney Smith

Credit Unions The history of cooperative credit programs is difficult to trace with accuracy. There were widespread cooperative movements in European towns and rural areas as early as the 1830s. Others followed; for example, in 1844, the Rochdale cooperative store opened in England. There were cooperative schemes in France in the 1830s and 1840s and in 1848 in Belgium. The first ‘‘true’’ credit union, or cooperative credit society, was created in Germany in 1850, and the movement continued to spread. Their founding was in response to crop failures and usury. Reformers in the 1840s and 1850s challenged the economic system and formed credit unions, or ‘‘people’s banks,’’ to provide skilled workers a place to borrow money for business purposes. The movement spread to the United States in 1908; the next year, several citizens formed the first union in Manchester, New Hampshire. Among

213

Credit Unions

those who popularized and promoted the credit union movement was Edward A. Filene (1860–1937), a wealthy and outstanding department store owner in the Boston area whose name is still recognized in the field of business. Generally, philanthropic business leaders were the early pioneers in the movement. After U.S. officials studied the cooperative credit movement abroad, they returned and translated their findings into laws governing the operation, in one state after another. The organization of the Credit Union National Extension Bureau in 1921 and hiring of Roy Bergengren (1879– 1955) as the first full-time chief executive in 1921 helped the movement to achieve great strides. African Americans saw a need early on to devise ways to help themselves survive and improve their economic conditions. They began various forms of self-help as early as the mid-1700s—well before true credit unions were established—when they founded self-help or mutual-aid societies. One of the first such organizations was the Free Africa Society, founded by religious leaders Absalom Jones (1746–1818) and Richard Allen (1760–1831). Jones was the first black Episcopal priest and founder of St. Thomas, the first black Episcopal Church; Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the first black-controlled religious denomination. Early secret societies in the black community consisted of two classes: the old-line organizations, such as the Masons, the Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias; and the benevolent societies such as the National Order of Mosaic Templars, the True Reformers, the Grand Union Order of Galilean Fisherman, and the Independent Order of St. Luke. These societies often had large treasuries and generally invested their funds, purchased property, and later began to address the health and economic needs of their members. As well, they established a wide array of black business enterprises, such as insurance companies, churches, banks, and cooperatives. The credit union in the black community is an example of a black cooperative. As the credit union movement spread across the United States, it also touched African Americans who used cooperative credit unions for the purpose of saving and borrowing money (Tables 23 and 24). By the end of 1944, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that there were ninety-one African American credit unions; they were organized under the Federal Credit Union Act. Seventy-four, or 81 percent of them, were active at the end of the year; the others were either inoperative or their charters had been cancelled. Considering all federal credit unions that had been established, whether white or black, 74 percent were active. By 1944 as well, credit unions were found in churches, having been established with the encouragement of the Federal Council of Churches in America. George Edmund Haynes (1880–1960), a black social work pioneer, educator, advocate for urban black workers, and a founder of the National Urban League, took an active interest in the credit union movement in the Harlem section of New York City. Working on behalf of the Federal Council of Churches, his efforts resulted in the founding of six or more unions in larger churches. In Detroit, Bethel AME Church established

214

Credit Unions Table 23. Credit Unions, Assets of Black Associations Compared to Total, 1944 Item

Reporting Negro Associations

Reporting Federal Associations

Total number of associations

72

3,795

Actual membership as percent Total membership

34

33

Average members per association

174

343

Total share capital Average per association Average per member

$642,711 $6,926 $51

$133,586,147 $35,200 $102

Total assets

$683,100

$144,266,156

Total loans outstanding Percent current Percent military loans Percent delinquent, twenty mos. or more

$230,756 87 2 11

$34,403,467 85 5 10

9

13

$1,723,451 0.09

$657,786,637 0.13

Reserves for bad loans as percent of loans outstanding Total loans since organization Bad loans as percent of total

Source: Jessie P. Guzman, ed., Negro Year Book: A Review of Events Affecting Negro Life, 1941–1946 (Tuskegee, AL: Department of Records and Research, Tuskegee Institute, 1947), 187.

the Fannie B. Peck Credit Union and by 1941 claimed 3,000 members. The union also had made 390 loans to members for a total of $15,573.70; assets totaled $6,372.48. The involvement of churches in credit union development continues. Although the date is unknown, in North Carolina, Simpson P. Dean organized the Light of Tyrrell Credit Union, located in Tyrrell County. The credit union financed several business and building projects, including a cooperative sawmill and the construction and remodeling of sixteen homes. The union also launched the Light of Tyrrell credit store and had as many as 300 members. As result of the union’s financial projects, there were seventytwo black-owned farms in the county and savings accounts for some blacks included $2,500. Black credit unions are closely tied to the beginnings of some black cooperatives. There were urban cooperatives such as the People’s Consumers Cooperative Store in Chicago; and rural cooperatives, such as the Peoples Cooperative Store located at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and the Ayden Cooperative Exchange in North Carolina. The Ayden project began in 1941 as Bright Leaf Credit Union. Credit unions were an important factor in stimulating interest and accumulating sufficient capital reserves for businesses to begin operations. By September 1951, some 102 credit unions for blacks were chartered under state and federal laws. The unions operated in twenty-six states, with

215

Credit Unions Table 24. Federal Credit Unions, 1935–1940

Year

Number of Active Unions

Total Number of Members in Unions

Total Loans Made to Members

Interest on Loans

Returned in Dividends

Loans to Members Outstanding

Savings (share balance)

1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940

5 18 28 44 48 51

467 1,251 2,295 3,680 5,047 6,462

$4,360 16,552 32,626 63,320 125,804 202,529

$52 427 1,114 2,463 4,891 8,855

— 38 240 622 1,554 3,028

$2,460 7,541 16,258 30,239 62,013 102,403

$3,160 10,134 20,649 37,810 67,117 108,796

Source: Florence Murray, ed., The Negro Handbook, 1944 (New York: Wendell Malliet, 1944), 162.

North Carolina leading the list and operating 30. The number varied in other states as follows: Louisiana, 19; Texas and Missouri, 5 each; Virginia, Oklahoma, New York, and Kansas, 4 each; Alabama, California, and Ohio, 3 each; West Virginia, Michigan, and Maryland, 2 each; and Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee, 1 each. Credit unions were not restricted to a particular occupational group; they were found among teachers, colleges and schools, farmers, insurance companies, organizations (such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP]), and as noted earlier, churches. Credit unions continued to develop and serve the needs of African Americans. As well, the communities have been encouraged to maintain selfhelp programs, such as those proposed by African American organizations that were founded during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which began to take hold around 1960, came to prominence in 1966 when Stokely Carmichael (1941–1998), later known as Kwame Ture, headed the organization. SNCC promoted the ‘‘Black Power’’ concept and, among other assertions, said that blacks should form their own economic institutions, such as credit unions. The increasing acknowledgment of self-worth encouraged African Americans to promote self-help programs. In time, a number of organizations began initiatives to promote credit unions in the black community, among them the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, later known as the Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund (FSCLAF). Founded in 1967, the FSCLAF has provided self-help economic opportunities for low-income communities across the South. The founders were representatives of community organizations and leaders who had been molded or influenced by the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Two of its primary objectives are to retain black-owned land and to use cooperatives to support land-based economic development. Since the FSCLAF was founded, its work in encouraging and developing low-income people in the community has been significant. The three major themes of the

216

Credit Unions

federation’s mission over the past thirty-seven years are to develop cooperatives and credit unions to help people enhance their lives as well as their communities; to save, protect, and increase southern black family farmers’ landholdings; and to develop, advocate, and support various public policy issues that benefit black and other family farmers as well as low-income rural communities. The FSCLAF continues its organization of low-income grassroots members. There are over seventy cooperative member groups, themselves with a membership in excess of 20,000 families who work cooperatively across ten southern states. They are concentrated in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Credit unions for African Americans were promoted further by the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives (MAC). Chartered in December 1972 as a nonprofit organization, according to About Us, MAC aimed to ‘‘administer, coordinate and supervise technical assistance, educational training and financial programs for member cooperatives in the Mississippi state.’’ It serves members by helping them to help themselves. The organization is similar in purpose to the Federation of Southern Cooperative Land Assistance Fund. Among MAC’s objectives are to organize and develop self-help community development strategies for rural residents through cooperatives and credit unions; to help increase economic viability of small farmers through marketing cooperatives; to facilitate preservation and retention of lands owned by black farmers; to advocate appropriate public policy changes; and to support training and educational programs for rural residents. Membership consists of several cooperatives, buying clubs, and credit unions located across the state. FAITH-BASED CREDIT UNIONS CONTINUE As previously noted, some black credit unions were founded in churches, among them those encouraged by the Federal Council of Churches in America. Church involvement in the civil rights movement of the 1960s often came as testament to their concern for helping African Americans secure their rights in the community. Congregations began to unite around the needs of low-income residents—both black and white—who deserved financial institutions to support their needs. Many of the first credit unions established in communities throughout the United States were faith based. Such unions are faith based when their founding, governance, and membership are derived from a religious institution. Faith-based credit unions are characterized by smaller memberships and assets; they offer limited services; they focus chiefly on savings and loans; they have limited hours of service each week but include some after-church services; and most have allvolunteer leadership and staffs. The larger credit unions of this type serve many local churches, far-flung dioceses, multiple parishes, or churches spread over an entire region. Churches maintain that these credit unions should remain at the forefront of efforts to serve the community in a holistic way. Nationwide, about

217

Credit Unions

one-third of the total credit union population is faith based. Such credit unions appear to address the best traditions of low-income people in communities who work to help others with similar needs. Some believe that it is through such direction that churches return to the real meaning of the community. For African Americans, the real benefit of the federation’s efforts began in 1992, after three years of research to determine whether or not church-based credit unions (CBCUs) were viable in economic development. Then the federation established the African-American Church Credit Union Program (CCUP). The federation asserts that it was the first organization to recognize the enormous potential of the African American CBCU. The federation was concerned about self-help in the black community and saw the CBCU as an untapped resource for black economic power; it would also serve as a model of self-help programs in African American communities nationwide. The federation’s board of directors in 1997 voted to change the name from the Church Credit Union Program to the Faith-Based Credit Union Program (FBCUP)—the name by which the program is currently known. The FBCUP is open to faith-based credit unions regardless of their religious affiliation. Funds to support the program come from various foundations that support religious-affiliated credit unions. The federation organizes annual Faith-Based Credit Union conferences around the country and holds that such an event illustrates the increasing strength of the faith-based movement as well as the federation’s role in the movement. The most recent conference—the sixth—was held in San Francisco on June 8–11, 2005. The work of the National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) in promoting credit unions for African Americans is worthy of mention. Joining the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) in an investigation, the organizations reported in ‘‘New Research Shows Growing Wealth Gap’’ that in the past ten years the wealth gap between the poor and other Americans has been larger than their income gap. Thus, the groups initiated an America Saves campaign to help increase the wealth of lower-income individuals and families. NCUF has been especially concerned with combating payday lending and other services that exploit low-income people rather than help them. Foundations and federal agencies that joined the NCUF/CFA efforts to provide quality and affordable financial services to low-income people include the Ford Foundation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Credit union leaders in 2004 launched a new America Saves through Credit Unions programs. America Saves through Credit Unions benefited from the success of America Saves. NCUF and CFA formed a partnership to increase the savings rates among the targeted members and to help close the wealth gap. They also encouraged the credit unions to include America Saves messages in their promotional efforts. Led by the NCUF, the credit unions launched several new initiatives that targeted lower-income households. Sixteen broad-based local Saves

218

Credit Unions

campaigns were begun while others were planned. Among those operating nationally are Black America Saves, Hispanic America Saves, Faith Saves, and America Saves through Home Ownership. For low-income blacks and such members of other groups, the Freddie Mac program is a viable option. Since Freddie Mac is keenly focused on credit unions, efforts have been made to make them successful mortgage lenders. Increasingly, credit unions are challenged to enter what has become a new frontier for them—mortgage lending. In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Allegacy Federal Credit Union has maintained a close relationship with Freddie Mac, drawing upon its vision, insight, and expertise in the area of mortgage loans. Although Allegacy began its mortgage business in 1988, it did so with employees who were inexperienced in mortgage lending. Now Allegacy sells its mortgage loans to Freddie Mac for cash on a flow basis. The credit union movement in the African American community has progressed from the efforts of mutual-aid and secret societies, churches, and efforts of cooperatives both in rural and urban areas. For the most part, the aim has been to encourage self-help activities in the black community. Clearly current and intense efforts of such groups as the Faith-Based Credit Union Program and the Black America Saves program continue to foster economic development in the African American community and to reduce the wealth gap between the low-income groups and those of more desirable levels of wealth. See also: Consumer Cooperatives; Faith-Based Entrepreneurship Sources Citizens Community Credit Union. http://googolplex.cuna.org/timeline.html?doc_ id¼461&sub_id¼25018. Guzman, Jessie P., ed. Negro Yearbook: A Review of Events Affecting Negro Life, 1941– 1946. Tuskegee, AL: Department of Records and Research, Tuskegee Institute, 1947. ———. Negro Yearbook: A Review of Events Affecting Negro Life, 1952. New York: William H. Wise and Co., 1952. ‘‘Mississippi Association of Cooperatives.’’ About Us. http://www.mississippiasso ciation.coop/id19.html. Moody, J. Carroll, and Gilbert C. Fite. The Credit Union Movement: Origins and Development, 1850–1970. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1971. ‘‘New Research Shows Growing Wealth Gap between the Poor and the Rest of America.’’ Consumer Federation of America. Press Release, February 17, 2004. http://www.consumerfed.org/releases2.cfm?filename¼cfa_ncuf_cuna_lowincome.txt.

Frederick D. Smith

219

D Calvin Darden (1950– ), Shipping Company Executive Senior vice president of operations for United Parcel Service (UPS), Calvin Darden worked his way up through the ranks. Darden’s philosophy of treating people the way he wants to be treated, building respect, and living a strong work ethic has led him to success with UPS. He is eighth on Fortune magazine’s annual list of the ‘‘50 Most Powerful Black Executives in America.’’ Darden fits Fortune’s criteria for the list of executives who put their power to active use. Darden was born in Buffalo, New York, on February 5, 1950. He graduated from Canisius College, Buffalo, New York, in 1972 with a degree in business management. In an interview in Canisius College Magazine, he stated that he enjoyed the rigors of the Jesuit teaching style and felt it prepared him well for his career. While in college, he began working parttime for United Parcel Service, unloading trucks. After graduation, he started full-time work with UPS. In January 1974, he was promoted to customer service supervisor. Next, he became manager at the Buffalo hub and later managed three packaging centers. In his positions, Darden increased distribution centers efficiency, improved service, and boosted employee morale. In 1993, Darden’s next promotion was to vice president and regional manager of a nine-state region, with a base in California. In 1995, Darden became the quality coordinator and moved to UPS headquarters in Atlanta. He focused on customer satisfaction, employee empowerment, process improvement, and effective methods of measurement. In 2000, he became head of all U.S. operations. On November 12, 1998, Darden spoke before the Columbia, South Carolina Urban League. In this speech, he advocated the ‘‘Three E’s’’: Education, Empowerment, and Entrepreneurism. Darden stressed the importance of hiring the most educated personnel and providing continuing education opportunities for them. He stated that involving people in the company and encouraging creativity in carrying out day-to-day operations lead to

Calvin Darden

continued success of the individual. And successful people within a company move that company forward. Darden has implemented new technology that allows UPS to deliver to central points. He is responsible for the pickup and delivery of 13.5 million packages a day, serving 8 million customers. In addition to his commitment to his work life, Darden is involved in several church and community organizations. He and his wife Patricia Gail Ellis, whom he married in 1971, have raised three children, Calvin Jr., Tami, and Lorielle. Darden is on the National Urban League board and helps run the National Urban League Black Executive Exchange Program. A February 2003 article in Business Ethics Newsline features a speech in which he advocates diversity leadership. One supportive program is the UPS Community Internship Program (CIP). He calls it a ‘‘sort of ‘outward bound’ for diversity awareness.’’ In the Community Internship Program, fifty managers, the top performers in midlevel management positions, are chosen to participate. The fifty interns go into communities where problems such as poverty, homelessness, spousal abuse, drugs, and crime are rampant. The interns live in the community under Spartan conditions for a month. They work on projects seven days a week tutoring preschool Head Start children, orphans, or kids with AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). They may also teach prisoners resume skills, visit nursing homes and mental health facilities, work in soup kitchens, and do minor home repairs. Darden has been through the program along with more than 1,200 other UPS managers since the program started in 1968. Darden states in Executive Speeches for June–July 2003 that ‘‘the interns are often initially shocked by the challenging living conditions, but many report seeing the hopefulness of people trying to cope.’’ Interns ‘‘return to work if not changed people, people with changed perspectives.’’ He says that they are less rigid in looking at employee issues and tend to listen with more empathy, which leads to understanding and improving employee relations. Some may become more involved in their communities and organize volunteers both at work and in private life. Darden states that CIP ‘‘gets the student to teach him or herself through living the experience.’’ He says, ‘‘It unlocks an attic in the mind of well-intentioned people that may only be accessible by taking the time to walk in someone else’s shoes.’’ Darden focuses on economic opportunities for African Americans. In a speech to the Greater Baltimore Urban League, published in vol. 7 of Executive Speeches he talked about developing a shared vision for economic empowerment. In the speech, he advocated vision and commitment. He cited a study by the Milken Institute that concludes that ‘‘economic growth can’t be sustained without the inclusion of minority businesses and an infusion of capital into those businesses.’’ UPS, Darden says, provides economic opportunities through its Supplier Diversity network. UPS partners with minority- and women-owned

222

Edward Davis

businesses. Another program Darden supports is a college education tuition incentive. The Metro College Program provides tuition-free education for part-time UPS employees through a cooperative effort of state and local governments and UPS. Darden stresses in Executive Speeches for 2003 that ‘‘partnerships between business and governments provide economic empowerment.’’ Darden is placed number 8 on Fortune magazine’s ‘‘50 Most Powerful Black Executives’’ list. He credits his success to being willing to start in an entry-level position, to work long hours, and to move when necessary. Darden retired in March 2005, after a thirty-three-year career. He has directed U.S. operations for the past seven years and has been a member of the UPS Board of Directors since 2001. Business Wire for February 9, 2005, quotes UPS chairman and chief executive officer Mike Eskew, who said, ‘‘Cal Darden has made outstanding contributions to this company and to this Board and will be greatly missed.’’ He continued, ‘‘The legacy of his 33 years is one of leadership and operational excellence. It’s also a legacy of friendship, commitment, integrity and high standards. He raised the bar for all of us.’’ Sources Brennan, Carol. ‘‘Calvin Darden.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 38. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2003. Browka, Audrey R. (Alumni Profile.) Canisius College Magazine (Winter 2001): 26–27. Business Wire. February 9, 2005. Lexisnexis.com/universe. http://www.canisius.edu/ alumni/magazine/winter2001/default.asp. ‘‘Delivering on Diversity Leadership: A Walk in the Other Guy’s Shoes.’’ February 25, 2003, Calvin Darden speech before the Southern Institute for Business and Professional Ethics. http://www.globalethics.org/newsline/members/issue.tmpl?art icleid¼0317016434579. Executive Speeches 15 (December 2000–January 2001): 37. ——— 17 (June–July 2003): 20. History Makers. ‘‘BusinessMakers: Calvin Darden.’’ http://www.thehistorymakers.com /biography.asp?bioindex¼74/&category¼businessMakers. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Virginia D. Bailey

Edward Davis (1911–1999), Automobile Dealer After owning a creative and successful used car business in Detroit, Edward ‘‘Ed’’ Davis became the first African American to own and operate a new car dealership for one of America’s ‘‘Big Three’’ automakers. He overcame racial prejudice in many areas, from commercial lending practices to denial of an automobile franchise. His latest reward came near the end of his life, when he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

223

Edward Davis

One of ten children, Davis was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on February 27, 1911. He was influenced early on by his father, Thomas H. Davis, who had a large-scale catering business and served oil-pipeline construction workers with Standard Oil Company. Young Davis knew that he wanted to own his own business and that entrepreneurship was a means to economic freedom. His mother, Hester Bryant Davis, died when he was ten years old. When he was a teenager, he envisioned that life would be better in Detroit, where racial conditions were better than they were in Louisiana. His father approved his move to Detroit, where he lived with an aunt and enrolled in Cass Technical High School. His plan was to become an account, but he reconsidered when a white teacher told him that practically no African Americans entered that profession at that time. Davis sought work as an automobile repairman. At first he was hired in exchange for bus fare, or twenty cents a day for the ten-mile trip. The work gave him invaluable experience that would serve him well later on. This was in the middle of the Great Depression, when the few jobs that were available went to white men. He persuaded a gas station proprietor to allow him to wash cars for his customers. A Dodge assembly plant supervisor was so impressed with the way the energetic young man worked that he offered him a regular job. Davis worked in the foundry and later as a machine operator. He cashed his first paycheck at a check-cashing vendor and vowed that he would never pay for such a service again. The next week he opened a bank account and thereafter cashed checks at his bank; he also deposited from $2.00 to $3.00 each week. He continued to work at Dodge and began to sell cars for a local Chrysler dealer. He left his job at Dodge in 1935 and worked full-time as a car salesman; he also continued to build his bank account. By 1936, Davis was making from $500 to $600 monthly. He enrolled in the night program at Wayne State University and studied business administration. Racial prejudice at the business was so difficult to endure that he used his savings of $2,900 and opened his own used-car business in 1938—Davis Motor Sales. Despite the economic conditions that existed during the depression and the racial discrimination that he endured, Davis’s business was successful from the start. He persuaded car dealers to allow him to have one car to put on his lot. Reluctantly, they agreed and gave him cars that they were unable to sell, and he sold them. Next, he purchased a vacant building and paid off the land contract that he had been given in about five years. His business continued to prosper, and soon he handled almost every make of car. The property was located near downtown Detroit, where his business remained until 1963. In 1940, Davis became a franchised Studebaker dealer, added a service department, and retained his used-car business. Since no new cars were manufactured between 1942 until 1946 due to World War II, he concentrated on his used cars and on his service department. He also maintained Studebakers for the U.S. Army, which had a large depot near his place of business. So substantial was his business with the army that he

224

Edward Davis

received a draft deferment because his work was deemed essential to the war effort. AWARDED CHRYSLER-PLYMOUTH FRANCHISE Studebaker closed its company in 1956, and Davis relied on his used-car and automobile service business as his means of support. He was also vice president of a Ford dealership. In 1963, he learned that Chrysler-Plymouth was searching for qualified businessmen; race was not an issue. Davis was approved and opened the dealership with his own money, not that of Chrysler-Plymouth. He relocated his business from the downtown facility to the west side of Detroit, on Dexter and Elmhurst, and opened Ed Davis Chrysler-Plymouth in late 1963, becoming the first African American to be awarded a new car franchise from one of America’s top three automakers. The ‘‘Big Three,’’ as they were called, were General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. Detroit underwent a change in 1967, when riots devastated much of the commercial property. His business was left intact. When the riots were quelled, however, white-owned businesses opened the way for African Americans to join their staffs, thus cutting into the pool of good staff for Davis. In fact, white companies raided Davis’s business and took salespersons, mechanics, and supervisors. A combination of problems that included vandalism, unavailability of staff, increasing insurance costs, and unionized sales led to the end of his business in February 1971. Determined to use his expertise to benefit others, Davis started a training program for entrepreneurs and managers. In October 1971 he joined Detroit’s mass-transit authority as manager of the Department of Street Railway (DSR) Systems. He led the system out of inefficiency and waste, strengthened its financial base, and improved employee morale. He retired and from 1974 to 1994 provided consultant services to minority automobile dealers and black business owners. In 1979, Davis wrote his autobiography, One Man’s Way. He was honored in 1993 when the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers established a Pioneer Award and a scholarship in his name. He was honored again in 1999, when he was the first African American inductee into the Automobile Hall of Fame. Davis married Mary Agnes Miller in the late 1930s. He died in Detroit on May 3, 1999. He is remembered as a leading citizen of Detroit, a successful automobile dealer, and one who shared his expertise in the field of business with others. See also: Minority Businesses in Major Cities Sources Brennan, Carol. ‘‘Ed Davis.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 24. Ed. Shirelle Phelps. Detroit: Gale, 2001. Davis, Ed. One Man’s Way. Detroit: Ed Davis Associates, 1979. ‘‘Ed Davis, First Black Auto Dealer, Honored in Detroit.’’ Jet 95 (February 1, 1999): 46–48.

225

Erroll B. Davis Jr. Obituaries. New York Times, May 5, 1999. Seder, John, and Berkeley G. Burrell. Getting It Together: Black Businessmen in America. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971.

Frederick D. Smith

Erroll B. Davis Jr. (1944– ), Public Utility Official Erroll B. Davis Jr. believes in competition in all he does, whether on the tennis court, the golf course, or in the boardroom. His competitive nature enabled him to climb the corporate ladder of a Business Week 1000 company and become the only African American to head a major public utility. Davis, a self-proclaimed workaholic, frequently finds the time to go into the field to check quality control, to write handwritten letters of commendation to employees, and to give motivational speeches to minority teens affected by drugs, abuse, and broken homes. Born in Pittsburg to working-class parents, according to Lisa Jones in an article in Ebony, Davis was greatly inspired by his grandfather, remembered as ‘‘strong, giving and dignified.’’ He received his bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a master’s of business administration from the University of Chicago. During junior high, Davis befriended his wife-to-be, Elaine, an academic adviser at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and fourteen years later that friendship sparked into romance. The couple has two children, Christopher and Whitney. Davis began his career with positions at Ford Motor Company and the Xerox Corporation as a financial executive; it was not until 1978 that he ventured into the utilities industry, when he moved to Madison, Wisconsin, and accepted a position as vice president of finance with Wisconsin Power and Light (WPL). Within ten years, he had moved from his first position to executive vice president to a member of the board of directors to president of WPL’s gas, electric, and water utility, and finally, to the post of chief executive. Two years later, in 1990, he was appointed president and chief executive of WPL’s parent company, WPL Holdings, Inc. In 1998, WPL Holdings merged with IES Industries, Inc. and Interstate Power Company to form Alliant Energy Corporation, which provides utilities to more than half a million consumers in Wisconsin. Davis is considered an innovator and has shifted Alliant’s conservative policies to hard-hitting competition in order to gain an advantage in the industry. To his employees, he does not appear the ruthless executive normally associated with competitive managers—he is considered personable, thoughtful, and hands-on. The majority of Alliant’s employees call him by his first name, are invited to brown-bag lunches to discuss the company, and receive handwritten notes of appreciation. He biannually accompanies

226

Thomas Day

front-line employees into the field to maintain quality control and monitor workers’ concerns. Bimonthly, Davis meets with his top twelve executives to discuss shortand long-term goals. He also puts the company before himself: In 2002, he and six other top executives skipped their annual bonuses for the next two years to cut costs. In light of the Enron and WorldCom scandals, Davis has taken a proactive step in Alliant’s auditing procedures: Lead time for audits was reduced 66 percent, and he doubled the number of audits a year in order to create a more efficient system. As an African American executive, Davis has strived to create career paths for minorities within Alliant, which has had problems retaining nonwhites. He admits that diversity is a problem, but not more than at any other large company. Alliant has also implemented internship programs for minorities, and the minority managers heavily recruit African Americans. The issue of diversity has also touched Davis in his personal life—being in the public light, he does not drink or smoke and strives to be a role model. While Davis does not consider himself an activist, because of his busy work schedule, he does reach out to the minority community in Madison. In addition to speaking to underprivileged teens, both Davis and his wife supported diversity at the University of Wisconsin by bestowing minority scholarships. Davis is a director of the Edison Electric Institute, Electric Power Research Institute, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Association, Association of Edison Illuminating Companies, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, American Society of Corporate Executives, BP p.l.c, PPG Industries, Inc., and Union Pacific Corporation. In addition, he is a lifetime member on the Carnegie Mellon University and the U.S. Olympic Committee Boards. Sources Electricity Advisory Board. ‘‘Errol B. Davis, Jr.’’ http://www.eab.energy.gov/index .cfm?fuseaction¼home.biographies#davis. ‘‘Errol B. Davis.’’ World-Generation-Class of 2003. http://www.world-gen.com/ class03/davis.html. ‘‘Erroll B. Davis, Jr.’’ http://www.usocpressbox.org/usoc/pressbox.nsf/(staticreports)/ BreakingþNews/$File/ErrollDavis.pdf?Open. Jones, Lisa C. ‘‘Winning the Power Game—Erroll B. Davis Jr., Head of WPL Holdings Inc.’’ Ebony 50 (November 1994): 70. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_ m1077/is_n1_v50/ai_15885848. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Gale, 2005.

Thura Mack

Thomas Day (1801–1861), Cabinet- and Furniture Maker, Woodworker, Woodcarver A free black in North Carolina, Thomas Day operated one of North Carolina’s largest furniture industries and was highly regarded through the

227

Thomas Day

South as one of its finest cabinet- and furniture makers. He operated his furniture businesses between 1827 and 1859. A skilled craftsman, his services were in great demand. Among his primary clients in the state were the governor and distinguished families. He was as astute in his business dealings as he was in his craft and reportedly became one of the wealthiest free blacks in the area of Milton, North Carolina, where he operated his businesses. While sources vary on the place and date of his birth and the facts of his early life, most agree that he was born in Halifax County, Virginia, near Petersburg, in 1801. Although his parents’ names remain unknown, his mother was freed in North Carolina. His father was a cabinetmaker and may have had some influence on the craft that Thomas Day would practice later on. He may have practiced cabinetry in 1818 while living in Virginia, where he is said to have opened a shop. Some sources claim that the Day family moved to North Carolina in 1817. Whatever the case, his early experiences enabled him to read well and to write in elegant penmanship. During the first quarter of the nineteenth century, cabinetmaking was a prosperous business in North Carolina. Many free blacks in the state were entrepreneurs, working as artisans and tanners. Although Milton—where Day now lived—was in the center of wealthy tobacco farming in the state, it was also the home for many cabinetmakers. Day may have been an apprentice in one of these shops and learned or enhanced the art of cabinetmaking at that time. By 1827, however, he opened a shop on Milton’s Main Street, across from the local post office, having paid $550 cash for the facility. He ventured into a series of enterprises between 1827 and 1850. He was an investor, purchasing stock in a local agency of the state bank in 1834. In 1848 he purchased Union Tavern, sometimes known as the Yellow Tavern, which had a reputation as one of the state’s largest and finest taverns. It became his workshop as well as his residence; later on he expanded the building by adding a two-story wing to the gabled brick building. Altogether he invested $5,800 in the facility—a considerable sum at that time. Day expanded his workforce by twelve. A slave owner, Day used his two slaves both in his furniture shop and on the farm that he owned and operated. He also apprenticed white bondservants and was said to have more apprentices in his shop than any other businesses in the state at that time. Since Day lived in a high-farm area, known for its tobacco crop, he extended his enterprise to include a 270-acre farm. The distinctive furniture that Thomas Day crafted consisted of bedsteads, benches, French sofas, chairs, chests, footstools, and tables. Often the pieces were carved and/or included other minute details, giving further evidence of his skill. He also built coffins, stairways, and rooms with interior trim. The chief materials used were mahogany, walnut, and oak—all available in North Carolina’s woods. Some of his mahogany was imported from the West Indies. Day sold directly to his clients, who were prominent families, wealthy tobacco growers, and politicians; for example, North Carolina governor David S. Reed, who held office from 1851 to 1854, was a chief customer and placed sizable orders with him. His work with educational institutions included the

228

Thomas Day

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he built shelving for the Philanthropic and Dialetic societies. His work with religious institutions included Milton Presbyterian Church, a church with a racially mixed congregation where he and his family regularly attended and where Day served as elder. On January 7, 1830, Day married Aquilla Wilson, a free black Virginian who at that time, could not move to North Carolina due to the state’s immigration law of 1827 that would not allow her in the state. Day’s clients, who already valued his work and saw him as one whom whites could trust, came to his support and had North Carolina’s General Assembly waive the law in this case, finally abolishing it on December 31 that year. They had three children—Mary Ann, Devreaux, and Thomas Jr., who were all educated in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, at Wilbraham & Monson Academy. Again, racial restrictions in North Carolina would not allow education for free blacks, causing the Days to educate their children elsewhere. After Day’s business suffered from the economic crisis of 1857 and nearly closed, his son, Thomas Jr., bought him out and ran the shop until 1871. Thomas Sr. had died ten years earlier, sometime in 1861. Later Thomas Jr. moved to Asheville and married the head of Stevens School in Washington, D.C. He relocated to Seattle, operated furniture business, and later died a tragic death. Mary Ann Day married Luke Dorland, who founded Scotia Seminary, a school for blacks located in Salisbury, North Carolina. Devreaux Day became president of a company in South America and succumbed of an unidentified fever. Thomas Day was a well-built man with a commanding appearance. He was unassuming and unaffected by his skill, wealth, and statue in the community. He was deeply religious and considered fairly well educated by standards of his time. Day’s legend survives in the re-creation of his furniture by Craftique company as well as in the original pieces that are housed at the North Carolina State Museum of History in Raleigh, at historically black North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, the Greensboro Historical Museum, and in private homes in the South. In 1929, some of his masterpieces that were extant were in the hands of G. G. Donoho and included a small mahogany side table covered with a marble top, seven small mahogany chairs that may have accompanied the side table, and a writing table. There were claims that Day’s furniture was scattered all over North Carolina but concentrated in Greensboro, Durham, Raleigh, Fayetteville, Charlotte, and Winston-Salem. Sources Barfield, Rodney. ‘‘Thomas Day.’’ Thomas Day, Cabinetmaker: An Exhibition of the North Carolina Museum of History. Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of History, Department of Cultural Resources, 1975. Day, Tom, and Mary E. Lyon. Master of Mahogany: Tom Day, Free Black Cabinetmaker. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 1995. Franklin, John Hope. The Free Negro in North Carolina 1790–1860. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1943.

229

Suzanne de Passe Kranz, Rachel. African-American Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs (A to Z of African Americans). New York: Facts on File, 2004. Logan, Rayford W., and Michael R. Winston, eds. Dictionary of American Negro Biography. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982.

Jessie Carney Smith

Suzanne de Passe (1947– ), Music and Film Producer and Executive, Screenwriter, Talent Coordinator, Educator Suzanne de Passe is best known for her part in Motown Productions Company, grassroots for the careers of such music icons as Diana Ross, Lionel Ritchie, Marvin Gaye, and Jackson Five. While de Passe’s seminal starts revolve around music, the fifty-nine-year-old visionary has been involved in the film industry via production of prime-time music shows such as Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, which was a source for winning an Emmy in 1982, as well as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Image Awards. De Passe’s interaction with film transcends the production arena into the conceptualization and writing process, hence the Academy Award nomination for her efforts in cowriting Lady Sings the Blues in 1972. Beyond this feat in film, her most notable success story lies within her creative development and business savvy needed to manifest the final project of the mini series Lonesome Dove, which was awarded a Peabody, a Golden Globe, and an Emmy. So great was de Passe’s notoriety that she garnered attention from the academic world. As noted in Harvard Business Review online, Harvard University began a series of case studies based on her business leadership style in 1997, and ultimately in 2002 she was asked to become a part of the faculty as the AOL Time Warner Professor in the Department of Radio, Television and Film at one of America’s most prestigious institutions of higher education, Howard University in Washington, D.C. De Passe was born in Harlem, New York, in 1947 to her parents, a schoolteacher and account executive for Seagrams, who divorced when the young de Passe was three years old. Regardless of the challenges stereotypically attached to such family dynamics, she was nurtured by a solid family structure. She attended Lincoln School, one of New York’s finest private schools, which provided a diverse makeup. De Passe admits to receiving the essential skills— ‘‘opinion, analysis’’—to survive in any industry while studying at Lincoln. Her literary abilities led her to attend Manhattan Community College in 1966, where she studied English. De Passe surprisingly ended her collegiate career shortly thereafter, beginning her career as a music talent scout for the Cheetah Club—a local dance club on New York’s night scene. This opportunity afforded de Passe the tools needed to hone her visionary abilities: She was responsible for assessing acts based on their skills and

230

Suzanne de Passe

appeal to the public as well as basic management of these acts. In conjunction with learning the skeleton of music management at this time, de Passe made use of the networks availed to her. Cindy Birdsong, of the Supremes, is credited with introducing de Passe to Barry Gordy Jr.—former Motown Productions owner. In time, she was given the opportunity to be Gordy’s creative assistant in 1968. The early stages of her career with Gordy were trying at times; Gordy recalls that stage as being tear-filled for de Passe as she learned to aptly handle the pressures of the industry. De Passe herself admits to crying for the first decade of her work because she had to fight ageism even then; the youthful looking de Passe was constantly suspected to be a groupie and thus hassled by security and other stage managers when managing acts. With a budget increase from $12 million to $65 million in a nine-year span after taking over Motown’s TV/Film sector in 1980, it can be said that de Passe triumphed over perceptions of backstage security and those who control the production of stories that promote the value of African American life. In spite of her intensely busy life, de Passe found time to start a family with actor Paul Le Mat in 1978. Unfortunately the union was later dissolved. Her work has been a contribution not only to age issues; it has broadened racial and feminist trajectories for the entertainment industry, so much so that Ms.—a reliable source for informing the public of the advancement and support of women’s development (personal, political, or business) in America— highlighted de Passe after her triumph in a primarily white male world with the production of Lonesome Dove. While many Hollywood producers, primarily male, failed to see the potential of Lonesome Dove, an insightful de Passe made the connection and secured rights for the novel at the meager price of $50,000 before its Pulitzer Award–winning status. This action resulted in a profit for those involved. The visionary recalls how an unintended meeting with Gloria Steinem led to dinner with author Larry McMurty; the event led to de Passe reading the novel piecemeal. McMurty was surprised by her offer to make his book (one that even his agent could not sell to Hollywood) into a film. De Passe enthusiastically assured the author that her interests in a western, a film genre Hollywood deemed trite, were valid based on an endearing memory of her grandfather, who took her to a rodeo when she was four. She recalls in Media Week, ‘‘I had this little fringe skirt, two pearl handled pistols and a hat.’’ While this action may be judged to be romantic and void of business sense considering Hollywood’s treatment of westerns at the time, it testifies to de Passe’s commitment to the creative process and her visionary gift, which allows her to see beyond the constraints. It is arguable that de Passe has surpassed Hollywood’s tendency to be profit focused alone. She has joined efforts that produced shows that families can watch with ease, for example, Lonesome Dove and its subsequent specials; The Temptations, a quasi-documentary based on the memoir from the late Otis Williams, which in 1998 garnered an Emmy nomination; and syndicated shows on WB—Sister, Sister, beginning in 1993, and The Smart

231

Suzanne de Passe

Guy, beginning in 1997. Her values also pronounce her commitment to the African American community. The Temptations telefilm ‘‘puts black men in front of the audience who are multidimensional,’’ said de Passe in Media Week. Imbuing black males with human characteristics consisting of successes and failures amid cultural demonization of them is also a part of de Passe’s legacy. She is unafraid of controversy, which is evident when considering the production of The Temptations. Despite popular disagreement with her approval of using Philadelphia as the set instead of Detroit, owing to budget constraints, or the lawsuit from David Ruffin’s family because the script depicted his death caused by addiction to drugs, de Passe proceeded with production. Even when the miniseries was threatened to never appear on the network, de Passe was wise enough to seek assistance from miniseries guru Hallmark Entertainment. Amid hostile rumors that before Hallmark’s involvement de Passe’s leadership was unstable, there are testimonies from sources such as Temptations’ manager Shelly Berger, who claims de Passe’s organization and guidance made the unforeseeable a reality. Risk taking is a natural act for de Passe, who managed to convince Gordy to take interest in the Jackson Five in 1968. Gordy, in his mentorship, granted her space to make mistakes in the early years, and it has made a difference. This same energy spawned her move from Motown Productions in 1988; she eventually started her own company in 1992. In 2004, de Passe was aptly given the Madam C. J. Walker award from Ebony’s annual Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications committee, commemorating her contribution to the business world on behalf of African Americans, in particular African American women. Other recipients were L. Marilyn Crawford, president and chief executive officer of PRIMETIME ONMIMEDIA, and Susan Mboya, associate director of African-American Multicultural Business Development at Procter & Gamble. Her accolades continue with the American Film Institute’s Producer of the Year Award in 1995. In the corresponding press release, more of de Passe’s community involvement was listed: board membership at the American Film Institute as well as at the L.A. Opera. In 2003, she also received the Whitney M. Young Jr. award, which is the highest honor receivable from the Los Angeles Urban league. Her accomplishments are not only personal but communal as well. Other prestigious recognitions include her induction into the Black Filmmaker’s Hall of Fame in 1990 and placement in the Legacy of Women in Film and Television in 1992. De Passe’s legacy extends beyond awards. In an interview with Gail Mitchell of Billboard, de Passe articulated, ‘‘For so long I’ve been told, ‘we want more minorities, but we can’t find anybody.’ I want to help.’’ And she is. De Passe is the epitome of diversity via her roles as producer (movie/music/TV), writer, and educator; she also promotes the inclusion of minorities on America’s silver screen while managing to do projects beyond the Lonesome Dove spin-off Buffalo Girls. Among her many other responsibilities as president of her own company and professor at Howard University, de Passe is said to be the current executive producer for

232

Charles Diggs Jr.

the upcoming miniseries based on the Negro Baseball League, started in Kansas City. Like Walker, de Passe has been resilient and successful. Her career is marked with a commitment to promoting African American involvement in the entertainment industry not only as faces on the silver screen but as creators and producers as well. See also: Women and Business Sources Alley, Robert S., and Irby B. Brown. ‘‘Suzanne de Passe.’’ Women Television Producers: Transformation of the Male Medium. Ed. Robert S. Alley and Irby B. Brown. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2001. Button, Graham. ‘‘The Golden Dove.’’ Forbes 143 (1989): 58. Castro, Janice. ‘‘Hitsville Goes Hollywood; Motown Hopes to Bring Its Golden Touch to Films and Television.’’ Time 133 (1989): 51. ‘‘Ebony Honors Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications.’’ Ebony 59 (June 2004): 104. Jarmon, Laura C. ‘‘Suzanne de Passe.’’ Powerful Black Women. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Visible Ink, 1996. Johnson, Lisa. ‘‘Negro Baseball League to Be Subject of Mini.’’ FilmStew, January 25, 2005. http://www.filmstew.com/Content/Article.asp?ContentID¼10645&Pg¼1. Mitchell, Gail. ‘‘De Passe Speaks Out: CEO Keeps Her Finger on the Pulse and to the Ground.’’ Billboard (June 2003): 21. Reynonds, Rhonda. ‘‘25 Black Women Who Have Made a Difference in Business.’’ Black Enterprise 25 (1994): 76. Roberts, L. ‘‘Lady Sings the Blues.’’ Newsweek 132 (1998): 48. Sharkey, Betsy. ‘‘Ball of Confusion.’’ Media Week 8 (1998): 32. ‘‘Suzanne de Passe.’’ Lexis Nexis Academic, 2005. http://web.lexis-nexis.com/uni verse. ‘‘Suzanne de Passe, Production Executive: She Gave Lonesome Dove Its Wings.’’ People Weekly (Spring 1991): 64.

Althea Tait

‘‘Diddy.’’ See Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs

‘‘P. Diddy.’’ See Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs

Charles Diggs Jr. (1922–1998), Politician, Mortician Charles Diggs was the first African American voted into Congress from Michigan. His influential career changed Congress from the inside out, as he founded the Congressional Black Caucus when minorities were a marginal

233

Charles Diggs Jr.

presence on Capitol Hill: He was in the company of only two other African Americans, Adam Clayton Powell of New York and William Dawson of Chicago, at the time. Diggs was born on December 2, 1922, into a prominent African American family. At a time in America’s history when blacks were seeking equality and basic civil rights, Diggs’s father, Charles Diggs Sr., operated his own mortuary business in an area that refused to bury African Americans. Diggs Sr. was also a member of the Michigan State Senate. Being his father’s only son, in fact only child, Diggs Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps and was highly successful as well. He was educated at Miller High School in Detroit, which led him to attend the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he completed two years of schooling (1940–1942). In 1942, he attended Fisk University for one year before serving his country in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945. He eventually completed a degree at Wayne College of Mortuary Science in 1946. Diggs’s education was unceasing. After completing his degree in mortuary science, he studied law at the Detroit College of Law in 1950. In 1954 he began his federal governmental career when he was elected to Congress within the Democratic Party. Considering that in 1944 as a military officer he had to use the backdoor to a restaurant in Alabama, Diggs was proactive in the war against racial injustice. He inaugurated his work in Congress by attending the Emmett Tills trial, which became a catalyst for the civil rights movement and those concerned with the racial issues at hand. Diggs eventually convinced President Dwight D. Eisenhower of the need for a congressional session focused on the issue of race relations in America at the time. While Diggs’s career is a legacy for African American people, in particular politicians and political reformers, it is not without controversy. Like many prominent African American political reformers—W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey—Diggs found himself involved with legal proceedings. He was accused of inappropriate spending of over $60,000 and eventually convicted for his acts. He gave a forty-page account of why certain employees of his were paid a greater amount so that they could pay for some of his personal expenses. He readily admitted that he had been in financial constraints, and some of his employees volunteered to help him. The result was a premeditated plan on Diggs’s part, which he claimed had no mark on his conscience because he did not know he was committing a crime. He was so convinced of his stance that after two years of appeals he undauntingly planned to run for office after the controversy in 1978. Eventually he conceded to the charges and convictions, resigning from office in 1980 and turning himself over to serve his prison sentence. Ironically, while censured by Congress in 1978 because of the aforementioned acts, Diggs was reelected by popular vote. The inconsistency between Congress and America’s public remains. While many reported Diggs’s early retirement as a disgrace and gave him a sentence of shame

234

Charles Diggs Jr.

beyond the seven months served of his three-year term of imprisonment, there were others who continued to value his wisdom. Some time after his release from prison, Diggs was asked to return to Washington as a consultant to the Congressional Black Caucus. In August 1998, Diggs died of a stroke. At his funeral, which over 600 guests attended, prominent spokespersons commented on Diggs’s life. According to Jet magazine for September 1998, Andrew Young, civil rights advocate and politician, noted Diggs as one who ‘‘bore the cross not expected of a Congressman’’ by extending support and a voice to the Emmett Till case, to the racially charged city of Selma, and to the apartheid-torn South Africa when it was not a popular cause. Diggs was so dedicated to ending injustice for African Americans that his cause became Pan-African; he offered his greatest support to these concerns as the first African American chair of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee within the House of Representatives. Diggs is also known for his part in the Home Rule Act of 1973 for the district of Columbia that his former press secretary and sole Diggsean biographer Carolyn P. Dubose argues was his legacy. Home rule was initiated in 1973 while Diggs was House District Committee chairperson. The bill gave the district the right to govern itself within certain limits that caused Congress to be the immediate authority. Despite the bill affecting the district’s budget, in particular, it gave residents the opportunity to elect the mayor and city council—an act that had not been done since 1874. Although Congress amended the bill post September 11, it retained congressional power over the district’s spending amid spirited opposition from lobbyists and their unrepresented citizens. Some argue that despite the restrictions of the bill its primary originator, Diggs, used it as a lateral movement for more serious causes such as South Africa and the district itself. Others intimate that it was commonly known as the ‘‘Diggs Compromise.’’ All of his political moves were not tinged with doubt. After the murder of Black Panther members in Chicago and that of two students at Mississippi’s Jackson State, Diggs spearheaded investigations. He also convinced Eisenhower to visit two integrated schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, while on a goodwill tour. His popularity reigned beyond America. Missouri representative William Lacy Clay recalls a visit to Sierra Leone, cited by Irvin Molotsky in the New York Times: ‘‘The plane was due to arrive at 8 o’clock at night. We were delayed until 1 A.M., but there were 10,000 people still there waiting at the airport to greet us.’’ Because of his Pan-African efforts, he was delegated to the United Nations, which ended in late 1971 when Diggs made a statement with his resignation because America reportedly sold arms to South Africa and Portugal as well as the U.S. government, securing Rhodesian chrome. Diggs’s legacy extends itself beyond politics. After serving his sentence for a court conviction based on nineteen counts of fraud, he attended Howard University, earning a degree in political science. His life is marked by a continual interest in education. After a tumultuous career in politics, he became a scholar in the area he had practiced for twenty-six years. Never

235

Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work Movement

leaving his grassroots of protest against injustice, Diggs did not allow his setbacks to become permanent. He decided to open a funeral home in one of Maryland’s areas that lacked a selection of funeral services run by African Americans who would serve African Americans, doubly following in his father’s footsteps. After the state’s funeral board refused to grant him a license in 1982, he appealed the ruling and won. Even while serving his sentence at Maxwell Air Force Base Prison in Alabama, he edited the periodical Hard Times. Despite being caught between the poles of legacy and disgrace, Diggs stated to Edward Sargent of the Washington Post, ‘‘What has sustained me most is the support and understanding from the black community. It has offset what might have been a demoralizing experience.’’ Sources Booker, Simeon. ‘‘A News Media Report That Widow Darlene Diggs Was Preparing to Release the First ‘Tell All Book.’ ’’ Jet 106 (September 27, 2004): 20. ‘‘Charles Diggs, Former Michigan.’’ CNN All Politics. August 25, 1998. http:// www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/08/25/ap/diggs.obit. ‘‘Diggs Will Run Again and Seek Former Post.’’ New York Times, January 19, 1980. Dubose, Carolyn P. The Untold Story of Charles Diggs: The Public Figure, the Private Man. Arlington, VA: Barton Publishing House, 1999. Everett, Kay. ‘‘Blacks Also Made Great Contributions to Detroit.’’ http://www.detnews .com/2001/detroit/0101/24/s09-179021.htm. ‘‘Hundreds Pay Tribute to Late Rep. Charles Diggs’ Civil Rights Record at Maryland Ceremony.’’ Jet 94 (1998): 18. King, Colbert I. ‘‘Democracy for the District, Too.’’ Washington Post, September 29, 2001. Molotsky, Irvin. ‘‘Charles Diggs, 75, Congressman Censured Over Kickbacks.’’ New York Times, August 16, 1998. Ragsdale, Bruce A., and Joel D. Treese. Black Americans in Congress 1870–1989. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990. Sargent, Edward D. ‘‘Graduate Charles Diggs Looks to Future.’’ Washington Post, May 14, 1983. U.S. Office of the General Counsel of the District of Columbia. ‘‘District of Columbia Home Rule Act.’’ http://www.abfa.com/ogc/hrtall.htm. Washington, Adrienne T. ‘‘ ‘Mr. Africa’ Was Critical to Home Rule’s Birth.’’ Washington Times, September 1, 1998. ‘‘When the House Is No Longer Home.’’ Newsweek 99 (January 18, 1982): 21.

Althea Tait

Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work Movement (1929–1941) The purchasing power of black America was seen early on as one of the benefits of employment; such power had an important affect on the American economy. There have been many efforts in history to address the economic potential of a race and to help the unemployed or under-

236

Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work Movement

employed or simply denied employment due to race. Thus, in 1929 former prizefighter Big Bill Tate joined A. C. O’Neal, editor of a Chicago newspaper, the Whip, and organized a boycott of white merchants in Chicago who failed to hire blacks. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the movement, which had been successful in Chicago, spread quickly across the country to major cities and became a major form of black activism. It was variously called the ‘‘Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work’’ movement, ‘‘Jobs for Negroes Movement,’’ or ‘‘Don’t Spend Your Money Where You Can’t Work’’ or took on other titles in different cities. It became the forerunner of the black economic boycotts of the modern civil rights movement. The ‘‘Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work’’ movement spread, becoming known variously in other major cities: the Future Outlook League (Cleveland, Ohio), the New Negro Alliance (Washington, D.C., 1933), the Colored Clerks Circle (St. Louis, 1929), the movement led by Prophet Kiowa Costonie (Baltimore, 1933), the Sentinel efforts (Los Angeles, 1934), ‘‘Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work’’ (led by the Atlanta World, 1934), and the Citizens’ League for Fair Play (New York City). Important branches of the movement were seen also in Philadelphia (led by the Urban League), Pittsburgh, Boston, and Richmond. In time, smaller cities such as Evansville, Indiana, and Alliance, Ohio, had branches of the movement. By the time the movement subsided in World War II, some thirty-five cities had joined in the organized boycotts and picket lines to seek economic and social equality. The ‘‘Don’t Buy’’ movement was promoted by the ‘‘Double Duty Dollar’’ doctrine that was preached each week from the pulpits of many black churches in what was known as ‘‘Bronzeville,’’ or the black section of Chicago. According to St. Clair Drake and Horace R. Cayton in Black Metropolis, black minister Gordon B. Hancock, whose column appeared in several black newspapers, is credited with popularizing the term. Other speakers and writers in Chicago began to use the term as well. Church newspapers also promoted the Double Duty Dollar campaign, just as they advertised various black businesses, from ‘‘chicken shacks’’ to corset shops. Church congregations and at times participants in mass meetings were told the virtues of shopping at black enterprises to make the dollar do double duty—that is, to help the business financially and to advance the race. Various activities grew out of the ‘‘Don’t Buy’’ campaign and the Double Duty Dollar concept. There were organized boycotts, trade pack agreements, and block-by-block picketing. The campaigns were more aggressive in northern cities than those in the South, where individual boycotts replaced large, organized protests. In Atlanta, for example, individual boycotts of a white grocery forced the store out of business and also resulted in black employment in some white stores. According to Abram L. Harris in The Negro as Capitalist, no record of the number of jobs that resulted from the ‘‘Don’t Buy’’ movement has been shown. ‘‘In Washington, D.C., the total number is reputed to be less than seventy-five,’’ he wrote. On the other hand, movements in New York City

237

Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work Movement

and Baltimore were headed ‘‘to achieve national scope.’’ Some white merchants in Maryland, however, sought a legal end to the pickets and boycotts and took the issue to court. According to the black newspaper the AfroAmerican for April 13, 1935, cited in The Negro as Capitalist, the Court of Appeals of Maryland gave a ruling that ‘‘enhanced the prestige of the movement’’ and supported its philosophy. Accordingly, the court sanctioned ‘‘the general purpose of colored persons to improve the condition of their race’’ by refusing to buy where they did not work. As well, their methods of protest that included advertising in newspapers and circulars were peaceful and not intended to coerce white merchants. Any damage to the merchant as a result of these peaceful efforts came ‘‘without remedy,’’ the court ruled. White merchants in Harlem also sought to suppress black boycotts. They obtained a federal district court injunction on the grounds that the black boycotts were a ‘‘violation of restraint of trade.’’ Although the Court of Appeals upheld the case, New Negro Alliance v Sanitary Grocery Co., 303 U.S. 552, according to Juliet Walker’s The History of Black Business in America, the Supreme Court reversed the decision and held that ‘‘boycotts were labor disputes protected under the Norris-LaGuardia Act’’ and refused to issue injunctions to stop nonviolent picketing. THE HARLEM MOVEMENT In Harlem, the movement was launched around 1930 and coincided with an effort to win clerical posts for blacks in local white-owned businesses. There were at that time no laws barring racial discrimination in private industry; thus, blacks were not visible in the local industries. Sufi Abdul Hamid, of self-proclaimed Egyptian but actually an American-born black, had been active in the successful Chicago campaign. Through picketing, he and his followers landed 300 jobs for blacks in two months. Now he moved on to Harlem and continued his antiwhite slogans that he and his separatist followers used in Chicago and alienated blacks and whites. He also continued his street corner speeches. The work of Hamid and his Negro Industrial Clerical Alliance became so violent and disruptive that it played a role in the Harlem Riots of 1935. Others in the Harlem movement worked through an established network of church-based programs, fraternal organizations, women’s groups, and political and social organizations and were aided through charismatic minister Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Powell organized the Citywide Coordinating Committee; the organization was instrumental in locating ‘‘jobs for Negroes.’’ Although they sought a coherent movement, Harlem was so diverse that the backgrounds and political beliefs and aspirations of some conflicted with the goals and needs of others. There were also black businessmen who feared that the removal of racial barriers in employment in white-owned establishments would result in an increase in black customers there, resulting in a loss of black customers in black businesses. Nearly ten years

238

Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work Movement

would pass before Harlem’s activists would organize a campaign sufficient to win jobs on a widespread basis. Meanwhile, in 1931, the Harlem Housewives League, founded a year earlier, had over 1,000 members, most of whom were politically active. Its able leaders included Lucille Randolph (wife of Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters leader A. Philip Randolph) as vice president and Bessye Bearden (journalist and activist) as publicity chairperson. They urged black women to shop for groceries only at those stores that were members of the Colored Merchants’ Association. Still, internal differences in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other organizations slowed progress of the movement. As well, not all black leaders supported the movement; others questioned the use of boycotts over pickets. Nevertheless, the movement moved ahead as the women urged the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (better known as A&P), Woolworth’s, and stores of similar popularity with branches throughout Harlem to hire blacks. Their work, coupled with that of Powell, led to black employment in New York Edison Electric Company, Bell Telephone Company, the New York Bus Company, and in 1939, the New York World’s Fair. Powell and the Coordinating Committee sought nonmenial jobs for blacks at the fair; when their request was denied, they picketed the fair’s headquarters in the highly visible Empire State Building. After that, the fair’s organizers promised to hire several hundred blacks as clerical and other workers. So well received were Powell’s efforts that he was catapulted into a seat on the city council and in 1944 to a seat in the U.S. Congress. Similarly, in Chicago, William Dawson’s ascendancy into the political arena and into the U.S. Congress grew out of his leadership in the ‘‘Don’t Buy’’ campaign. Harlem’s efforts and the larger ‘‘Don’t Buy’’ movement ended with World War II, when black organizations and the black community faced many other compelling issues. On the whole, however, it appears that the national ‘‘Don’t Buy’’ movement led to jobs for no more than a few thousand blacks. Although many blacks remained jobless, the movement provided an opportunity for the black community to test its economic strength, its ability to organize for a common cause, and its ability to determine the full economic needs of the community and to initiate bold, new strategies to bring about economic uplift. See also: Economic Boycotts and Protests Sources Drake, St. Clair, and Horace R. Cayton. Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1945. Greenberg, Cheryl Lynn. Or Does It Explode? Black Harlem in the Great Depression. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Harris, Abram L. The Negro as Capitalist: A Study of Banking and Business among American Negroes. 1936. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969. Lowery, Charles D., and John F. Marszalek, eds. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African Civil Rights. Vol. 1. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003.

239

Frederick Douglass’s Business Enterprises Oak, Vishnu V. The Negro’s Adventure in General Business. Yellow Springs, OH: Antioch Press, 1949. Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998.

Jessie Carney Smith

Frederick Douglass’s Business Enterprises One of America’s most precious gems is the legacy left by Frederick Douglass to the world upon his death in 1895. Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born around 1818 in Easton, Talbot County, Maryland, to Harriet Bailey, a slave. His father’s identity remains unknown, but slaves’ rumors suggest the slave master was he. Upon reaching New Bedford, Massachusetts, after his final escape from slavery to freedom, Frederick Bailey—then Johnson—finally changed his surname to Douglass. He is mainly known as a gifted, multitalented black American abolitionist and lecturer whose outspokenness, power of persuasion, and literary aptitude significantly impacted nineteenth-century history. Not as well known perhaps are the numerous business enterprises in which Douglass engaged. Thus, it is important to highlight and discuss Douglass’s business ventures and his ability to maintain them. Douglass’s entrepreneurial efforts officially began when he was twenty years old and hired himself out as a caulker. Between ages twenty and fifty-nine, Douglass’s business ventures included lecturing, the black press, and banking. When just a young child, Douglass heard his master state that because education would provide too much enlightenment, learning to read and write was forbidden for slaves. From that moment forth, learning the art of education became Douglass’s foremost desire—next to freedom. Through curiosity, ingenuity, and self-help, he learned to read and write at an early age and ultimately mastered the art of education. At age sixteen, Douglass was taught the trade of caulking ships and became an expert at using caulking tools by the time he turned eighteen. In 1838, Douglas persuaded one master to sanction his plan to self-hire. The agreement was for Douglass to pay for his own tools, clothing, room, and board and give the master $3 a week. This agreement can be construed as Douglass’s initial business enterprise, for he was solely in charge of his own finances. First of all, because of his expertise in the trade, he commanded ‘‘the highest wages paid to journeymen caulkers.’’ Douglass earned an average of $7 per week; during the busy seasons, he earned as much as $9, of which he paid his master $3. Second, Douglass demonstrated his ability to artfully negotiate and successfully persuade—even as a slave. While working in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1837, Douglass met his future wife, Anna Murray. Supporting Douglass in achieving his goal of freedom, she assisted him in his 1838 escape from slavery and met him in New Bedford, Massachusetts. They were married and

240

Frederick Douglass’s Business Enterprises

ultimately had five children. She also stayed at home and took in piecework sewing to support her family and her husband’s business ventures. Douglass’s second business venture came about when he became an ordained minister and pastored the New Bedford African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Under the auspices of his leadership, he taught blacks in New Bedford to read and write and often made speeches to them. One can infer that Douglass was paid for his pastorship—no matter how little—and collected some monies for the speeches he made. By 1841, Douglass had been heard on the lecture circuit by white abolitionists and was invited to speak before the convention of the Massachusetts Abolitionist Society on Nantucket. From the time of his arrival in New Bedford up to this point, Douglass had read as many abolitionist newspapers as he possibly could and had digested the mission of the editors and the societies they represented. But the Liberator, which was edited and published by William Lloyd Garrison, a chief northern abolitionist, especially influenced him. His thoughts and impressions of slavery were completely in sync with those of the Massachusetts Abolitionist Society. Douglass accepted the invitation and delivered his speech at the convention before more than 2,000 antislavery activists. The eloquence and sentiment of his presentation captivated the audience, and the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society offered him a threemonth lecture assignment as a result. Before long, Douglass contracted to lecture on behalf of the American Anti-Slavery Society promoting antislavery, thus launching his third business enterprise. EXPANDS LECTURE CIRCUIT AND BUSINESS VENTURES Some people who heard Douglass speak began to doubt truth in his claim to be a slave because he was so well spoken. To rid the public of any doubt, Douglass revealed the full account of his years in slavery at an American Anti-Slavery Society meeting in New York on May 6, 1845. He was immediately thereafter persuaded to publish the account. Thus, Douglass launched his fourth venture as the author of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself in 1845. The book was published in Boston by the Anti-Slavery Office in mid-May and sold over 4,500 copies at twenty-five cents each in less than six months. Having exposed himself as a runaway slave, Douglass’s safety in America was jeopardized, and the thought of being ‘‘returned to a doom worse than death drove him to seek refuge in England, a place where American young gentlemen go to increase their stock of knowledge, to seek pleasure, and to . . . refine themselves through contact with the aristocracy,’’ he wrote in that work. With the help of friends, he sought refuge in England as he embarked upon a ship in August 1845. Douglass’s place of asylum proved advantageous in every way. On the one hand, he became acquainted with educated, distinguished people as he lectured in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Whales; on the other hand, he launched his fifth business enterprise as an international lecturer. In the process, Philip Foner wrote in Frederick

241

Frederick Douglass’s Business Enterprises

Douglass that he was ‘‘supplied with annual income by several English friends sufficient to enable him to be free from worry and to devote his whole life and energies to the anti-slavery cause.’’ The Narrative was translated and published in several languages. Realizing his plight and standing in agreement with his position on slavery, Douglass’s English friends paid 125 pounds of silver for his freedom in December 1846. Douglass’s English friends wanted to erect a testimonial in his honor to thank him for enlightenment and to express solidarity for his mission; however, Douglass expressed his preference for the means to purchase a printing press and printing supplies so that he could start a newspaper in America to ‘‘advocate the interests of his enslaved and oppressed people, thereby dispelling the myth that black men are naturally inferior to white men and unable to live without enslavement and oppression,’’ Foner wrote. At that time, there was not a single standing, regularly published newspaper edited by blacks. Granting his desire, Douglass’s friends presented him with $2,500 to meet start-up needs for his sixth business enterprise. Douglass left England after delivering his ‘‘Farewell Address to the British People’’ in London on April 4 and arrived in New Bedford—manumission papers in hand—onboard the Cambria in 1847. While Douglass had imagined himself a successful editor of a black newspaper, several of his abolitionist friends who had heard of his plans expressed total opposition, including his mentor and idol William Lloyd Garrison. In his narrative, Douglass names the four specific reasons Garrisonians cited to denounce his plans: No such paper was needed; it would interfere with his usefulness as a lecturer; he could certainly speak better than he could write; and the paper could not succeed. Trusting his own ability and determination to prove the intelligence of his people, Douglass launched his first newspaper, the North Star, in Rochester, New York, in 1847. The newspaper was a large sheet that cost $80 a week to publish. With the physical assistance of his children, who printed the type, folded, wrapped, and mailed the papers, Douglass circulated approximately 4,000 copies. Douglass subsequently changed the name of the paper to Frederick Douglass’ Paper in 1851, so as not to confuse it with so many other newspapers with the word ‘‘star’’ in their titles. Douglass also changed his position on the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, which made his stance completely opposite that of Garrisonians and the American Anti-Slavery Society. As a result, Garrison withdrew his endorsement of Douglass’s newspaper. In June 1858, Douglass began publishing Douglass’ Monthly, a supplement to the weekly paper. The monthly supplement became a separate publication in January 1859 and continued until 1863. Having established himself as one of the most influential black leaders of the nineteenth century, Douglass was sought and urged to become the editor in chief of a large weekly newspaper in Washington, D.C., which would proclaim the progress of black people throughout the country and defend and enlighten newly emancipated slaves and enfranchised people. He accepted the position and moved his family to the Cedar Hills area of

242

Frederick Douglass’s Business Enterprises

Washington in 1870. The goals of the New Era were achievable until 1874 when it experienced extensive financial loss. Besides having invested over $10,000 into the project at the onset, Douglass ultimately purchased the newspaper in 1874 for an additional $10,000 and changed its name to the New National Era, hoping to keep current subscribers, draw new ones, and reclaim those lost. Contrary to his efforts, the paper continued to suffer financially, causing him to cease publication. That enterprise was but one of Douglass’s dismal failures as a businessman set in an administrative position. The next saga of failure occurred in his position as president of the Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Company. After the Civil War, the Freedmen’s Bureau chartered a bank in each of the former slave states to encourage the newly freed black population to invest and save money. Douglass was offered the position of president in 1874 of the Washington, D.C. branch. Unaware that the bank had already reached a state of insolvency, he accepted the prestigious position and promptly deposited $12,000 to demonstrate his confidence and support of the institution. In less than three months, Douglass discovered, to his dismay, the bank’s irreparable state. After a meeting with Congress to report the situation, the bank was closed. Douglass and the depositors who had not previously withdrawn their funds lost their money. While Douglass held several government positions after his last business venture, he continued to lecture and did so for the rest of his life. One speech he continued to deliver was ‘‘The Self-Made Man.’’ He died in 1895. See also: Black Banks: Their Beginning; Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities Sources Andrews, William L. African American Autobiographies: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993. ———. Critical Essays on Frederick Douglass. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1991. ———. The Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. ‘‘The Black Press Stresses Importance of Succession Planning for Family Business.’’ http//www.surfwax.com/history/files/Frederick_Douglass. Boyd, Herbert. Autobiography of a People: Three Centuries of African American History Told by Those Who Lived It. New York: Anchor Books, 2001. Douglass, Frederick. The Frederick Douglass Papers. Ed. John W. Blassingame et al. 5 vols. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1979–1992. ———. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, My Bondage and My Freedom, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Comp. Library of America. New York: Penguin Books, 1994. Foner, Philip. Frederick Douglass. New York: Citadel Press, 1964. Leeman, Richard W., ed. African-American Orators: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996. Martin, Waldo E., Jr. The Mind of Frederick Douglass. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984.

Shelhea Owens

243

Dr. Dre

Dr. Dre (Andre Young) (1965– ), Record Producer, Rap Artist Dr. Dre (born Andre Ranelle Young on February 18, 1965, in Compton, California) has earned the reputation as one of the top record producers of his generation. Raised by his mother, he is married and the father of two children. His rise to the ‘‘top of the charts’’ followed a route up the ladder of opportunity. Beginning as a disc jockey (DJ) for dance parties hosted by his mother and friends in the community, he learned the technical ropes of the trade by practice on the job. He began as a young preteen, experimenting with editing, overdubbing, scratching, mixing, sampling, and the other artful skills of merging cuts from various sources into dance tapes for use at parties. Name recognition is often a major factor in becoming well known, and here serendipity may have played a role. One of his early inspirations came when he heard a song by Grandmaster Flash honoring a personal idol, the wellknown sports figure Dr. J. (professional basketball superstar Julius Erving). This may have led him to style his own name as Dr. Dre. From this beginning, he began to form friendships and associations with a variety of young artists and producers in the community. By 1982, at age seventeen, he was ready to step forth and try his skills in the open market. Working as a DJ at Eve after Dark, a popular Los Angeles club, he joined with his fellow DJ at the club, Antoine Carraby (Yella), to form a new production team named the World Class Wreckin’ Crew. The new team produced a popular single demo, ‘‘Surgery.’’ The demo had a good response, selling 50,000 copies as a single and convincing him that his future lay in music. Graduating from Centennial High School in Compton in 1983, he eschewed the offer of a job at Northrop Aviation, joined with O’Shea Ice Cube Jackson, left World Class Wreckin’ Crew in 1984, and continued to excel as a DJ and artist, performing live at a variety of venues (clubs, dance bars, skating rinks, etc.). The next major venture in his career was combining with Eazy-E (Eric Wright) in 1985 to form a new group called N.W.A. (Niggaz with Attitude), including Ice Cube, Yella, M. C. Ren (Lorenzo Patterson), and Arabian Prince. Dre produced their first project, Boyz in the Hood, featuring Eazy-E. The record was successful enough to finance their next project, the single ‘‘Dopeman,’’ followed by the platinum album Eazy Duz It. Along the way, a low point was reached with several gangsta rap recordings with severe lyrics, including ‘‘Fuck Tha Police,’’ out of Ruthless Records, earning an FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) warning for the company in 1988, as well as much open controversy in the press. This notoriety affected the company, both negatively and positively. Nevertheless, Dr. Dre went on to other ventures (and it is a well-known fact that negative publicity often sells recordings). A milestone in his continuing career came with the production of his first solo single, ‘‘Deep Cover,’’ in 1992. The record marked the introduction of his new G-funk sound, which soon served virtually as Dr. Dre’s signature sound.

244

Dr. Dre

Using his creative ingenuity and flair for experimentation, integrated with his technical skills as a DJ he took a new look at old-style hip-hop and featured samples from the superstar George Clinton. He took the ball and ran with it on an oblique new tangent. The old style had an uptempo, party time, lilting flavor, whereas Dr. Dre’s new G-funk features a mellower sound, with a rich and blended bass line and a strong keyboard drive that serves as an underpinning for the melodic line and a creative vehicle for the lyrics. As he used G-funk, its versatility grew, as did his own maturity and temperament. His lyrics increasingly spoke to the music and motives of the streets and his generation. At this time also, Dr. Dre entered into a new collaboration with another local artist, Snoop Doggy Dogg. Dr. Dre’s stepbrother, Warren G., had produced a few good tapes with Snoop Dogg that showcased his talent. When Dr. Dre began to work on his next album, The Chronic, released in 1992, he featured Snoop Dogg as well as himself on several cuts, notably ‘‘Nothin’ But a G Thang,’’ ‘‘Dre Day,’’ and ‘‘Let Me Ride.’’ These hits enabled The Chronic to become a multiplatinum bestseller. At this point and going forward, G-funk was a major influence on mainstream hip-hop and its musical essence. Due to inner intrigues among his associates and friends, including the well-covered public controversies alluded to above surrounding gangsta rap itself, and other negative factors, Dr. Dre left N.W.A. and joined Suge Knight to form Death Row Records. The first venture for the label was Snoop Dogg’s signature album Doggystyle, of 1993, which set a record for its debut at number 1 on the Billboard Charts. In 1996, collaborating with Death Row artist Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre produced the highly successful song ‘‘California Love.’’ Its success established both Dr. Dre and his new company Death Row as a major force in hip-hop and an industry leader in both production and creativity. Unfortunately, however, the success took a tragic about-face, with the shooting death of Tupac in Las Vegas in 1996 and criminal charges against Suge Knight, alleging racketeering. Adding to the notoriety of Tupac’s death was its mysterious nature—and the mystery remains unsolved. Media reports and rumors told of the shooting occurring with Suge Knight apparently present in the car with Tupac and contributing little to the subsequent inquiry into the crime. Sensing dire prospects for the continuation of Death Row, Dr. Dre withdrew from the company and formed another enterprise, Aftermath Entertainment, including various major artists such as Eminem and 50 Cent. The company’s first release, Dr. Dre Presents . . . The Aftermath, featured songs by the new Aftermath artists, including Dre, and the solo track ‘‘Been There, Done That,’’ suggesting that Dr. Dre had moved on to another level of performance and lifestyle. Very soon more productions followed, including Eminem’s next album The Slim Shady LP in 1999 and The Marshall Mathers LP in 2000; both were highly successful despite somewhat controversial lyrics. Eminem’s next album, The Eminem Show, released in 2002, was largely guided through production by Eminem himself.

245

Joe L. Dudley Sr.

Dre’s next release was a new solo album, Dr. Dre 2001, released in 1999. This album, like a few previously released, featured the voices of several collaborators, as well as Dre himself, notably Devin the Dude, Hittman, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem. The lyrics assert Dre’s claim to represent an important and reemergent hip-hop force, with the typical constants of scratch and noise inputs, plus some impressive musical innovations such as the use of synthesized sound mixed with string melodies, and a vigorous, deep and rich bass line, possibly showing an attempt to redefine G-funk’s versatility. Dr. Dre exhibits some of these newer techniques as well in work produced for other artists, notably ‘‘Let Me Blow Ya Mind’’ for Eve and Gwen Stefani, ‘‘Break, Break Ya Neck’’ by Busta Rhymes, and ‘‘Family Affair’’ by Mary J. Blige. Recently also, Dr. Dre appeared in the movies Set it Off (1996), The Wash (2001), and Training Day (2001), with one of his songs (‘‘Bad Intentions’’) included on the soundtrack for The Wash. He disclaimed ambitions, however, for an acting career. His continuing work in production resulted in other collaborations. In 2003, Dre and Eminem together produced ‘‘In Da Club,’’ a major-label hit single for Queens rapper 50 Cent. ‘‘In Da Club’’ was included on the album Get Rich or Die Tryin’. Given his past, and rumors to the contrary, it seems very likely that his career in music will continue to flourish. A new album release, Detox, is planned for 2006, and he may well include other artists recently signed to Aftermath Entertainment, including Eminem, Ice Cube, 50 Cent, Eve, The Game, Stat Quo, and Busta Rhymes, to this or other forthcoming projects. What can we anticipate for future years? One expects that there will be a continuation of intrigue, innovation, production, and distribution turns and twists, collaborations, and rejections. Many creative sparks will fly. We foresee a star producer who will be strong and innovative in meeting his new challenges. Sources Answers.com. http://www.answers.com/topic/Dr-Dre. Beckman, Janette, and B. Adler. Rap: Portraits and Lyrics of a Generation of Black Rockers. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol 30. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. VH1.com. http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/dr_dre/bio.jhtml.

Darius L. Thieme

Joe L. Dudley Sr. (1937– ), Entrepreneur, Business Executive and Founder, Humanitarian, Philanthropist Through dedication, persistence, hard work, and a shrewd sense of entrepreneurship, Joe L. Dudley built his business, Dudley Products, Inc., from a modest beginning to a multimillion-dollar hair-care and cosmetics company. In doing so, Dudley Products gained respect worldwide and is well

246

Joe L. Dudley Sr.

renowned in the beauty industry. He has shared his wealth with the North Carolina community where he lives by establishing scholarships and mentoring programs for black youth who want to enter the field of business. Joe Louis Dudley Sr. was born on May 9, 1937, in the rural community of Aurora, North Carolina, a small town in the eastern part of the state. He is the fifth of eleven children born to Gilmer L. and Clara Yeates Dudley and grew up in a three-room farmhouse. He suffered a speech impediment and was diagnosed as mentally retarded, resulting in his retention in the first grade. His mother, however, had faith in him and helped him to overcome the obstacles that he faced early on. Her faith also spurred him to become successful and a role model for many. By age forty, he was a millionaire. A successful college career at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (A&T) in Greensboro would also dispel the notion that Dudley was mentally retarded. There he majored in business administration but needed money to help underwrite his college expenses. He saw Fuller Products Company as a source of part-time employment. Dudley began his climb to success in 1957 when he joined Fuller Products Company. S. B. Fuller incorporated his company in 1929, established a line of thirty products including cosmetics and household items, and employed a cadre of salespeople to peddle the products door to door on Chicago’s predominantly black South Side. Fuller became successful as a master salesman, a motivational genius, and one of the city’s most successful black entrepreneurs and was known as a giant in African American entrepreneurship. Among his employees were George Johnson, later owner of Johnson Products, and Joe L. Dudley. In 1957 Dudley invested $10.00 in a Fuller Products sales kit and began door-to-door sales. He spent summers in Brooklyn, where he began to master Fuller’s sales techniques and continued to sell Fuller Products. In 1960, he met Eunice Mosely, who worked as an agent for Fuller Products to earn money for her college tuition. They married in 1961 and began to work full-time with the company in 1962. He had completed his Bachelor of Science degree and moved to New York, where he continued to work as a salesman for five years. The Dudleys moved to Greensboro in September 1967 and opened a Fuller Products distributorship. Two years later, however, the company ran into financial difficulty, and the Dudleys began a company of their own—Dudley Products. The Dudleys manufactured beauty products at home, on the kitchen stove. Eunice Dudley and the Dudley’s two children packaged the products at night, and the next day Dudley and his sales force would sell the items. Soon they bought the rights to Rosebud Products and the popular Rosebud Hair Pomade but renamed the latter product to become Dudley’s Scalp Special. Lacking fancy containers to package the product, the Dudley’s washed, sanitized, and reused jelly jars, mayonnaise jars, or previously used containers for hair-care products and filled them with Dudley’s Scalp Special. Success came quickly, and by 1976 the company included a chain of beauty supply stores scattered

247

Joe L. Dudley Sr.

throughout the Southeast, beauty shops, a manufacturing plant, and a beauty college. Dudley Products had hired over 400 employees. While Dudley Products began to flourish, Fuller Products continued its downward spiral: Sales dropped from $10 million in 1962 to $1.5 million in 1976. S. B. Fuller sought Dudley’s help and asked him to come to Chicago in 1976 to run the company. Dudley agreed, and for eight years he was president of both the Fuller and Dudley companies. His main charge from Fuller, however, was to rebuild Fuller Products. In the meantime, Dudley entered the Partnership with Professional Cosmetologists and had direct sales with cosmetologists and barbers. Fuller Products never fully recovered. Dudley decided to concentrate on his own company and returned to Greensboro in 1984 and continued to develop Dudley Products. OPENS NEW CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS In 1986 Dudley opened a new corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility. Two years later he established Dudley Cosmetology University (DCU) located in nearby Kernersville and offered a General Cosmetology Program and Advanced Training courses for cosmetologists who were licensed. He followed with the erection of a DUC Cafeteria, Dudley Travel program, Dudley Inn, and the Yeates Center. After Fuller died in 1988, Dudley purchased the manufacturing and distribution rights to Fuller Products. The spiral upward for Dudley Products continued. The firm launched Dudley Products Cosmetics in 1992, featuring a full line of makeup designed for women of color. There were over 1,000 certified wholesalers of these products by 1997. Manufacturing and corporate needs were served better when, in late September 1994, Dudley Products moved into a new state-ofthe-art facility in Kernersville. The company made a significant expansion that year when Dudley entered a global hair-care market, jointly establishing training programs for Zimbabwe, South Africa, Brazil, and several Caribbean countries. The collegiate Sales Manager Trainee Program, launched in 1995, gives promising college students a chance to learn business, leadership, and entrepreneurial skills. Dudley’s Beauty School System continues to flourish, with four schools in North Carolina and others in Chicago, Miami, the District of Columbia, and Baltimore. The company’s workforce has exceeded 450, and retail sales of hair-care products and personal cosmetics are sold strictly through salons and barbershops. Its Q-Nails system for nail care was added in 1997. The company has enjoyed national and international success. It has been listed in the top 50 in Black Enterprise magazine’s Top 100 Black Owned Businesses. Dudley has extended himself to the community by serving on the board of trustees of his alma mater North Carolina A&T State University and as a board member of Southern National Corporation’s Branch Banking and Trust. His memberships include Direct Selling Association, of which Dudley

248

Joe L. Dudley Sr.

Products is the first African American–owned company to become a sustaining member of the board. As well, his company has been a member of the American Health and Beauty Aids Institute, a black-owned manufacturer of health and beauty aids. The creator of innovative programs for disadvantaged youth and young people, Dudley established the Dudley Fellows and Ladies, a mentoring program with students in Greensboro’s historically black Dudley High School; Dudley’s Creative Program for college students who are interested in developing business and leadership skills; and Dudley’s Scholarship Program for outstanding high school seniors. His awards include North Carolina A&T Alumni Excellence Award; Greensboro NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Economic Development Award; President George Bush’s 467th Point of Light Award for Dudley Fellows and Ladies Program; Direct Selling Association’s Vision for Tomorrow Award for the fellows and ladies programs; Maya Angelou Tribute to Achievement Award; and the J. C. Penny’s Non-Merchandise Supplier Grand Award. Dudley was inducted into the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame and the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. He holds honorary degrees from A&T and Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida. His achievements include the ‘‘I Am, I Can, I Will’’ speaking tour. Much of the company’s success is due to Dudley’s entrepreneurial skills and to the devotion of the entire Dudley family to the business, including son Joe Jr., daughter Ursula Dudley Oglesby, and youngest daughter Genea. The Dudley offspring bring to the business degrees in law and graduate degrees in business. Through his work, Dudley has become a visible and positive role model for young people and has demonstrated through his teaching and personal example that one may become a successful entrepreneur. See also: Retail Industry Sources Dawson, Nancy L. ‘‘Joe L. Dudley.’’ Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Ed. Juliet E. K. Walker. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. ‘‘Dudley Products, Inc. The Company—Its History.’’ http://www.dudleyq.com/ Corporate/dudleyproducts.html. ‘‘Joe L. Dudley, Sr., Entrepreneur and Humanitarian.’’ http://www.dudleyproducts .com/Corporate/joedudley.html. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Frederick D. Smith

249

E E-Commerce and the African American Community Successful e-commerce activities in the African American community and in the digital economy as a whole will lead to higher income levels for the community. There will be success for both the entrepreneur and for those who create the products that are sold, such as art, books, jewelry, cosmetics, and clothing. Perhaps the development of e-commerce in the African American community has been impacted by a digital divide between the races and economic groups. A number of studies identify elements of that divide. These elements include lack of personal computers (PCs) and Internet access in homes of many black and low-income families and in the homes of low-income rural Americans, along with the absence of appropriate technology training. The digital divide has been impacted positively by a variety of efforts to bridge that gap, such as educational programs on ecommerce in academic institutions, partnering programs involving various groups, and computer access in readily available places. As the divide has narrowed, it has set in motion an opportunity for e-commerce in the African American community to grow. BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE When he gave his State of the Union address in January 2000, President Bill Clinton unveiled a new federal program called ‘‘ClickStart.’’ The program subsidized computer purchases and connections to the Internet for America’s poor families. It also helped African Americans as a whole to get online. The targeted families were required to work in community service projects for a certain number of hours each week. Some claimed that, even at that time, better models were available that placed computers and appropriate training in schools and the community. African American entrepreneurs in the technology world, such as Darien Dash, help set the stage for e-commerce activities in the community by

E-Commerce and the African American Community

founding businesses that became successful. In 1994, Dash founded Digital Mafia Entertainment (DME), known as DME Interactive Holdings, and ran it from his bedroom. It was the first technology firm owned by an African American to be traded on Wall Street. Dash expanded in June 1999, when he purchased Pride Automotive Group—an automobile leasing firm. Later that year his company acquired Kathoderay, a multimedia consulting firm. So noticeable was DME’s success that in 1999 the U.S. Department of Commerce cited it as the minority technology firm of the year. Since Dash and his company believed in partnering, in 1999 the company entered an agreement with Places of Color and made low-cost Internet service available. Continuing in this vein, in 2000 DME partnered with HewlettPackard to sell personal computers at a low cost, not to exceed $250; added to that, the deal provided free Internet access in New York and New Jersey. Thus, DME saw an opportunity and seized it: It filled its mission of expanding the hardware and software infrastructure onto America’s minority communities that had been disenfranchised from technology. Dash recognized the buying power of African Americans and minority communities as a whole. His vision further underscored the need for e-commerce activities in these communities. E-commerce in the African American community necessarily expects that African American households will have access to computers and to the Internet. For a time, however, any Americans, including minorities and older Americans, were slow to sign on to a medium that failed to appeal to them. And low-income rural Americans were isolated due to connectivity issues. The rapid change in technology, partnerships between industries, governments, and racial group, and concerted efforts to bridge the racial and low-income geographical gap brought about an increase in the numbers of Internet users. Increasingly, access is provided in school, academic, and public libraries, community centers, and churches, thus ensuring a wide range of users and narrowing the racial connectivity divide. An important effort to reduce the digital divide was the establishment of Black Family Technology Awareness Week in 1999. According to the Black Family Network, the awareness goal was to eliminate the digital divide for black families, to excite these families about the importance of personal computers and Internet access at home, and to help them understand the importance of making technology a reality in their lives. The campaigns that followed saw increasing numbers of community- and faith-based organizations, public schools, and other concerned organizations offer programs for families to address the digital divide. The campaign in 2004, for example, targeted those black families who were not taking full advantage of today’s technologies. The program’s vision was threefold: to see that black families have home access to a personal computer and the Internet and appropriate training to maximize the use of these tools; to see that the families used these tools to enhance their education, job opportunities, health, communications, and quality of life; and to see that black family

252

E-Commerce and the African American Community

members connect electronically with mentors who will encourage and motivate them to manager their lives better on a day-to-day basis. Further to address the problem, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) in 2001 launched a successful Technology Enhancement Capital Campaign to raise $80 million in two years to be used to bridge the digital divide on its member campuses. UNCF sought gifts from top technology companies, foundations, and individuals to provide faculty members with laptops or PCs and to enable students in the member colleges to purchase a PC at a low cost. Deals were made with Dell and IBM to make equipment and software available. Faculty training followed. Other approaches have been used to provide solutions to the digital divide and to promote e-commerce. Historically black North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, located in Greensboro, offers its students an opportunity to prepare for e-commerce. In 2003, the university established a Center for Entrepreneurship and E-Business. The interdisciplinary program is offered in a collaborative learning environment; it is a joint program with the School of Business and Economics, the School of Technology, and the School of Environmental Sciences. E-COMMERCE ACTIVITIES EMERGE E-commerce activities that deal with African American businesses are easily seen when searching the Internet. There is, for example, on BlackFind.com’s Web site a listing for the BlackFind Search Engine, which contains thousands of black Web sites and businesses. The alphabetically arranged topics include Arts & Culture, Business & Economy, Industry, Life Styles (beauty and health), Literature, and Shopping. BlackFind has been revised and aggressively updates, expands, and makes its presence known in the black community. Among BlackFind’s goals are ‘‘to strategically, aggressively, and successfully build a community with our [black] people, for our people and by our people.’’ Using another approach to serving the community, Black Quest—The Griot is an educational and heritage CD-ROM game designed to preserve and reinforce African American culture and history. It introduces and reinforces the experiences, contributions, and achievements of the race. It is considered a useful source for social studies, African American studies, and general and African American history. The Web site predicts that Black Quest ‘‘can serve as an essential medium to bring about the strong cultural identity that is crucial to the positive growth and development in the individual, family and community.’’ Among the black luminaries pictured on the site are aviator Bessie Coleman, folklorist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, musician/composer Duke Ellington, and school integrationist Daisy Bates. Black Quest also advertises other companies, such as Onyx Art, Egypt-Online Travel & Tours, and Buy Black, Buy Black. The promotion of ‘‘buy black’’ called ‘‘Buy Black Products from Black (African) Owned

253

E-Commerce and the African American Community

Stores’’ is reminiscent of the Double Duty Dollar campaign that emerged in Chicago in the 1930s, during the Great Depression. Later, the campaign became a part of the Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work movement that lasted from 1929 to 1941. Now, however, the emphasis is on supporting black businesses rather than boycotting mainstream stores. The list of on- and offline places that Black Quest advertises and that provide for Afrocentric shopping includes Abu Fine Art (paintings and masks), Afra
tique (African-influenced clothing for women), Afrocentric Klips (clip art with an Afrocentric flair), Ajani Bookstore, Alomo Imports and Exports—The Kente Store, Arkenya Designs, Drum & Spear Books (African-American books and gifts), Kwanzaa Club Afrocentric Online Shoppings, Black Creations Cultural Store (including Negro League baseball shirts and hats, gifts, and books), Sisterspace and Books (books by and about African American women), True Essence (natural perfumes and body oils), and The Village MarketPlace (www.littleafrica.com/littleafrica-mall .html, African American online shopping mall). A popular source that gives access to e-businesses is The Griot, a separate Web site from the one previously mentioned. The Web page for The Griot advertises and recommends black businesses, such as B. Smiths Union Station in Washington, D.C., describing its feature foods. Other listings are not necessarily endorsed by The Griot. The Griot’s National Online Black Business Directory guides the user to services, such as hair and beauty products, salons, barbershops, and home repair. It lists sources of foods, such as restaurants, caterers, bakeries, and grocery stores. Professional services and sources of health care are provided as well. The section on retail stores guides the user to bookstores, clothing stores, art stores, and more. Other sections include churches, the community, organizations, nightlife, education, and the media. The online directory is searchable by topic and then by city; for example, a search for antiques/collectables in San Francisco and Oakland leads to Creations of Color, a recently added listing located at 10003 Burr Street in Oakland. Telephone and fax numbers, and email and Web addresses, are given. Further, the listing describes About Creations of Color: It features ‘‘unique Afrocentric Gifts with a flavor.’’ The directory listings for Los Angeles, using Advanced Business Search, lead to My Father’s Business Enterprise, L.L.C. (entertainment), and Affordable Computer (technology and consulting in Huntington Beach). Whether or not some of the ventures are African American owned and operated is an open question; however, the listings do suggest that the businesses welcome African American customers. Using the Advanced Business Search to locate businesses in Memphis, the user is guided to such businesses as Global Solutions; Orpheum Theatre; and several catering firms, such as The Brown Pig, Sanders Catering, and Beneva Mayweather & Emma Lincoln Caterers. A further click on each business venture will give details of the venture.

254

E-Commerce and the African American Community

In addition to the online directory, The Griot.com presents its National Black Business and Organizations Directory. The printed consumer guide features nearly 5,000 black-owned and black-targeted barbershops and other businesses in select cities. Those listed are Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Des Moines, Houston, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Memphis, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. There are, of course, e-commerce ventures that are not advertised in the various online directories. Cheryl Onley displays her works at http://loui sesdaughter.com. Onley’s abstract figures in her Women of Color in Color collection have evolved into distinct personalities, and the collection has grown in size. The Web site provides a list of stores, galleries, and art/craft fairs where Onley’s works are available. Jennifer Bickerstaff offers her unique, handcrafted light switch covers at http://www.jeniturnonart.com. Each light switch cover is an individual piece of art. Many of the colorful works are inspired by African masks. Customers can also choose from a variety of themes, including Afrocentric, music, sports, Asian, and women. The popular online shopping site eBay offers the public an opportunity to set up an eBay Store and to advertise and sell their wares. Such stores allow sellers to customize their pages, show their listings, and give details about their businesses. This has been called a cost-effective way of building an online business. As well, the seller reaches millions of buyers who shop on eBay daily. A popular African American eBay Store is Sophisticated Sorors that offers merchandise of black Greek and other black fraternal organizations. Items include jewelry, wearing apparel, backpacks, and carry-on luggage. In June 2005, Vando Rogers partnered with Rod Putnam in Nashville, Tennessee, to form Imagination Development Corporation and to launch the first-known digital magazine published in a magazine format. Called Nashville Digital Magazine, the DVD is Mac or PC compatible, with exclusive content and Internet connectivity. It works with any DVD drive. The inaugural issue (June 1995) includes a lead story (questions and answers by Nashville’s first African American vice mayor Howard Gentry), a performance by the Fisk University Choir, crafts, interviews with local athletes, hobbies, business advertisements, and tips on photography. Businesses may advertise their enterprises or products in the monthly magazine. In Nashville Digital Magazine’s news release for July 2005, Rogers called the new product ‘‘a totally new concept in sharing information.’’ The company’s other products include a series of interactive travel DVDs, including Dive South Florida and the Florida Keys (http://www.divefilms.com), as well as touchscreen kiosks that use cutting-edge technology. Though not an online source thus far, Rick Kittles and his partner Gina Paige founded the Maryland-based African Ancestry in 2003. Buyers may purchase from the company DNA-based genealogy tests that are able to pinpoint the location in Africa where the client’s ancestors originated.

255

E-Commerce and the African American Community

To begin the trace, clients must swab the inside of their cheeks and ship the DNA sample to African Ancestry. The samples are sent to Sorensen Genomics, a certified and accredited laboratory based in Salt Lake City. There the samples are processed to determine their DNA genotyping and sequencing. The samples are returned to African Ancestry, where Kittles cross-references and matches the DNA sequence with his ancestry database. Four to six weeks later, African Ancestry validates the present country or region with which the client shares a genetic link. In some cases the precise ethnic group or tribe is identified as well. Although some 85 percent of the matches are identical, in some cases the database yields only those lineages that are closely related. According to Allison Gilbert in Black Enterprise, the company’s ‘‘genetic African Lineage Database’’ is a repository of ‘‘molecular blueprints of African peoples’’ that Kittles created. According to Gilbert, Kittles’s database uses a ‘‘MatriClan Test of maternal DNA inherited from the mother’’ as well as a ‘‘PatriClan Test of paternal DNA inherited from the father.’’ Clearly, the database closes the digital divide between African Americans who search for their lineage and other groups who have electronic access to considerable data. The growing database is the world’s most comprehensive tool available on African lineages. Its potential for serving searchers online is high. The firm self-published a book on its services, African Ancestry Guide to West and Central Africa. The African American community is well positioned to support e-commerce ventures. In all likelihood, the success of such businesses that are already operational will encourage other e-entrepreneurs as well as e-consumers to take fuller advantage of the market. See also: Centers for Entrepreneurship in Academic Institutions; FaithBased Entrepreneurship; Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources Black Family Network. http://www.blackfamilynet.net. BlackFind. http://blackfind.com. ‘‘The Black Quest.’’ http://www.blackquest.com. ‘‘Buy Black Products from Black (African) Owned Stores.’’ http://www.saxakali.com/ urafrican/buy%20black.htm. Chappell, Kevin. ‘‘United Negro College Fund: Crossing the Digital Divide.’’ Ebony 56 (September 2001): 174–178. ‘‘Darien Dash.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 29. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2002. Dash, Darien. ‘‘Bridging the Digital Divide.’’ Inc.com. http://www.inc.com/articles/ 2001/06/22953.html. ‘‘Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide.’’ U.S. Department of Commerce. Summer 1999. http://www.ntia.doc.gov. Gilbert, Allison. ‘‘Tracing Your Ancestry.’’ Black Enterprise 36 (August 2005): 55. The Griot: National Online Black Business Directory. http://www/thegriot.com/ blackworld/index.asp. Hamberg, Cheryl. Interview with author, July 19, 2005.

256

Economic Boycotts and Protests Nashville Digital Magazine. Vol. 1 (June 2005). http://www.nashvilledigitalmag.com. Nashville Digital Magazine. News Release. July 2005. Rogers, Vando. Interview with author, July 19, 2005. Sophisticated-Sorors. http://stores.ebay.com.

Jessie Carney Smith

Economic Boycotts and Protests Economic boycotts and protests as a tactic used by American blacks during their mid-twentieth-century struggle to gain civil rights as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution was not a new strategy. Employed as a method of protest since the first nonviolent power struggles, to boycott is simply the act of withholding support or involvement in some activity as a means of protest to influence or bring about a change in policy or action protested. As the most common and widely known tactic, many well-known economic or consumer protests throughout history have used the tactic of boycotting— most notably the Boston Tea Party of 1773. During the 1800s, abolitionists in the North employed boycotting in their refusal to buy products from slave states, not wanting to buttress the South’s system of finance. Early African Americans themselves also used boycott and protest methods to demonstrate against America’s unjust treatment. Having staged several streetcar ‘‘ride-ins,’’ Sojourner Truth sued a streetcar driver who forced her off his streetcar and won. At the close of the nineteenth century, American farmers called for boycotts of banks and large corporations in the populist revolt of the 1890s, while American workers used the boycott strategy during the labor movement in the early 1900s. From 1900 to 1906, African Americans in more than twenty-five southern cities organized boycotts of segregated streetcars. The leaders of these boycotts included clergymen, businessmen, newspaper editors, and others who championed Booker T. Washington’s philosophy of accommodation, conciliation, self-help, and uplift. These boycotts occurred during the era of degenerating race relations, pervasive racial violence, and urban white leaders’ unrestrained efforts to codify racial segregation with city ordinances. A half-century later, African Americans in Montgomery again instituted the boycott and economic withdrawals against the public transportation system. Inspired by Mohandas K. Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence and direct civil disobedience, this ideology or system of belief not only sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott for more than a year, but it infused other phases of the modern movement for civil rights. Gandhi, who acknowledged that his stratagem was derived from women suffragist struggles in India and England, helped popularize the boycott in his campaign for Indian independence from Britain. In 1920, he called on the people of India to boycott linen imported from Britain and instead to weave their own cloth by hand. Ten years later, Gandhi called for a boycott of British

257

Economic Boycotts and Protests

salt to further demonstrate Indian independence from Britain. Since then, the boycott has become an international symbol of resistance, hope, and power. In 1932, Reinhold Niebuhr, an American theologian and social thinker, wrote the following words in an essay titled ‘‘Moralists and Politics’’ that appeared in D. B. Robertson’s Essays in Applied Christianity: The Negro will never win his full rights in society merely by trusting the fairness and sense of justice of the white man. . . . If he is well advised he will use such forms of economic and political pressure as will be least likely to destroy the moral forces, never completely absent even in intergroup relations, but which will nevertheless exert coercion upon the white man’s life.

This prophetic statement certainly foretold one of the strategies ultimately used to bring down the seemingly insurmountable wall of racial segregation. However, it took more than twenty years for American blacks to mount any planned large-scale economic attempt to effectively dismantle the nation’s system of racial apartheid and ‘‘interfere with the economic process controlled by the dominant economic groups,’’ as referenced by Niebuhr. Historical accounts of the modern civil rights movement are replete with demands for economic justice and were an imperative aspect of the grassroots mobilizations. Also, there was an economic component to the campaigns for equal and just treatment of African Americans as consumers—at lunch counters, movie theaters, hotels, and amusement parks, which were the immediate pressure in boycotts of downtown business districts. Another element or prong that was just as pervasive was demand for employment opportunities long denied to the African American populace. This element is demonstrated in slogans such as ‘‘Don’t buy where you cannot be a salesman.’’ As asserted by Elizabeth Jacoway and David Colburn in their work titled Southern Businessmen and Desegregation concerning the role of southern businessmen during the African American crusade for civil rights: ‘‘[I]n the 1950s and 1960s, white businessmen across the South found themselves pushed by the federal government and civil rights forces as well as by their own economic interest—and values—into becoming reluctant advocates of a new departure in southern race relations.’’ For most Americans, the 1950s were years of increasing personal prosperity. The booming economy brought about the precipitous growth of suburbs, as people migrated from the cities to their outer environs. Even so, the culture and politics of the ‘‘Affluent Society’’ were shaped mostly by the world’s anxiety over the Cold War. These dynamics created several of the most important factors that contributed to the rise of American black protest. Among them are the return of black soldiers from foreign service during World War II; the growth of an urban American black middle class; television and other forms of popular culture; the culture of Cold War itself, which made racial injustice an embarrassment to Americans trying to present their nation to the world as the paragon of democracy; and the political

258

Economic Boycotts and Protests

mobilization of northern blacks. These factors brought the nation’s social and racial problems more sharply into focus. BLACK ORGANIZATIONS AND PROTEST After decades of struggles, an open crusade began in the 1950s against calcified racial intolerance and discrimination, a struggle that proved to be one of a relatively extended duration and the twentieth century’s most problematical. Although American whites played a role in the modern civil rights movement, pressure from American blacks themselves was the fundamental component in elevating the question of race to prominence. The four major civil rights organizations—the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP, 1909), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE, 1942), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC, 1957), and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, 1966)—all applied various boycott and protest methods to exert economic pressure on America’s social and institutional forms of injustices perpetrated upon American blacks. One year before the founding of CORE, A. Philip Randolph, the fearless labor leader and civil rights activist, threatened to organize a demonstration in Washington, D.C. unless President Franklin Roosevelt barred racial discrimination in defense industries. Supported by the Urban League and the NAACP, he acknowledged that the only way the executive branch of the U.S. government would take up the interests of American blacks were if thousands of black protesters marched to the White House. In response to Randolph’s threatened protest to inundate the streets of the nation’s capital with thousands of protesting American blacks, Roosevelt responded by creating the Fair Employment Practices Committee that forbade racial discrimination in the defense industry. For the first time, the threat of direct action moved the White House to act on its commitment to equal opportunity. In 1941, the same year that Randolph caused the White House to take affirmative actions toward ending racial discrimination in the defense industries, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., New York City’s first black city council member and later a U.S. congressman, led a successful four-week bus boycott in Harlem. A proponent of the ‘‘Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work movement’’ Powell’s leadership caused the bus company to hire drivers and mechanics from the black community. CORE pioneered the strategy of nonviolent direct action, especially the tactics of sit-ins and freedom rides. From its formation in 1942, CORE began protests against racial segregation in public accommodations by organizing sit-ins. The first planned civil rights sit-in in America took place at Chicago’s Jack Spratt coffeehouse, which refused to serve American blacks. Casual and quiet, members of CORE sat down in mixed parties of three and four. When law enforcement officials arrived, they told the eatery’s management it had no grounds for removing peaceful customers. Jack Spratt’s manager relented, and within weeks, patrons of a darker hue frequented the

259

Economic Boycotts and Protests

coffeehouse. By augmenting the sit-in tactic with picket lines, CORE experienced some success in desegregating northern public facilities in the 1940s. Later in 1947, to test the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Morgan v. Virginia (328 U.S. 373 [1946]) case, which mandated interstate bus desegregation, CORE initiated its Journey of Reconciliation with a group of interracial men traveling throughout the upper South. The NAACP brought forth the Morgan v. Virginia case to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Irene Morgan, who in 1944 refused to move further back on a Greyhound bus as she was on her way to Baltimore from Virginia. CORE gained national attention with its Journey of Reconciliation when Chapel Hill, North Carolina, law enforcement officials arrested four riders, and three, including Bayard Rustin, were forced to work on a chain gang. Using direct nonviolent methods such as sit-ins, wade-ins, and other forms of protest, CORE captured national attention. By the 1950s, with the rise of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, CORE-style nonviolence became a weapon in the arsenal of the American black movement for equality and justice. Two years before the Montgomery movement captured the nation’s attention and capitulated King into the eye of the modern civil rights storm, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the Reverend T. J. Jemison initiated the first bus boycott by American blacks in the country’s southern region. In January 1953, legislative members of Baton Rouge’s parish council increased the bus fare from ten to fifteen cents. The fare increase angered African American patrons who made up more than 80 percent of the system’s ridership. As in other southern cities, while the front seats were reserved for whites, African Americans were forced to sit in the back of the bus and pay full fare. At the parish council meeting on February 11, Jemison, the pastor of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church, condemned the fare increase and petitioned the council to terminate the codified system of reserved seating on city buses. Two weeks later, the council voted to amend Baton Rouge’s seating code when it passed Ordinance 222. The amended code, which became effective March 19, 1953, permitted American blacks to sit in the front seats of the buses if they did not occupy the same seat as or sit in front of a white passenger. While Ordinance 222 abolished reserved seating, it required American blacks to board the buses from back to front and white passengers from front to back. City bus drivers ignored Ordinance 222 for almost three months. In early June, they were ordered to comply with the ordinance. Because two drivers were suspended for noncompliance, on June 15, the city’s bus drivers went on strike for four days. The day before the bus drivers ended their strike, the United Defense League met and organized Baton Rouge’s Bus Boycott. Led by Jemison, the black community conducted a seven-day boycott, which ended when city officials reaffirmed the ordinance. Although short-lived, the Baton Rouge Bus Boycott served as a paradigm for similar protests throughout the South, including the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, when King consulted with Jemison about the tactics used to coordinate Baton Rouge’s Bus Boycott.

260

Economic Boycotts and Protests

ECONOMIC BOYCOTTS IN THE SOUTH At the onset of the modern civil rights movement, Montgomery, Alabama, was one of the first cities to employ economic pressure as a method of protest. As early as 1952, the Women’s Political Council (WPC), a group of American black professionals, protested against Jim Crow practices on the Montgomery city buses. In a 1954 meeting with the mayor, which produced few tangible gains, WPC president Jo Ann Robinson reiterated the council’s requests in written form. Her correspondence also insinuated that a boycott of Montgomery’s buses was in the planning stages. Because of Rosa Parks refusing to relinquish her seat on a Montgomery bus and being arrested, according to Bruce J. Dierenfield’s The Civil Rights Movement, the bus company’s records indicated that 99 percent of the usual 30,000 black riders walked, hitchhiked, pedaled bicycles, and used car pools to make their way about the city. Black Montgomery’s yearlong boycott caused the bus company, downtown businessmen, and the city of Montgomery to lose approximately $1 million. In due course, the economic boycott and a favorable ruling in 1956 by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Gayle v. Browder case brought a major civil rights victory to black Montgomerians. Bus boycotts and their concomitant economic withdrawals continued throughout the South. As in Montgomery, when black Nashville leaders and students began their formal sit-in movement, they, too, added an economic prong later that devastated downtown merchants and business owners. The Nashville sit-ins, which were the largest and best organized of the sit-ins across the South, originally began in November and December of 1959, as black leaders and students sought to ‘‘test’’ the exclusionary racial policy of the downtown eateries in the major department stores. Approximately one month after students began their full-scale movement in February 1960, Fisk University professor Vivian Henderson estimated that blacks in Nashville poured approximately $50 million annually into the coffers of white businesses. This was a significant sum considering that the merchants witnessed many of their white customers move to the suburbs, and they became increasingly more economically dependent on Nashville’s black population. The Reverend Kelly Miller Smith and Henderson organized a boycott of downtown merchants just before Easter, which was one of the most important shopping holidays. Empowered with their stated motto ‘‘No Fashions for Easter,’’ the black community’s ‘‘economic withdrawal’’ deprived storeowners of incalculable amounts of business. By the beginning of April 1960, Nashville department stores were virtually empty, as whites, too, stayed away. Others also joined in the ‘‘economic withdrawal,’’ as a show of support for the student demonstrators. ‘‘No Fashions for Easter’’ achieved its stated goal. This action caused the downtown retail merchants to lose approximately 20 percent of their business. Downtown’s empty streets and empty cash registers caused merchants to seriously consider dismantling Jim Crow customs in Nashville’s retail district. Relenting under the pressure of the economic boycott, six stores rendered service to African Americans on May 10, 1960, making Nashville the first

261

Economic Boycotts and Protests

major city in the South to desegregate its lunch counters. Between 1961 and 1963, protests shifted to movie theaters (by May 1961 theater owners capitulated), fair employment practices, downtown hotels, and every other deliverance of public accommodations. By the spring of 1963, Nashville faced daily demonstrations against segregation, unfair employment, and discrimination against Nashville blacks in general. In March, the Nashville Christian Leadership Conference announced a ‘‘full-scale-assault’’ on segregation practices in Nashville. In addition to using protest marches, leaders and students of the Nashville movement implemented the proven weapon of an Easter economic boycott against downtown merchants and department stores to protest against unfair employment practices. The paucity of dollars flowing into the cash registers of Nashville merchants and businessmen caused the walls of racial segregation in Nashville to fall. As in Nashville, other cities across the South began the desegregation of the eating establishments. American blacks continued their struggle to gain civil rights throughout America. CORE, which forged the modern sit-in movement in the early 1940s and initiated freedom rides in 1947, was also instrumental in the freedom rides of the 1960s. Modeled after its Journey of Reconciliation, it also tested the enforcement of the Supreme Court’s decision in the 1960 Boynton v. Virginia case that extended the mandated desegregation order to all interstate transportation facilities, including terminals. However, after sending an interracial group of thirteen freedom riders into the deep, who were greeted with violence on May 14, 1961, CORE officials decided to abort its protest against segregated interstate buses and facilities. Notwithstanding the threats of violence and possible death, three days later, SNCC students, led by Nashville student activist Diane Nash, picked up the protest and continued the freedom rides. On September 22, under pressure from the Kennedy administration, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregated bus and train terminals. The regulations became effective on November 1, 1961. However, many southern cities incessantly treated the ruling with contempt. Steadfast in the beliefs for which they were fighting and refusing to abdicate the cause, American blacks continued to address the cancerous disease of racism, whether de jure or de facto, that manifested itself throughout the nation’s society. While continuing to sit in, stand in, sleep in, wade in, and freedom ride, they attacked other vestiges of the disease by using boycotts and protests. SNCC turned its attention to the lack of voting rights among people in the American black community. Armed with their surgical instruments of protests and boycotts, they invaded the Deep South and proceeded to help remove the malignant tumor’s metastatic growth. CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION ENACTED Within four years and after numerous campaigns, protests, and boycotts, including the 1963 March on Washington and the assassination of President

262

Economic Boycotts and Protests

John F. Kennedy, on July 2, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which was one of the nation’s most important and most comprehensive pieces of civil rights legislation. White defiance to the voting rights of American blacks in the Deep South continued unabated after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In less than a month after the act was codified, voting rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were murdered in Mississippi. Deaths and the threat of violence continued into the next year. Known as ‘‘Bloody Sunday,’’ on March 7, 1965, more than 500 persons protested the denial of American blacks’ voting rights when they marched from Selma to Montgomery. As they crossed the Pettus Bridge leading out of Selma, state troopers and local police swarmed the group with tear gas, clubs, and cattle prods, causing multiple injuries that required medical treatment. A little more than three weeks later, on March 25, King successfully led approximately 25,000 marching protesters from Selma to Montgomery. The same day, Klansmen murdered Viola Liuzzo, a white woman from Detroit, Michigan. To further protest the senseless murders, the malevolent maltreatment of American blacks, and the refusal to adhere to the newly enacted civil rights law, organizations, companies, and individuals throughout America boycotted Alabama’s goods and services during the spring of 1965. Approved by the majority of the U.S. Congress (333 to 48 in the House of Representatives and 77 to 19 in the Senate), five months later, on August 6, Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. A year before Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, CORE’s Brooklyn, New York, chapter planed a ‘‘stall-in’’ protest tactic for the opening day of the 1964–1965 World’s Fair. The purpose of the ‘‘stall-in,’’ which called for stalling cars and blocking subways on all major routes leading to the fair, was to focus attention on a broad range of complex issues and forms of racial discrimination in employment and housing. While in some ways the ‘‘stall-in’’ never took place, its effect resonated across the nation and demonstrated the power of ordinary people to influence and alter business as usual by merely threatening to close down the city. Just as CORE sought to bring down the walls of racial discrimination in the North, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC also focused their attention on the problems of racial discrimination in that region of the country. Three years before his death, King and the SCLC, in an effort to transfer the campaign of direct-action protest above the Mason-Dixon Line, targeted Chicago, Illinois, one of the most segregated of cities in the North. Discussion sessions between SCLC and local civil rights groups proved to be unsuccessful in engendering a coherent set of priorities for the campaign; housing emerged as the major issue. Civil rights leaders called for marches and demonstrations against de facto housing discrimination. While their protests brought into national view the pattern of housing discrimination in the region and the country, it would take three years and the death of King for federal legislation (Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Housing

263

Economic Boycotts and Protests

Act of 1968 or the Fair Housing Act of 1968) to prohibit discrimination as it related to the sale, rental, and financing of housing. Black Americans also used protests to secure fair wages and better working conditions as vividly demonstrated by the sanitation workers’ strike in Memphis, Tennessee. Black sanitation workers in the ‘‘Bluff City’’ earned far less than did their white counterparts. While the initial impetus for the protest marches and demonstrations rested on the foundation of economics or the lack thereof, they amplified other social ills and conditions, including overt racism, that manifested themselves in the American black community. Civil rights leaders in Memphis called upon King to assist the black sanitation workers in their struggle. He arrived in Memphis on March 28, 1968, to give his support to the scheduled protest march, which turned violent. Troubled that the nonviolent image would become bankrupt, he returned to the city within the week, intending to lead a peaceful protest and protect the solvency of the direct nonviolent tactic. However, on April 4, 1968, the proponent of nonviolence was violently stricken with a fatal shot from an assassin’s gun. Despite King’s assassination, the Reverend James Lawson continued the march against the injustices placed upon the black sanitation workers and the American black community. Although many prognosticated the end of the movement, American blacks, civil rights organizations, and others continued to wage battles against racial discrimination and institutionalized racism in America. The systematic strategies employed by American blacks in their struggle for equality and justice proved useful to activists in other social movements throughout the 1960s and beyond. The antiwar movement, the women’s movement, the gay rights movement, the movement for the rights of disabled Americans, and others all used such instruments of protest as sit-ins, marches, and boycotts. Throughout the 1960s and into the twenty-first century, black Americans have boycotted and protested with their wallets where the vestiges of racism remained covert rather than overt. They targeted such corporations as Texaco, Denny’s, Coca-Cola, and Cracker Barrel, to name only a few. Economic boycotts and protests aided in fostering a transformation throughout society, both national and international. The American Revolution began with the Boston Tea Party. The nonviolent movement that brought down the British Empire included Gandhi’s imposed sanctions against British textiles. The Baton Rouge and Montgomery Bus Boycotts launched America’s modern movement for civil rights among American blacks. The United Farm Workers in the United States, led by Ce´sar Cha´vez, were unionized through exacting national boycotts against lettuce and grapes, and the international boycott of South Africa contributed significantly to the demise of its apartheid system. America’s organized and legalized set of doctrines, ideas, and principles of racial segregation and political and economic discrimination against its citizens of African descent were dismantled by the effectiveness of boycotts and protests. American blacks effectively used the premise put forth by Reinhold Niebuhr in 1932 when they successfully put into action economic and

264

Kenneth ‘‘Babyface’’ Edmonds and Tracey Edmonds

political pressures that ‘‘exert[ed] coercion upon the white man’s life’’ and, more important, adversely affected the profit and loss margins of his businesses. American blacks’ use of boycotts and protests made the twin tactics a force for positive social change. They fostered social cohesiveness throughout the community regardless of age, creed, economic or social class, gender, race, or religion. American black activists and others with their use of boycotts and protests aided in making America and its citizens more aware of, conscious about, and sensitive to all subjugated and oppressed groups discriminated against historically. Sources Carson, Clayborne. Civil Rights Chronicle: The African American Struggle for Freedom. Lincolnwood, IL: Legacy Publishing, 2003. Crawford, Vicki L., Jacqueline Anne Rouse, and Barbara Woods. Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941–1965. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. Dierenfield, Bruce J. The Civil Rights Movement. New York: Longman Publishers, 2004. Jacoway, Elizabeth, and David R. Colburn, eds. Southern Businessmen and Desegregation. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1982. Meier, August, and Elliott Rudwick. ‘‘The Boycott Movement against Jim Crow Streetcars in the South 1900–1906.’’ Journal of American History 55 (March 1969): 756–775. Morgan, Robin. Sisterhood Is Global. New York: Feminist Press, 1996. Niebuhr, Reinhold. ‘‘Moralists and Politics.’’ Essays in Applied Christianity. Ed. D. B. Robertson. New York: Meridian Books, 1959. Price, Mary. ‘‘Baton Rouge Bus Boycott.’’ http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/exhibits/ boycott/background. Theoharis, Jeanne, and Komozi Woodard, eds. Groundwork: Local Black Freedom Movements in America. New York: New York University Press, 2005. Wynn, Linda. The ‘‘Economic Withdrawal’’ during the Nashville Sit-in Movement. Nashville, TN: Local Conference on African American Culture and History, 2005. ———. ‘‘Nashville’s Streetcar Boycott, (1905–1907).’’ Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee. Ed. Bobby L. Lovett and Linda T. Wynn. Nashville, TN: Local Conference on African American Culture and History, 1996.

Linda T. Wynn

Kenneth ‘‘Babyface’’ Edmonds (1959– ) and Tracey Edmonds (1967– ), Recording Artists, Songwriters, Record Producers, Business Executives Kenneth ‘‘Babyface’’ and Tracey Edmonds are one of the most widely recognized celebrity couples in the music industry today. As cofounders of Edmonds Entertainment Group, Incorporated, they brought together their business savvy and musical talent to head a group of music, television, and film production companies. Their promotion and production of rhythm and

265

Kenneth ‘‘Babyface’’ Edmonds and Tracey Edmonds

blues (R&B) artists, film, and cable television have made them a major force in the entertainment industry. As an award-winning songwriter and president of two major record labels, Babyface (a nickname given to him by guitarist Bootsy Collins) has written for major artists and singing groups such as Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, N’ Sync, and Backstreet Boys. Edmonds was born on April 10, 1959, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Barbara and Marvin Edmonds. He was the fifth of six children born to the couple. Marvin Edmonds died when Babyface was in the eighth grade, leaving the challenge of raising six children to Edmond’s mother. As a child, Edmonds was deeply interested in music and learned to play guitar. During the 1970s, Edmonds played with a funk group called ManChild, and later he played with the Crowd Pleasers. In 1981, Edmonds met his future business partner Antonio ‘‘L. A.’’ Reid. Edmonds joined Reid and performed with the group the Deele. The discovery of Edmonds and Reid by Dick Griffey of Solar Records launched a new and rewarding phase in their careers as musical performers as well as songwriters. This shift would later inspire the two to pursue music production and ownership of their own recording label. Under Solar Records, Edmonds and Reid enjoyed celebrity writing for well-known R&B and popular music artists such as Bobby Brown and the music group After 7. In 1987, the writing duo began working outside of Solar Records, and in 1989 Edmonds and Reid cofounded the LaFace Record label based in Atlanta, Georgia. Their talent and success were recognized when they won the Songwriters of the Year Award in 1990 by Broadcast Music Incorporated. During this period, they produced music for numerous performers including Johnny Gill, TLC, and Toni Braxton. Edmond’s success was not limited to songwriting and producing; he also continued to enjoyed celebrity as a performer. His second album Tender Lover (1989) included the hit song ‘‘Whip Appeal.’’ His music would bring another reward of sorts. While Edmonds had been married once in the early 1980s, his marriage was brief. The search for models for his video led Edmonds to meet his second wife, Tracey McQuarn. McQuarn and Edmonds began dating and in 1992 were married. The couple has two sons: Brandon, born in 1997, and Dylan, born in 2001. Tracey McQuarn Edmonds was born on February 18, 1967, in Southern California to Jacqueline and George McQuarn. McQuarn was the first child born to the couple; they also had a second child, Michael. McQuarn’s mother was a homemaker and her father a college basketball coach. At an early age McQuarn displayed intellectual promise. She completed high school at sixteen and attended Stanford University. She planned to become a psychiatrist. Her major included studies in neurobiology and psychology. She graduated from Stanford in 1987. However, instead of pursuing medical school, she obtained her real estate license and established a business with her mother. She and her mother sold houses in the Los Angeles Area. When Tracey married Babyface, she used her business savvy to pursue her interests in music.

266

Kenneth ‘‘Babyface’’ Edmonds and Tracey Edmonds

As the wife of a successful songwriter and record producer, Tracey interacted with various aspiring artists. Encouraged by these interactions, in 1994 she founded Yab-Yum, a song publishing company. The name of the company is a Japanese phrase meaning ‘‘God of love.’’ Recognizing her ability, Sony offered Tracey her own recording label. While Tracey worked with Yab-Yum, her husband continued to write and to produce for other artists, as well as work on his own musical career. In 1995, Babyface produced and wrote music for the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack. He also wrote and produced the Boyz II Men hit single ‘‘End of the Road’’ for the 1993 film Boomerang. In the early 1990s, Babyface released remix album A Closer Looker, and in 1993 he released For the Cool in You and in 2001, Face2Face. Babyface and Tracey Edmonds decided that rather than working apart, they would use their comparable strengths to establish an entertainment company that would involve music, film, and television. The company was Edmonds Entertainment Group, founded in 1997. The various entities of the corporation include: e2filmworks, edmondsmusic publishing, e2recrods, and Edmonds management. The decision was agreeable not only because of its potential financial rewards but because it would allow them to spend more time together. As chief executive officer and president, Tracey Edmonds in 1997 guided Edmonds Entertainment through its successful premier with the production of the film and movie soundtrack Soul Food. The film won five NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Image Awards in 1997. The success of the movie led to a cable television series on Showtime, also produced by Edmonds Entertainment. Soul Food won the NAACP Image Award in 2004 for Best Dramatic Series. Since Soul Food, Edmonds Entertainment Group has continued to enjoy success in the film industry. In 1998, Edmonds produced the film Hav Plenty, released by Miramax, and in 1999 Edmonds produced the film Light It Up, released by Fox 2000. The Edmonds Group has also worked with independent film writers. In 2002, Edmonds produced the award-winning film PUNKS. PUNKS won Best American Independent Film at the Cleveland International Film Festival. Edmonds Entertainment Group has also continued to work in television and other media. Edmonds Group produced the show College Hill, which premiered on Black Entertainment Television in January 2004. The company is also working on several other television projects. In 2002, Edmonds Entertainment produced the play Love Makes Things Happen. The musical comedy from David Talbert was met with strong critical approval and was nominated for multiple NAACP awards. Recognized for their talent and success, the Edmondses have won numerous awards. In 2005, Tracey Edmonds won the National Organization for Women’s Excellence in Media Award, and in 2000, she won the Turner Broadcasting System’s Tower of Power Award. Babyface has won ten Grammy Awards. In 1998, he won the award for producer of the year for the third time.

267

Elleanor Eldridge

He was nominated for his song ‘‘That’s the Way Love Goes,’’ the theme song for the Showtime series Soul Food. He has been the recipient of the Soul Train Music Award, the Broadcast Music Award (BMI), the NAACP Image Award, and the American Music Award. The influence of Babyface is evidenced by his creation and production of over 100 top R&B and popular songs in the past twenty years. The Edmondses have played a significant role in the development of popular media for the past twenty years. Their efforts are remarkable not only because of the pleasure they bring to an American and even global audience but also because of the inspiring example they provide for those current and future entrepreneurs in the entertainment industry. Sources Aldore, Collier. ‘‘Babyface in a New Place in His Life and Music: Singer and Wife Redefine Hollywood Power and Togetherness.’’ Ebony 57 (December 2001): 74. ‘‘Baby Face: On His New Album, Family Life and Fans.’’ Jet 100 (September 2001): 58. Edmonds Entertainment Group. http://www.edmondsent.com. ‘‘Kenneth Edmonds.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 31. Ed. Ashyia Henderson. Gale Group, 2001. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K16060001962. ‘‘Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds.’’ Contemporary Musicians. Vol. 12. Gale Research, 1994. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1608000870. ‘‘Kenneth Edmonds.’’ Newsmakers, no. 4. Gale Research, 1995. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http:// galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1618001372. ‘‘Tracey Edmonds.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book III. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2002.

Rebecca Dixon

Elleanor Eldridge (1785–1865?), Entrepreneur, Tradeswoman Elleanor Eldridge worked in a variety of then-gender-based domestic and manufacturing activities and through shrewd practices made a profit from her work. In addition to those activities in which she was engaged to support herself, such as a domestic, nurse, rug-sewer, whitewasher, painter, and paper hanger, she also became a successful soap manufacturer. Later she acquired considerable real estate, wrote her memoirs, and made regional lecture tours to promote her book. An early, enterprising antebellum black woman, she became wealthy by standards of her day. Eldridge wrote in her autobiography that she was the granddaughter of an African trader who, with his family, was kidnapped, sold into slavery, and brought to America. Her father and her two uncles became free when they volunteered for the American Revolution. When freed, they were promised

268

Elleanor Eldridge

200 acres of land in Mohawk County in western New York, but the land was never granted. Robin Eldridge managed to save enough money to buy and build a house in Rhode Island. Finally settling in Warwick, Rhode Island, Robin Eldridge met and married Hannah Prophet, who was part Narragansett Indian. Thus, Elleanor was born free in Warwick on March 26, 1785. Only five of her seven siblings lived to maturity. Hannah Prophet died when Elleanor was ten years old. Elleanor Baker, a laundry customer and friend of Hannah’s, persuaded Robin Eldridge to allow the child to move in with her. It was during her comfortable life with the woman that young Elleanor learned many skills that would serve her well when she joined the workforce and also entered her own profit-making businesses. When only ten years old, Eldridge worked as a domestic and earned twenty-five cents a week. She developed skills in a number of areas, and by the time she was fourteen, she knew several useful trades that enabled her to hire herself out for local jobs, such as managing a dairy, wallpapering, and weaving. She was in charge of Captain Benjamin Greene’s dairy farm in Warwick Neck, where she worked from age seventeen to twenty-four. While there she made ‘‘premium’’ quality cheeses. She had become a fine clothmaker and knew well the art of spinning. She had also become a weaver, practicing plain, double, and ornamental techniques. Double weaving, considered a difficult process, was used when making items such as carpeting, coverlets, damask, and bed ticking. The enterprising young woman had impressive savings that she put to good use. Local residents knew her talent and spoke highly of the work of this free, unwed, black woman. When Eldridge was nineteen, her father died. Then she went to Adams, Massachusetts, some 180 miles from Warwick, and helped her family to secure letters of administration for her father’s estate. Once that business was done, she returned to Warwick Neck and to her work with Captain Greene. After Greene died in 1812, she returned to Adams and lived with her sister, Lettise. Eldridge and her sister established a variety of business ventures, including weaving and soap-boiling. The frugal Elleanor had saved enough money to buy a lot and build a house. She rented the house to others for $40 a year. She returned to Providence three years later and hired herself out for various jobs, such as painting and whitewashing; she also did laundry and housework for families as well as hotels. By age forty-six she had purchased another lot for $100 and built a house in Providence for $1,700. Sometime later she made two additions to the house, lived in one section, and rented the other part for $150 a year. As she worked and saved, she also continued her interest in real estate. She borrowed $240 with an annual interest rate of 10 percent and made a verbal agreement to purchase another house for $2,000. She would pay $500 down and the balance in four years. Then she left to visit relatives in Adams. Before returning to Providence, she became ill from a bout with potentially fatal typhus, and her trip was delayed for several days. Local townspeople spotted her and spread the word in Providence that Eldridge was near death; some even said that she had died.

269

William Ellison

Meanwhile, a chain of events took place that nearly resulted in financial ruin for Eldridge. The property that she owned, valued at $4,000, had been illegally acquired to compensate for the $240 note that she owed on her latest transaction. In fact, the mortgage holder was overcompensated for the loan that he had made to Eldridge. The property was not advertised, and no efforts were made to notify her of the impending sale. All of Eldridge’s efforts to retrieve her property failed. Confident that she would find the money that she needed, she entered into an agreement to repurchase the property that she had owned. She would pay more than the property’s original value. Eldridge had the support of many friends, both white and black. They supported her lawsuit against the sheriff in Providence for allowing improper sale of her property. She dropped the lawsuit later on, after the buyer agreed to sell her the property. Both race and gender had been involved in the illegal activities. While she was free and well respected, legally she was denied the protection that whites would have received. It is possible, too, that popular support alone would have forced the return of her property without incident. The account of Eldridge’s life is given in her autobiography; there are described her business activities, including the rewards that she gained from her entrepreneurial activities. The record is that of an unusual free black woman who made her way and at the same time won the respect and support of white and blacks in Providence, Rhode Island. Her death date is uncertain but has been placed at 1862 or 1865. See also: Women and Business Sources Greene, Frances. Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge. Providence, RI: Albro, 1838, 1839. Logan, Rayford W. ‘‘Elleanor Eldridge.’’ Dictionary of American Negro Biography. Ed. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982.

Jessie Carney Smith

William Ellison (1790–1861), Artisan, Planter William Ellison was born a slave, gained his freedom, and became one of the richest free blacks in the United States. He owed his wealth to his ability to exploit a new technology much in demand as planters expanded their production of cotton. About 1802, Ellison—then known by the single name of April—was apprenticed to a maker of cotton gins, learning how to make the machines and keep them in repair. After his apprenticeship, he lived and worked almost as a free black for some years, and 1816 he probably purchased his freedom from his father or his brother—the relationship is surmised but explains the favorable treatment he had enjoyed as a slave. After moving to Statesburg, South Carolina, to avoid competing against the man who trained him, Ellison built a fortune by exploiting his knowledge of cotton gins and by farming. He bought slaves as a labor force, and by the

270

William Ellison

time of his death, he owned sixty-three slaves and 900 acres of land. His ambiguous status in the community is shown by his being allowed in 1824 by Holy Cross Episcopal Church to move his family from the balcony reserved for blacks, slave and free, to a bench at the back of the main floor. Its yearly rent was greater than that of the side pews in the church. Ellison seems to have been born on a plantation near Winsboro, South Carolina, in 1790. He attained his freedom as April Ellison in 1816, subsequently changing his name to William in 1820 to efface his slave name. Ellison’s mother, probably one of the seventeen slaves on the plantation, died still a slave in 1837, but he purchased and freed his wife and daughter by 1817, since the first of his three sons was born free in that year. A natural daughter born in 1815 remained technically a slave all her life, but her father made sure she lived as a free black and gave instructions for her manumission on his death. His other children, their spouses, and their children—sixteen persons in 1850—shared living space in two houses he owned in Statesburg. The free black society of Charleston supplied the marriage partners. In the year Ellison petitioned for a change of name, he owned two slaves. Over the years there are other milestones of his rise. In 1821 he felt sure enough of his position in the community to sue a white man for debt. The following year he bought an acre of land in a prime commercial location and set up his workshop. By 1838 he owned two substantial homes on the other side of the road—one the childhood home of Civil War diarist Mary Chesnut. In 1840 Ellison owned thirty-six slaves; the number had increased to sixty-three by 1860. Although some were used in the cotton gin workshop, most worked the nearly 900 acres of land he owned. Among the slaves is probably the ancestor of twentieth-century writer Ralph Ellison. There is no evidence that this workforce was treated better than slaves belonging to white owners. Indeed, the age and sex distribution of the group give probable cause to suspect that he was selling off female children for whom he had no use. Ellison died on December 5, 1861, so he did not live to face the problems brought on by the Civil War and Emancipation. A store replaced the workshop, and the land was rented out, but a continuing decline in family fortunes led the family to gradually move away. The second wife of Ellison’s son William was the last family member to reside in the family home at her death in 1920. Ellison benefited from his white relatives’ influence to secure technical training for him, which laid the foundation of his substantial financial success. Typically of his time and place, he invested his surplus capital in the plantation economy. It seems that, insofar as possible, he adopted the values of the white community around him—although there is simply not enough evidence for a definitive conclusion. In a society that was organized on the sharp distinction between free and slave, which was supposed to translate into white and black, he occupied the anomalous position of free black.

271

Evern Cooper Epps

Making the most of his opportunities, he displayed great skill in becoming a large slave owner and a very affluent person. See also: Blacks in Agriculture Sources Johnson, Michael P., and James L. Roark. Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old South. New York: Norton, 1984. ———. No Chariot Let Down: Charleston’s Free People of Color on the Eve of the Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Notable Black American Men. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.

Robert L. Johns

Evern Cooper Epps (19?– ), Corporate Executive Evern Cooper Epps began her career humbly at United Parcel Service (UPS) in 1974 as a part-time package handler. Epps was attending Emory University, earning her master’s degree, and needed extra money to make ends meet. Through additional training, she was promoted and made it behind the wheels next as a delivery truck driver. Eager to learn as much as she could about UPS, Epps landed positions dealing with strategic planning, delivery information, training, and business development. A native of Detroit, Epps earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University in English and journalism before working as a high school English teacher. Early in life she was instilled with values of charity and generosity. Over the next eighteen years she built her reputation as a devout and industrious employee. In 1992, her hard work paid off. She was promoted to associate director of the UPS Foundation. This background would have a strong impact on the roles she would elevate to as she made corporate history twice, becoming the first woman and the first African American to be named president of the UPS Foundation in 1998. She also maintains the post of vice president, UPS Corporate Relations, where she repeated both of those firsts. Epps refined her business skills through a master’s degree in education at Harvard University to prepare her for running the charitable component of the multibillion-dollar corporation. Her formal and practical training have proved beneficial for UPS because Epps has successfully expanded worldwide philanthropic implementation. Global volunteering, literacy, and hunger relief all reflect her dynamic output. The primary focus of the UPS Foundation is to have a positive impact on the lives of the underserved, underprivileged, and underrepresented; therefore, it is imperative that its director be an effective relationship builder. This is key because she must seek favorable alliances and partnerships with programs and organizations that share comparable principles with UPS. Epps is a communications broker between UPS and many of the nation’s leading community and civic organizations and is the ambassador for UPS’s model for corporate responsibility. At the two-day workshop in

272

Evern Cooper Epps

Boston, Massachusetts, ‘‘Reshaping Corporations: Adding Value through Responsible Business Practices,’’ held on January 25–27, 2004, Epps spoke about the growing need for corporations to be more responsible regarding the environment and society at large. The challenges created from these realities were presented in a way in which opportunities opened up, according to Epps. Furthermore, Epps is careful to keep in mind UPS founder Jim Casey’s fundamental aspiration, making his company community based and community friendly. This is achieved by the implementation of such direct incentives as college assistance, employee stock, and benefits. Relationship building by Epps is demonstrated by Vanderheyden Hall and the Women’s Alliance. In 2002, in an effort to support family and workplace literacy, the UPS Foundation provided a $5,000 grant to Vanderheyden Hall in Wynantskill, New York, which takes care of the needs of children, young adults, and families with services that challenge and enable them to do for themselves. Commenting on UPS’s support of such an endeavor, Epps emphasized that humanitarian, financial, and educational help in areas of enhancing social welfare needs were at the top of the Foundation’s priority list. In 2005, Epps’s applied formula was at work again at the Women’s Alliance National Conference. Through an initiative and partnership called welfare-to-work, Epps indicated that providing job opportunities for women on public assistance was a positive and proactive move for the company. She went on to add that UPS had a long history of community-based outreach, even with those on public assistance. She pointed out, however, that it was considered then, just as now, as doing smart business instead of being called welfare. Epps has stated that in all that she has done professionally she is most proud of the Volunteer Impact Initiative, which began in 1998 as a program to explore innovative ways for charities to recruit and retain volunteers. This gave Epps the opportunity to be directly involved with a cause that she spearheaded. She is boastful that the UPS Foundation is one of the first to focus on the volunteer aspect of philanthropic activities. Epps’s impressive contributions have earned her affiliation on numerous national and local professional organizations in Atlanta, Georgia, home of UPS corporate operations. Epps is a board member for the Metro Atlanta YMCA; Close Up Foundation; Zoo Atlanta; Project Grad; Point of Light Foundation; International Advisory Board for the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College; and Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. She chairs the boards of Atlanta Partners for Education; Directors of the Northwest Georgia Girl Scout Council; and Women Looking Ahead, respectively. In addition, she formally served as the chair, Board of Corporate Advisors of the United Way of America. In 2005, the YWCA’s Greater Atlanta Academy of Women Achievers as their Woman of Achievement chose Epps. She was inducted into this body in 1997. Epps is listed by Georgia as one of its ‘‘100 Most Powerful and Influential Women in Corporate America,’’ and Business to Business named her in 2004 as one of its divas.

273

Eta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

Epps has remained as humble as she began. She sees herself as simply a woman who took full advantage of every opportunity to arrive where she is today. See also: Women and Business Sources America’s Fund for Communities. http://www.americasfund.org/affc_overview03. html. Atlanta Woman (May–June 2003): 19. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 40. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2004. Girl Scout Council of Northwest Georgia. http://www.girlscoutsnwga.org/resources/ index.asp?page¼adult_recognition. History Makers. http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biographyasp?bioindex ¼740&category¼businessMakers. Saposnick, Kali. ‘‘Face to Face, the Spirit of Giving at UPS: Doing Well by Doing Good.’’ Leverage Points: For a New Workplace, New World. http://www. pegasuscom.com/levpoints/lp45.html. UPS. http://www.pressroom.ups.com/mediakits/otherexec/bios/0,2329,74,00.html. Vanderheyden Hall. http://www.vanderheydenhall.org/highres/pressrelease.html. Women’s Alliance. http://www.thewomensalloiance.org/supporterquotes.html.

Shannon L. Mathis

Eta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. To meet the growing demands of civic-minded and economic responsive black women, Eta Phi Beta emerged in 1942 as a national business and professional women’s sorority founded by eleven Lewis Business College graduates in Detroit, Michigan. With the specific aim of establishing stronger links among Detroit’s black professional businesswomen circles, the sorority immediately started partnerships with local high schools and retarded citizens’ agencies centered on scholarship procurement and programming, respectively. The pioneers who acted on their progressive instincts and launched into action include Merry Green Hubbard, Ann Porter, Lena Reed, Earline Carter, Ivy Burt Banks, Dorthy Sylvers Brown, Ethal Madison, Mae Edwards Bolling Curry, Katherine Douglas, Mattie Rankin, and Atheline Shelton. To carry out its work, Eta Phi Beta through the years has blossomed to promote and provide technical assistance in the encouragement of business standards’ improvement and the recruitment of qualified and trained professional black women. Most of its members are recruited out of college and after demonstrating a propensity toward excellence in the harsh climate of business professionalism. By the awarding of scholarships and the implementation of career development opportunities, they have proven to be extremely efficient. The national outreach project of the organization has remained the mentally handicapped, and its primary civic contributions have gone to the United Negro College Fund, National Association for the Advancement of Colored

274

Eta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

People (NAACP), the Urban League, March of Dimes, United Way Drive, YWCA, YMCA, Boys and Girls Scouts of America, and the National Council of Negro Women. Additionally, annual functions in support of sorority objectives include the Hobo Scholarship Dance, the Christmas Candlelight Vespers Service, Founders’ Day Observance Luncheon, and the Queen Bee Contests. The Queen Bee initiative for Eta Phi Beta members is very prestigious and revolves around one of the key components of business development. The national Queen is secured by the woman who raises the most capital for national scholarship campaigns. Accordingly, from 1992 to 1994 Louise Hoskins Broadnax of Chicago’s Alpha Lambda chapter was the anointed Queen. The former director of Institutional Care of the Chicago Department of Public Health, Broadnax benefited from the residual ‘‘Queen’’ status by being elected to the top post of Grand Basileus in 2002, a post she currently still holds. Moreover, as the black woman has historically been the backbone of the black family, Eta Phi Beta business parameters have not been created devoid of the broader family connections necessary for sustaining a strong, healthy family tree. Thus the Shad Club, Bee Ettes, Senords, and the Eta Kids were established to enable the entire family to grow from annual convention activities. The Shad Club is an auxiliary unit consisting of members’ husbands, whereas the Bee Ettes are middle and high school aged females and the Senords the male counterparts. To complete the cycle are the Eta Kids who make up the under-twelve youth demographic. Not just for ceremonial purposes, contrastingly these auxiliary groups have miniconventions and workshop sessions built into their conferences. One such example of the organizations’ commitment to support the utilization of resources and business success to improve inner-city communities was the 60th Anniversary Convention celebrated in Raleigh, North Carolina, on October 28–29, 2002, where Sara White, wife of Hall of Fame National Football League defensive lineman Reggie White, was honored for her outstanding contributions in enhancing living standards in underserved communities. Hence the group’s motto ‘‘Not for ourselves but for others’’ is pragmatically reinforced. For its contributions, Eta Phi Beta has been acknowledged for its continued work in developing business and professional relationships within respective northern, southern, eastern, western, southeastern, and mideastern regions, geographically representing thirty-two states and the Virgin Islands with 110 chapters. There should be no surprise in reading of their esteemed incorporation into Grace House of Louisiana Inc.’s 11th Annual Women of Substance Luncheon in New Orleans that honored and showed respect to empowered women on May 21, 2005. ‘‘Women Making a Difference’’ was the theme of a luncheon session sponsored by the sorority’s omicron chapter. Moreover, founders of Eta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. had the wisdom to channel their energies through charitable good, advancing education and business responsibility within the context of communities. More than sixty years later, the women who comprise membership continue to

275

Eta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

make a difference and impact positively on black communities generally and humanity at large. See also: Women and Business Sources Eta Phi Beta, Alpha Gamma. http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/alphagamma. Eta Phi Beta, Southern Region. http://www.etaphibetasouthern.org/history.htm. National Report. ‘‘Julia H. Davis Re-elected Eta Phi Beta Prexy.’’ Jet 90 (September 23, 1996): 22. ———. ‘‘National President of Eta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Re-elected.’’ Jet 107 (April 11, 2005): 10. Newsmakers. ‘‘Eta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Celebrates 25th Biennial National Convention in North Carolina.’’ Jet 102 (October 28, 2002): 55. Nolan, Nell. ‘‘Swiss Soiree and Lunchtime Laurels.’’ Times-Picayune, May 21, 2005.

Uzoma O. Miller

276

F Ellenea Fairhurst. See Ellenea Henry-Fairhurst

Faith-Based Entrepreneurship African American religious organizations, whether individual churches, mosques, synagogues, formal fellowships of congregations as in denominational systems, or groups developed independently as a result of individual charismatic religious leadership, have always contained an element of faithbased entrepreneurship. This concept can be defined in broad terms as the use of the financial resources of religious organizations and clergy to support and empower business and other economic initiatives inside and/or outside their immediate community. Within the scope of this definition, the black minister must be considered the earliest example of a faith-based entrepreneur, and the black church or religious organization itself as an economic as well as a spiritual enterprise that has been developed through entrepreneurship involving various levels of risk and reward. Both free and slave preachers brought an African perspective to their new religion and in different ways adapted it to the social and economic realities of American bondage and servitude in the southern United States while retaining faith regarding eventual freedom. While some believed the liberating work of God was found in the afterlife or for future generations, others used biblical examples to justify more radical and high-risk approaches to securing freedom. In several instances the leaders of major slave revolts were preachers, with Denmark Vesey in South Carolina (1822) and Nat Turner in Virginia (1831) being the most famous examples. In response, many southern states outlawed religious meetings of slaves or tried to maintain strict control over all gatherings. These early leaders used whatever meager resources they could muster to establish their fellowships, many of which were formed and remained as

Faith-Based Entrepreneurship

secret organizations. If they were allowed to meet openly in a space approved by their masters and under their supervision, they had to become adept in the skillful use of coded language and other behaviors to inform and inspire their congregations, without offending their overseers and jeopardizing themselves and their fellow slaves in the process. The slave preacher also had to exhibit entrepreneurial skills such as negotiation and diplomacy, to ensure that the master(s) would not perceive their gatherings as a threat to the existing order and allow them to continue to meet. The first order of business for the slave preacher and church, as in any enterprise, was survival. While the free Negro church leaders in the North may not have had the immediate threat of physical survival as an issue, they had to negotiate through white-controlled systems to establish viable organizations. They became entrepreneurs out of necessity, starting their churches in many instances as a response to unfavorable treatment in congregations organized and managed by whites. Another approach was the tradition of itinerant or ‘‘traveling preachers,’’ which can be considered as another early form of faith-based entrepreneurship, where the minister came to the people and provided religious inspiration and services at whatever site was considered appropriate and available, indoors or outdoors, for varying amounts of time before moving on to other locations. These types of services, including ‘‘tent revivals,’’ hearkened back to biblical descriptions of the travels of the children of Israel after their liberation from Egypt with their tabernacle, tents that served the purpose of a portable worship space until they could settle in the promised land and eventually build a permanent structure. Even as the nation of Israel depended on God and each other during their travels, the traveling evangelists of early and modern America relied on the people’s generosity to sustain them in the course of moving from location to location to fulfill their spiritual vocation. Ministers also had to have other skills and be able to take on other types of work, in order to survive when the contributions and resources of the congregations were inadequate. For black clergy, this was even more so the case, given the extremely limited financial resources of most African American communities. However, the ongoing importance of spirituality among a majority of blacks in America enabled the development of both formal institutional structures by groups and creative spiritual entrepreneurship by individuals. As faith-based entrepreneurs, black ministers always ran the risk of credibility with their congregations, especially in the case of traveling evangelists who had no direct or permanent ties and accountability to the communities they served. As a result, most meaningful group economic development and entrepreneurship took place when religious institutions and organizations were firmly established in one or more communities, with stable leadership, membership, and financial resources.

278

Faith-Based Entrepreneurship

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN EARLY BLACK CHURCHES From these humble beginnings, numerous black churches and other religious organizations became centers for support and development of African American communities in all parts of the country. The development of African American religious denominations can in one sense be considered faith-based entrepreneurship, as black ministers organized various collective structures as support mechanisms for individual churches and congregations. While most denominations were based on similar approaches to doctrine, worship style, and other factors, in at least one instance an African American economic organization helped to develop a major African American church. The Free African Society, a mutual-aid organization founded in Philadelphia by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones in 1787, emphasized solidarity and community development among free blacks in the city and was an early African American voice for the abolition of slavery. In 1794, the society provided the support to establish the Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the founding congregation of what became the nation’s first independent African American denomination in 1816. Allen later became the presiding bishop of the AME churches and led the denomination in such entrepreneurial activities as forming the first black publishing house, along with organizing national antislavery ‘‘Negro Conventions’’ and linking churches as locations for passage of escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad. After the Civil War and the end of slavery, many of the early black churches and religious organizations exhibited faith-based entrepreneurship by establishing educational institutions on their own or through collaborations with sympathetic white individuals, churches, and other organizations. A majority of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), public as well as private, can trace their beginnings to influential black ministers and church organizations, with many actually being founded in church buildings. In some instances, black ministers were the first presidents of these institutions, while continuing their pastoral responsibilities in the church and communities where they served. In other cases where the support and influence of whites was significant, white ministers took on the leadership role of institutions for blacks, seeing their work as an extension of missionary outreach. Even when the leaders were nonministers, they had to work effectively with ministers and churches, as well as others, to ensure continued support in the community for the new schools. Booker T. Washington, while not a minister himself, was a prime example of a faith-based entrepreneur who was successful in using the economic as well as the spiritual resources of churches, other religious organizations, and outside individuals and groups to develop Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama. He was instrumental in the development of numerous black businesses and organizations, including the National

279

Faith-Based Entrepreneurship

Negro Business League (NNBL), based on the philosophy of acquiring productive skills and trades in the industrial education model of Hampton Institute (now Hampton University), the HBCU he had attended in Virginia. Washington was also a promoter of strong moral values based on Christian principles, which he felt would give blacks the respect needed to advance as individuals and as a group, despite the segregation of the races on various levels throughout American society by the end of the nineteenth century. His message was accepted by many blacks and acceptable to most whites and enabled him to exert great political and economic influence toward achieving many of his desired objectives. Many other black leaders of the time, in the religious community as well as the larger African American community, disagreed with Washington’s accommodation of segregation while agreeing that entrepreneurship and economic development were essential to black progress. W.E.B. Du Bois, Washington’s most prominent critic, argued that educational and business development could not be separated from the fight for full equality, yet also realized that segregation caused blacks to develop and support their own institutions and enterprises. A MODEL OF FAITH-BASED ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND GENERATIONAL WEALTH Other religious organizations and denominations followed the lead of the AME church in establishing publishing houses and other faith-based religious enterprises, such as the National Baptist Publishing Board (NBPB), founded in 1896 and headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. The driving force behind the creation of the NBPB was minister, entrepreneur, and leader Richard Henry Boyd (1843–1922). Boyd spent his formative years as a slave in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas with the name Dick Gray and continued working on the Gray plantation after the Civil War and Emancipation. His mother had become a Christian and Baptist around 1860, and in 1869, Dick Gray was baptized and changed his name to Richard Henry Boyd. By the early 1870s Boyd had entered the ministry, married the former Harriett A. Moore, and begun raising a large family. He also attended Bishop College, one of several HBCUs founded by the American Baptist Home Mission Society, an organization of white northern Baptists. Boyd spent the early years of his ministry organizing black churches and religious associations in Texas and eventually partnered with white southern Baptists in order to launch the NBPB after relocating to Nashville. The success of the NBPB came as a result of Boyd’s entrepreneurial skills in dealing with religious associations of both races and navigating through the controversies of the turbulent religious and racial environment of his times. As a result, he became nationally recognized for his efforts but was also envied and criticized for turning the NBPB into a profit-making

280

Faith-Based Entrepreneurship

business beyond its religious purposes. To protect the company, Boyd and his supporters legally incorporated the NBPB as a separate entity from the Baptist denomination in 1898. In 1902 Boyd, attorney James Carroll Napier, and others founded the Nashville chapter of the NNBL, and Boyd launched the National Baptist Church Supply Company the same year. The Nashville NNBL leadership group went on to establish the One-Cent Savings and Trust Bank in 1903, with Boyd as president. By 1920 the bank’s name was changed to Citizens Savings and Trust Company Bank, and it continues to the present time as the oldest continually operating banking institution owned and operated by African Americans. Boyd also launched additional business ventures such as the NBPB Sunday School Congress in 1904, a convention geared toward black Baptists of all ages who were users of company publications, other products, and services. During the same year the NBPB also developed the National Negro Doll Company, an initiative to provide positive images to black children. Boyd was also instrumental in the development of Nashville’s first African American newspaper, the Nashville Globe, through his Globe Publishing Company; the National Baptist Church Supply Company; and the Union Transportation Company. The NBPB continued to flourish, and by 1905 it was the largest black publishing company in America. When Boyd died in 1922, he was succeeded by his son, Henry Allen Boyd, who modernized operations and helped the company grow to new levels of success. Along with his work in building upon his father’s achievements in ministry and entrepreneurship, Boyd was also highly influential in the founding of Tennessee State University, the only public HBCU in the state, in 1912. By the centennial of the NBPB in 1996, leadership had passed to Theophilus Bartholomew (T. B.) Boyd III, the fourth generation of the Boyd family to head the company. His father, T. B. Boyd Jr., had been the first executive to pastor a church and run the company simultaneously, another example of the black minister as faith-based entrepreneur. T. B. Boyd III also renamed the NBPB the R. H. Boyd Publishing Corporation in honor and recognition of his great-grandfather, its visionary and founder, in 2001. He is also a graduate of the university his family helped to establish and presently board chairman of Citizens Savings Bank, continuing the faith-based entrepreneurial legacy of his ancestors into the twenty-first century. CHARISMA AND CONTROVERSY Many faith-based entrepreneurs developed a variety of business ventures after developing religious organizations based on their personal magnetism and charisma. Critics went so far as to say that followers and supporters of these charismatic individuals were part of a cult in worst-case scenarios, especially when the leaders operated outside of established religious traditions; at the very least, followers were considered part of a ‘‘cult of personality.’’

281

Faith-Based Entrepreneurship

Persons such as James Francis Marion ‘‘Prophet’’ Jones, ‘‘Sweet Daddy’’ Grace, and M. J. ‘‘Father’’ Divine are notable examples of individuals who built considerable personal wealth after attracting numbers of followers during the mid-twentieth century. These persons also attempted various business enterprises as a means to gain credibility in the community and/or as vehicles for employment of some of their followers, with varying degrees of success. Divine, despite personal controversy, is credited with using his resources and influence to create systems to feed thousands during the Great Depression of the 1930s. While these individuals became well known, their influence was not extended to the national level of persons like Marcus Garvey and Elijah Muhammad, whose respective organizations, the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and the Nation of Islam (NOI), drew considerable attention for their entrepreneurial ventures as well as their messages of racial empowerment aligned with spiritual/religious principles. These men took Washington’s philosophy of racial accommodation to segregation to the radical extreme of advocating separate development from whites and extending racial pride to the point of advocating black superiority and God as a black deity. Garvey attempted several entrepreneurial ventures under the UNIA, which at its peak was the largest mass movement in African American history. Due in part to his Jamaican background and international travels, UNIA influence extended beyond the United States to Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America, West Africa, and England. From its U.S. base in Harlem, New York, the UNIA created the Negro Factories Corporation and the Negro World weekly newspaper in 1918, which employed thousands of African Americans. Offshoots from these operations included a doll factory, tailoring business, grocery stores, restaurants, a printing press, and other related companies. The most ambitious economic enterprise of Garvey and the UNIA was the Black Star Line steamship corporation, which launched its first ship in 1919. Despite widespread excitement and tremendous support of the Garvey movement, internal and external pressures, criticism, sabotage, and investigation of Garvey led to the demise of this and other attempts to unify persons of African heritage with his ‘‘Back to Africa’’ spiritual, philosophical, social, political, and economic/entrepreneurial initiatives. Garvey’s arrest, imprisonment on mail fraud charges, and deportation from the United States hastened the end of his movement, but his efforts inspired other African Americans to develop organizations and programs incorporating many of his ideas and concepts. Elijah Muhammad brought the Nation of Islam to national prominence in the 1940s after becoming a disciple and successor of its founder, W. D. Fard, in Detroit, Michigan, during the 1930s. Along with some aspects of traditional Islam, Fard and Muhammad included and expanded upon aspects of Garvey’s pro-African philosophy by incorporating doctrines indicating that

282

Faith-Based Entrepreneurship

blacks were the original and superior human race and that whites were evil oppressors who would eventually be destroyed by Allah. The organization was targeted for police harassment because of its ideas, activities, and growing influence despite internal divisions when Muhammad became its leader in 1934 and labeled a subversive group by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The NOI expanded from Detroit to Chicago, Milwaukee, and Washington, D.C. before Muhammad and other Muslims were arrested on charges of draft evasion and sedition for refusing to participate in World War II, with Muhammad serving a federal prison sentence from July 1943 to August 1946 for his activities. The NOI survived despite these problems, and in 1947 Muhammad began moving the organization in the direction of business enterprise after his release from prison. The first ventures were a restaurant and bakery in Chicago, the new headquarters for the group. After Malcolm X became a minister of the NOI in 1954, his charisma and subsequent celebrity helped the organization to rapidly expand its membership and financial resources, which in turn helped the NOI to expand into landownership, farming, and other economic initiatives. Despite the loyalty of Malcolm X to NOI doctrines of black pride and black separatism, his personal magnetism as NOI national representative began to overshadow Muhammad’s leadership of the organization. By 1963, when Malcolm X violated orders from Muhammad regarding comment on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and was suspended from his ministry for ninety days, it became obvious that he was now considered as more a liability than an asset to the organization. Malcolm X also verified rumors of moral and financial irregularities in the affairs of Muhammad and the NOI, and the backlash led to his leaving the organization and subsequent assassination in 1965. After Muhammad’s death in 1975, the NOI split into factions led by one of his sons, Wallace Muhammad, and Louis (X) Farrakhan, who replaced Malcolm as national representative and had remained loyal to Elijah Muhammad. Farrakhan retained many of Muhammad’s original doctrines, while Wallace Muhammad moved his followers toward more traditional Islamic practices. Over time, the Farrakhan-led NOI gained control of several properties and business concerns once connected with Elijah Muhammad, and Farrakhan has used his own charisma to rebuild the NOI to meet his objectives in another variation of faith-based entrepreneurship. MINISTERS, MINISTRIES, AND MEGACHURCHES During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the human, financial, and spiritual resources of black churches were heavily utilized by all of the major civil rights organizations and were essential to its success. A majority of movement leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were ministers who balanced their involvement in civil rights activities with the

283

Faith-Based Entrepreneurship

spiritual and executive duties involved in pastoral responsibilities. The organizations they created, such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), as well as their relationships with established groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and National Urban League, required an entrepreneurial approach to financing and fund-raising activities in support of movement objectives, along with collaboration and strategic planning. One of the ironies of the postsegregation era was that with greater access to the American mainstream African Americans no longer had to use services and resources in their own communities out of necessity. As a result, many African American–owned and/or –operated businesses were forced to close, while others experienced great difficulty in maintaining their operations. Especially in the larger urban areas, African American churches became part of the small group of institutions that remained viable, and their continued success was tied in varying degrees to their relevance to community needs. The challenges and problems in black communities (including the loss of industries and jobs; crime; alcohol and drug dependency/ abuse; limited social, educational, and recreational services; and other issues) impacted churches as well and forced them to make choices in order to respond to these realities. In urban, suburban, and rural settings, many African American churches took on the challenges of community issues and turned them into opportunities, in the tradition of previous generations. Progressive church leaders saw the connection between ministry to the physical, economic, and social needs of their communities and the traditional focus on spiritual needs and development. Well-established African American congregations and denominations began to embrace entrepreneurship as a key component in their community development initiatives, using the resources of their membership base before branching out to embrace their neighborhoods and the community at large. They were joined in community development and entrepreneurship by organizations such as the Congress of National Black Churches (CNBC), based in Washington, D.C.; Opportunities Industrialization Centers (OIC), developed by Rev. Leon Howard Sullivan in Philadelphia; People United to Save/Serve Humanity (PUSH), based in Chicago and led by the Reverend Jesse Jackson; and the more recent phenomenon of African American megachurches. The black megachurch itself can be considered as another variation of faith-based entrepreneurship. While many are usually independent congregations led by charismatic leaders attracting large memberships and considerable financial resources, in some cases megachurches are also connected to traditional church denominational structures or create new subsidiary congregations as a result of their expanding influence. Successful megachurches often employ dozens, and in some cases hundreds, of persons to carry out their various programs and directly impact their communities.

284

Faith-Based Entrepreneurship

In recent years, the best-known minister in this category is Bishop Thomas ‘‘T. D.’’ Jakes, who rose from humble beginnings and small churches in his native West Virginia to found and pastor the Potter’s House church in Dallas, Texas, a multiracial, nondenominational ministry that grew to over 30,000 members. Along with his dynamic preaching style and personal charisma, Jakes wrote several bestselling books; provided ministry-related products and services using multiple media formats and outlets; convened regional and national conferences; traveled and broadcasted internationally; and created a variety of outreach programs to address the emotional, socioeconomic, and physical needs of his parishioners and the larger community from a spiritual foundation. Many megachurches and congregations from traditional church organizations developed separate nonprofit 503(c) (3) corporations to utilize the human and financial resources at their disposal in community development efforts. Focus points of these efforts included developing child-care facilities and schools; building new housing units; revitalizing existing residential and commercial real estate; partnering with corporate and civic organizations on business development and entrepreneurship; outreach to underserved communities through job/career, health, food distribution, mentorship, and counseling services; establishing financial services, institutions, and relationships designed to promote wealth creation, management, and economic stability for individuals, families, and the larger African American community; and global missions outreach. Some of the many additional examples of faith-based entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial leadership included Abyssinian Baptist Church (former pastors Adam Clayton Powell Sr. and Jr.; succeeded by Calvin Butts), Greater Allen AME Cathedral of New York (Floyd Flake) and Christian Cultural Center (A. R. Bernard) in New York City; West Angeles Church of God in Christ (Bishop Charles Blake) and Crenshaw Christian Center (Frederick Price) in Los Angeles; New Birth Missionary Baptist Church (Bishop Eddie Long) and World Changers Church International (Creflo Dollar) in the metropolitan Atlanta area; Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston (Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell); and Word of Faith International Christian Center in metropolitan Detroit (Bishop Keith Butler). Flake in particular symbolized both tradition and innovation, as he continued to pastor while serving as a U.S. congressman from 1986 to 1997. Upon his return to full-time ministry, his congregation grew to megachurch status from its AME roots. In 2002 he became president of his alma mater, Wilberforce University in Ohio, the AME-affiliated HBCU founded in 1856, and utilized his leadership and entrepreneurial skills to the benefit of both institutions. Payne Memorial AME Church in Baltimore, formerly pastored by Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, proved that all churches active and successful in faith-based entrepreneurship were not led by men. The success of McKenzie in spiritual and economic/entrepreneurial objectives set the stage for her

285

Faith-Based Entrepreneurship

election as the first female AME bishop in 2000, and first female president of the AME Council of Bishops in 2004, with responsibility for the worldwide operation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Jesse Jackson endured controversies related to political and personal activities and continued to champion entrepreneurship and economic development through PUSH and other initiatives. In 2001, his organization launched the One Thousand Churches Connected project to provide information, technology, resources, and training to pastors and congregations interested in economic literacy to achieve personal and community financial objectives. African American clergy and congregations were also identified as active or potential participants in the faith-based initiatives of President George W. Bush and his administration during the first decade of the twenty-first century. These programs created controversy due to the political and constitutional implications of direct federal support to church-affiliated programs, services, and economic/entrepreneurial activities and called into question the nonprofit, tax-exempt status of religious organizations. These religious leaders and followers, past and present, forged new directions for ministry and service to African Americans and others using faith-based entrepreneurship in its many variations. Their successes and failures in seeking to create and maintaining hope, progress, and group development in natural as well as spiritual concerns have come as they have embraced the multiple dimensions and responsibilities of leadership and empowerment, with the risks and rewards of ‘‘stepping out on faith.’’ Sources ‘‘Black Megachurches’ Mega-Outreach.’’ September 8, 2004. ReligionLink: Resources for Reporters. http://www.religionlink.org/tip_040908b.php. Clingman, James. ‘‘The Business of the Black Church.’’ http://www.blackmeninamerica .com/clingmanarchives.htm. ‘‘Investiture of Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie Observed.’’ Nashville Pride, December 10, 2004. Laderman, Gary, and Luis Leon, eds. Religion and American Cultures: An Encyclopedia of Traditions, Diversity, and Popular Expressions. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2003. Lehman, Jeffrey, ed. African American Almanac. 9th ed. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2003. Lovett, Bobby. A Black Man’s Dream: The First One Hundred Years: Richard Henry Boyd and the National Baptist Publishing Board. Jacksonville, FL: Mega Corporation, 1993. McRoberts, Omar M. ‘‘Black Churches, Community, and Development.’’ Shelterforce Online (January–February 2001). http://www.nhi.org/online/issues/115/McRoberts .html. Potter’s House. http://www.thepottershouse.org. Reese, T. David, and Christina A. Clamp. Faith-Based Community Economic Development: Principles and Practices. Boston: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 2001. http://www.bos.frb.org/commdev/index.htm. Roof, Wade Clark, ed. Contemporary American Religion. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000.

286

James Conway Farley Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Notable Black American Men. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1998.

Fletcher F. Moon

James Conway Farley (1854–1910?), Photographer, Portraitist, Artist James Conway Farley was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, on August 10, 1854. His parents were slaves. He was the first prominent black photographer in the United States. In 1861, following the death of his father, Farley relocated with his mother to Richmond, Virginia, where they settled permanently. Farley’s mother was employed as a hotel storeroom keeper, and Farley assisted her in her work, which included candle making. During the evenings, an old cook from the hotel tutored him in the basics in reading and writing. He was fortunate to attend public schools for three years to conclude his brief education. Since he needed to work to supplement his mother’s meager earnings, he entered apprenticeship training in candle making and baking. Farley was employed as a baker following his apprenticeship but soon became disillusioned with the long hours of labor in the bakery. Endeavoring to enter some other profession, he was hired to work in the chemical department of the C. R. Rees photography company in Richmond in 1872. Within a short time it became obvious that he had a keen interest and talent to perform this work. He attracted the attention of another photographer, G. W. Davis, who hired him to work as a photographer at the Davis Photograph Gallery. In 1875, it was highly unusual for a black man like Farley to work in the field of photography or even to be given the independence and autonomy that he had at the Davis Gallery. He was allowed to set his own scenes and complete the chemical process of making the photographs. His freedom and authority angered four white operators in the darkroom at the Davis Gallery. They demanded Farley’s dismissal but declined to give their reasons. Since Farley was black, it was assumed that his race was the primary cause of their grievance. They refused to continue working with him. Not wanting to cause a disturbance at the business or embarrassment to Davis the proprietor, Farley offered his resignation. Davis recognized that Farley’s skill was a great asset to the business. To settle the problem, he retained Farley and dismissed the white operators. Farley became the most competent operator with the Davis Company, completing most of the work himself and more than had been done previously by other operators. During his thirty-five-year association with the company, he helped it to expand and prosper. After many failed attempts to place other white operators in charge, Farley was promoted to chief operator of the company’s newly established gallery. The business at the gallery continue to thrive with a high volume of photographs being produced

287

Melvin Farr

each day. By 1879, it was one of the most successful galleries in the southern United States. In 1876, Farley married Rebecca P. Robinson of Amelia County, Virginia. To this union seven daughters were born. He was considered a fine gentleman and officiated as a deacon in the First Baptist Church. Farley continued to work at the Davis Gallery until 1895 when he became an independent operator with the opening of his own establishment. The Jefferson Fine Arts Gallery, located on Broad Street in Richmond, became a very profitable business for Farley. It attracted both black and white patrons, including prominent Virginia business leaders and society families. Farley’s work ranked nationally along with other photographers of the period. He became known through exhibitions at fairs across the country and was recognized as one of the most accomplished photographers in the South. He was awarded many prizes for his photographic talent. In 1884, he won a first prize for his exhibit at the Colored Industrial Fair in Richmond. His also exhibited at the World Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans in 1885, where he received complimentary reviews in the photographic journals of the time. Unfortunately only a few of his photographs have survived. Those remaining are held in the Valentine Museum on Clay Street in Richmond, Virginia. Farley’s work represents the earliest entry of blacks into the field of photography and portraiture. Sources ‘‘J. C. Farley.’’ Evidences of Progress among the Colored People. By Richings, G. F. Chicago: Afro-Am Press, 1969. ‘‘James C. Farley, Esq.’’ Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. By William J. Simmons. New York: Arno Press, 1968. Spradling, Mary Mace, ed. In Black and White. A Guide to Magazine Articles, Newspaper Articles, and Books concerning Black Individuals and Groups. 3rd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. Willis-Thomas, Deborah. Black Photographers, 1840–1940: An Illustrated BioBibliography. New York: Garland, 1985. ———. ‘‘Farley, James Conway.’’ Dictionary of American Negro Biography. Ed. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982.

Janette Prescod

Melvin Farr (1944– ), Automobile Dealer, Entrepreneur, Professional Football Player Challenged by racism, the oil crisis of the 1970s, and declining sales in American automobiles, Mel Farr, former professional football player, persevered to become one of the most successful African American businessmen of the late twentieth century. Farr is the owner of Mel Farr Automotive Group—the largest African American–owned automobile dealership in the United States. The company includes a chain of dealerships composed of

288

Melvin Farr

Toyota, Ford, and Lincoln-Mercury cars located in five states. Farr is recognized for inspiring through his great example other businessmen in the automobile industry as well as others. According to Farr, his experiences as an athlete informed his success in the business world; as an athlete he learned the value of endurance and a positive mind-set. Farr was born to Dorthea and Miller Farr on November 3, 1944, in Beaumont, Texas. His mother was a domestic worker, and his father was a truck driver who eventually succeeded in owning and running his own used car dealership. Melvin Farr was recognized at Herbert High School as a talented athlete and won a football scholarship to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In 1963, Farr entered UCLA and twice was named to the All-American team. During this period he married his first wife, Mae, and they had three children—two sons, Melvin Jr. and Michael, and a daughter, Monet. Farr left the university without his degree to pursue his career as a football player. In 1967, he was the first-round draft pick of the Detroit Lions. Farr was a defensive back for the Detroit Lions from 1967 to 1973. He was named offensive MVP (Most Valuable Player) in 1967 and in 1968. He was also named to play in the National Football League (NFL) Pro-Bowl in 1968 and in 1971. Farr enjoyed success with the Detroit Lions but also continued to think about a future outside of football. During the off-seasons, he worked for Ford Motor Company. He was a part of one of their minority requirement programs and helped to encourage other African Americans to work for Ford. After retiring from football in 1974, Farr turned his attention once again to the automobile industry. Farr saved money from his career in football and negotiated with Ford to buy his own dealership. Ford agreed to his offer to buy a dealership but wanted Farr to have a mentor and partner for his business. The mentor was John Cook, and shortly after, Cook-Farr Ford dealership was opened in a suburb of Detroit, Oak Park, Michigan. By 1978, Farr bought out his partner. The dealership was in financial trouble, however, and the oil crisis, couple with declining sales in American automobiles, threatened to overwhelm Farr’s business. He recovered with loans and the help of Ford Motor Company. During the late 1970s and the 1980s as Farr attempted to recover, he used advertisements to promote interests in his business. As a former football player, Farr was well recognized in Detroit, and he appeared in his own commercials, hoping to use his celebrity to his advantage. His television commercials were a success; in the advertisements, he appeared dressed as a superhero, proclaiming himself to be Mel Farr Superstar. Advisers to Farr credit the commercials in part for Farr’s ability to recover. In the 1980s, Farr opened his second Ford automobile dealership and later established dealerships in New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, and Texas. He also opened his own finance company: Triple M Financing Company; the financing company serves to assist low-income clients who may not have qualified for financing with Ford Company. Studying the trends in automobile popularity, Farr saw

289

Fashion Industry

the increasing interest in Japanese cars and worked to profit from it. In 1989, he succeeded in opening Mel Farr Toyota in Bloomingfield, Michigan. As with Ford, Farr has worked to encourage Japanese automotive dealers to employ African Americans. In 1992, Farr was named by Black Enterprise magazine Auto Dealer of the Year, and he has been frequently listed on Black Enterprise’s list of Top 100 Black Businesses in the United States. In 1997, Crain’s Detroit Business ranked Mel Farr Automotive Group forty-sixth among all automotive dealers in the United States. In July 2004, Farr added to his list of accomplishments when he married for a second time. His wedding to Johnson Publishing Company chief executive officer and president Linda Johnson Rice in Chicago was attended by some of the most powerful American business executives. Recent years have brought challenges to Farr, and by 2003, Farr sold all his dealerships except for a used car dealership in Detroit, Michigan. However, Farr is a foundational figure in twentieth-century African American business. His great courage, intellect, and patient endurance are examples for current and future African Americans in the financial world. Sources ‘‘Mel Farr.’’ Contemporary Black Biography, Vol. 24. Ed. Shirelle Phelps. Gale Group, 2000. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document number: K1606001534. ‘‘A Wedding to Remember.’’ Ebony 50 (July 2004): 9. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Gale, 2005. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galegroup .com/servlet/BioRC Document number: K1645527654.

Rebecca Dixon

Fashion Industry Evidence of blacks in the early fashion industry was seen among free blacks in the 1700s, when Stephen Jackson of Virginia learned the art of turning leather and fur into hats. It was seen also in 1852 when a free man named Cordovall was the leading mercer and tailor in New Orleans and created styles that were the vogue among white elites. Until the hostility of slavery drove such enterprising blacks from the South, there were highly respected tailors in business as well, among them Albert and Freeman Morris, and Fellow Bragg of New Berne, North Carolina. Prominent people of the area followed Bragg around wherever he worked, so that he might handle their business. Abolitionist and reformer Eliza Ann Gardner (1831– 1922) supported herself by dressmaking in Boston and used her skills to benefit racial uplift. Other prominent women with dressmaking businesses included Sarah Eddy, daughter of African Methodist Episcopal bishop

290

Fashion Industry

Richard Allen; Grace Bustill Douglass, daughter of noted Philadelphian Cyrus Bustill; and Catherine Delany, wife of black nationalist Martin R. Delany. The black fashion industry also has its roots in the work of slave women in America, who worked on large plantations as seamstresses and embroiderers. Later some of them became widely known. Blacks had a long association with the industry’s development; for example, between 1863 and 1913 blacks owned businesses in dressmaking, millinery, and tailoring. By 1929 there are also accounts of black proprietors of apparel stores, including accessories and clothing for men, women, and families. Since then there have been a number of successful fashion designers, but their full recognition would not come until after the 1970s. A great black seamstress of record was slave woman Elizabeth Keckley (c. 1824–1907), who was hired out and earned enough in her sewing business in St. Louis to help support seventeen family members. Later she bought her freedom and in 1860 moved to Baltimore and on to Washington, D.C., where she built another sewing business. She hired as many as twenty young ladies and taught them dressmaking as well as charm and elegance. She was sought out for her fine work. Less than a year after starting her business, Keckley became dressmaker and fashion designer for Mary Todd Lincoln. The inaugural ball gown that she designed for Mary Todd Lincoln—her signature piece—hangs in the Smithsonian Institution with a copy in the Black Fashion Museum in Washington, D.C., where the works of blacks in the fashion industry are showcased. Her clients also included the wives of Stephen Douglas and Jefferson Davis. According to N. H. Goodall, ‘‘[I]t was not until the mid-twentieth century that black women came into the spotlight as both models and designers.’’ Goodall identified a number of black women dressmakers and designers who may not have reached Keckley’s stature but made important contributions to the industry. These included Fanny Criss (c. 1866–1942), whose clients were wealthy white women in Richmond, Virginia. Criss moved to New York City around 1918 and continued her career. Many black women worked in their own communities and designed and created items for church functions, fashion shows, and other activities. As they became known, white women sought their talent and promoted their work among their friends. While living in the state of her birth, Ann Lowe (1899–1981), for example, created the inaugural ball gown for the wife of Alabama’s governor. After that, the teenager was called to sew for white Alabama society, including debutantes and politicians. She moved to New York when she was sixteen and began formal study in a design school. Lowe opened a dressmaking shop on Madison Avenue and became couturier to the rich and famous, including the Astors, du Ponts, Rockefellers, Roosevelts, and Vanderbilts. She created over 1,000 gowns a year, all one-of-akind items, for New York’s society. Her creations were sold in stores such as Henri Bendel, Neiman Marcus, and I. Magnin. It was not until 1953, when she designed the bridal gown, bridesmaid’s dresses, and the mother-of-thebride dress for Jacqueline Bouvier’s wedding to then Senator John Fitzgerald

291

Fashion Industry

Kennedy that her work was widely recognized. The bridal gown, however, was her most famous design and consisted of over fifty yards of ivory silk and taffeta. Dressmaker Lillian Rogers Parks (1898–1997) began her adventures in the White House in 1909, when her mother became a maid for President William Howard Taft. Lillian Parks continued in the White House and served during the administrations of Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt, and Truman; was seamstress for their wives; and mended items in the White House as needed. She was trained in a Washington, D.C. community where dressmaking shops were set up in the homes of black women and later worked for a shop on Connecticut Avenue. Although Parks never owned a shop, she became known for making exquisite fashions and for her work in the White House, accounts of which were published in her book My Thirty Years at the White House (1961). Milliner Mildred Blount’s work was seen but not publicly acknowledged. Her clients included Joan Crawford, GloriaVanderbilt, other Hollywood stars, and society greats. Her creations were seen in the films Gone With the Wind (1939) and Easter Parade (1948) and elsewhere, and the August 1942 cover of Ladies’ Home Journal featured her hats. Other black fashion businesses emerged, as seen in 1963 when Jesse A. Terry opened a shop in Roanoke, Alabama. In time, Terry Manufacturing Company had as many as eighty people on payroll and grossed over $1 million a year. The company made a variety of items including dresses, coats, sweaters, jackets, uniforms, dashikis, and other African-style garments, and they were sold in dress shops and in stores of retail giants such as Sears, Roebuck. The family operation included Terry’s wife and three sons. By late 1970, his own label accounted for over half of the clothing that the company manufactured. From the early 1970s through the 1990s, black women designers became highly recognized. Such women include Tracy Reese (whose clients included Bergdorf Goodman and Ann Taylor), Therese Rogers, Beverly Olivace, Shirley Gibson, Barbara Bates, Yvonne O’Gara, Coreen Simpson, and Sandy Baker. Their crafts include hand-crafted jewelry, works in leathers and suedes, and other items and fabrics. YOUNG DESIGNER BECOMES SUCCESSFUL One of the fashion industry’s most successful young designers in the 1970s and 1980s was Willie Donnell Smith (1948–1987). He was also a freelance illustrator. Known as Willi Smith, he had emerged in the late 1960s along with a number of black designers. The Philadelphia native attended Philadelphia College of Art (1962–1965) and graduated from Parsons School of Design (1969). In 1965 he worked in New York City for Arnold Scaasi, then became a designer for Bobbie Brooks in 1969. For six years (1969–1975) he was employed with Digits, Inc., a sportswear company. By the end of the 1970s, he had covered the gamut of the sportswear

292

Fashion Industry

industry. Meanwhile, in 1973 he founded his own business with his sister Toukie. Lacking in knowledge for operating a successful business, Smith soon closed his company and began a partnership with a company on Seventh Avenue and allowed the firm to use his name in return for the financial assistance that it gave. Since he had already built a solid reputation as a designer, the use of his name was beneficial for the new firm. Smith resented designing clothes out of costly fabrics and focused the designs on the very young. He was successful in his suit to regain rights to his name and began to freelace while seeking career options with other large sportswear firms. In 1976 Smith met an old friend, Laurie Mallet, who sold shirts imported from India. The two traveled together to India, and he designed a collection in Bombay. He and Mallett then founded WilliWear Limited, with Mallet as president and Smith as vice president and designer. Although the company made about $30,000 the first year, Smith had designed a line of pants that was very popular and became his signature design—the WilliWear pant. The baggy fatigue had a high waist and became known as the Willi Smith look. Other designers copied his style. His next collection was highly successful and brought $200,000 to the company. WilliWear grossed over $5 million by 1982. He introduced WilliWear Men in 1978 and was successful again with a line that embraced formality as well as casualness. Most of his pieces were separates and allowed items from one season to be used with new designs in the next season. Smith designed his own textiles and oversaw their production in India. As he matured, his designs became more tailored and traditional. By mid1980 his designs were in 1,100 stores in the United States and others in London. In 1986, his thriving company grossed $45 million. Among his customers was Edwin A. Schlossberg, for whom he designed an outfit for Schlossberg’s 1987 wedding with Caroline Kennedy. After working for AMVETS and decorating windows in an Yves Saint Laurent boutique in Atlanta, designer Patrick Kelly (1954?–1990) entered the world of fashion during the 1970s. He ran an antique clothing boutique in that city until the end of the decade, when he moved to New York City and became a clothing designer. In 1979, he moved to Paris, where he designed costumes for Le Palace. In the early 1980s he sold original designs on the streets of Paris and at flea markets. In 1984, Kelly partnered with Bjorn Amelan and designed fashions for the boutique Victorie and for Benetton. He unveiled a ready-to-wear line in 1985. Two years later he signed with Warnaco, Inc. and expanded his line of fashions. He was the first American to showcase a couture collection in Paris. In 1988, Kelly became the first American elected to the Chambre Syndicate du Preˆte-a`Porter, a world-class fashion designers association based in Paris. Other blacks in the fashion industry emerged during the 1970s, among them Jeffrey Banks, a major black fashion maker. Banks was design assistant to the president of Ralph Lauren/Polo in 1971–1973 and to the president of Calvin Klein/Calvin Klein Ltd., in 1973–1976. Next he designed for

293

Fashion Industry

Nik-Nik Clothing & Sportswear, and in 1978, when he was age twenty-five, he established his own business, Jeffrey Banks Ltd., in New York City. He established a second company, Jeffrey Banks International, and in 1980 began to design furs for men and boys for Alixandra. He has also designed for other companies, including Oxford Industries. His designs have been worn around the world. Those who emerged during the 1980s and 1990s included Maurice Malone, known for his line of clothing that appealed to the urban, hip-hop male. Malone began his designs in his native Detroit, where he launched Hardware, a line of leather coats. His clothing included T-shirts and blue jeans, and he became more successful with each line that he produced. He relocated to New York City and later found a partner to finance another line, Label X. That line featured hip-hop styles and boxer shorts. Malone moved back and forth from Detroit to New York City and launched a line of jeans, opened a retail outlet—the Hip-Hop Shop—on Detroit’s west side, and later designed a tailored suit. In 1999, he unveiled at the same show a men’s line as well as his first women’s line. Subsequent lines included Italian-made jeans called the Maurice Malone Platinum collection. His sales had moved from $2 million in 1997 to $8.5 million in 2000. Byron Lars, of San Francisco, began sewing prom dresses for his high school friends, then studied fashion design at Brooks College in Long Beach and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. He was an apprentice with Kevan Hall, a designer in Los Angeles. In 1990, now living in New York, he launched his own collection and peddled it from store to store. The next year he released a second collection, for which Women’s Wear Daily named him Rookie of the Year. He had orders from high-end retailers such as Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus, and Henri Bendel. At first he funded his own business, but in 1995 he signed with San Siro Inc., allowing the firm to make his Byron Lars’ Shirt Tales. The firm also sold his designs at outlet stores and discount markets, causing the high-end retailers who carried his line to protest. Lars won a court case in 1997 that barred Sans Siro from using his name, but by then he was no longer a top-selling designer. But he would rise again. In spring 1997, he created designs for the world-famous New York Fashion Cafe´; through an arrangement with the Mattel company, he created a collection for the Barbie doll. He also created African American Barbies. Mars returned to his signature design—the shirt—and in 2001 launched a collection of feminine tailored shirts under his Beauty Mark label. Born in Hampton, Virginia, Lawrence Dion Steele had an interest in fashion while he was a child and became fascinated with the work of Ralph Lauren’s designs. After studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, Steele moved to Italy to explore Italian clothes, which he considered superior to all others. After a five-year apprenticeship with Franco Moschino, he opened his business in 1994. By 1996 his reputation had reached Japan, Germany, and Italy, and high-profile models volunteered to appear in his shows. In 1998, when he was only thirty-eight years old, Steele’s design house offered

294

Fashion Industry

four lines: White Label, Blue Label, Lawrence Steele Design, and LS_D Collection. Still in Italy, his work was slow to gain recognition in the United States; however, prominent actresses such as Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan gave exposure to his work here. In 2000, Jennifer Aniston wore one of his designs to the Oscars and another in her wedding to Brad Pitt. His fall 2000 line catered to those aged twenty to forty. Contemporary black fashion designers include a number of lesser-known names as well as those of acclaim, such as Russell Simmons (known for his Phat Fashions), Kimora Lee Simons (known for her Baby Phat line), Karl Kani, and hip-hop mogul Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs. Combs, for example, has a successful Sean John clothing line for men. By October 2005 his clothing line for women made its debut; it aims to reflect the diversity of the young lifestyle. Rapper Nellie’s Nellie Apple Bottom Line also targets the young. There are also designers with lines such as Rocawear, Ecco, and Enyce/Lady/ Enyce. Black designers have had a profound effect on the fashion industry. Their works range from inaugural gowns for the wives of U.S. presidents to various items for the rich and famous, to classic designs for well-established white fashion houses, to costly and splashy evening wear, and to trendy items of the hip-hop generation. Although the list of these designers is extensive, relatively few have been known among the general public. Many have been highly successful entrepreneurs who accumulated sizable wealth. See also: Retail Industry Sources Alexander, Lois K. Blacks in the History of Fashion. New York: Harlem Institute of Fashion, 1982. Cooksey, Gloria, and Ashyia N. Henderson. ‘‘Lawrence Steele.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 28. Detroit: Gale Research, 2002. Decker, Ed. ‘‘Willi Smith.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 8. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995. Garrett, Marie. ‘‘Elizabeth Keckley.’’ Notable Black American Women. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Goodall, N. H. ‘‘Fashion Industry.’’ Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. New York: Carlson, 1993. Murphy, Karen L. ‘‘Patrick Kelly.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale Research, 2002. Sanchez, Brenna. ‘‘Byron Lars.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 32. Detroit: Gale Research, 2002. ———. ‘‘Maurice Malone.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 32. Detroit: Gale Research, 2002. Seder, John, and Berkeley G. Burrell. Getting It Together: Black Businessmen in America. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971. Smith, Jessie Carney, and Carrell Peterson Horton, eds. Historical Statistics of Black America: Agriculture to Labor and Employment. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995. Wolf, Gillian. ‘‘Jeffrey Banks.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 17. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998.

Jessie Carney Smith

295

Federal Records for African American Business History

Federal Records for African American Business History African American business history records available at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) provide data relating a wide variety of enterprises from one- or two-person operations like barbershops and beauty salons to multinational corporations. NARA headquarters, which houses the permanently valuable noncurrent records of the federal government, is located in Washington, D.C., and NARA II is in College Park, Maryland. NARA also administers regional record centers and presidential libraries located throughout the United States. Numerous printed and online guides are available to help researchers navigate the voluminous NARA collections. Black History: A Guide to Civilian Records in the National Archives includes many references to African American business history. Some of the records are obvious, such as the records of the Small Business Administration, but others are filed with federal records among which few would readily examine for business history. To find the archival materials described in this entry, the researcher should use the Black History guide. It is important to note that in the era before the passage of the civil rights laws of the 1960s and 1970s, probably the most common African American business records relate to the black press. The importance of the fourth estate, as evidenced in many files, is obvious. Sometimes files will include only one issue of a newspaper, some clippings, or some correspondence. Other times researchers will find information about African American newspaper publishers, reporters and staff, circulation numbers, and government surveillance and investigative reports. It is important to note that in order to aid researchers in finding the NARA records, this entry adheres to the language used in the files such as Negro, Afro, and Afro-American. When the United States was legally segregated, the federal records reflect the racial divisions. Consequently, African American history records are easier to find. Conversely, in the period after the 1960s, in records like those of government contract offices, the researcher needs to know the name of the business in order to locate records. This entry focuses on the period up to the civil rights movement of the 1960s and is designed to help guide researchers to the NARA records. It is limited in its treatment of federal files available for African American business history. BUREAU OF THE CENSUS AND THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Decennial census records—beginning in 1790—are available on microfilm and online. Because the questions asked on the censuses changed, especially during the nineteenth century, the schedules provide varying amounts of business data. Some censuses only list individual occupations

296

Federal Records for African American Business History

without further information about business ownership or place of employment. Even with scant information, however, business information can be ascertained. For example, in 1924, Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson published a volume titled Free Negro Owners of Slaves in the United States in 1830, Together with Absentee Ownership of Slaves in the United States in 1830. Utilizing the statistics in this volume, Woodson and his researchers demonstrated that although some African Americans owned slaves because they purchased family members in states where they were not allowed to emancipate them, some blacks did indeed own plantations and used enslaved African American laborers to work their fields. The U.S. Census Bureau regularly published reports drawn from information collected during censuses. Many of these publications include data about the businesses and occupations of African Americans. Sometime there were special censuses. For example, in 1929, there was a census of business distribution with information about wholesale and retail business establishments. Each section of the 1929 census is arranged alphabetically by state, the name of the industry, and the name of the individual companies. The schedules also provide the name of the owner, the location, the dates of its establishment, a description of the business, the type of business, the number of employees, expenses, stock on hand, sales of merchandise and products, and a list of net sales by commodities and indicate whether the business was ‘‘owned and operated by Negroes.’’ Administratively, the Census Bureau is under the Department of Commerce. During the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the number of records in the Commerce Department relating to black businesses multiplied. The secretary of commerce correspondence for the period 1928 to 1950 includes letters and reports relating to the department’s Negro Advisory Council and the Negro Affairs Section, headed by Charles E. Hall. Other correspondence pertains to problems unique to blacks such as black chambers of commerce; the appointment of Eugene Kinckle Jones, former executive secretary of the National Urban League, as an adviser to the department; blacks and the Texas Centennial Celebration; and the purchasing power of blacks. Other records relate to publications about black newspapers and periodicals, and other black businesses, especially black banks. Emmer Martin Lancaster was appointed adviser for the Division of Negro Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Commerce on May 25, 1940. The division had been established in 1933. Lancaster filled a vacancy created by the resignation of Eugene Kinckle Jones. The National Negro Business Advisory Council was formed to serve the Division of Negro Affairs. Lancaster’s records include correspondence with insurance companies owned and operated by blacks, 1942 to 1953; correspondence with banks owned and operated by blacks, 1942 to 1953; correspondence with black lending institutions, 1942 to 1943; and correspondence and reports pertaining to ‘‘Conferences on the Negro in Business,’’ 1940 to 1953. Lancaster’s records indicate that he often traveled to visit African American business leaders in

297

Federal Records for African American Business History

various U.S. cities and offered advice to students and faculty at a number of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The Division of Negro Affairs also had a small business and inquiry reference service. The division’s voluminous correspondence included requests for information and publications; inquiries about conference activities; questions about the Committee on Negro Defense Contracts; questions from black trade associations and real estate brokers; and materials relating to post–World War II planning, housing, and emergency programs. The division also issued a series of annual reports primarily relating to African American banking institutions, but some periodic reports also relate to insurance companies, postwar planning for blacks in business, and a directory of black businesses in the United States. Although many of the materials in the files are routine letters with requests for information or publications, they still provide some details about the scope of African American business endeavors. Often the letterheads on the stationery provide useful information. Division correspondents include manufacturers, architects, real estate agents, journalists, hair-care producers, beauticians, attorneys, film producers, shop owners, funeral directors, builders, business students, and publishers. The reports that are among the Lancaster papers provide a wealth of information. For example, a one-page September 1943 report, ‘‘Construction Costs and Architect-Engineers’ Fees for Eight War Housing Projects Designed by Negroes,’’ includes the project number and location, the estimated total construction cost, the name of the architect, and some related fees. Three projects were located in Tuskegee (Alabama), three in Ypsilanti, one each in Newport News and Fort Huachuca. The four architects or firms involved in the eight projects were Edward C. Miller, Hilyard R. Robinson, and Moses and Dutton. The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce was created in the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1912 to promote the development of U.S. commerce and industry by compiling and distributing information on trade matters. Most of the records compose the central file, 1914 to 1956. The category labeled ‘‘Negro, 1927–50’’ provides information about arrangements for conferences on African American businesses, business education, and the services of the bureau to black businesses. These records include a small folder with documents relating to the Negro Affairs Division. OTHER BANKING AND INSURANCE RECORDS Some files relating to African American insurance companies are also interspersed among the Records of the Temporary National Economic Committee for the period 1938 to 1941. Two of the companies included are the Afro-American Life Insurance Company and North Carolina Mutual. Other African American insurance companies must be accessed by name. Each file includes a questionnaire, exhibits, the annual statement for 1937, and some correspondence.

298

Federal Records for African American Business History

The Records of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency include materials relating to the Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company. The bank, chartered by the U.S. government on March 3, 1865, for the benefit of freed slaves, was controlled primarily by white officers who proved themselves to be both incompetent and criminal. From 1865 to 1870, thirty-three branch offices were established. When the bank officers made unwise investments and fraudulent deals, they knew the bank was failing. At that time, they asked abolitionist and statesmen Frederick Douglass—who was ignorant of the bank’s financial condition—to become the head of the bank. The Comptroller of the Currency liquidated the bank in 1882, but records relating to it extend well into the twentieth century. The bank organization and liquidation files, arranged by bank charter number, include information about other banks, some of which were controlled by African Americans, such as the Douglass National Bank of Chicago. The Douglass, called ‘‘the first U.S. Bank directed by Negroes,’’ also failed. NEW DEAL AGENCIES The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) was created in 1932 to extend aid during the depression to agriculture, commerce, and industry by providing direct loans. Most of the records for the RFC are arranged by type of business or industry. It is necessary to know the name of a black-owned business in order to find materials. The card index relating to loans made to public works and public agencies includes two cards for the Florida Agriculture and Mechanical College for Negroes in Tallahassee, Florida, 1939 to 1942. The RFC project files, 1941 to 1947 for the Defense Homes Corporation, a subsidiary of RFC, include a folder for the Mayfair Corporation in Washington, D.C. A cover letter in the file provides some background on Mayfair: ‘‘Early in 1941, a group of colored people headed up by Elder L. S. [Lightfoot Solomon] Michaux and Albert I. [Irvin] Cassell, an architect, started planning a large scale housing project in recognition of the need in Washington, D.C., for habitable housing for colored families.’’ The records of the Works Progress Administration research and records library, 1933 to 1945, include a number of publications and studies about African Americans in some major cities and information about education, commerce, newspapers, skilled workers, housing, and religion. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS The records of the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture, especially for the period from 1917 to 1955, include letters relating to African American business such as the black press, black farmers and soldiers in the defense effort, black farmers organizations, and farm contracts for African Americans. There are also some records relating to Marcus Garvey. The records of the Department of Labor include much correspondence with the black press. One of Labor’s offices, the Women’s Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, contain some records relating to small or home-based businesses

299

Federal Records for African American Business History

owned by black women. Although for the first half of the twentieth century the Women’s Bureau records primarily focus on black women as domestic workers, laundresses, and service workers, the correspondence and reports also include information about black women as business owners or operators such as beauticians, boardinghouse proprietors, and labor organizers. To locate such records, see NARA Special List 40, Selected Documents Pertaining to Black Workers among the Records of the Department of Labor and Its Component Bureaus, 1902–69. POWER OF THE PRESS Records relating to the African American press and its publishers, editors, and reporters appear in many record groups. The press correspondence with the government usually pertains to some sort of advocacy for black population. This is especially true of the records of the Departments of Labor, Justice, State, and Agriculture. The records generated by the U.S. government departments and agencies are usually investigative. These records occasionally provide information about newspapers’ circulation and the nature of their readership. Investigative files sometimes give detailed information about black journalists. In the period after the Russian revolution through the 1960s, blacks who advocated equal rights for U.S. citizens regardless of color were often labeled as communists or socialists. The Records of the U.S. Postal Service include case files relating to the denial of second-class mailing privileges to periodical and other publications under section 12 of the Espionage Act of June 15, 1917 (40 Stat. 217). The act provided that any publication advocating treason, insurrection, or forcible resistance to any law of the United States was nonmailable. The records relating to the Espionage Act of World War I, 1917 to 1921, include some files about black-owned periodicals and newspapers and about propaganda directed to African Americans. Included in this series are files relating to Robert Sengstacke Abbott’s paper the Chicago Defender; Crisis, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) magazine edited by W.E.B. Du Bois; the Messenger, edited by labor unionist A. Philip Randolph; and the Negro World, an organ of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). Other records in this series relate to ‘‘Negro propaganda,’’ the New York News, and the Veteran. A few fliers, pamphlets, and books among the records also relate to the 1917 Espionage Act: ‘‘Justice for the Negro,’’ ‘‘Why the Negro Should Vote the Socialist Ticket,’’ ‘‘Chicago Race Riots,’’ and The Black Man’s Burden, by E. Morel. The U.S. government’s interest and surveillance of Marcus Garvey, the Black Star Line, the UNIA, and the organization’s newspaper—the Negro World—produced voluminous files. The multivolume Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers provide copies of many of the NARA documents generated by Postal Service, the Customs Bureau,

300

Federal Records for African American Business History

the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, the Department of State, Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Ordinance, the U.S. Shipping Board, the Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation, and the War Department General and Special Staffs. Files relating to the Espionage Act of World War II, 1943 to 1945, pertain to the denial of mailing privileges for black publications including the National Negro Council letter New Negro World, the Black Dispatch, and the Philadelphia Afro-American. WORLD WAR II AGENCIES Immediately after President Franklin Roosevelt’s declaration of a state of national emergency on September 2, 1939, the military services began planning wartime censorship of international communications. The Office of Censorship was established by an executive order of December 19, 1941, to censor all communications between the United States and any foreign country. The administrative subject files of the Office of Censorship, 1941 to 1945, include some information about black-owned newspapers. Subject headings include ‘‘Restrict Information/Racial Problems’’; ‘‘General Radio/ Racial Discrimination,’’ which contains information about a Paul Robeson broadcast on NBC radio in June 1943; ‘‘General Press/Racial Discrimination’’; ‘‘Troops and Troop Movement/Negro Troops’’; ‘‘Race Riots’’; and ‘‘General Press/Negro Press.’’ Collectively, these files only include a few dozen documents and consist mostly of correspondence cautioning black newspapers about revealing the movements of black troops and correspondence with the publishers and the Negro Newspaper Publishers Association concerning the relationship between the black press, the Office of Censorship, and National Negro Newspaper Week. ‘‘General Press/Racial Discrimination’’ includes reports about the black press for January and March of 1943 with information about the Pittsburgh Courier, Ira F. Lewis, editor; the Washington Afro-American, Carl Murphy, editor; the Chicago Defender, Louis C. Harper, editor; and the People’s Voice, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., editor. There are also two folders titled ‘‘Afro-American Censorship Review.’’ The Office of Government Reports (OGR) was created in 1939 to help coordinate the home front aspects of the defense and war effort and to provide a clearinghouse for government information. Among the weekly media reports, 1942 to 1943, there is information about editorial opinion in the black press and reports and special memorandums relating to topics such as ‘‘Is the Negro Press Pro-Axis?’’; ‘‘Statement of Negro War Aims’’ by the National Newspaper Publishers Association; ‘‘Recommendations Made by the OWI Advisory Committee on the Negro Press’’; ‘‘Northern Negro’s Most Aggressive Politician, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.’’; and several reports about A. Philip Randolph and the March on Washington Movement. In 1942 the OGR was consolidated with other agencies to form the Office of War Information.

301

Federal Records for African American Business History

OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION The Office of War Information (OWI) was established in the Office for Emergency Management by Executive Order 9182 of June 1942 to coordinate the government’s war information program. OWI formulated and carried out programs to disseminate information in the United States and abroad about the progress of the war and government policies, activities, and objectives. OWI was very interested in gaining the support of the African American press. The subject file of the Office of Facts and Figures, the Committee on War Information and the Censorship Policy Board, 1941 to 1942, includes several folders titled ‘‘Negro.’’ The primary area of concern in these records is the low morale of black civilians and soldiers. To address this problem, OWI organized a March 20, 1942, conference with a number of black leaders, including those in business, who could provide ‘‘counsel and advice’’ for ‘‘securing unity of thought and action in this war for democracy.’’ The folders include copies of letters to black leaders announcing that a black lawyer named Theodore M. Berry had recently become a staff officer in OWI’s Liaison Bureau. Subjects covered in these files include the black press; the appointment of a black war correspondent, William Alexander, a black journalist who worked in OWI’s Press Division; the ‘‘Negro Problem and Radio’’; and other matters. The general records of OWI’s News Bureau, 1942 to 1943, include correspondence of Theodore Poston, chief of the Negro Press Section, interspersed throughout the correspondence of the Bureau. For example, in the folder titled ‘‘National’’ there are several dozen letters between Poston and the National Negro Business League, the National Association of Negroes in American Industry, the National Negro Congress, the National Negro Insurance Association, the National Negro Publishers Association, and the National Urban League. Most of this correspondence was written in 1943. There is also a folder for Charles Alston, a black artist who drew cartoons for the OWI that were used in the black press. There are a number of vouchers for payments to Alston and a copy of the contract between Alston and OWI. The records of OWI’s Negro Press Section include the general correspondence of Theodore Poston, chief of the section, 1942, and a number of press releases. Poston corresponded with the black press on news features, photographs, cartoons, launching of naval ships named after blacks, and other subjects. Poston collected a number of pictures of blacks in industry and government that depict blacks in shipbuilding and other war industries. The Office of Price Administration (OPA) became an independent agency in 1942 and was charged with stabilizing wartime prices and rents. OPA had racial relations advisers including T. Arnold Hill and Frances Williams, who monitored and encouraged rationing and pricing. The office received complaints about disproportionately high prices in black neighborhood and inequitable administration of rationing. It investigated these complaints and also maintained contact with black organizations and businesses.

302

Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund

COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAMS Records of Agencies for Economic Opportunity and Legal Services (formerly Office of Economic Opportunity [OEO]) include the files of the Community Action Program (CAP). CAP was based on the principle that poor persons were themselves to be involved in the development and operation of the programs intended to help them. Community action agencies could devise solutions to local problems derived from or causing poverty. There are narrative progress reports, 1966 to 1967, that demonstrate the many different types of programs funded by OEO. There are programs such as day-care centers, legal services, credit unions, dental and health clinics, job training and placement, small business development, Head Start, adult education, and neighborhood multiservice centers. Black communities developed many of the programs. NARA audiovisual and cartographic records also document some aspects of African American business history. See also: Black Business Development and the Federal Government Sources Ham, Debra Newman. ‘‘Government Documents.’’ The Harvard Guide to African American History. Ed. Evelyn Brooks Higgenbotham. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001. Hill, Robert, ed. Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers. Vols. 1–9. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983–1995. Newman, Debra L., comp. Black History: A Guide to Civilian Records in the National Archives. Washington, DC: National Archives Trust Fund Board, General Services Administration, 1984. ———. Selected Documents Pertaining to Black Workers among the Records of the Department of Labor and Its Component Bureaus. 1902–69. Special List 40. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1977. ‘‘Special Issue on Federal Records for African American History.’’ Prologue, A Quarterly Publication of the National Archives and Records Administration 29 (Summer 1997): 2.

Debra Newman Ham

Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund Emergency Land Fund Federation of Southern Cooperatives The Federation of Southern Cooperatives, now known as the Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance (FSCLA) Fund, was founded in 1967 as a self-help organization for farm families or rural inhabitants. It has enhanced the African American community by assisting low-income groups and their communities in programs of land retention and development. Although the organization targets African Americans, it essentially aids other farm families in need. The three major themes of the federation are to

303

Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund

help people to enhance the quality of their lives and their communities as a whole by forming consumer cooperatives and credit unions as a collective strategy to create economic self-sufficiency; to aid black family farmers in the South by saving, protecting, and expanding their landholdings; and to benefit black and other family farmers and residents in low-income rural communities by developing, advocating, and supporting public policies that relate to their interests. Community organizations and leaders, who were molded or forged in the 1960s civil rights movement, developed the federation. They knew that alternative means to achieving progress would be required, just as they knew that changes in public policies would be needed to support and institutionalize changes. Thus, they continued to work at the local, state, and national arenas to bring about policy changes to aid black farmers and to enhance persistently poor rural communities in the South. While, from the start, the federation was committed to save and enhance the land resources of small family farmers in poor areas across the South, its vision was significantly broadened when in 1984 the federation merged with the Emergency Land Fund (ELF), the pioneer organization in black land retention, to become the Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund. A sister organization before the merger, the ELF’s goal was to work on the crisis seen then in black landownership. The merger led to a stronger organization and enabled the new organization to expand the land protection services offered to black farmers; it also encouraged them to work within cooperatives to achieve their goals. Some farmers who were not members of cooperatives later organized cooperatives of their own. Among the highly touted activities of the federation is the 1992 ‘‘Caravan to Washington’’ in support of black farmers. Always working at the cutting edges to support family farms and rural communities, the federation has joined other coalitions on projects of mutual interest. Beginning in the 1980s, the federation worked to outline the basics of a ‘‘minority farmer’s rights bill’’ that would aid the nation’s people of color. Then the federation sponsored the highly publicized Caravan of Black and Native American Farmers that went to the nation’s capital in September 1992. Members of the caravan held public protests at state capitols, the U.S. Capitol, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, calling attention to their struggle. By participating as plaintiffs in lawsuits, the federation helped to build a base for change. These efforts resulted in the passage of national farm legislation that incorporated portions of the federation’s demands. The major federal program that addresses the needs of black farmers is the program that serves those black colleges affected by the 1890 Land-Grant Act, or the 1890 Land Grant Colleges. Tribal colleges and community organizations benefit as well. There is also the Agriculture Credit Act of 1987 that targeted land sales to people of color farmers. The 1990 FACT Act, Section 2501, acknowledged the problems of minority farmers and authorized funds for an ‘‘Outreach, Education and Technical Assistance

304

Food Service Industry

Program for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers.’’ The 1996 FACT Act extended many programs provided for in the 1990 act. In 1997, the federation became involved in the secretary of agriculture’s series of Listening Sessions on Civil Rights. Held in Albany, Georgia, Memphis, Tennessee, and Belzoni, Mississippi, hundreds of farmers were able to attend the sessions and give accounts of neglect and discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). After that, the USDA prepared a report that included actions that the government needed to enforce to assure that the farmers’ civil rights were upheld. The federation’s membership consists of grassroots people who have been organized into cooperatives and credit unions. A number of organizations collaborate with the federation, such as the National Cooperative Business Association, FARM AID, Southern Rural Development Initiative, 1890 Land Grant Colleges and Universities, and the National Family Farm Coalition. The changes made in the lives of the farmers and in their communities have been quantitative as well as qualitative. The strong community-based movement that the federation stimulated is experienced in a time-tested struggle for property rights; black farmers have known the distaste of fighting exploitation; and they have become more knowledgeable in the tactics, tools, and techniques they need to make progress. Although the number of black farmers and landowners in the South has declined in recent years, over seventy cooperative member groups are active in the federation. They have a membership of over 20,000 families in cooperatives across ten southern states. Most of them are in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina. The families individually own small acreage but collectively own millions of acres of farmland. They collectively purchase supplies and market their crops through thirty-five agricultural cooperatives. The cooperatives provide technical assistance to the members and access to nineteen community develop credit unions. FSCLA is headquartered in East Point, Georgia. See also: Blacks in Agriculture Sources Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund. ‘‘History.’’ http://www .federationsoutherncoop.com/history.htm. ———. ‘‘Mission.’’ http://www.federationsoutherncoop.com/mission.htm. ———. ‘‘Overview.’’ http://www.federationsoutherncoop.com/overview.htm.

Frederick D. Smith

Food Service Industry Legal and social restrictions imposed on people of African descent in the United States have limited the economic opportunities available to African Americans. Racist social mores not only permitted African Americans to work in service fields but also created the expectation that African

305

Food Service Industry

Americans would work in service professions; thus, black businesses in food service have been somewhat more acceptable. Accomplishments in the food industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were centered in the catering industry and hotel restaurants. There were ventures in catering and food service in the late eighteenth century in Rhode Island with Emanuel Manna and Mary Baroons, in Philadelphia with Cyrus Bustill, and in New York with Samuel ‘‘Black Sam’’ Fraunces. While these ventures were somewhat profitable, the most notable early successes in the food service industry were in the nineteenth century. In the nineteenth century, African American businesses in catering were not only able to survive, but they also made their owners quite wealthy. In New York and in Rhode Island, the Downing family ran a well-respected catering business. Thomas Downing and later his son George Downing had a catering business and also a restaurant. In the nineteenth-century South, there were fewer business opportunities for African Americans than in the North, and black people who owned food establishments were prohibited from selling alcohol. Despite the social and legal barriers, there were a few hotel and restaurant businesses owned by African Americans that were successful; one of the most noteworthy of these southern businesses was a hotel and restaurant established in 1816 by Jehu Jones. Jones ran a successful operation until his death in 1833. While the accomplishments of Jones and the Downings are notable, the most significant economic achievements in the food service industry in the nineteenth century occurred in Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, African Americans had a dominant presence in the catering business. From the early 1800s to the 1870s, there were a number of prominent businessmen in food service; these prosperous men included Robert Bogle, Peter Augustine, Eugene Baptiste, Thomas Dorsey, Henry Minton, Henry Jones, and Peter and Albert Dutrieuille. Robert Bogle was one of the earliest of the Philadelphia caterers. His business was located on Eighth Street. In 1816, Peter Augustine founded his catering business on 3rd Street above Spruce Street where he served wealthy white families. In 1818, Eugene Baptiste established his catering business on South 15th Street. One of Augustine’s sons, Theodore, married Clara Baptiste, the daughter of Eugene Baptiste. Theodore worked as an apprentice and established Augustine and Baptiste Catering. The business served as a great model for businessman Peter Albert Dutrieuille. After marrying Amelia Baptiste, Dutrieuille worked in the Augustine and Baptiste firm. In 1873, he established his own catering business at 108 South Eighteenth Street. Dutrieuille also helped to found the Caterer’s Manufacturing and Supply Company. The company supplied caterers with table, chairs, linens, flatware, and china. Peter Dutrieuille’s son, Albert E. Dutrieuille, began helping his father run the business at an early age, and following his father’s death, he ran the company. In 1917, the company’s name was changed to Albert E. Dutrieuille Catering. Albert Dutrieuille continued to run the catering business until 1967 when he retired. He died in 1974.

306

Food Service Industry

During the nineteenth century, Thomas Dorsey, Henry Minton, and Henry Jones enjoyed great prosperity in Philadelphia. Dorsey was born enslaved in Maryland in 1810. Dorsey escaped and emerged in Philadelphia. By the 1860s, he had established his catering business at 1231 Locust Street. Minton and Jones were also known for catering to wealthy white families. Minton was born in Virginia and moved to Philadelphia in 1830. He established a catering business and dining room. Jones also moved from Virginia to Philadelphia and established a catering business that served families in Philadelphia, New Jersey, and New York. The independence and wealth enjoyed by African American caterers helped to encourage African Americans engaging in these businesses in the Northeast. By the 1870s, catering businesses owned by African Americans were in decline. At the turn of the twentieth century, most of these businesses in Philadelphia had lost their clientele. During a time in which food service profits were declining for African Americans, James Wormley was building a comfortable fortune with his hotel and restaurant. While there were many African Americans in the food service industry in Washington, D.C., the success of Wormley in the hotel and food service business is an exceptional case. Wormley (1819–1884) was born free to Mary and Peter Leigh Wormley in Virginia. In 1814, Peter moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked as a coachman and later opened a livery located on Pennsylvania Avenue. Wormley’s business was successful. Wormley married Anna Thomspon in 1841; Thompson ran a business next door to Wormley’s establishment. Before the Civil War, Wormley opened a catering business on I Street. Wormley’s establishment became renown in both the black and white communities in Washington. In the 1860s, Wormley expanded his business and opened a restaurant at 314 I Street, North. Wormley was invited to travel and to work in England and France. He opened Wormley’s Hotel in 1871 after returning home from Europe. The hotel was located on the corner of H and 15th Street. The hotel enjoyed the same popularity as his catering and restaurant businesses. When Wormley died in 1884, he passed on his successful businesses to his son James T. Wormley. At his death, Wormley’s establishments were worth over $100,000. The hotel, however, was eventually sold and torn down several years following his death. One of the country’s oldest continuously existing black businesses is C. H. James & Co., a food-processing company located in West Virginia that has survived more than 100 years and over four generations of African American ownership. It was founded by Charles Howell James (1862–1929). In 1883, James and his brothers were peddlers; they pooled their money and bought merchandise, including ginseng, medicinal herbs, barks, and novelty items. At first their clients were extremely poor farmers who had no money. They traded their goods to the farmers for the produce that the farmers had grown and then sold these items in Charleston for profit. Since they needed transportation, they bought a mule and wagon to move their goods about. After Charles James married Roxy Ann Clark in 1885, they had children,

307

Food Service Industry

only one of whom would reach adulthood and assist his father with the business. Thus, Edward Lawrence James partnered with his father, and they built a warehouse in Charleston called C. H. James & Son, Wholesale Produce. From Cincinnati, Richmond, and elsewhere, they imported fresh produce and distributed their goods in the fleet of ten trucks that they now owned. They also had a staff of thirty, and all sales agents were black. After Charles James retired from the business in 1926, his son carried on. The stock market crash of 1929 took its toll on the business; Edward James filed for bankruptcy in early 1929 but reestablished the business later on. The business processed poultry for a while but stopped when two suspicious fires destroyed their plant. Later he sold frozen foods and canned goods to hotels, restaurants, and others. James Produce was incorporated in 1961 and then handed down to son Charles Howell James II, the third member of the family to run the enterprise. Between 1961 and 1989, the company prospered and slowed, and by 1991 half of the company’s business came from national contracts. It continues to operate under the leadership of Charles Howell James III, the fourth generation of the James family who carries on the family’s legacy. ECONOMIC VENTURES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY During the twentieth century, opportunities for economic ventures by African Americans outside of food service improved. Increasingly, African Americans in the catering business could not compete with the European chefs and restaurants. However, in the later half of the twentieth century, there have been a number of African Americans whose accomplishments are outstanding. Two popular trends in food service emerged in the second half of the twentieth century. One of the trends is soul food. African American–owned restaurants and retail food products by African Americans have been based on traditional black southern cooking. The other trend in recent years is the ownership of fast-food franchises by African Americans. Many African American businesses experienced difficultly with the decline of segregation. However, there are examples of restaurants established by African Americans before and during the civil rights era that enjoyed remarkable success. Examples of restaurants that were successful are Dooky Chase’s of New Orleans, Louisiana; Paschal’s of Atlanta, Georgia; Swetts of Nashville, Tennessee; and Sylvia’s of Harlem, New York. In 1941, Emily and Edgar ‘‘Dooky’’ Chase Sr. opened Dooky Chase Restaurant in New Orleans. Emily Chase was chef. Following Emily Chase, for fifty years her daughter-in-law, Leah Chase, was executive chief and became known as the ‘‘Queen of Creole Cuisine.’’ The business grew from a small eatery to become a fine restaurant of national and international reputation. Leah Chase published her recipes in the The Dooky Chase Cookbook (1990) and in the more recent And Still I Cook (2003).

308

Food Service Industry

In 1946, brothers Robert and James Paschal opened a lunchroom on Hunter Street in Atlanta. They specialized in chicken sandwiches. In 1947, their success allowed them to expand their business into a restaurant. In 1951, they acquired land across from their Hunter Street restaurant and expanded their business. Eventually they constructed a hotel and in 1960 opened La Carousel, a night club. They also opened two restaurants at Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport. In 1996, the Paschals sold their restaurant and lounge to Clark Atlanta University. Robert Paschal died in 1997, and in 2000 James Paschal entered a business relationship with Herman Jerome Russell to begin a new restaurant. In 2002, the new Paschal’s opened at Castleberry Hill, within walking distance of the original building. The building includes a loft and banquet rooms and seats some 200 patrons in the restaurant. Walter and Susie Swett opened Swetts Restaurant in Nashville in 1954. The restaurant is located on the corner of 28th Avenue, North and Clifton Road. The restaurant offers traditional southern African American food. Like Swetts, Sylvia’s offers traditional southern cooking but in the North. Sylvia’s restaurant is located at 328 Lenox Avenue in New York. It was established in 1962 in Harlem by Herbert and Sylvia P. Woods. When the restaurant opened, it seated only 35 people; currently, the restaurant can accommodate 450 people. The owners advertised that their restaurant offered its customers traditional African American food. In the 1990s, under the direction of Van Woods, their son, the family began selling Sylvia’s Soulfood products in grocery stores nationwide. These products include sauces, spices, mixes, soups, and canned beans and vegetables. The family also opened a second restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1997. The restaurant is located at 241 Central Avenue. In additional to food products, Sylvia’s offers hair-care products and has published Sylvia’s Soul Food Cookbook in 1992 and, in 1999, Sylvia’s Family Soul Food Cookbook. Just as Sylvia’s profited from family and traditional African American recipes, other black-owned companies would rely on family and tradition in their businesses. Among the most highly recognized restaurateurs is Barbara ‘‘B’’ Smith, who has built her career round industries such as modeling, acting, writing, television shows, marketing housewares, and operating restaurants in New York City and Washington, D.C. Born on August 24, 1949, in Everson, Pennsylvania, she learned the art of cooking from her mother, a part-time maid, as well as from her aunts and grandmother. In the early 1980s Smith worked as a hostess and then manager for Ark’s America in New York and by 1986 owned a share of Ark Restaurants Corporation. Then she opened a restaurant of her own, in New York’s theater district. She provided an elegant but casual setting. After she bought her New York location, in 1994 she opened restaurants in Washington, D.C.’s Union Station and in 1988 one in Sag Harbor on Long Island. The restaurants cater to the needs of each locale, and she supplements food offerings with book readings, cultural

309

Food Service Industry

programs, and political gatherings. Her work is promoted in her books, B. Smith’s Entertaining and Cooking for Friends (1995) and B. Smith, Rituals and Celebrations (1999). Henry Green Parks Jr. is an example of an African American businessman who used traditional recipes to make his fortune in the sausage industry. Parks was born in 1916 in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1951, he founded Park’s Sausage Company in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1969, Parks Sausage became the first African American company to be traded publicly. The company’s memorable commercials involved a child’s demanding voice, ‘‘More Park’s sausages, Mom! Please!’’ However, during the late 1970s, Parks sold his interest in the company. Parks died in 1989 at the age of seventy-two. Recently, the company was returned to black ownership when it was purchased by former National Football League star Franco Harris. He bought the company in 1996; however, efforts to revitalize the company failed and by 1998 Harris had sold the firm. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wally ‘‘Famous Amos’’ Amos Jr. was known for his star quality cookies. Amos was born in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1936. When his parents divorced, he was sent to live with his Aunt Della in New York. While staying with his aunt, Amos was introduced to her chocolate chip cookie recipe. Amos was employed by William Morris Talent Agency and later independently worked to promote aspiring performers. When he decided to use his Aunt Della’s recipe and sell cookies, his celebrity connections proved advantageous. Not only did Amos receive financial support from his celebrity friends to start his company, but his cookies were associated with stars. This association, along with the quality of his product, made the cookies widely popular during the 1970s and 1980s. Amos was able to open stores in the Los Angeles area and sell his cookies in department stores. He was closely associated with the cookies, as he appeared on the box wearing a Panamanian hat and Hawaiian shirt. Amos’s success was met with problems of management of his company. In the 1980s, Amos decided to sell his company, retaining only a small percentage of the company’s stock. He left the company in 1989, and in 1992 he founded the Uncle Norman Noname Cookie Company. He offered five varieties of gourmet cookies. Another recent example of African American success in the food retail industry is Glory Foods. Again, this company markets its products by claiming to offer the taste of traditional African American home-cooked food. In 1989, Bill Williams, Iris McCord, and Daniel A. Charna founded Glory Foods. The company is located in Columbus, Ohio. It sells at least seventeen products including cornbread mixes, greens, peas, sweet potatoes, okra, and beans. Some of the items are canned and others are fresh; for example, there now are fresh turnip and collard greens in packages. The company attempts to use black farmers, black truckers, and black advertisers as often as possible. Glory products are distributed nationwide to supermarkets. The company was listed in Black Enterprise in the 1990s as one of the fastest-growing African American businesses.

310

Food Service Industry

Vivian Gibson was involved in various business ventures before establishing Mill-Creek Company, Inc. in 1994. The company specializes in hot sauce and seasonings. Similar to other African American companies, Gibson’s company uses family and tradition to market her product. On the labels of her products are stories of her family and home. Gibson’s products are sold in groceries stories in the Missouri and Illinois areas. Some of her products include Vib’s Caribbean Heat, Vib’s Bar-B-Q Sauce, and Vib’s Southern Heat. Like Dooky Chase’s, Swetts, and Silvia’s, Mildred Council’s restaurant in Chapel Hill is popular for its traditional African American food. Council’s cookbook Mama Dip’s Kitchen was published by the University of North Carolina in 1999. The book features recipes for meals offered in Council’s restaurant, Mama Dip’s Kitchen. The marketing of soul food and traditional ‘‘home-cooked’’ food is one popular trend in African American food service in the later half of the twentieth century; another popular trend is the purchase and management of preexisting fast-food establishments. One highly successful example of this type of African American–owned business is V&J Foods. This company was established by Valerie Daniels-Carter in 1982. The company includes thirty-six Burger King Restaurants. The restaurants are located in metropolitan Milwaukee and Detroit areas. V&J Foods also owns Pizza Hut franchises. The company is listed in Black Enterprise’s list of top 100 Industrial Service Companies in 2004. Also included in the Black Enterprise top 100 is Manna Inc. African American–owned Manna Inc. is located in Louisville, Kentucky, and owns and operates Wendy’s franchises. Success in twentieth-century food service by African Americans is exemplified by the work of prominent businessmen such as Reginald F. Lewis and his work as owner of TLC Beatrice during the 1980s. Another example of a business savvy leader in the food industry is Regynald G. Washington. Washington’s most recent position is with Walt Disney. He is the vice president and general manger of Disney Regional Entertainment in Burbank, California. Herman Jerome Russell is known for his work in construction, but he also has profited from the establishment of Concessions International Corporation. African American celebrities have purchased restaurants as well as allowed a restaurant to be named for them. There is, for example, Michael Jordan’s in Washington, D.C. In 1997, Gladys Knight teamed with gospel singer Ron Winans to open a soul food restaurant in Atlanta, known as Gladys & Ron’s Chicken and Waffles. The business is named after Knight’s favorite cuisine. Since then, the owners have opened sites in Liothonia, Georgia, and Largo, Maryland. It is said that the chicken and waffles combination started at Wells Restaurant in Harlem—the landmark jazz supper club and restaurant founded during the Harlem Renaissance. Wells was a late-night place where many celebrities came together in the late hours. It catered to those who were unable to decide whether they wanted breakfast, dinner, or both; hence, chicken and waffles were served together. Much

311

Food Service Industry

later, Motown singers also visited Wells Restaurant during late hours and ordered the famous combination. Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs owns Justin’s in New York City and Atlanta; the restaurants are named for his young son. Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson is owner of two TGI Fridays—one in Atlanta and the other in East Point, Georgia. The various examples of success by African Americans from the eighteenth century to the present attest to the resiliency and ambition of African Americans. These examples of African American success in the food industry are remarkable, considering the social and political barriers meant to deter their economic growth. Their achievements serve as examples for future entrepreneurs. See also: Grocery Store Enterprises; Retail Industry Sources ‘‘B.E.’s 100s Industrial Service Companies.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (June 2005): 113. Chase, Leah. The Dooky Chase Cookbook. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 1990. ‘‘Company History.’’ V&J Foods. http://www.vjfoods.com. Conrad, Sharron Wilkins. ‘‘Nineteenth-Century Philadelphia Caterer Thomas J. Dorsey.’’ American Visions (August 2000). http://www.findarticles.com. Council, Mildred. Mama Dip’s Kitchen. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. Du Bois, W.E.B. The Philadelphia Negro. 1899. Millwood, NY: Kraus-Thomson, 1973. Gladys Knight & Ron Winan’s. http://www/gladysandron.com. Harris, Wendy. Against All Odds: Ten Entrepreneurs Who Followed Their Hearts and Found Success. New York: John Wiley, 2001. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. ‘‘James Wormley.’’ Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928–1936. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ BioRC. Jones, Joyce. ‘‘Parks Sausage Is Sold: Michu Corp. Reportedly Pays $10 Million for Historic Company.’’ Black Enterprise 26 (November 1995): 21. Kranz, Rachel. African-American Business Leaders and Enterprises (A to Z of African Americans). New York: Facts on File, 2004. Martin, Harold H. Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1987. Mason, Herman ‘‘Skip,’’ ed. Going Against the Wind. Marietta, GA: Longstreet Press, 1992. ‘‘Reginald F. Lewis.’’ The Reginald L. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. http://www.africanamericanculture.org/museum. ‘‘Regynald Washington.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 44. Gale Group, 2004. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/serblet/BioRC. Smith, Eric L. ‘‘The Immaculate Reception of Park Sausage.’’ Black Enterprise 27 (September 1996): 58. Stone, Sherry. ‘‘African-American Entrepreneurship Continues to Thrive in Philadelphia.’’ Philadelphia Tribune, February 11, 1997. Sylvia’s—Queen of Soul Food. http://www.sylviassoulfood.com.

312

Barney Launcelot Ford Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998. —, ed. ‘‘Catering, Inns, Hotels.’’ Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. Watts, Christina, and Lloyd Gite. ‘‘Emerging Entrepreneurs.’’ Black Enterprise 26 (November 1995): 100.

Rebecca Dixon

Barney Launcelot Ford (1822?–1902), Conductor on the Underground Railroad, Real Estate Baron, Political Leader An escaped slave, Barney Launcelot Ford gained fortune and respect as a proprietor of barbershops, restaurants, and hotels. Through the Underground Railroad, he helped hundreds of slaves reach safety. Politically, he fought for the right for African Americans to vote and for laws that prohibited discrimination. Ford was born in Stafford County, Virginia, around 1822 and grew up on a plantation. Marian Talmadge and Iris Gilmore indicate that he lived a good life—for a slave—receiving adequate shelter, food, clothing—even shoes—and the privilege of enjoying childhood. His mother Phoebe longed for her son to become free and live to do good for other people. She knew that young Barney must learn to read and write, and she wanted him to learn every word in the dictionary she borrowed. But Barney could understand none of them. So in the evenings, she took him to a fellow slave who taught him to read words from a ‘‘spelling book.’’ Ford learned to read sentences from a hymnal his mother had found. He taught himself to write by copying one of William Lloyd Garrison’s editorials from the Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper, using sycamore bark as his slate. Phoebe had him record on a piece of bark his place and date of birth: near Stafford Court House, Virginia, January 22, 1822. Ford failed to understand why his mother insisted on his education, but he gradually became fascinated with words. He loved to quote Shakespeare, Scripture, and hymns. A quotation from Napoleon became his motto: ‘‘If it’s possible, it can be done; if it’s impossible, it must be done.’’ Aside from keeping his education secret, Phoebe imposed another restriction—that Ford not wander too close to the ‘‘Big House.’’ Still, he often climbed his favorite tree to watch the happenings there. He came to admire the ‘‘Young Master’’ and determined that, one day, he would gallantly welcome friends into his own home and hear people call him ‘‘Mister.’’ He would later learn that he and the young plantation owner shared the same father. After the ‘‘Old Master’s’’ death, the family moved to South Carolina, and Ford became a field hand. One day, the master’s widow summoned Ford, thinking to make him a house servant. Phoebe quickly realized that she had

313

Barney Launcelot Ford

noted Ford’s too-strong resemblance to her own son. Friends found Phoebe frozen in the river one night soon thereafter, having attempted to find a way for Ford to escape. The day after his mother’s funeral, Ford was sold. While serving as a house slave, he spent time each day reading in the library. When his owner discovered Ford’s interest, she allowed him to attend school with her sons for a few hours each day. Life brought other new experiences. Working his master’s gold claim, he vowed to make his own fortune one day. As a steward on a cotton boat, he learned to cook and honed his listening skills. In 1847, Ford escaped to freedom through the Underground Railroad. H. O. Wagoner allowed Ford to work at his Chicago livery stable and sleep in his hayloft while waiting for other slaves to arrive for the trip into Canada. Julia Lyoni, Wagoner’s sister-in-law, brought food. Ford loved her voice. She asked what name he would choose when he became free, so he asked for a suggestion. She mentioned a locomotive named the Launcelot Ford. He liked the sound of Barney Ford, adopted the name to please Julia, and began to sign his name as Barney L. Ford. He stayed in Chicago to help Wagoner with the Underground Railroad. The peddler’s wagon he repaired and painted bright yellow carried as many as five people at a time to freedom—beneath the clatter of pots and pans and collections of pins and needles. Julia mentioned an opening in the barbershop at the hotel where she worked. Ford paid $2 for lessons and earned his first paying job. Now, he could ask Julia to marry him. At the barbershop, he listened quietly as his educated customers talked politics. Then he listened intently as their talk turned to finding gold. Along with thousands of other people in 1849, Ford set his heart on going to California. Ford intended to make the journey alone and send for Julia after making his fortune, but she refused to let him go without her. They waited until 1851, when the price of tickets on Commodore Vanderbilt’s steamship Prometheus came down to a price they could afford. Vanderbilt had opened a quicker route to the West, through Nicaragua. Arriving in Greytown, they planned to go on to California. But the outgoing steamer held room only for first-class passengers. BECOMES WEALTHY ENTREPRENEUR Forced to stay longer than planned in a land noted for yellow fever and malaria, Ford developed a fever. Julia nursed him to health, but they both realized he no longer possessed the strength to mine for gold. They decided to open a lodge and restaurant in Greytown to take advantage of the travel trade. Their fine establishment, the United States Hotel, served excellent food. In a land where slavery did not exist, Ford finally found the respect he had been seeking. People called him ‘‘Mister.’’ The Fords grew wealthy but not rich enough to rebuild when fire destroyed their hotel. Ford signed on as a steward on the steamship La Virgin. For a while, he owned the California Hotel at Virgin Bay. Eventually he and Julia made

314

Barney Launcelot Ford

their way back to Chicago, where his friend Wagoner sold him the livery stable. Ford returned to helping people escape through the Underground Railroad. Traffic grew lighter as the Civil War loomed nearer. Ford took over much of Wagoner’s correspondence with antislavery leaders. When news of the 1859 Pikes Peak gold rush spread, Ford set out for Colorado. Julia stayed behind this time to await their first child. Ford reached Denver and decided to go on to Mountain City where prospects seemed brighter. He set about looking for gold and seemed on his way to making his fortune. But each time he tried to establish a claim, someone stole it. In his final attempt at Breckenridge, white men drove him and his friends from their claim. A rumor started that the blacks had buried their gold there on what eventually became known as ‘‘Barney Ford Hill.’’ When prospects had looked promising, Ford had sent for Wagoner. In 1861, they opened a barbershop and lunch counter in Denver. Julia and son Louis Napoleon came West. More fires destroyed buildings, but Ford persisted, and in 1863, he opened a grand establishment called People’s Restaurant. In 1865, the Fords welcomed daughter Sarah Elizabeth, called Sadie, into their home. Ford became engaged in politics, working toward the inclusion of the right for blacks to vote in Colorado’s bid for statehood, but the vote for statehood failed to pass. Angry and disappointed, Ford returned to Chicago. He sold the hotel and hired an attorney to manage his other real estate. But friends soon persuaded Ford to go to Washington, D.C. to lobby against Colorado’s statehood until blacks could vote. Successful in this attempt, he returned to Denver in 1866, opened a new restaurant, helped the black schools there, and stayed active in politics. In 1868, the Ford family welcomed daughter Frances, called Frankie. Ford served as delegate to the Republican convention and as an unsuccessful candidate for the Territorial Legislature. As Ford’s influence and wealth grew, he opened a restaurant in Cheyenne, Wyoming. In Denver, he built a mansion for Julia. Together, ‘‘Mister’’ Barney Ford and his wife graciously welcomed influential people into their home. Ford became trustee of a bank and a member of the Republican Party Central Committee. He served on a federal grand jury in Colorado, the first black to serve in this capacity. At the height of Ford’s ventures, he bought Denver’s Sargent Hotel and renamed it Ford’s Hotel. In 1872, he opened his grandest establishment, the Inter-Ocean Hotel. When the depression hit in 1873, he sold out, moved to Cheyenne, and opened another hotel and restaurant named Inter-Ocean. During the rest of his life, he continued to buy and sell real estate but never again lived in luxury. Still active in politics, in 1885, he saw Colorado pass a law against discrimination in public places. By the end of his life, Ford had returned to his first trade, owning two barbershops in Denver. He hired managers and could sit and visit with customers, who often stopped by to listen to him quote Shakespeare, the Bible, or the classics. Ford died of a stroke on December 14, 1902. His beloved Julia had preceded him in death three years earlier.

315

James Forten

Ford occasionally got sidetracked in pursuing his own goals of status and fortune. But he fulfilled his mother’s dream of using his freedom to do good for other people. His work affected individual lives and strengthened the rights of African Americans in his own time and into the future. Sources Forbes, Parkhill. Mister Barney Ford: A Portrait in Bistre. Denver, CO: Sage Books, 1963. Raymond, Maria Elena. ‘‘Ford, Barney Launcelot.’’ American National Biography. Vol. 8. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Schubert, Frank N. ‘‘Ford, Barney Launcelot.’’ Dictionary of American Negro Biography. Ed. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982. Talmadge, Marian, and Iris Gilmore. Barney Ford, Black Baron. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1973.

Marie Garrett

James Forten (1766–1842), Shipbuilder, Abolitionist James Forten was an eighteenth-century shipbuilder who was one of the most powerful voices for the abolition of slavery and the full citizenship of all African Americans. As a successful businessman in Philadelphia, Forten amassed a large fortune and was one of the most powerful voices for blacks in the North. He was an outspoken critic of the American Colonization Society that sought to resettle freed slaves in Liberia. Forten was convinced that there were no biological differences between whites and blacks and that a plan to deport people to another land was like casting them into the savage forests of Africa and a route to return to slavery. He believed that slaves should be freed and educated to take their place in American society. Forten’s views were innovative for the time and were later adopted by wellknown writers like William Lloyd Garrison and Theodore Dwight Weld. In 1834, Forten and other black reformers founded the American Moral Reform Society, dedicated to the well-being, education, and liberty for all Americans. Opposition to Forten’s views was strong as racial violence and death threats were accompanied by an erosion of civil rights for blacks in the North. In 1838, the Pennsylvania legislature changed its constitution to revoke the right for blacks to vote. Forten strongly opposed the legislation and financed the publication of the pamphlet Appeal of Forty Thousand Citizens by abolitionist and journalist Robert Purvis to distribute throughout the state. Although the pamphlet did not change the mind of the legislature, it spurred other abolitionists on to continue the fight for racial equality. Forten was born on September 2, 1766, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His ancestors were colonists of long standing. Forten’s great-grandfather came over to Pennsylvania as a slave. His grandfather obtained his freedom at a

316

James Forten

time when it was difficult for people of African descent. Forten’s father, Thomas, was a freeborn journeyman sailmaker in the sail-loft of Robert Bridges. Thomas Forten was anxious to pass on his skills to James so that he might become an apprentice. However, Thomas Forten died suddenly when James was only seven. His mother Margaret supported James and his sister Abigail throughout their childhood years. James was educated at the Quaker ‘‘abolitionist’’ school led by Anthony Benezet until the age of nine. Poverty forced Forten to work full-time for a Philadelphia grocer to help support his family. In 1781, Forten joined the colonial navy and was a ‘‘powder boy’’ on the privateer Royal Lewis under the command of Stephen Decatur. Forten was captured by the British Navy in the fall of 1781 and was imprisoned on the prison ship Jersey for seven months. Despite hardships and terrible conditions aboard the ship, Forten survived the ordeal and was released in a prisoner exchange in the spring of 1782. He returned to Philadelphia to be with his mother and sister. As a result of his wartime experience, Forten was skilled at maintaining and repairing sails. Forten signed up to work on the Commerce, a commercial ship bound for England. When he arrived in London, Forten found work in the shipyards and sail-lofts along the Thames River. Forten returned to Philadelphia twelve months later at age nineteen to become an apprentice to Robert Bridges. Bridges made Forten the foreman of the sail-loft in 1786. When Bridges retired in 1798, Forten took control of the business. BECOMES SUCCESSFUL SHIPBUILDER At age thirty-two, Forten was owner of one of the most successful saillofts in Philadelphia. Much of his success in business is attributed to the invention of a device to handle sails. He was well respected among many of the merchants in Philadelphia. As an employer, Forten was noted for having a diverse workforce of both blacks and whites. Although he worked hard to teach underprivileged blacks the skills of shipbuilding, he did not discriminate or treat his white employees unfairly. His reputation extended beyond the city in which he lived and worked. In his Diary, the New York dramatist and painter William Dunlap mentions Forten as a ‘‘rich sail maker, having many journeymen and apprentices under him.’’ Other accounts pointed to his good character and considerable property. By 1832, Forten had amassed a fortune of approximately $100,000. Forten was an outspoken leader of the black community in Philadelphia. In 1799, he joined some seventy other black freemen in Philadelphia and surrounding counties in petitioning the U.S. Congress to act in preventing the kidnapping of free blacks into slavery under the Fugitive Slave Law. Although the petition was unsuccessful, Forten was undaunted in his efforts to obtain freedom and equality for blacks. In 1816, the American Colonization Society (ACS) was formed to promote the resettlement of blacks to establish a colony in Liberia. Leaders

317

James Forten

came to Forten to seek his support and enlist his help in influencing the blacks living in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania to emigrate to the colony. Although Forten initially gave an unqualified endorsement to the idea of a voluntary movement, he became alarmed at rumors that the ACS was advocating that free blacks be forced to migrate to Africa. For the next twentyfive years, Forten helped lead the opposition to the ACS. In November 1819, Forten presided over a large meeting of Philadelphia blacks to condemn the ACS for its policies toward slavery and to encourage blacks to oppose the proposed colonization of Africa. Forten continued his verbal attacks on the ACS throughout the 1820s despite increased political and social support for the immigration to Liberia. In 1829, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a resolution endorsing the ACS and urged abolitionists to seek national support. During the early 1830s Forten became a close personal friend of William Lloyd Garrison, the editor of the Liberator, an abolitionist newspaper. Forten provided financial support for the paper and his collection of materials on the American Colonization Society to fuel Garrison’s attacks on African colonization. In 1832, Garrison published the pamphlet Thoughts on African Colonization, which denounced the ACS’s plans for gradual repatriation of blacks to Africa; it was widely read by abolitionists throughout the North and gained a great deal of publicity for Forten’s views. The following year, Garrison helped to form the American Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia and elected Forten as a vice president in the organization. During the last years of his life, Forten embarked on a larger agenda than just slavery. He pursued a full-scale moral reform of society, regardless of race or gender, committed to principles of education, temperance, economy, and universal liberty. In 1835, he was elected president of the newly formed American Moral Reform Society. However, the organization was shortlived due to the philosophical issues of race and socioeconomic status. Forten also faced challenges of a more personal nature as hostility grew against blacks in the late 1830s. Forten’s wealth and social status singled him out as the recipient of death threats and physical attacks on his family members. Mobs destroyed some of Forten’s real estate in Philadelphia and forced him to seek the help of the local law enforcement for protection of his own home. Forten’s greatest disappointment came in 1838 when the Pennsylvania legislature voted to revise its constitution to revoke the right of blacks to vote. Forten helped finance the printing of the pamphlet The Appeal of Forty Thousand, a statement of protest from the 40,000 black ‘‘freemen’’ living in Pennsylvania at the time. Unfortunately, the statement fell on deaf ears, as whites ratified the constitution by a large majority. Despite his ailing health, Forten continued to fight for the rights of blacks and against slavery. He attended rallies and conventions in support of the antislavery movement. He wrote newspaper editorials and was the elder statesman for blacks who were successful businessmen in the United States. When he died in Philadelphia on March 4, 1842, Forten’s funeral was one of

318

Ann M. Fudge

the largest seen in Philadelphia and was attended by many citizens of all races. Eulogies and tributes proclaimed his achievements in business and his dedication to the causes of morality and freedom. Forten’s legacy continued to live on for several years after his death. He was esteemed as a man who had gained the respect of many in Philadelphia through his hard work in the shipbuilding industry and as a philanthropist to many virtuous causes. His visionary outlook on the status and equality of blacks was adopted by several abolitionists and influential writers like William Lloyd Garrison and Thomas Dwight Weld. However, as years passed, Forten’s accomplishments were forgotten in light of more wellknown activists like Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. Sources Billington, Ray Allen. ‘‘James Forten: Forgotten Abolitionist.’’ Negro History Bulletin 13 (November 1949): 31–36, 45. Douty, Esther M. Forten the Sailmaker: Pioneer Champion of Negro Rights. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1968. Dunlap, William. Diary of William Dunlap. New York: B. Bloom, 1969. ‘‘Forten, James.’’ American National Biography. Vol. 8. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. ———. ‘‘ ‘A Person of Good Character and Considerable Property’: James Forten and the Issue of Race in Philadelphia’s Antebellum Business Community.’’ Business History Review 75 (2001): 261–296. ———. ‘‘ ‘You Know I Am a Man of Business’: James Forten and the Factor of Race in Philadelphia’s Antebellum Business Community.’’ Business and Economic History 26 (1997): 213–228. Winch, Julie. A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James Forten. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Mark L. McCallon

Ann M. Fudge (1951– ), Corporate Executive For more than two decades, Ann Marie Fudge has been one of the most powerful female corporate executives in America. Fudge began her impressive career at General Electric in Bridgeport, Connecticut, as a personnel executive in 1973. Four years later, she accepted a position as marketing assistant at General Mills in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she was promoted three times: assistant product manager in 1978, product manager in 1980, and marketing director in 1983. With Fudge’s third appointment, she became the first female as well as the first African American woman to hold that position at General Mills. During her tenure there, Fudge helped develop and introduce the popular brand Honey Nut Cheerios. Although she was on track to become a general manager at General Mills, in 1986 Fudge left the company, moved to White Plains, New York, and became the director of strategic planning at General Foods.

319

Ann M. Fudge

The move to the East Coast was prompted by a variety of reasons including Fudge’s desire to be near her mother who was ill. Three years later, Fudge was promoted to vice president for marketing and development in General Foods’ Dinners and Enhancers division, and in 1991, she became the general manager of the division that produced such products as KoolAid, Stove Top Stuffing Mix, Minute Rice, and Shake N’ Bake. While the rest of General Foods realized a 1 percent sales and earnings increase in 1991, Fudge led her division to a double-digit revenue increase. In 1993, Fudge was promoted to executive vice president at General Foods. When the company merged with Kraft Foods in 1994, Fudge was named president of Maxwell Coffee, where she introduced a line of flavored coffees including Irish Cream and French Vanilla and, as a result, doubled the division’s earnings. In 1997, she was promoted to president of the Coffee and Cereals division. During the next two years, she spent time with her family, traveled to such places as Thailand, Bali, and Morocco, and in conjunction with Harvard Business School, developed a tutoring program for African American children. Fudge ended her sabbatical in 2003 when she accepted an offer from WPP Group, the London-based communications company. Fudge, who had built a highly successful career in marketing, took on a new challenge—advertising. WPP appointed Fudge chairwoman and chief executive of its multinational advertising division, Young & Rubicam Brands, located on New York’s Madison Avenue, as well as the chairwoman and chief executive of Young & Rubicam’s largest division, Y&R Advertising. Y&R companies include Burson-Marsteller (public relations/public affairs), Landor Associates (brand consulting and creative design), Sudler and Hennessey (health-care communications), and Wunderman (direct marketing and database marketing). Thus Fudge became one of a few women to reach the upper echelons of advertising, the first African American woman to head a large division of a global advertising agency, and one of a few African American female chief executives in the United States. Although Fudge stepped down as head of Y&R in 2005, she remains the chairwoman and chief executive of Young & Rubicam. Fudge was born on April 23, 1951, in Washington, D.C., to Malcolm R. Brown, a U.S. Postal Service administrator; and Betty (ne´e Lewis) Brown, a National Security Agency manager. While growing up in the northwest section of the nation’s capital, Fudge attended Roman Catholic schools. She acknowledged the influence of her eighth-grade teacher, Sister Marcellina, who, despite Fudge’s objections, informed her that a test score of 100 was only average, and she had to do extra work. Fudge realized she had been taught a valuable lesson—‘‘to go the extra mile.’’ Sister Marcellina also encouraged Fudge to go to a high school that would test her academic abilities more than the high school she planned to attend with her friends. As a result, Fudge enrolled in the Immaculata Preparatory School, an allgirls school. As early as her teen years, Fudge’s opinions began influencing individuals in the work world; she was a Teen Board member at Hecht’s

320

Ann M. Fudge

department store and advised teenaged customers on current fashions and visited the New York offices of fashion magazines. Fudge, who worked at department stores during her summer breaks from school, thought that she would one day become a buyer. However, after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, and people began rioting in Washington and other urban areas across America, Fudge became determined to succeed in areas where African Americans were previously denied opportunities. After Fudge graduated from Immaculata Prep in 1969, she enrolled in Simmons College, in Boston, Massachusetts. Matriculating at Simmons was a reversal of plans for Fudge, who anticipated attending a coed college until she met a Simmons student and considered the benefits of attending a women’s school. Three weeks after Fudge arrived at Simmons, she attended homecoming at Bowdoin College, a men’s school in Maine, and met Richard E. Fudge. They began dating. At Simmons, she met Margaret Hennig, who, along with Anne Jardim, founded the Simmons Graduate School of Business in 1974, which was the first M.B.A. program designed specifically for women, and wrote The Managerial Woman (1977), which was the first book on women in business. Fudge credits Hennig with encouraging her to pursue a career in business. During her sophomore year, she married Richard Fudge, who is a consultant for businesses and nonprofit groups. The couple’s first child, Richard Jr., was born during Fudge’s undergraduate years, and their second child, Kevin, was born in 1973, the same year Fudge graduated with honors from Simmons. Two years later, she heeded Hennig’s advice and enrolled in Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business and earned an M.B.A. in 1977. Fudge is a member of the board of directors of Allied Signal, Catalyst, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, General Electric, Liz Claiborne, Inc., and Marriott International. She is also a board member of the Advertising Council and the Advertising Educational Foundation. Fudge is a trustee of the Brookings Institute and a former vice president and president of the Executive Leadership Council, a nonprofit group of African American corporate managers and directors. She is a member of the Committee of 200, a professional group of women corporate leaders and entrepreneurs; and a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. Since 1997, Fudge has served on the board of governors of the Boys and Girls Club of America, and in 2000, that organization presented her with its President’s Award. While at Harvard, Fudge was the recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan COGME (Council for Opportunity in Graduate Management in Education) fellowship (1975–1976). His additional awards and honors include Young Women’s Christian Association’s Leadership Award, 1979; inclusion in Black Enterprise’s ‘‘21 Women of Power and Influence,’’ 1991; National Coalition of 100 Black Women’s Candace Award, 1991 and 1992; Glamour magazine’s Woman of the Year Award, 1995; Advertising Women of New York’s Advertising Woman of the Year, 1995; Harvard Business School’s Alumni Achievement Award, 1998; and an honorary doctorate from Howard University, 1998. Other honors include Fortune magazine’s ‘‘Fifty

321

Samuel B. Fuller

Most Powerful Women in Business,’’ 1998, 1999, and 2003; Executive Leadership Council’s Achievement Award, 2000; Sara Lee Front-Runner Award, 2000; New York Women in Communications’ Matrix Award for Advertising, 2004; Time magazine’s ‘‘Twenty-five Global Business Influentials,’’ 2004; and the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management Executive of the Year Award, 2005. Although Fudge is successful and well known in the business world, she refuses to define success in terms of wealth or fame; instead, she views success as life’s potential fully realized. Fudge has pioneered new paths in the corporate world for women and African Americans as she continues to implement her definition of a true leader as one who is focused on the personal as well as professional growth of others. See also: Advertising and Marketing; Women and Business Sources ‘‘Ann Fudge.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 11. 1996. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://gale net.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. ‘‘Ann M. Fudge.’’ Take a Lesson: Today’s Black Achievers on How They Made It and What They Learned Along the Way. By Caroline V. Clarke. New York: Wiley, 2001. Dobrzynski, Judith H. ‘‘Way Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Billion-Dollar Command Now, a C.E.O.’s Post Next?’’ New York Times, May 11, 1995. Elliott, Stuart. ‘‘The Media Business: Advertising: Marketer to Lead Division of Big Agency.’’ New York Times, May 13, 2003. Fudge, Ann M., and Julia Lawlor. ‘‘The Boss: Nuns, Bicycles and Berries.’’ New York Times, January 12, 2000. Naden, Corrinne. ‘‘Ann M. Fudge.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book III. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 2003.

Linda M. Carter

Samuel B. Fuller. See S. B. Fuller

S. B. Fuller (1905–1988), Beauty Supply Company Founder From humble Louisiana beginnings to the ownership of a national industrial and sales empire that made him one of the wealthiest African Americans of the 1950s, the life of S. B. Fuller is an example of the achievements made possible by confidence, discipline, and determination, as well as the tenuousness of these achievements when they are drawn into the politics of race. Samuel B. Fuller, the first of seven children, was born in rural Ouatchie, Louisiana, on June 4, 1905, to William and Ethel Johnson Fuller. In 1920,

322

S. B. Fuller

the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, seeking better educational opportunities for the children. Fuller’s mother died soon after this move, and in 1922 his father moved to Chicago, leaving S. B. responsible for his siblings. In 1923 Fuller married Lorena Whitfield, also a recent migrant to Memphis. Seeking better opportunities in employment and education, in 1928 Fuller moved to Chicago, found work in a coal yard, and soon sent for his family, by then three of his own children and his siblings, to join him. Through the economic challenges of the Great Depression, Fuller, who had only six years of sporadic schooling, began to teach himself through reading books such as The Art of Selling. In the early 1930s he became an insurance salesman for Commonwealth Burial Association in Chicago and was soon supervising the sales staff. Through daily morning lectures to his staff he honed a philosophy of black self-help and economic development. In 1935, acting on his own philosophy, Fuller established his own business. Using $25 to purchase soap from a company going out of business, Fuller’s Quality Soap began business in a rented room. The following year the Fuller Products Company was incorporated, and during the next few years the business grew to include cosmetics, beauty and household items, as well as hosiery, dresses, and men’s clothing. Many of these products were sold door to door by Fuller salespeople. Company-owned Fuller Products branches were eventually established in over thirty states, while individuals were also able to establish Fuller distributorships, which were individually owned but supplied by the Fuller Products Company. The headquarters of Fuller Products Company remained in Chicago but moved to successively larger spaces as the company grew. In 1951, the company purchased a seven-story building at 2700 South Wabash Avenue that became the Fuller Building. Fuller had also purchased the building’s occupant, Boyer International Laboratories, which produced hair dressings and Jeanne Nadal Cosmetics with a market that was primarily white and southern. To address concerns that the white agents would leave once they discovered the new owner was African American, Fuller brought the agents to Chicago for a meeting at which he presented his plans for the company and the role they could play in achieving the goals. He indicated that very few agents left the company. In October 1951, when the fifteenth anniversary meeting was held in Chicago, there were 3,000 people working with Fuller Products Company. In 1955, the company began to hold annual company conventions, at which the top salespeople were recognized with prizes such as a Cadillac for the top salesperson. During this period Fuller purchased the New York Age and also gained a controlling interest in the Pittsburgh Courier, both newspapers with an African American readership. In a September 1956 ‘‘Businessmen in the News’’ profile, Fortune noted that Fuller Products Company’s gross sales were $18 million. As Fuller Products Company grew, the demand for Fuller as a speaker at churches, community organizations, and white and African American business organizations grew. The speaking style that he had first used with

323

S. B. Fuller

Commonwealth Burial Association salespeople had been refined. The selfhelp ethos remained but was supported by the visible results of the Fuller Products Company. By 1963 Fuller controlled nine corporations, including farming and cattle interests, a department store in Chicago, and the Courier chain of newspapers. In the early 1960s as the civil rights movement gained momentum, Fuller continued to speak out regarding the failings of the African American community. In December 1963 in a speech delivered at the National Association of Manufacturers’ Congress of American Industry he provided a characteristically blunt critique of the obstacles to African American achievement. Fuller suggested that civil rights legislation was not the answer to removing the obstacles to African American achievement and that race was not the primary problem. He suggested that African Americans needed to own their own businesses and to become producers of goods that were in demand in order to be taken seriously by capitalist America. Fuller’s message to the manufacturers was not particularly new for him, but the level of coverage of his remarks was. Coverage by the black press was primarily critical. Civil rights leaders such as Jackie Robinson and National Urban League leader Whitney Young when asked to respond did so with anger, characterizing Fuller as a race traitor or ‘‘Uncle Tom’’ who had contributed little to the African American community but had benefited greatly from its patronage. In these early responses, the suggestion of an economic boycott of Fuller Products was vaguely offered as a possible avenue to express displeasure with Fuller’s remarks. Fuller attempted to respond to criticism through a lieutenant, Beverly Carter, who was editor of the New York Courier, a Fuller-owned newspaper. Carter noted that the statements to which the leaders were responding had been excerpts of a speech that had included Fuller’s suggestion that African Americans take aggressive steps through saving and investment to own the businesses in the communities in which they lived, a statement seemingly in line with the ‘‘buy black’’ ethos of the time. Carter noted that white publications that carried the initial coverage of Fuller’s remarks (picked up by the black press) had omitted this fact that he considered critical to understanding Fuller’s philosophy. In response to criticism of Fuller’s contribution to the African American community, Carter noted the many men and women who had benefited from Fuller’s mentorship in establishing successful businesses (for example, hair products manufacturer George Johnson). Carter’s efforts did not resonate as widely as his critics’ suggestions of a black boycott. Fuller Products sales declined. Fuller’s visibility was also believed to have led to a boycott led by White Citizen’s councils upon discovery that Fuller was African American. The controversy came soon after Fuller had embarked on a major expansion, and he spent the next years struggling to salvage his company. In 1968, Fuller Products filed for Chapter XI bankruptcy protection, which provides for relief from creditors while the debtor develops a reorganization plan. In 1970 the reorganization plan was accepted. Attempts to salvage his business led to legal problems for Fuller. On May 22, 1972, he pled guilty to one count of a six-count indictment for selling

324

S. B. Fuller

unregistered high-interest-paying promissory notes. He was placed on probation for five years and required to pay the buyers back during this period. He had faced a maximum sentence of thirty years in prison and $30,000 in fines if convicted on all six counts of the indictment. Fuller had received funds in exchange for promissory notes from several individuals. Buyers of the notes ranged from an individual providing $100 to a Chicago church that invested $100,000. In her biography S. B. Fuller: Pioneer of Black Economic Development, his daughter Mary Fuller Casey indicates that while Fuller was surprised at the negative response precipitated by his remarks, he was not bitter, attributing the responses to a lack of understanding on the part of the boycotters. In 1975 publisher John H. Johnson, hair-care products producer George Johnson, and a group of business colleagues, many of whom had been mentored by Fuller, hosted a gala dinner as a tribute to Fuller on his seventieth birthday. At the dinner, attended by 2,000 guests, Fuller was presented with a $70,000 check and $50,000 worth of stock certificates to use in rebuilding his business, his primary goal as he emphasized to those in attendance. Fuller died of kidney failure on October 24, 1988. He was survived by his second wife Lestine (he and Lorena Fuller divorced in 1945); daughters Ethel, Mary Casey, Jessie Spraggins, Luella Moore, and Geraldine Green; thirteen grandchildren; eighteen great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Helen Jones and Lottie Smith. Fuller Products Company continues operations in Chicago. Fuller overcame limited schooling by educating himself and used his knowledge to identify and develop cosmetics and other products and to build a network for selling these products through a corps of salespeople. Fuller was instrumental in launching the business careers of many men and women. The setbacks experienced by Fuller Products Company in the 1960s are a testament to the challenging environment for even relatively large African American businesses of the period. Sources ‘‘Aiming for $100-Million Sales.’’ Fortune 56 (September 1957): 76. Casey, Mary Fuller. S. B. Fuller: Pioneer of Black Economic Development. Jamestown, NC: BridgeMaster Press, 2003. ‘‘Cosmetics Tycoon Fuller Put on Probation Five Years for Sale of Unregistered Notes.’’ Wall Street Journal, May 22, 1972. ‘‘Fuller Answers Jackie Robinson.’’ New York Amsterdam News, December 21, 1963. Hailey, Foster. ‘‘N.A.M. Hears Defense by Webb of Space Plans’ Cost and Aims.’’ New York Times, December 7, 1963. ‘‘It’s Not Racial Barriers That Keep Blacks from Prospering: American Blacks Must Pool Capital in Order to Help Themselves.’’ Issues & Views 7 (Summer 1991): 8. ‘‘N.A.M. Denounced by Rights Leader.’’ New York Times, December 16, 1963. Narvaez, Alfonso A. ‘‘S. B. Fuller, Door-to-Door Entrepreneur, Dies at 83.’’ New York Times, October 28, 1988. ‘‘A Negro Businessman Speaks His Mind.’’ U.S. News & World Report, August 19, 1963.

325

I. Owen Funderburg ‘‘Negro Newspaper Endorses Johnson.’’ New York Times, October 6, 1964. Robinson, Jackie. ‘‘Leaders Rip S. B. Fuller’s Race Criticism.’’ New York Amsterdam News, December 14, 1963. ‘‘A Tribute to a Black Business.’’ Ebony 30 (September 1975): 58–61. ‘‘S. B. Fuller Dies.’’ New York Amsterdam News, November 5, 1988. ‘‘S. B. Fuller: Master of Enterprise.’’ Issues & Views (Winter 1989). Wycliff, Don. ‘‘Civil Rights and Sacred Cows: Some Open Minds Win Vindication.’’ New York Times, November 7, 1988.

Kevin McGruder

I. Owen Funderburg (1924–2002), Banker One of the nation’s must astute bankers, I. (Ilon) Owen Funderburg spent his entire professional life in the banking industry. He strengthened the historic Citizens Trust Bank in Atlanta, moving it from near failure to become the nation’s third-largest black bank. His success was an important achievement both for Atlanta and for the nation, where black economic achievement historically had been a central issue in black life. Funderburg was born in Monticello, Georgia, in 1924. He graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1947 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He enrolled in the University of Michigan for the year 1947–1948. In 1959 he completed a program in banking at Rutgers University Graduate School of Banking, becoming the first African American to complete the program. By then, Funderburg had already worked in the banking field, having worked as a teller in the black-owned Mechanics and Farmers’ Bank in Durham, North Carolina, in 1948, just after he left the University of Michigan. Sometime later he left for the Gateway National Bank in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was executive vice president and chief executive officer (CEO) from 1966 to 1974. Sometime during this period he became the bank’s president. In 1971, Funderburg resisted the offer to move to Atlanta and head the historic Citizens Trust Bank but had a different view in 1974. He surprised the board of Citizens Trust in 1974 and, when the offer came, accepted the position of president and chief executive officer. He took charge of the organization on January 9, 1975. Citizens Trust Company had been a prominent institution in Atlanta since August 16, 1921, when it opened its doors on ‘‘Sweet’’ Auburn Avenue—the center for African American businesses in the city. Heman Edward Perry, the founder of Standard Life Insurance Company and the multifaceted enterprise called the Service Company, was its founder. The bank reorganized on September 8, 1927, with new Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws. L. D. Milton and Clayton R. Young headed the institution. Citizens was the first black-owned bank to become a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and in 1947 was the first blackowned bank to become a member of the Federal Reserve Bank. Milton and

326

I. Owen Funderburg

his management team helped sections of Atlanta to become one of the most affluent areas for blacks to live: The bank developed the Hunter Road project and the Mozel Park subdivision and financed the Morris Brown subdivision and the Hightower community. Under Funderburg’s leadership, which began during tough times for banking, the bank grew impressively. He began by issuing to Atlanta area banks and other financial institutions a series of preferred stock and capital notes totaling $3 million. Beginning 1976 Funderburg and board chairman Herman Jerome Russell, a prominent local black businessman, aggressively pursued deposits and new business for the bank. In 1982, with board authorization, Funderburg sold the bank’s headquarters facility and then leased space in the facility. Although assets continued to grow, by 1984, with $65 million in size, the bank needed additional capital. Through its holding company, Citizens Bancshares Corporation, it was in a strategic position to raise the capital needed. It was also paying strong dividends; consequently, the bank issued an additional $1.5 million in new stock. Recognizing Funderburg’s effective management style, strong leadership, and the advances that the bank made during his administration, in 1985 Black Enterprise magazine named Citizens Trust ‘‘Bank of the Year.’’ Its reach continued, and by 1985 Citizens Trust added in rapid succession three new branches in local supermarkets. The branches were placed at Old National Highway, Wesley Chapel Road, and Citi-Center on Cleveland Avenue. Such close contact with the public enabled potential customers to learn firsthand what neighborhood banking was all about. Before the year ended, the bank exceeded the $100 million mark—an impressive achievement when compared to early struggles and bank failures in 1974. Atlanta’s black ministers and other black leaders initiated a campaign in 1988 to shift money to the city’s black financial institutions. The threemonth ‘‘Minority Economic Independent Campaign’’ was not promoted as a boycott. Instead, organizers said in ‘‘The Color of Money’’ that ‘‘their withdrawals . . . from white institutions will become deposits . . . in black ones.’’ Until this time, local white-owned banks and savings and loans institutions rarely made home loans in black or integrated neighborhoods. As well, their banking services were not immediately accessible to blacks. Two black banks who helped to plan the campaign promoted it under the name of the Community Task Force for Economic Justice. Officials from Citizens Trust Bank and Mutual Federal Savings and Loan supported the campaign, and their officials attended the planning meetings. These two institutions noted that they were not exploiting the situation. ‘‘Exploitation carries a negative connotation,’’ said Funderburg in ‘‘The Color of Money.’’ ‘‘What we’re trying to do is to promote Citizens Trust Bank and to take advantage of the fact . . . that we have been an active player in the community for all of our existence.’’ Citizens also had launched a new advertising campaign. Citing an unidentified newspaper, ‘‘The Color of Money’’ quoted Funderburg, who said, ‘‘We’ve been giving credit where credit’s due. For 67 years. We’ve had the courage to serve in areas where no one else

327

I. Owen Funderburg

would.’’ In addition, Citizens distributed photocopies of ‘‘The Color of Money’’ and posted a new sign at the bank promoting its new service called ‘‘a discrimination hotline.’’ Between April and May, new accounts at Citizens increased 58 percent, while new deposits increased 134 percent. The overall success of the campaign is unclear; however, Citizens did see some growth in its business. The bank continued its push to support quality commercial projects, to improve communications within the community, and to entice new entrepreneurs into the community to help revitalize the area. So rapid was its expansion, however, that the bank’s net revenue dropped significantly; nevertheless, with over $100,000 in assets in 1990 the bank challenged New York City’s Freedom National Bank and Chicago’s Seaway National Bank as the largest African American–owned bank in the United States. By 1991 Citizens underwent a changing of the guard. Under Funderburg’s leadership, the bank had opened in-store branches, installed automatic teller machines, and moved the business into a new era by installing technology. Operations doubled from some $60 million to over $100 million. Funderburg, after a legendary seventeen-year tenure as president, could retire with the comfort of knowing that he had been an effective leader in one of Atlanta’s black financial giants, Citizens Trust Bank. Funderburg’s involvement in professional organizations included the first elected chairman of the National Bankers Association (1971 and 1981), formerly known as the National Negro Bankers Association. The organization changed its name in 1948 to include all minority-banking groups. He was also director of the Georgia World Congress Center and was inducted into the Atlanta Business Hall of Fame. Funderburg was married to Clara Comeaux and the father of Ilon Owen, Douglas, and Ilon Edward. He was also stepfather to three other children. When not at work, he spent time on his twenty-three-acre farm near Atlanta. There he bred quarter horses and cooked for his Morehouse College schoolmates. In January 2002, he died of cancer. Citizens Trust Bank continues to operate in Atlanta and has acquired other financial institutions while continuing to increase its assets. Its history between 1971 and 1991 was significantly shaped by I. Owen Funderburg who, among other achievements, moved the bank and its operations into the era of technology. He has been called the ‘‘dean of minority banking in the country.’’ See also: Black Banks: Their Beginning Sources Brenan, Carol. ‘‘I. Owen Funderburg.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 38. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2003. Citizens Trust Bank. http://www.ctbatlantahb.com/site/about_history.html. Dedman, Bill. ‘‘The Color of Money.’’ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 26, 1988. http://powerreporting.com/color/28.html. Hughes, Alan. ‘‘Former Citizens Trust Bank CEO Dies at 77.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (May 2002): 24.

Frederick D. Smith

328

G Edward G. Gardner (1925– ), Beauty Industry Official, Community Leader Edward Gardner is the cofounder of Soft Sheen Products, a black hair-care company that transformed the industry and established itself as a national and international success. Gardner has proven himself to be as passionate about rejuvenating the African American community in Chicago as he was about revolutionizing black hair care. Understanding the indelible link between politics and economics, Gardner spearheaded the effort to get Harold Washington elected as the first African American mayor of Chicago. Gardner has also organized a number of other initiatives designed to develop and support the African American community. Such projects include the renovation of the historic Regal Theater and programs that combat crime and increase educational opportunities. Gardner was born on February 15, 1925, in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Fenger High School in 1943 and was drafted into the U.S. Army. Gardner served in New Guinea, the Philippines, and Japan, reaching the rank of staff sergeant. Upon his return, Gardner pursued his education under the opportunities afforded by the G.I. Bill. He received his B.A. degree from Chicago Teachers College and subsequently landed a job as an elementary school teacher in the Chicago school system. Gardner went on to obtain his master’s degree from the University of Chicago, which was a rare accomplishment, given the restrictive admissions practices employed toward blacks at the time. Gardner later became assistant principal of Carver Elementary School, then of Beethoven Elementary School in Robert Taylor Homes, one of Chicago’s roughest housing projects. Despite a successful career as an educator that spanned twenty years, life as a civil servant was not enough to satisfy the ambitious Gardner. Consequently, he turned his hand to sales and during his evenings and weekends went door to door selling hair-care products to local black beauty parlors.

Edward G. Gardner

Gardner became tired of selling other people’s merchandise and, much to the consternation of his friends, decided to quit his job and begin manufacturing his own products. Gardner began concocting hair treatments in his basement. The experiments were not always a success, and there were quite literally a few hairraising moments for Gardner’s daughter Terri and the family dog, who were the unfortunate guinea pigs in the early years. With his wife Bettiann, the cofounder, serving as accountant, and his four children contributing to the family enterprise in various guises, Gardner plied their trade using his connections and relationships with the local salons to build up a consistent clientele. Maintaining intimate ties with salon owners was a strategy that the Gardners would remain true to throughout their business tenure. During the 1960s, E. G. Gardner Beauty Products, which changed its name to Soft Sheen in 1962, was one of many small, black-owned hair-care businesses operating out of Chicago. There was a huge void in the market for black hair products that white companies simply were not filling. Soft Sheen’s sales continued to grow steadily, and by 1979 the company had approximately 100 employees and sales worth about $500,000 a year. A series of events in 1976 conspired to present Gardner—and Soft Sheen—with his big break. Changes in product packaging regulations, administered by the Federal Trade Commission, had a huge impact on the industry. Gardner and his son Gary were quick to respond and turned misfortune into opportunity. Soft Sheen released a line of products that avoided the labeling restrictions and increased its prominence in the market. The real breakthrough, however, came with the rise in popularity of the Jheri curl, endorsed by celebrities such as Michael Jackson. The process of arriving at this new softer look was extremely arduous for hairstylists and customers, and Gardner realized there was money to be made if only the right product could be manufactured. The Gardners created a product that allowed the Jheri curl styling process to be completed in two hours, instead of the customary eight. Care Free Curl was an instant success. The Jheri curl hairstyle simultaneously propelled the black hair-care industry at an unprecedented rate—over 30 percent annually. Soft Sheen rode the wave of expansion as the first black-owned company to capture that corner of the market. By 1982 Soft Sheen controlled approximately 55 percent of the black hair-care market, with a turnover of over $50 million. The following year the company appeared on the Black Enterprise 100 list of top African American–owned businesses. Soft Sheen recorded sales of $81 million in 1987. The Gardner family business faced staunch competition from whiteowned cosmetics companies. Thus, smaller black-owned businesses galvanized a unified attack in defense of their livelihood. Spurred on by what were deemed insidious remarks by Revlon representatives, Gardner and other members of the black business community, along with Reverend Jesse Jackson, launched the PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity) campaign,

330

Edward G. Gardner

boycotting Revlon products. The boycott served as a catalyst for joining the American Health and Beauty Aids Institute (AHBAI). Gardner was an eminent member of the minority trade association and was at the forefront of its $3 million campaign, which urged black consumers to purchase black products. Gardner also fended off the competition by expanding his business interests and diversifying his operations. Gardner and his son Gary, who was now president and chief operating officer, developed a business strategy that allowed them to establish a variety of companies in related business fields. The Gardners set up Brainstorm Communications, an advertising agency, headed by daughter Terri; Bottlewerks, a packaging firm, headed by son Guy; and Shoptalk, a trade magazine, headed by Bettiann. Daughter Tracey became vice president of science and technology. Soft Sheen also enlisted superstars such as singers Anita Baker and Luther Vandross to endorse their products. The company sponsored a nationwide concert tour, becoming the first black-owned business to accomplish such a feat. Soft Sheen, however, had set its sights on an even larger market. Gary Gardner devised a plan for global distribution of Soft Sheen’s products and subsequently moved into the Canadian, African, and West Indian hair-care market, leading Black Enterprise magazine to name them Company of the Year in 1989. The activist spirit that Gardner displayed in his business affairs was mirrored in Gardner’s commitment to the development of the Chicago community. Gardner provided financial backing for the VOTE campaign, which urged African Americans to let their voices be heard in the 1983 mayoral election. The campaign was a tremendous success, and Harold Washington, who had been a real longshot, became the first black mayor of Chicago. Later that year a Soft Sheen employee was assaulted. This prompted Gardner to initiate the Black on Black Love Program, promoting love and respect among members of the black community. The program spearheaded the No Crime Day campaign, which condemned black-on-black crime. The program evolved into an umbrella organization that coordinates community action groups and programs aimed at providing recreational outlets and services that increase educational opportunities. Gardner further demonstrated his dedication to the rejuvenation of the Windy city, investing $4 million into the renovation of the city’s legendary Regal Theater (formerly the Avalon). The theater rivaled the Apollo Theater in New York in its prime, hosting illustrious performers such as Duke Ellington and Jackie Wilson. Gardner sought to recreate that quality cultural and artistic experience for blacks in a venue as magnificent and breathtaking as the acts that graced the stage. Gardner gradually passed on the functional responsibilities of Soft Sheen to his children, yet he continued to indulge his passion for business. Gardner purchased shares in the National Basketball Association’s Chicago Bulls and began to develop his own investment firm, Gardner Investment Partners. In

331

Marcus Garvey’s UNIA Enterprise

1998, after some corporate restructuring and irresolvable internal challenges, Soft Sheen was sold to the French cosmetics company L’Oreal—but not before Gardner negotiated a deal with L’Oreal that ensured Soft Sheen’s headquarters remained in Chicago. Indeed, despite his many accomplishments, Gardner considers his greatest achievement the number of jobs (over 625 annually) his company has created in one of the most impoverished areas of his beloved city. In 1999, Gardner was honored with the ‘‘Black on Black Love’’ first annual Golden Pyramid Award for outstanding business leaders. The magnificent awards gala was fittingly held at Gardner’s new Regal Theater, and proceeds from the event were donated to the organization, a testament to Gardner’s dedication to uplifting black lives. See also: Black Businesses in Large Cities; Economic Boycotts and Protests; Retail Industry Sources Clarke, Caroline V. ‘‘Management Dynasties.’’ Black Enterprise 22 (June 1992): 305–310. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 45. Detroit: Gale Group, 2004. Dingle, Derek T. ‘‘Soft Sheen’s Triangle of Trade.’’ Black Enterprise 19 (February 1989): 222–226. ‘‘Edward Gardner Receives Golden Pyramid Award.’’ Jet 95 (May 24, 1999): 12–14. Hocker, Cliff, and Sakina P. Spruell. ‘‘Bad Hair Days: African American Firms Losing Control of the Ethnic Hair Care Industry.’’ Black Enterprise 31 (November 2000): 144–153. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. ‘‘Edward G. Gardner.’’ African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. ‘‘PUSH Salutes Business Leader Edward Gardner at Convention in Chicago.’’ Jet 78 (August 20, 1990): 28–31. ‘‘Soft Sheen Products Dedicates New Building, ‘Miracle on 87th Street.’ ’’ Jet 62 (August 16, 1982): 36–38. ‘‘Taking Black Business into the 21st Century.’’ Black Enterprise 17 (June 1987): 111–122. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 2005.

Gabriella R. Beckles

Marcus Garvey’s UNIA Enterprise Marcus Moriah Garvey was a proud, multitalented black man who was born in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica, in 1887. His descendants, Maroon tribesmen, led slave revolts against their British slave masters over 200 years ago, which led to their freedom. His father was a very stubborn, well-educated man whose trade was stone masonry. Garvey believed black people should have their own country, govern themselves, and control their own money. It is no wonder then that Garvey embraced a Black Nationalist school of thought. He spent his entire life promoting black pride, unity, and selfreliance. His legacy, while otherwise controversial, says that Garvey, a

332

Marcus Garvey’s UNIA Enterprise

uniquely talented man, possessed the power to capture millions of followers as no other leader in the world has done. Garvey’s legacy is explored here through an examination of the founding and activities of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the umbrella organization for the numerous enterprises that he founded between 1914 and 1920, and the way in which he used his multitalents to bring about a mass movement of the black race. Long before and after organizing the UNIA in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1914, Garvey demonstrated leadership skills, the ability to organize and influence, and courage to agitate for blacks in the society. Particular examples include leading a group of printers in Jamaica to strike; encouraging workers in Costa Rica to form unions and negotiate better working conditions; and using his own newspapers to circulate scathing editorials denouncing ill treatment of black people. He was promptly expelled from the country. Garvey’s expulsion, witness of racial injustice for black people in South and Central America and in England, led him back to Jamaica in 1914, where he founded the UNIA to instill racial pride, unity, and selfsufficiency in blacks and to lay the groundwork for transporting his people back to their homeland where they would rule and provide for themselves. Garvey spent the next two years promoting the UNIA in Jamaica, but support for his enterprise was indifferent, so he moved to Harlem, New York, in 1916 to carry out his mission. Not long after his arrival, Garvey began a lecture tour delivering invigorating speeches to the masses of poor, low-esteemed, ill-treated African Americans in the United States to uplift spirits and provide hope for the future. Sometimes Garvey simply preached his messages on street corners, then in churches nationwide, marketing black pride, self-worth, and the value of education to black people. After giving an igniting speech in 1917, Garvey established a branch of the UNIA in Harlem. Garvey, an outsider, met with a power struggle with elected officials of Harlem who ultimately took control of Garvey’s organization. Not to be deterred, Garvey and his friends started a new branch, of which he named himself president, and called it the New UNIA. Nevertheless, Garvey started a newspaper in 1918 in Harlem called Negro World that proved to be a powerful instrument for communication with blacks all over the world. The journal cost ten cents per copy and was circulated to over 50,000 in the United States, Canada, the West Indies, Europe, and Africa. Garvey traveled more extensively to promote circulation of the newspaper, and before the end of the year, he claimed 30 chapters around the world. Eventually the UNIA boasted 700 branches in thirty-eight states in the United States and 200 branches in Central America and South America. Garvey held membership meetings in rented halls until 1919 when, paradoxically, Madame C. J. Walker, the wealthy African American cosmetics manufacturer who invented the straightening comb, helped to amass financial support for the purchase of an auditorium in Harlem, which Garvey named Liberty Hall.

333

Marcus Garvey’s UNIA Enterprise

ESTABLISHES BLACK STAR STEAMSHIP LINE In 1919, Garvey established the Black Star Steamship Line, which was a company solely owned and operated by blacks. Garvey invited black investors from all over the world to become stockholders. Advertisements for shares of stock that sold for $5 apiece appeared in black newspapers. Having internalized Garvey’s compelling messages, blacks took pride in becoming owners of the new company. Before the end of the year, Garvey had garnered upward of half a million dollars. The next step was for Garvey to purchase the first ship, which he did at a cost of $169,000, and renamed it the Frederick Douglass. The UNIA ultimately purchased two additional vessels. Garvey had gigantic plans for the steamship line and founded the Negro Factories Corporation (NFC). The NFC was a conglomeration of factories that manufactured products for distribution to black enterprises established by the UNIA. The UNIA employed over 1,000 blacks all over the country, and several small businesses were started, including restaurants, grocery stores, laundry, and a printing plant as a result of loans and start-up assistance Garvey provided for the people. The life of the Frederick Douglass and each of the subsequent vessels, which cost a combined total of $95,000, was short-lived. As a matter of fact, the entire Black Star Line venture was disastrous, as it never turned a profit and ceased operation in 1923, showing a deficit of $500,000 after four years of operation. In 1920, the UNIA held its first international convention at Liberty Hall in Harlem. Many thousands of blacks from over twenty-five countries attended. Following World War I, the climate in the United States from a black perspective was lukewarm. Poor blacks who migrated northward hoping to escape racial discrimination and hostility that prevented them from being employed in factories and other desirable places were dismayed upon their arrival in northern cities. Furthermore, housing in the cities amounted to ghettoes, as black people were the exclusive residents in many neighborhoods. On the other hand, more affluent blacks migrated to New York, particularly in 1920, to express their frustration and pain and to showcase their art and talents. The period is known as the Harlem Renaissance because for the next ten years blacks gained more renown for commendable measures than ever before. Garvey published many works of black artists in the Negro World, which commanded a circulation in excess of 200,000. So the timing of the UNIA international festival and convention was perfect for promoting blackness. Garvey raised over $2.5 million to fund the extravagant affair, which ultimately ended with a parade to Madison Square Gardens, a distance of 100 city blocks lined with 30,000 spectators. The marchers included several other auxiliaries created by the UNIA: the African Legion, the military unit; Black Cross nurses, symbols of nurture by black women; the women’s auxiliary of the African Legion; the Universal African Motor Corps; and the juvenile and adult Black Flying Eagles. According to Anne Schraff in Marcus Garvey, Garvey boasted that ‘‘the demonstration was of such as never seen in Harlem.’’ The convention lasted for one month.

334

Marcus Garvey’s UNIA Enterprise

The summer of 1921 marked the beginning of the end of Garvey’s empire. While the UNIA held its second convention in August with as much pageantry as the first, many stockholders in the Black Star Line were disappointed and charged Garvey with mismanagement of funds. Garvey continued to solicit stockholders even though the steamship line was defunct and initial investors had never benefited from their $750,000 investment in the company. In January 1922, federal government agents arrested Garvey and charged him with mail fraud. Black intellectuals in general did not like Garvey and felt certain that there existed irregularities in the steamship company. They also questioned his relationship with the Ku Klux Klan. With the urging of the black intellectual community, Garvey was sent to trial. He was found guilty of one count of mail fraud in May 1923 and was sentenced to five years in prison. When Garvey met bail of $15,000 while awaiting an appeal, he formed yet another shipping company called the Black Cross Trading and Navigation Company and sold stock to black investors. Garvey purchased the Gerald G. W. Goethas with $100,000 and paid $60,000 for refitting the ship, only to meet with a fourth disaster—the ship sailed to Panama but never returned to New York. In February, Garvey lost his appeal and was immediately taken to the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Ironically, his work assignment was in the library. Garvey continued to communicate with the UNIA and wrote letters himself to President Calvin Coolidge asking for a pardon. In the summer of 1926, over 100,000 black followers rallied for his release. In consideration of the attorney general’s urging and many letters supporting Garvey from stockholders, the president commuted Garvey’s sentence in November 1927. Garvey felt his work was incomplete in the United States and petitioned for citizenship. However, his request was denied, and he was immediately deported as an undesirable alien. Garvey continued his work and ultimately settled in London, where he died in 1940. Sources Adams, Russell L. Great Negroes: Past and Present. Chicago: Afro-American Publishing Co., 1984. Altman, Susan. Extraordinary African-Americans. New York: Scholastic, 2001. Branham, Charles R., and DuSable Museum of African American History. Profiles of Great African Americans. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, Ltd., 1998. Franklin, John Hope, and Alfred A. Moss Jr. Up From Slavery: A History of African Americans. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994. Marcus Garvey and UNIA Papers Project. http://www.international.ucla.edu/africa/ mgpp. Quarles, Benjamin. Negroes in the Making of America. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987. Schraff, Anne. Marcus Garvey: Controversial Champion of Black Pride. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2004. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Notable Black American Men. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. UNIA. http//www.unia.org.

Shelhea Owens

335

A. G. Gaston

A. G. Gaston (1892–1996), Entrepreneur A self-made millionaire, A. G. Gaston rose from poverty and built an empire that was worth over $130 million. He had a passion for the welfare of African Americans and used the businesses that he founded, primarily in racially segregated Birmingham, Alabama, to enhance the black community and the lives of its inhabitants. The grandson of slaves, Arthur George Gaston was born in his paternal grandparents’ cabin in Demopolis, Alabama, on July 4, 1892. He was the son of Arthur George Gaston, a railroad worker, and Minnie Gardner Gaston, a cook. Young Gaston’s father died while his son was an infant, leaving his mother to seek a living on her own. She left her son with Joe and Idella Gaston, young Gaston’s paternal grandparents. After spending some time in Greensboro and later in Birmingham—away from her son—Minnie Gaston took her son with her to Birmingham in 1905, where they lived above the stable that her employer built near his residence. Gaston attended school regularly when he lived in Demopolis, but Birmingham offered few opportunities for education of its black citizens; consequently, his education was interrupted. Later, with the assistance of Minnie Loveman, for whose family Minnie Gaston was employed, young Gaston enrolled in the Carrie Tuggle Institute, a local boarding school for blacks, and completed the tenth grade—the highest grade offered. Educator Booker T. Washington spoke regularly at Tuggle during Gaston’s years there; he inspired the youngster to take advantage of opportunities whenever he could. Thus, Gaston wanted to attend Tuskegee but was unable to do so. Instead, from 1910 to 1913 he became an entrepreneur; he sold subscriptions to the Birmingham Reporter—a local black newspaper—and later worked in Mobile as a bellhop at the Battlehouse Hotel. He joined the army and served with distinction in France. When Gaston returned home in 1919, he was unable to find work of his choice; instead, he drove a delivery truck for the OK Dry Cleaning company. The next year he worked in the mines and railroad car workshop for the Tennessee Coal & Iron Company. To supplement his income, he sold lunches that his mother had made to his coworkers and also loaned money to them for a return of twenty-five cents on the dollar. In 1923 Gaston married his childhood friend, Creola Smith, and with his father-in-law, A. L. ‘‘Dad’’ Smith, founded Brother Gaston Burial Society, incorporated in 1932 as Booker T. Washington Insurance Company. He and Smith sold and collected small premiums door to door. The company grew and became the cornerstone for the empire that he would develop over the years. It also became the largest black-owned insurance company in Alabama. He also bought Mt. Zion Cemetery. He opened Booker T. Washington Business College in 1939 and provided training for staffs of businesses and the federal government. His wife had

336

A. G. Gaston

died in 1938, and he married Minnie Gardner in 1943; they had one son, Arthur George Gaston Jr. Minnie Gaston directed the BTW Business College in New York City. Although his businesses were generally successful, the Brown Belle Bottling Company, maker of the Joe Louis Punch, was not. He said that it had been built on greed—purely as a profit-making venture. When the business closed, he absorbed the loss rather than pass it along to the stockholders, who were his friends. Gaston ventured out again, this time into the motel business. In 1954 he opened the A. G. Gaston Motel, hosting blacks who traveled south and such black luminaries as Willie Mays and Joe Louis. It also became a landmark during the civil rights movement and headquarters for Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He was already in his seventies when the civil rights movement came to Birmingham. As influential as he was, some criticized him for his conservative stance on how certain activities should proceed. In addition to opening his hotel to civil rights leaders, he was a powerful force behind the scenes, negotiating with Birmingham’s white power elite and spending over $160,000 of his own funds to bail local protestors out of jail. In retaliation, both his hotel and his home were bombed. There had been no black banks in Birmingham since 1915. Gaston saw a need to move into the financial market and opened the Citizens Federal Savings and Loan, which was chartered in 1957. He filled an important need among his race by making it possible for blacks to obtain loans for homes, churches, businesses, and other purposes. OPENS MILLION-DOLLAR BUILDING Another addition to Gaston’s enterprise came in 1962, when he opened the imposing $1.3 million A. G. Gaston Building to house his various business interests. He expanded further to build the A. G. Gaston Boys and Girls Clubs in 1966, using $50,000 he received from donations; there thousands of young people received athletic training and moral guidance. Other investments included the acquisition in 1975 of WAGG and WENN radio stations, which formed his Booker T. Washington Broadcasting Company. His construction business, the A. G. Gaston Construction Company, established in 1986, became Alabama’s largest black-owned construction firm. So compassionate was Gaston for others that, in 1987, through a stock option program, he turned his Booker T. Washington Insurance Company over to his employees. In 1992 Black Enterprise magazine listed the company among its top 100 black businesses. Gaston served his community well. He was a member of the board of trustees for Tuskegee University, Daniel Payne College, and the YMCA. Among his other contributions were membership on the Coordinating Council of the City of Birmingham, the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, the Boys’ Club of America, and the American Legion. A staunch supporter of black business, he was president of the Birmingham Negro Business League

337

Karen Patricia Gibbs

and president of the National Negro Business League that Booker T. Washington helped to found. His recognitions and honors were numerous. On October 24, 1984, Birmingham celebrated ‘‘A. G. Gaston Day.’’ In 1992 Black Enterprise magazine named him Entrepreneur of the Century. He also received awards from the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, the Birmingham Jaycees, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and Alabama Education Association, and numerous churches, businesses, and fraternal organizations. He held honorary degrees from Tuskegee, Paul Quinn College, Daniel Payne College, Pepperdine University, the University of Alabama, and elsewhere. Gaston’s health began to fail by the mid-1980s; he lost a leg to diabetes and was confined to a wheelchair. A mild stroke that he suffered on January 22, 1992, failed to keep him from his office, where he returned two weeks later. He lived on until January 19, 1996, when a second stroke felled him at the Medical Center in East Birmingham. He was 103 years old. During his lifetime Gaston was called the richest black man in the country. He lived a full life and was one of the nation’s most successful black entrepreneurs. Sources Gaston, A. G. Green Power: The Successful Way of A. G. Gaston. Troy, AL: Troy State University Press, 1968. Jenkins, Carol, and Elizabeth Gardner Hines. Black Titan: A. G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire. New York: Random House, 2004.

Jessie Carney Smith

Karen Patricia Gibbs (1952– ), Financial Journalist, Television Anchor Karen Gibbs is a trailblazing business journalist and television anchor. Since June 2002, she has served as co-anchor of PBS and Fortune magazine’s prime-time widely watched financial news television program Wall Street Week with FORTUNE. Gibbs brings an impressive portfolio of experiences to the program. As cohost of Wall Street Week with FORTUNE, Gibbs interviews executives of the nation’s largest corporations, financial institutions, and government and comments on significant financial issues affecting the stock market and the corporate world. Gibbs’s education and professional experience provide an ideal foundation for this high-profile position, and the business/financial insights and journalistic skills garnered in over twenty years of experience in her field aptly qualify her for the cohost role. Gibbs’s career in investments and finance began at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), where she was the first woman to work on the floor. Before leaving the CBOT, Gibbs had become a member of its Office of Investigations and Audits. After leaving the CBOT in 1982, she worked briefly at Harris Trust and Savings Bank in Chicago as a government securities

338

Karen Patricia Gibbs

representative. She then joined Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc., serving there for nearly ten years in positions of increasing responsibilities—hedging trading strategist, senior futures analyst, and vice president. As a futures analyst, her perceptive financial analyses were considered critical to the decision makers in the investment/banking and financial services community as well as to decision making of individual investors. Gibbs left Dean Witter in 1992 to take a position as anchor at CNBC, specializing in credit and futures markets and hosting financial education programs. She held this position until 1997 when FOX News Channel (FNC) beckoned. Gibbs left CNBC to become senior business correspondent for FNC in April 1997. At FNC, Gibbs contributed to the weekday business news program Your World with Neil Cavuto and served as substitute anchor for that program. She was also a regular panelist on FNC’s weekend program Cavuto on Business. Gibbs knows her stuff. In ‘‘Co-Anchor Biography: Karen Gibbs.’’ Gibbs notes that she ‘‘is one of the very few anchors who actually knows what it takes to put billions of dollars at risk in the markets.’’ Besides being so knowledgeable, Gibbs is polished and articulate and has a definite ‘‘presence,’’ invaluable assets in the world of television reporting. Gibbs is the daughter of James and Bertha Gibbs. She was born in Boston on May 9, 1952. In 1976, Gibbs received an undergraduate degree in business administration from Roosevelt University’s Walter E. Heller College of Business Administration and a Master’s in Business Administration in finance and marketing from the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business in 1978. Building on this valuable education, Gibbs has forged a solid and impressive career in her industry. Gibbs is a published author and widely sought speaker. She serves/has served as secretary to the board of directors of the Henry Booth House (1981–1985); board of directors, Chicago Lung Association (1984–1987); secretary to the Chicago chapter of the National Black MBA Association (1985–1986); member of National Association of Corporate Security Professionals; and member of University of Illinois College of Medical Advisory Board. In her ‘‘Trading Places Has Its Advantages,’’ Gibbs spoke of her personal ideals—‘‘honesty, integrity, and teamwork.’’ She commented on her goal to provide the public with straightforward, relevant, and useful financial information. To the public, her insightful interviews of corporate executives and her straightforward commentaries help to remove the mystery and confusion surrounding finances and investing. Today many are befuddled by fuzzy numbers in business reports, double talk from corporate executives, and perceived rampant corruption throughout the business world. Thus, Gibbs’s philosophy of honesty and integrity and her straight talk in financial reporting have engendered trust. She has made her mark in financial journalism. No doubt many future journalists will look to her as a role model. She maintains her business in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Sources ‘‘Co-Anchor Biography: Karen Gibbs.’’ Wall Street Week with Fortune. http://www .mpt.org/pressroom/productions/wswwf/wswwf_bios.doc.

339

John Trusty Gibson Gibbs, Karen. ‘‘Trading Places Has Its Advantages.’’ Wall Street Week with Fortune, June 20, 2002. http://www.pbs.org/wsw/opinion/karen0620.html. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Alicia Henry

John Trusty Gibson (1878–1937), Theater Owner, Producer, Directing Manager, Entrepreneur John T. Gibson pioneered in developing African American theatrical entertainment in Philadelphia and the East from 1910 to 1929. He forged an important theatrical empire in Philadelphia. He owned three theaters in Philadelphia, including his most successful enterprise, the New Standard Theatre, and thus controlled all of the African American theatrical business in that city. Gibson was also the first African American businessman in Philadelphia to make a great investment in property. He became directing manager and producer of plays at his Standard and Dunbar (later renamed Gibson) theaters and signed on as eastern representative for the Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA). Born February 4, 1878, in Baltimore, Gibson, also called ‘‘Little Giant,’’ was the son of George Henry and Elizabeth Johns Gibson. He attended the local public schools and for two years studied at Morgan College Preparatory School (now Morgan State University) in Baltimore, and in June 1928 he received an honorary (LL.D.) degree from the school. Gibson moved to Philadelphia in the 1890s, and to make a living, he peddled meat, upholstered chairs, and was involved in several minor and unsuccessful business enterprises before settling into what became a prosperous venture for him. He seized the opportunity to become a partner with local businessman Samuel Reading in a small theater in 1910, thus marking the beginning of the finest chain of theaters in the country owned and operated by blacks. The North Pole Theatre was a modestly successful black-controlled business located on South Street. The aging structure had become unprofitable as a movie and vaudeville house. The partnership failed and was dissolved a little over a year later when John T. Gibson. Source: Fisk University Franklin Gibson bought out Reading for $800. The theater apLibrary’s Special Collections. pealed to Gibson, however, who made it a moderately

340

John Trusty Gibson

successful enterprise. The theater was poorly situated, both in terms of its street location and the physical facility—a bleak, barren structure with dressing rooms in an attic. Around the end of World War I, he sold the theater and purchased the New Standard Theatre. A man of patience, Gibson developed his ideas methodically and around 1918 invested half a million dollars in the larger and then-modern Gibson New Standard Theatre. His building, illustrated in the National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race, was also located on South Street at Twelfth, the third Lobby, entrance, and ticket seller’s booth, John Trusty Gibgreatest business street in Philadelphia son’s New Standard Theater in Philadelphia. This was his and a better section of the city. In fact, most successful of the three theaters that he owned in Philathis was an upper-middle-class section delphia between 1910 and 1929. Source: Clement Richardson, ed., National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race. Vol. 1. Monof town. It was ideally situated and tgomery, AL: National Publishing Co., 1919, p. 323. easily accessible to the vehicles that brought his customers to the theater. The structure was majestic in appearance, throwing off a myriad of lights at night that could be seen from a distance. The interior, which included some marble, was decorated with gold, purple, and tints of rose. So successful was the New Standard that Gibson became a wealthy man. An important and one of the highest-class theaters on the TOBA Circuit, the New Standard brought in notable black stars such as Bessie Smith, Butterbeans & Susie, the Whitman Sisters, the Nicholas Brothers, and Ethel Waters. In fact, some of these entertainers got their start at the Standard. In 1921, Milton Starr, president of TOBA, named Gibson his eastern representative for the association. Among the stock companies that at various times were in residence at the Standard was the Standard Stock Company, with Eddie Hunter as manager; in 1921 the company produced The Insane Asylum. Gibson also became a producer and for two successive seasons (1924 and 1925) presented an annual review, The Chocolate Box Review. Among those featured were his family members, Berthel Gibson and the Gibson Trio. Singer Bessie Smith enjoyed popularity at the Standard as well. Her shows Happy Times and Gossiping Lisa (1930 and 1931, respectively) had long runs there. In 1919, the banking firm Brown & Stevens bought another famous blackcontrolled theater, the Dunbar Theatre (later renamed the Gibson Theatre). It featured both vaudeville and drama. The owners, black entrepreneurs E. C. Brown and A. F. Stevens, were theatrical entrepreneurs. When their financial interest in another business, the Quality Amusement Corporation, began to decline, they sold the Dunbar to Gibson in 1921 for $120,000. This venture

341

John Trusty Gibson

would put Gibson in a highly visible and enviable position in Philadelphia; now he controlled all of the major African American theaters located in the city. The Standard had made him rich, and he hoped that the Dunbar would strengthen his financial base even more. As Gibson experienced with the North Pole, the Dunbar was in an unfavorable location, Broad and Lombard Streets. Attracting patrons was difficult; his black patrons at the Standard would not attend the Dunbar. He tried several venues to bring the theater’s business around, such as the leading headliners of the TOBA, the well-known Whitman Sisters Company, and the Lafayette Players. He also signed on leading orchestras and celebrated musical shows, including Shuffle Along and Liza. He continued to lose money, however, and had to use profits from the Standard to support the Dunbar. One final but unsuccessful effort to save the Dunbar came in 1927, when he changed the name from Dunbar to Gibson Theatre. The stock market crash of 1929 dealt the final blow, and Gibson sold the theater for a loss. Facing almost financial ruin, he was also forced to sell the Standard around 1930. These sales ended Gibson’s theatrical empire and ended an important black-controlled theater empire of the era, for the new owners were white. The Standard became the Burns & Russell Company, a resident musical stock company that had been active since 1922. Beyond his business enterprise, Gibson participated in a number of community organizations and activities. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Trade, the Broad Street Association, and Citizen’s Republican Club; director of Douglass Hospital; trustee of Morgan College; and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He gave his business address as 4200 Spruce Street, Philadelphia. Gibson married Ella Lewis of Chester County, Pennsylvania, on September 15, 1914. As they prospered in Philadelphia, the Gibsons lived in a beautiful estate at Meadowbrook, in northern Philadelphia. He named the countryside manor ‘‘Elmira,’’ in honor of his wife Ella, and the home was called the showplace of the East. Gibson acquired other real estate, including an apartment house, a row of houses, and several tenement houses. A small man, Gibson was only five feet three inches tall and weighed 110 pounds. He was a public spirited citizen and was also slightly arrogant, shrewd, humorous, ambitious, energetic, and sagacious. Many sought his counsel on business ventures. He had a keen interest in matters that involved the uplift of African American people and shared his fortune with others, such as his gift of $5,000 to Morgan College. He became known worldwide due to his successful career, his work with the TOBA and other companies, and the fine theaters that he owned and operated. He had joined E. C. Brown, Sherman H. Dudley, and Harry H. Pace as prominent leaders in the financial end of black show business in the 1920s. The stock market crash left Gibson in poverty that he had not overcome by the time of his death on June 12, 1937, at home in West Philadelphia— by then his only asset. His success in black theatricals and his stature earned him the nickname ‘‘Little Giant.’’

342

Bruce S. Gordon Sources National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race. Vol. 1. Ed. Clement Richardson. Montgomery, AL: National Publishing Co., 1919. Peterson, Bernard L., Jr. The African American Theatre Directory, 1816–1960. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1977. ———. Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816–1960. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001. Sampson, Henry T. Blacks in Blackface: A Source Book on Early Black Musical Shows. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1980. Who’s Who in Colored America, 1933–37. 4th ed. Brooklyn, NY: Thomas Yenser, 1937.

Jessie Carney Smith

Bruce S. Gordon (1946– ), Telecommunications Executive, Organization Leader Bruce S. Gordon has been listed as one of the most powerful black executives in America. He started his career at Bell Atlantic Corporation and worked for the giant telephone corporation for thirty-five years. He rose to the position of chief executive officer (CEO) with the Bell industry as president of Retail Markets for Verizon Communications. His position carried the responsibility of Verizon’s consumer and small business sales and marketing units, online and DSL sales and marketing, corporate advertising, and brand management. On June 26, 2005, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) named Gordon as president and chief executive; he became the first business executive to head the organization. Gordon was born in Camden, New Jersey, on February 15, 1946, to parents Walter and Violet Gordon. Gordon married Genie Alston on February 20, 1970. They are the parents of Taurin S. Gordon. Gordon received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1968. He attended the University of Illinois in 1981. He also attended the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton Executive Management School. He was selected as an Alfred P. Sloan fellow in 1987 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He received the Masters of Science from the Sloan School of Management at MIT in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1988 as a Sloan fellow. Gordon’s illustrious career with Bell Atlantic began in 1968 as a college trainee at Bell of Pennsylvania in management in the consumer sales organization. Gordon continued to move up the corporate ladder at Bell industries, serving as office manager from 1970 to 1972. In 1972, he served as sales manager and also in marketing. In 1974, he served as personnel supervisor; in 1976, as market management supervisor; in 1978, as division staff manager; and in 1980, as division operations manager. In 1981, he was

343

Bruce S. Gordon

division manager of the phone center, and later in 1981 until 1983, he was a marketing manager II. In 1983 he was moved to vice president of marketing and in 1988 served as Bell Atlantic Network Services group retail president. In 1993, he served as president of Enterprise Business Group. After the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE in July 2000, Gordon was moved to president of Retail Markets Group/Verizon Communications. Verizion Communications is one of the world’s leaders in providing wireline and wireless communications, with more than 250,000 employees and revenue of $67 billion in 2004. Verizon’s presence extends to over forty-four countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. Verizon is the third largest longdistance carrier for U.S. consumers and is the largest directory publisher in the world. Gordon’s selection to head the NAACP comes at a sensitive time: President George Bush declined invitations to speak at the NAACP’s summer convention; and the Internal Revenue Service questioned the organization’s tax-exempt status. Until now, activists, ministers, or political figures had headed the NAACP. Although Gordon was raised by activist parents, he chose another route to bring about change within the powerful Verizon industry with a networking program that he founded to help black executives advance in the company. The NAACP noted his approach to working for change and envisioned that, as a businessman, he could appeal to young blacks who set entrepreneurship as their main goal. Along with his outstanding marketing and leadership skills, Gordon has shown a deep involvement in the community. Gordon serves on the board of trustees of Gettysburg College. He has served as a director of the Urban League. In 1985, he was a member of the board of directors of Inroads of Philadelphia. In 1985–1988, he chaired the United Negro College Fund Telethon and volunteered for the United Way. In 1994, Gordon was selected to the Southern Company board of directors. He is currently serving on that board, and in 1995, he was also selected to the board of directors of Bartech Personnel Services. He also served as a trustee of the Alvin Ailey Dance Company Foundation and the Lincoln Center. Gordon has also served as a member of the Bell Atlantic Executive Leaders Council, a networking organization for senior black executives in Fortune 500 companies. This group was founded in 1986 with 19 members and now has nearly 300 members. He held membership in Toastmasters International. Gordon was the founder and past president of Alliance of Black Managers. In 2002, Gordon was appointed to serve on the board of directors of Tyco International Limited. Tyco is a diversified manufacturing and service company and is the world’s largest manufacturer and servicer of electrical and electronic components. It is also the world’s largest designer, manufacturer, installer, and servicer of undersea telecommunications systems. In addition to being the world’s largest manufacturer, installer, and provider of fire protection and electronic security services, Tyco is also the world’s largest manufacturer of specialty valves. Gordon’s leadership skills in the consumer services market served as an asset for this appointment.

344

Bruce S. Gordon

Gordon has received awards recognizing him for his leadership skills. In 1998, Black Enterprise magazine named him executive of the year. In July 2002, Fortune magazine named him one of the fifty most powerful black executives. Gordon was ranked number six of the fifty. Under his leadership, Fortune twice named Verizon on its list of 50 Best Companies for Minorities, in July 2001 and again in July 2002. Gordon continued to give back by organizing a self-mentoring program called Developmental Roundtable for Upward Mobility (DRUM) at Verizon Communications. This organization is composed primarily of black males at Verizon Communications. The group has grown from 9 to over 100. Gordon was also known in the industry for his accessibility. He believed in receiving firsthand feedback from all levels. Gordon believes that people make the difference. Gordon is also known for his support of upward mobility for minorities in the industry and his commitment to diversity. In a speech to the Multicultural Business Forum on February 27, 2003, Gordon emphasized ‘‘Diversity: Make Progress Every Day.’’ He stated that Verizon’s approach to diversity is one way it makes progress every day. Its approach is the same as any other initiative: set goals, create a plan, and hold people accountable for results. Under his leadership, Verizon has been recognized for its efforts in diversity. Gordon has shown his commitment earlier by presenting his alma mater, Gettysburg College, with a $500,000 gift to support diversity among students. The Bruce Gordon Endowed Scholarship is a merit grant given to promising students who are members of groups historically underrepresented at Gettysburg College. Gordon also credits the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement for opening the door of opportunity for him and others to advance. He seized the opportunities to expand his horizon and reached back to help others to advance and make a difference in this world. On December 31, 2003, Gordon retired from Verizon Communications, ending thirty-five years of leadership in the communications industry. He leaves a legacy for others to follow in moving to the top by being sensitive to the needs of people, by being supportive of others trying to move up, and by showing care and concern for humanity. Gordon is a true role model for the youth of our communities. His examples of dedication and following a set plan will inspire future generations of young businesspeople looking for examples in climbing the corporate ladder. Sources Barry, Ellen. ‘‘NAACP Picks Retired Verizon Executive as New Leader.’’ Nation, June 26, 2005. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-naacp26 June,0,29575190.story?coll¼la-home-headlines. ‘‘Bell Atlantic Assigns Officials.’’ Wall Street Journal, July 1, 1993. ‘‘Bruce Gordon Becomes Director of Tyco.’’ Press Release, January 13, 2003. http:// www.eetimes.com. ‘‘Bruce Gordon Retires from Verizon.’’ News Wire, December 25, 2003. ‘‘Bruce S. Gordon.’’ Biography Resource Center. http://www.galenet, galegroup.com.

345

Berry Gordy Jr. Daniels, Cora. ‘‘The Most Powerful Black Executives in America.’’ Fortune 146 (2002): 60. Elkin, Tobi. ‘‘Bruce S. Gordon.’’ Advertising Age 72 (2001): 27. Gordon, Bruce B. ‘‘Diversity: Make Progress Every Day.’’ Speech delivered at the Multicultural Business Forum, February 27, 2003. ‘‘Gordon, LeVan Work Together in Support of Diversity.’’ April 2001. http:// www.gettysburg.edu/administration/publications. Hickman, Jonathan. ‘‘50 Best Companies for Minorities.’’ Fortune 48 (2003): 103– 120. Jones, Joyce. ‘‘Former Black Enterprise Executive of the Year Retires.’’ December 2003. http://www.blackenterprise.com. ‘‘Most Powerful Black Executives.’’ Fortune 500 Ranking: Full List. July 22, 2002. http://www.fortune.com. Networking the Telecom Industry. http://www.lightreading.com. Sabir, Nadirah. ‘‘Keeping the Lines of Communication Open.’’ Black Enterprise 25 (June 1995): 54. Who’s Who Among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Orella R. Brazile

Berry Gordy Jr. (1929– ), Record Producer, Entrepreneur Berry Gordy combined business acumen and a keen appreciation of changes in the music business to make his firm, Motown, the largest blackowned business of its era, and in so doing, had a major impact on the course of popular music in the 1960s. Gordy founded Motown in 1959. It became a major player in the field during the 1960s, moving from rhythm and blues, which appealed to a mostly black audience, into the much more lucrative pop field, which attracted white audiences as well. Between 1968 and 1972 Gordy moved his base of operations from Detroit to Los Angeles and added moviemaking to his operations, with mixed success. Gordy was insolvent by late 1979, but quickly reestablished his finances. In 1988 Gordy sold Motown to the major music giant MCA. He retained control of his television and movie interests as well as his publishing company Jobete. Since Jobete controlled the rights for all Motown music, it was a very lucrative enterprise, and the industry was surprised when Gordy sold half of it to EMI Music Publishing for $132 million in 1997. Berry Gordy was born in Detroit on November 28, 1929. He was named for his grandfather and father. The close-knit family had moved to Detroit in 1922. In spite of difficulties during the Great Depression, his father offered a role model as a businessman, and early on Gordy joined him on construction jobs on weekends. An early ambition of the young man was to become a professional boxer, and he eventually fought fifteen times before giving up this career in 1950 to pursue his alternative professional goal, becoming a songwriter. He was drafted and sent to Korea but not to combat, and soon after his return, he married for the first time. Songwriting was not

346

Berry Gordy Jr.

bringing much income, and children were arriving, so Gordy took a factory job. In 1957, after about two years, he gave up this line of work to try fulltime songwriting again, this time achieving some success. He also met William ‘‘Smokey’’ Robinson and began a collaboration that contributed greatly to Motown’s success. Gordy founded his music publishing company Jobete, and in 1959 he founded Tamla Records, which had a hit recording, ‘‘Come to Me,’’ sung by Mary Johnson. Then to issue a song written in collaboration with Smokey Robinson, Gordy founded Motown. Gordy now began to work with Mary Wells, who became very popular, and he aimed at a breakthrough into a national audience. Showcasing Mary Wells, Gordy began to develop a recognizable sound built on large ensembles using elaborate arrangements. To take charge of sales he hired a white man to distribute his records. In turn Barney Ales used only white salesmen for sometime until Motown had the clout to insist that industry people treat all its representatives with respect. Wells continued to bring success to Motown until 1964, when she turned twenty-one and her contract ended. She broke with Motown but subsequently had little success. Gordy’s relations with both Ales and Wells bear on his reputation. His hiring of Ales was criticized by many in the black community, who saw any catering to a white audience as a sellout. The criticism became more outspoken when Gordy left Detroit for Los Angeles and peaked again when he sold Motown to a large music conglomerate. A number of performers such as Mary Wells felt they had been exploited and mistreated by Motown. This bitterness is a constant thread in the story of Motown, and much information about Barry and his companies is found in court records of litigation. In spite of criticism and sometimes difficult relations with performers, Gordy built Motown into a major purveyor of pop music. Following Mary Wells, he introduced major new stars such as Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. Gordy was a persistent perfectionist, the label’s success was tied to his attention to detail and quality control. New releases were developed in weekly staff meetings, noted for frank speaking. An emphasis on marketing was also evident in his schooling of the performers in the social graces. Not every effort was a success, and there continued to be defections from his labels, but Gordy also found major new talent like Gladys Knight and the Pips and the Jacksons, and some artists stayed with him. For example, Stevie Wonder received $23 million for renewing a contract with Motown in 1976. His overall success in the music business may well be summed up by the Billboard listings for the final week of 1968: Motown had five of the top ten hits in the United States. Gordy began in 1968 to transfer his operations to Los Angeles, and in 1972 the official headquarters of Motown was moved to that city. It was Gordy’s relation with Diana Ross, both personal and artistic, that led him to films. In 1972 Lady Sings the Blues was a triumph; subsequently, Mahogany (1976) and The Wiz (1978) were major flops. Gordy did not make a major impression for his efforts in film.

347

Earl G. Graves

On the whole, Gordy was on a downward trajectory during the 1970s with successes becoming rarer. It has been suggested that his hands-on management style clashed with the needs of a large-scale organization. In late 1979 Gordy was insolvent, but a bank loan enabled him to ride out the crisis and reestablish his footing within a year. Diana Ross defected to RCA in 1981, but he still retained major artists such as Lionel Richie and the Commodores, as well as Stevie Wonder. The Jacksons did not leave until 1985. Gordy flirted with selling Motown to MCA in 1982, but the sale to MCA, for $68 million, eventually took place in 1988. Gordy retained control of Jobete, his music publishing company, a very lucrative asset, then valued at $100 million, and his television producing companies. His television efforts had mixed success, but he was a coproducer with Suzanne de Passe for the miniseries Lonesome Dove in 1989, which was a huge success and garnered several major awards including an Emmy. Gordy, however, soon ceded control of the television ventures to de Passe. He was now largely in semiretirement. Gordy married several times and had numerous liaisons, most prominently with Diana Ross. Marriages and liaisons produced eight children. Gordy had a major impact on American pop music. The 1983 television special celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of Motown featured Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Martha Reeves, Mary Wells, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, the Temptations, the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson solo, and Diana Ross. Although many of the stars had left Motown, and the luster was largely gone from the label by this time, this roster of stars reflects the impact that Motown had had in its heyday. Gordy’s success was due to his effectiveness in building up Motown as a business entrpreneur combined with his acumen in music. Sources Gordy, Berry. To Be Loved. New York: Time Warner, 1994. The New Grove Dictionary of American Music. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1986. Posner, Gerald. Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power. New York: Random House, 2002. Singleton, Raymonda Gordy. Berry, Me, and Motown. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1990. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Notable Black American Men. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.

Robert L. Johns

Earl G. Graves (1935– ), Entrepreneur, Publishing and Magazine Executive, Activist, Developer, Author Widely recognized as one of the most influential black business individuals in the country, Earl G. Graves is a nationally known authority on black business development. He is also founder and publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, which is a business service publication serving the black

348

Earl G. Graves

professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, and policymakers in the public and private sectors. Often recognized by his mutton-chop sideburns, which he regards as one of his trademarks, Graves has indeed contributed immensely in the development of entrepreneurship and helped many African Americans to become players in business. Graves is also a major player in business. In addition to serving as the president and chief executive officer of Earl G. Graves, Ltd., which is the parent corporation of Earl G. Graves Publishing Co., the publisher of Black Enterprise, he has numerous business interests that include the majority ownership of a multimillion-dollar Pepsi-Cola Co. franchise. Currently he and his family are intensifying diversification of their business interests. Graves was born on January 9, 1935, in New York City. His parents, Earl Godwin Graves and Winifred Sealy Graves, were the children of immigrants from Barbados. Graves and his siblings, Sandra, Joan, and Robert, grew up in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. His father Earl Godwin Graves was a great disciplinarian, role model, and mentor for the family. His father worked in the garment industry as a clerk and later as an assistant manager, as well as sold clothes on consignment out of the house. Growing up, Graves watched his father’s sales capabilities. Oblivious to Graves, he absorbed his father’s business acumen. At age seven, Graves sold Christmas cards door to door. He excelled in high school, where he was a track star, and used his athletic skill to assist with his tuition. While attending Morgan State University in Baltimore, on scholarship, Graves participated in the ROTC program, worked as a life guard, and established himself as an entrepreneur on campus. Some of his escapades include sale of flowers during Homecoming week and other events. In 1958, Graves earned his bachelor’s degree in economics. Graves also completed the Airborne Ranger’s school and was a captain with the Green Berets. Additionally, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. In 1960 he married his wife, Barbara Kydd. They have three married sons who are successful professionals working in the family business. In 1962, Graves worked as a narcotics agent with the U.S. Treasury Department. He also sold and developed real estate and was instantly successful. In 1966, he was hired as an administrative assistant on the staff of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In that capacity, he planned and supervised events. The traumatic death of Kennedy in 1968 rendered Graves unemployed. After a period of grieving, restlessness, and reflections, Graves initiated Earl G. Graves Associates, a management consulting firm to advise corporations on urban affairs and economic development. Graves’s vision was to contribute to the economic development of black America. It was in line with this dream that he went to Fayette, Mississippi, to work on the mayoral campaign for Charles Evers, brother of slain National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) leader Medgar Evers. That campaign was successful, and Evers was elected as the city’s first black mayor in 1969. This exercise helped improve the town’s black community. In his quest to further help the black community, Graves

349

Earl G. Graves

tapped into the Nixon administration’s effort to bring black Americans into the country’s economic development programs. Apparently, Graves understood that it was time to plan, develop, and produce a monthly periodical devoted to news, commentary, and articles for blacks interested in business. He had initially considered starting a newsletter to serve this purpose but was advised by some good friends from his Kennedy network to think bigger. He did and opted for publication of a magazine instead, with which he brought his vision to reality. His vision made him accept a Ford Foundation grant to study blackowned business in Caribbean countries. He borrowed $150,000 from the Manhattan Capital Corporation of Chase Manhattan Bank to start his own company. In 1970, Graves presented the prospective leaders with a working draft of Black Enterprise. That same year, Black Enterprise was launched. It was the first publication ever devoted to African American entrepreneurs and corporate executives. The magazine is a resounding success to date. Graves created his magazine business to teach black entrepreneurs how to tap into the billions of dollars they generate. It offers readers practical advice on how to achieve career and financial success. In his 1997 book How to Succeed in Business without Being White: Straight Talk on Making It in America, Graves laid down tips to help both this generation and the next. Before the August 1970 debut of Black Enterprise, Graves garnered advertising money. He adopted a sales strategy that he still uses to date. He emphasized ‘‘the green side of black’’; in other words, he endeavored to convince potential clients that it was in their own best interest to tap into the buying power of the growing black middle class. This strategy obviously was successful because he received $500,000 in advertising commitments before the first issue of Black Enterprise was published. By the tenth issue of the publication, it showed a profit that has consistently increased. Graves, a self-made man, believes that every businessperson has personal and professional obstacles to overcome regardless of race. However, racism poses a unique challenge. Graves deals with this unique challenge by regarding it as a nuisance. For Graves, racism is more of a nuisance than a major obstacle. He actually calls racism ‘‘the 30 percent nuisance factor,’’ because in his sales presentations, both in the past and present, the problem of race generally takes up 30 percent of his time. In their quest to diversify their interests, Graves and his family are now concerned with a personal finance and business book publishing house, an executive conferences division, and a $90 million private-equity fund that invests exclusively in minority-owned or -managed businesses. Graves intends to launch another fund, given the fact that the one launched in 1997 did excellently well. His many awards, honors, and achievements include being named in 1972 as one of the ten most outstanding minority businessmen in the country by the president of the United States. He also received the National Award of Excellence in recognition of his achievements in minority business enterprise. In 1998, he received the Marietta Tree Award for Public Service from

350

Sylvester Green

the Citizens Committee for New York City, Inc. In 2002 he was named by Fortune magazine as one of the fifty most powerful and influential African Americans in corporate America and also was appointed to serve on the then administration’s Presidential Commission for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. He is a trustee of Howard University. His other recognitions include the Charles Evans Hughes Gold Medal Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice; the Ronald H. Brown Leadership Award from the U.S. Department of Commerce; the Merrick-Moore Spaulding National Achievement Award at the 100th Anniversary celebration of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company; Boys Scout Awards; and being named New York City Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young. He was inducted into the National Sales Hall of Fame by the Association of Sales and Marketing Executives. He holds honorary doctorates from Dowling College (1980) and Bryant College (1983), among many other academic institutions. Graves’s foresight, vision, tenacity, and considerable concern for the development of the black American community propelled him to become one of the best entrepreneurs, businessmen, and corporate executives in the nation. His vision was to contribute to the economic development of black Americans, and he has brought it to fruition, even as he continues to contemplate and find more avenues to extend his vision to help blacks in America. See also: Advertising and Marketing Sources ‘‘The Biography of Dr. Earl G. Graves.’’ http://www.howard.edu/convocation/2003/ convocationbio2.htm. Current Biography. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1997. ‘‘Earl G. Graves Inducted 2005.’’ http://www.academyofachievement.org/honorees/ earl_graves.htm. Graves, G. Earl. How to Succeed in Business without Being White: Straight Talk on Making It in America. New York: HarperBusiness, 1997. ‘‘How We Got Started. Earl Graves: Black Enterprise.’’ http://www.fortune.com/ fortune/smallbusiness/articles/0,15114,474727,00.html. Whigham, Margorie. ‘‘20 Years of Black Enterprise: A Portrait of Earl G. Graves Ltd.’’ Black Enterprise 21 (August 1990): 63–71. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Nkechi Amadife

Sylvester Green (c. 1940– ), Insurance Executive Sylvester Green is the chairman and chief executive officer for e2Value, Inc., a Web-based property valuation company providing digital solutions for the insurance industry and one in which Green oversees management, raising capital, and customer development and marketing. The recently

351

Sylvester Green

retired managing director and executive vice president of the Chubb & Son, Inc. Global Property and Casualty Company, Green culminated a thirty-sixyear career by managing Chubb’s U.S. and Canadian operations. Beginning his professional insurance career as a management trainee and starting his rise quickly up the corporate ladder as one of Chubb’s youngest branch managers, Green early on exemplified highly effective business skills that were further mirrored in his coming to the fore as instrumental in his promotion of the company’s ongoing total quality management program. Always interested in a better way of doing things and having engineered Chubb’s outsourcing and management restructuring programs, Green now also serves as mentor to the two founders of e2Value and consistently stresses the cutting-edge importance of melding strong traditional and experienced insurance industry skills sets with the rapidly evolving e-business technology. Green now promotes the e-system designed for speed and accuracy as one that fills a niche and serves as a driving force for appraisal, underwriting, and risk analysis, as well as process consistency, personnel training, and outsourcing solutions for both the traditional and emerging demands in the insurance industry. Born in the early 1940s, the fourth child out of five, Green was the first African American professional hire as a Chubb & Son, Inc. management trainee just after graduating from Mount Union College in 1964. Within five years, Green was promoted as a New Jersey branch manager and became known as an expert casualty underwriter and dealmaker. A year later he became the casualty insurance manager for the eastern region. In 1974, Green opened and managed a new office in Westchester County, New York; in 1977, became vice president; and in 1978, founded the National Insurance Industry Association. In 1982, Green returned to New York City to manage Chubb’s downtown office. Completing Harvard’s Advance Management Program in 1988, Green became heavily involved in the company’s total quality management program, received the Best Branch award for several consecutive years, and became senior vice president. In 1990, he became managing director and in 1997 oversaw Chubb’s U.S. and Canadian Field Operations and was elected executive vice president, positions he held until his retirement from Chubb on August 1, 2000. Green was instrumental in forming Chubb’s Minority Development Council and is past president, chairman of the board, and a member of the Executive Leadership Council for INROADS, Inc. of New York City. INROADS is a national nonprofit corporate sponsorship program that provides African American, Latino, and Native American college students with corporate internships. Green is currently chairman of the board of trustees for Mount Union College and has served as an advisory board member for Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Emory Business School, and Fairfield University. He is past board chairman for the United Way of Westchester, Westchester County Urban League, and the Urban Family Institute.

352

Grocery Store Enterprises

Among Green’s many awards are the Mount Union Alumni Service Award, the M-Club Award of Excellence, the Frank C. Carr Community Service Award, and the Westchester Urban League Community Service Award. He is also a Heartshare Community Leader Honoree and has three children with his wife Kim. Often referred to as an icon in the insurance business due to the breadth and depth of his career experiences and with reemphasis on his professional history of global focus, Green’s actualized vision, foresight, and leadership firmly establish him as one of the highest-ranking African Americans in the insurance industry. See also: E-Commerce and the African American Community Sources Beck, Linda. ‘‘Sylvester Green Is New Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Mount Union College.’’ Mount Union College. http://www.muc.edu/article/articleview/ 1312/1/133. Bowers, Barbara. ‘‘Linking for Success.’’ Best’s Review 101 (December 2000): 26þ. Clarke, Caroline V. Take a Lesson: Today’s Black Achievers on How They Made It and What They Learned Along the Way. New York: Wiley, 2001. Mack, Gracian. ‘‘At the Top of His Game.’’ Black Enterprise 25 (March 1995): 84–87.

Linda Combs Hayden

Grocery Store Enterprises Black-owned and -operated grocery stores developed as a result of African American farmers’ interest in receiving greater profits from their agricultural labors, especially when these profits did not have to be shared with whites in the tenant farming system known as sharecropping. They also were a response to the dependence on stores and markets owned and operated by whites as outlets for selling and buying food and other products. As early as the 1850s, J. Wilcox, a boat steward on the Ohio River, was also owner of a wholesale grocery in downtown Cincinnati, grossing up to $140,000 annually. Fair treatment of blacks as agricultural producers and consumers was not assured in these settings, especially in the South during the era of segregation. As a result, consumer boycotts of white-owned businesses became a means to protest Jim Crow laws, while also underscoring the importance of African American spending power by ‘‘buying black’’ when possible. A tragic example in this regard is the case of Willie Mae Williams, a successful grocer in Starksdale, Mississippi, until shot dead in her store by a white gunman in 1910. Despite the obstacles, by 1913, 6,339 blacks were identified as being owners/operators of grocery stores, second only to restaurants/eating establishments (7,511) in black business enterprises. In the most basic form, the ‘‘produce market,’’ black farmers would set up arrangements of fruits, vegetables, and other agricultural products on a

353

Grocery Store Enterprises

portion of the land near the fields where the produce was grown. Other locations would include ‘‘stands’’ along well-traveled roads, mobile service from wagons, and over time the establishment of storefront locations in the black sections of towns and cities. As more of these stores were developed to serve black families and communities in various parts of the country, efforts began to formally organize black merchants. Part of the vision of Marcus Garvey’s UNIA [Universal Negro Improvement Association] Enterprise in the 1920s was the establishment and sponsorship of chains of black-owned groceries, restaurants, hotels, and laundries. Despite the support of millions of African Americans, these efforts failed when the Jamaican-born Garvey was convicted of mail fraud and deported from the United States. The National Negro Business League (NNBL), which was organized by Booker T. Washington in 1900, provided the first successful model in this regard. After Washington’s death in 1915, James Carroll Napier became president; in 1919 he was replaced by Robert R. Moton, who had also succeeded Washington as president of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Under Moton’s leadership, the NNBL and Tuskegee provided strategic and financial support in the creation of a new organization, the Colored Merchants’ Association (CMA), in 1928. The CMA sought to address the needs of black grocers and other small merchants by organizing them into a ‘‘voluntary chain’’ to compete against white-owned grocery chains. Statistical data from 1929 documented that black-owned grocery stores generated the highest percentage (36.25 percent) of sales revenue, including restaurants, apparel/clothing, furniture/ household, automotive, and other store categories. In the early 1930s, grocery stores were considered the largest category of black-owned business enterprises. The CMA began in Montgomery, Alabama, and over time spread to other cities with sizable black populations, including Birmingham, Selma, Jackson, Dallas, Atlanta, New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Richmond, Hampton, Winston-Salem, Nashville, Louisville, Detroit, Chicago, Tulsa, and Omaha. Each member city had a minimum of ten stores; members paid dues of $5 per week. Small grocery store owners could benefit from CMA volume purchases of goods, a uniform accounting system, cooperative advertising, and training in modern methods of merchandising. In 1932, the CMA opened a warehouse in New York’s Harlem community, selling food products packaged with the CMA label. Despite a few years of success, the CMA went bankrupt by 1936, resulting from a combination of factors, including the American economy of the depression years, the problems of running a national business cooperative with great diversity in the membership and its business/financial resources and expertise, and pressure on small grocers from wholesalers and other larger interests affecting the ability to obtain and maintain inventories, secure credit, and pay incurred expenses/debts. In 1947, Joseph Alphonso Pierce conducted the first systematic study of urban, black-owned businesses during the segregation period and documented

354

Grocery Store Enterprises

a total of 491 grocery stores owned/operated by blacks. These enterprises, along with convenience stores and produce markets, continued as mostly small, independent, and in some cases, family-run businesses serving urban, suburban, and rural communities, with varying degrees of success. After the civil rights movement of the 1960s succeeded in providing African Americans with increased access to public facilities and accommodations, businesses owned by whites were also driven to provide more equitable access and service to black customers. Economic boycotts of white businesses were again a potent weapon to initiate change, underscoring the ‘‘green power’’ of the black consumer market. An unfortunate by-product of the end of segregation was that with more options more black consumers began to patronize business and professional services that were owned by whites, to the detriment of black-owned businesses that had, in many instances, provided equal or better products and services. The numbers and strong economic base in black communities, unified out of necessity during segregation, were diluted into the mainstream. Most, if not all, black-owned grocery stores were already in competition with white-owned stores of varying sizes and could not survive as the country moved into the era of the supermarkets, which were developed and controlled by larger corporate interests. One of the few successful black-owned supermarkets to emerge in recent years is Community Pride Food Stores in Richmond, Virginia, established in 1992. Under the leadership of Jonathan F. Johnson, the ten-outlet chain of grocery stores was ranked number 57 in the Black Enterprise Top 100 Industrial/Service listing for 2004, with sales revenues totaling $61.780 million. According to commentator James Clingman, there were only nineteen black-owned supermarkets in the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century, even though African Americans spend billions of dollars on food every year. Despite this reality, African American communities in the United States are far less likely to have quality grocery stores in their neighborhoods. Major grocery store chains tended to underestimate black spending power and overestimated the risks of locating in the central/ inner city or other areas where there are large concentrations of African Americans. The more recent success of Community Pride in Virginia, along with other supermarkets in Alabama, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, demonstrates that black-owned grocery stores can still thrive in African American communities. This underscores the potential for similar developments in other locations, given the proper combination of financial, leadership/management, and community support. The major chains are starting to take notice; their renewed interest in African American and inner-city communities will have some positive impact, as access to this consumer base should also provide additional jobs and economic stability. However, the increased presence of major grocery

355

Grocery Store Enterprises

store chains in African American communities will again create challenges and competition, impacting the viability of black-owned grocery stores. See also: Blacks in Agriculture; Food Service Industry; Retail Industry; Roadside and Street Vending Sources Brown, Monique R. ‘‘Supermarket Blackout.’’ Black Enterprise 90 (July 1999): 81–92. Clingman, James. ‘‘Economic Empowerment: Black Farmers Still Fighting.’’ http:// www.coax.net/people/lwf/ee_black.htm. Cohen, Lizabeth. A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America. New York: Knopf, 2003. Donohue, Ron M. ‘‘Abandonment and Revitalization of Central City Retailing: The Case of Grocery Stores.’’ Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1997. Library of Congress. American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library. ‘‘The Colored Merchants Association.’’ http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ ammem/coolhtm/coolencf.html. Smith, Jessie Carney, and Carrell P. Horton, eds. Historical Statistics of Black America. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995. Walker, Juliet E. K., ed. Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. Woodard, Michael D. Black Entrepreneurs in America: Stories of Struggle and Success. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997.

Fletcher F. Moon

356

H James Francis Haddon (1954– ), Investment Company Executive, Banker, Managing Director James F. Haddon is the senior managing director and manager of Infrastructure Finance Group, Public Finance, at Citigroup (formerly Salomon Smith Barney). His current responsibilities include comanaging the department’s infrastructure/transportation group and also serving on the division’s planning committee. Haddon has worked over twenty years in the municipal bond industry, focusing on providing investment banking and financial advisory services to large city and state issuers. Since 1999, Haddon has overseen the firm’s infrastructure finance efforts. He coordinated the firm’s new business efforts to gain lead underwriting assignments from state and local issuers, primarily in the firm’s infrastructure/transportation group. He coordinates efforts to gain new lead underwriting assignments from large issuers. As the firm lead banker, Haddon is involved with state and local issuers electing to securitize its tobacco settlement revenue. His efforts contributed in making his firm rank as number one underwriter of tobacco settlement securitizations. During this period, Haddon also served as senior book running manager for sixteen issues totaling $10.75 billion in par. Haddon also served as the account manager for the firm’s financing activities for the city of New York, the largest borrower in the tax-exempt market. It is thought that he created the first-ever tax-exempt tobacco financing for the city of New York. Haddon’s other municipal clients include the state of New York, the state of Iowa, the city of New Orleans, the city of Detroit, the city of Chicago, the District of Columbia, city of Houston, the state of California, the government of the Virgin Islands, and the government of Guam. Haddon thrives on the intense competition for new business. He started bringing clients to his company when he was a junior vice president. He sees his current promotion to managing director as a recognition of his record as

Elliott Sawyer Hall

a producer for the firm and a leader in getting business. Haddon is so good in what he does that in October 1992 he was cited by Black Enterprise magazine, along with seven other municipal finance professionals, as one of ‘‘the 25 hottest blacks on Wall Street.’’ Prior to achieving this career level, Haddon was a member of the executive committee for the Municipal Securities Group of PaineWebber Inc. (now UBS Paine Webber). He also served as Mellon National Corporation real estate analyst from 1976 through 1978. Haddon was born on August 12, 1954, in Columbia, South Carolina, the son of Ida Beatrice and Wallace James Haddon. He married Dr. Sezelle Antoinette Gereau on September 25, 1988. They have two children, Madeleine Louise and James Douglass. In addition to his prior experience in the corporate world and the support of his family, his education also contributed to his success. Haddon received his B.A. degree from Wesleyan University, Connecticut, in 1976. He received his M.B.A. from Stanford University in 1980. Haddon is a member of numerous organizations, including board member of the National Association for Securities Professionals (1991) and Sponsors for Economic Opportunity Mentor Program. Haddon’s education, family support, perseverance, cooperate experience, hard work, and competency no doubt contributed to his success and sustained presence in the business world. Sources ‘‘The Top 50 African Americans on Wall Street.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (October 2002): 98. http://www.blackenterprise.com. Clarke, Caroline. ‘‘25 Hottest Blacks on Wall Street’’ (Special section). Black Enterprise 23 (October 1992): 64. King, Sharon. ‘‘Smith Barney Names Haddon Senior Managing Director.’’ The Bond Buyer. http://web6.infotrac.galegroup.com. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Nkechi Amadife

Elliott Sawyer Hall (1938– ), Automobile Company Executive, Attorney Elliott S. Hall was Ford Motor Company’s vice president of governmental affairs in Washington, D.C., a position he held since 1987 and one held as Ford’s first African American vice president. His brilliant career as a leading and enterprising African American in both the field of law and in the automotive industry is studded with firsts that consistently reflect his determination, intelligence, keen insight, and serious emphasis on both serving and recruiting minorities. His lifelong performance exemplifies a high level of excellence resulting in positive corporate growth and customer satisfaction, while his commitment to developing organizational talent and his adeptness at promoting entrepreneurial opportunities for minority-owned

358

Elliott Sawyer Hall

automotive industry supplier and dealer businesses place him at the forefront for diversifying his industry and effecting economic empowerment of minority communities with emphasis on appropriate and timely training programs and financial assistance. Hall was born in 1938 in Detroit, the son of Ethel B. Hall and steelworker Odis Hall and the second youngest of eight children. Formerly wed to Evelyn Hall and having two sons, Lannis and Frederick, Hall is married to Shirley Robinson Hall and has a daughter Tiffany. Educated at Wayne State University in Detroit with the B.A. and J.D. degrees, Hall defended civil rights cases in the mid-1960s. In 1972, he was elected head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP; Detroit chapter) and was president of the local United Black Coalition. Serving as the first African American Corporation Council for Detroit in 1974–1975, Hall then entered private law practice from 1975 to 1983. From 1983 to 1985, he served the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office as the first African American chief assistant prosecutor and became a partner in the Detroit law firm Dykema, Gossett, Spencer, Goodnow and Trigg from 1985 until 1987, when he joined Ford Motor Company. Hall has been honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Wayne State University Law School and is past president of the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association and Wolverine Bar Association. He was also a member of the board of the Washington Performing Arts Society, the National Symphony Orchestra, as well as the federal City Council, a private group of prominent Washingtonians. Serving as board chairman of both the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C. and the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit, Hall is also a board member of Georgetown University, Clark Atlanta University, and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Retiring after fifteen years with Ford Motor Company, also as vice president of Dealer Development, Hall further served the company as a consultant in continuing the development of minority-owned Ford dealerships. He practices law with Dykema Gossett PLLC with offices in Detroit and Washington, D.C., focusing on government policy and automotive industry related legislative issues as well as matters relating to municipalities. From the first person in his family to attend college to civil rights activist to a distinctive pacesetter in his industry to distinguished and prominent attorney in Detroit, Michigan, to high-profile powerful Washingtonian, Hall’s demand for equity and excellence, his productive imagination, and his deep sense of integrity have consistently served him well and have had a lasting positive impact on the legal and business world, as well as on the African American community. Sources Dingle, Derek T., and Alan Hughes. ‘‘Navigating Rough Waters.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (February 2002): 85–92. Dykema Gossett PLLC. ‘‘Elliott S. Hall.’’ http://www.dykema.com/bio/default.asp.

359

Marc R. Hannah ‘‘Ford Motor Company Executives to Retire; Replacement Named.’’ Collision Repair Industry Insight. http://www.collision-insight.com/news/20011015-ford. Phelps, Shirelle, ed. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 24. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Linda Combs Hayden

Marc R. Hannah (1956– ), Technology Industry Executive, Computer Graphics Expert As principal scientist and vice president of Silicon Graphics Inc., the company that he helped to found, Marc Hannah has been highly successful as an engineer and special effects expert. Hannah is chief architect of the Personal IRSIS, Indigo, Indigo2, and Indy graphics subsystems. His threedimensional graphics created effects for such films as Terminator 2 (1991) and Jurassic Park (1993) that caught the eye and interest of a wide range of audiences. Marc Regis Hannah was born in Chicago on October 13, 1956, the son of Hubert and Edith Hannah. He and his four siblings were raised under the banner of education. His father was an accountant and his mother a teacher; their chief concern was that their children excel in school. Hannah began to excel early. After graduating from high school in his hometown, he received a scholarship and a fellowship from AT&T’s Bell Laboratories to support his studies at Illinois Institute of Technology, where he enrolled. He graduated in 1977 with a B.S. degree in electrical engineering. A second fellowship from Bell Laboratories financed his studies at Stanford University, where he earned a Master of Science degree in 1978. In 1985 Hannah received his Ph.D. degree from Stanford; both graduate degrees were also in electrical engineering. Hannah spent some time working at Bell Laboratories, where he had developed an interest in 3-D. During his graduate studies at Stanford, he met Jim Clark, one of his professors who, ironically, had a research interest in that same area. Together they created a machine that improved on the way that 3-D images were manipulated. Clark invented the Geometry Engine, which was a computer chip that facilitated image manipulation. The chip replaced the previous 2-D flat image and enabled a computer user to rotate an image directly on screen in 3-D. In 1982, the two teamed up with five others and, with $33 million in venture capital and the computer chip, founded Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI), located in Mountain View, California, in the middle of Silicon Valley. Clark was the brainchild of SGI. When SGI was founded, Hannah’s assignment was to recast and improve the Geometry Engine. So effective was Hannah in his work that the chip was the company’s mainstay for the next six years. As result, SGI attracted a

360

Marc R. Hannah

number of big clients and saw its revenue increase substantially. SGI developed high-powered workstations that were responsible for the flashy and computerized films that gained popularity in the early 1980s. These included Mars Attacks! (1996) and Jurassic Park. Other films using technology that Hannah helped to create include The Abyss (1989), Field of Dreams (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), and Beauty and the Beast (1991). Both Hannah and his company received a big boost when Industrial Light & Magic, a part of Star Wars producer George Lucas’s empire, spent millions with SGI to purchase computers to create special effects for Terminator 2, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The helmets used in the opening of Monday Night Football were also among the company’s designs, as were the graphics for two of Michael Jackson’s videos, Black or White (1991) and Remember the Time (1992). Although his company’s early products sold well, Hannah, the chief scientist for SGI, thought on a grand scale and began to develop less expensive computers than the $10,000- to $30,000-priced workstations that the company made at first. The lower-end workstations were still capable of producing powerful three-dimensional graphics, and his plan was to introduce an even lower-priced model, in the $5,000 range. Through lower prices, Hannah predicted that the market would be broadened. At SGI, Hannah became known as a special effects whiz. The entertainment industry, a high profile for SGI, makes up about 15 percent of the business. Other designs by Hannah have been used, for example, to help build the Boeing 777 and applications for modeling biotechnology systems. Hannah reduced his lengthy workweek at SGI and supervised construction of a 6,000-square-foot home in Silicon Valley that he helped to design. Further, he has served as a consultant for SGI as well as a few emerging companies. These include Omniverse Digital Solutions and Pulsent. Beyond SGI, Hannah became part owner of Rondeau Bay, a minority-owned construction company in Oakland, California, that struggled at first but later gained in revenue. Rondeau developed a method of sewer repair that was less expensive and less destructive to streets than traditional methods. Rondeau Bay would remind him that racism was still present, especially when he saw big city engineers doing everything they could to keep contracts from going to minority-owned companies. He has received thirteen patents as well as numerous awards and honors. Hannah’s recognitions include the Professional Achievement Award from Illinois Institute of Technology and the same award from the National Technical Association, both in 1987. He is a board member of Magic Edge and an investor in the company that supplies visual stimulation to amusement parks nationwide. Silicon Graphics provides the visual display system for Magic Edge, which provides the hardware. With its technology, Magic Edge may require use of a joystick to create a wide range of motions, including the motion of flying. A quiet, shy person, Hannah continues to work in solitude as he seeks to develop exciting and affordable machines that will simplify life in the future.

361

Carla Ann Harris Sources ‘‘Computer Scientists of the African Diaspora.’’ Smart Computing. http://www.math/ buffalo.edu/mad/computer-science/hannah_marc.html. ‘‘Marc Hannah: Special Effects Wiz.’’ Ebony 48 (February 1993): 55–58. ‘‘Marc Regis Hannah.’’ Smart Computing Encyclopedia. http://www.smartcompu ting.com/editorial/dictionary/detail.Asp?guid¼A76EGB2FF6CB4B. Partch, Marjorie. ‘‘Marc Hannah.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996. Teitelbaum, Richard S. ‘‘Marc R. Hannah, 33.’’ Fortune 122 (August 22, 1990): 105.

Frederick D. Smith

Carla Ann Harris (1963– ), Investment Banker, Vocalist Investment bankers may be notorious for all work and no play, but Carla Ann Harris is not only a managing director on Wall Street but also a noteworthy vocalist who released her first CD Carla’s First Christmas in early 2000. Her ambition, professional drive, and quarterly ‘‘life checks’’ have ensured that she has not strayed from her professional goals. Harris graduated with high honors from Bishop High School in Jacksonville, Florida. In 1984, she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and, in 1987, from Harvard Business School with an M.B.A. Shortly afterward she began her career at the Morgan Stanley Dean Witter firm. She married her hometown sweetheart, Victor Adrian Franklin, in August 2001. After her sophomore year at Harvard, Harris became enamored with investment banking because of an internship on Wall Street provided by Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), a nonprofit mentoring organization. She had originally chosen law as her intended profession because she thought lawyers were the people who made the deals but later realized it is really the businesspeople who called the shots and gave advice. During her ascent to the top of a Forbes 500 company (Morgan Stanley DW, Inc. ranked eighteenth in 2004), Harris has encountered more than a few stumbling blocks, but she did not let her color and gender stand in the way of her goals. In fact, Harris is only the second African American woman to become a managing director at Morgan Stanley. She began her work at Morgan Stanley in 1987 advising on mergers and acquisitions and later moved on to the true livelihood of investment banking— finance. Before being appointed as the head of Morgan Stanley’s Equity Private Placement Group, Harris was responsible for handling some of the firm’s largest initial public offerings (IPOs)—UPS, Martha Stewart Living, Omnimedia, Donna Karan, Ariba, Redback, General Motor’s sub-IPO Delphi Automotive, and the $3.2 billion common stock transaction for Immunex Corporation.

362

Carla Ann Harris

Harris worked her way to the top with hard work and raw intellect, oftentimes without a mentor, and she never thought she would encounter someone in a higher position who could not or would not teach her, either through insecurity or lack of experience. Instead of faltering, Harris adopted a ‘‘Never let them see me sweat’’ as her tactic. A close look at Harris’s professional patterns reveals her firm belief in herself as exceptionally capable, and she works hard to quantify her professional success with tangible evidence. Because of her lack of mentors, Harris has taken time out to mentor SEO and M.B.A. students, advising them to know their business, understand the corporate culture and unspoken rules of their company, and realize that perception must go hand in hand with reality. Harris’s personal formula for success is to stay abreast of potential areas to grow, be flexible with one’s strategy and the economy, know how to pitch marketable strengths, and stay focused on developing a career. Harris may advise many up-and-coming businesspeople, but she still takes time out to reassess her own goals every year. It was her personal to-do list that prompted her to record and release her first album, Carla’s First Christmas, which was released in 2000, the same year she launched one of Morgan Stanley’s largest IPOs. Harris has always wanted to sing professionally, and finally in 2000, she chose to cross ‘‘record a CD’’ off her to-do list instead of letting it roll over to the next year. The decision to record a CD was also prompted by a culmination of positive reviews from ten years of performances in clubs, offoff Broadway plays, fund-raisers, and as part of the St. Charles Gospelite Choir in Harlem. However, what really encouraged Harris to record her CD was her standing-room-only performance in August 1999 at Notorious Magazine’s ‘‘Notorious Nights.’’ Her second album was released in September 2004. Since Harris has always believed in giving back, the proceeds of her album go to benefit two schools by funding the Carla Harris Scholarships at Harvard University and Bishop Kenney High School in Jacksonville, Florida. Perhaps the single most driving factor in Harris’s life is her faith. Constantly growing in her faith is at the top of Harris’s ‘‘to-do list’’ year after year. A Roman Catholic, Harris recently discovered her deeper spirituality and how to tap into its power. Harris’s life obviously depicts a class act. Her ‘‘I dare you’’ mind-set is the roadmap she insists has kept her determined and successful, and her one-ofa-kind portfolio proves this strategy works. Her honors include Fortune magazine’s ‘‘50 Most Powerful Black Executives in Corporate America,’’ Black Enterprise’s ‘‘Top 50 African Americans on Wall Street,’’ Bethune Award from the National Council of Negro Women, Ron Brown Trailblazer Award from St. John’s University School of Law, Women of Distinction Award from the Girl Scouts of Greater Essex and Hudson Counties, and Frederick Douglass Award from the New York Urban League. Harris is a woman who goes after her goals and never takes ‘‘no’’ for an answer, which

363

Lowell Hawthorne

has taken her up the corporate ladder to her position as one of the few African American women on top of Wall Street. See also: Women and Business Sources ‘‘Artist.’’ Nema-Amen. http://www.budsinc.com/nema-amen/artist.htm. Benson, Christopher. ‘‘Best Career Choices and Moves in a Tight Economy.’’ Ebony 59 (January 2004): 62–65. Booker, James E. ‘‘All About People.’’ New Voice of New York, Inc. 43 (August 29, 2001): 3. ‘‘Carla’s First Christmas.’’ Nema-Amen. http://www.nema-amen.com. Clarke, Caroline V. ‘‘Winning on Wall Street: Carla Harris Uses Her Prowess to Make Billion-Dollar Deals and Uplift Youth’’ (interview). Black Enterprise 33 (February 2003): 104–109. ‘‘15 at the Top in Corporate America.’’ Ebony 59 (March 2004): 44–46, 48, 50. Span-Baker, Felicia. ‘‘AACCCF: Carla Harris Equips Business Leaders with Economic Lessons.’’ http://www.aacccforl.com/documents/harrispostarticle.doc. ———. ‘‘African American Chamber of Commerce Welcomes Keynote Speaker Carla Harris.’’ http://www.orlando.org/clientuploads/temp/carlaharris_bio.pdf.

Thura Mack

Lowell Hawthorne (c. 1960– ), Entrepreneur, Business Executive Born of an entrepreneurial spirit along with ambition and perseverance, Lowell Hawthorne has turned a small family business with humble beginnings into a franchising mecca. Jamaican cuisine being served to the masses of Brooklyn, New York, with the help of family recipes more than a halfcentury old, is how it all started. The name Lowell Hawthorne is now synonymous with Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery and Grill. Hawthorne, one of twelve children, was born to Ephrahim and Mavis Hawthorne of St. Andrew, Jamaica. Ephrahim and Mavis Hawthorne began their entrepreneurship in 1940. In 1949, they opened, owned, and operated Hawthorne & Sons Bakery. Hawthorne & Sons Bakery prepared great Jamaican cuisine with the help of old family recipes passed on to Ephrahim from his father Norman Hawthorne. Ephrahim, following in his own father’s footsteps, passed on the family recipes and the ingredients for business and success to Lowell and his other children. At the age of twenty-one, Hawthorne immigrated to New York, following other siblings having already made the migrant transition. Lauris, the eldest of the Hawthorne clan, was the first to leave their home in St. Andrew and become a U.S. citizen. She worked as a nurse aid and bought a home that became a haven for most of her siblings at one time or another as they made the trek from St. Andrew to New York. Hawthorne’s journey to New York took place in 1981. His matriculation and desire for enrichment in the field of business administration led him to three educational institutions—Bronx Community College, Baruch College, and Lehman

364

Lowell Hawthorne

College in New York. He earned an associate of science degree from Bronx Community College. Although Hawthorne had some formal education and training, he had learned and understood early on how a successful business should be run as he worked and acquired experience in his parents’ bakery in Jamaica. While attending college, Hawthorne worked for the New York City Police Department as junior accountant. He worked in this position for nearly eight years. According to an article in Chain Store Age, ‘‘By the end of the ’80s, the wheels of entrepreneurship had long been turning in the head of Hawthorne.’’ Starting his own business had been foremost on his mind; however, taking a risk such as this and leaving the comfort of income stability had to be evaluated thoroughly. Shortly after, Lowell took a leave of absence from his job and career with the Police Department. As Hawthorne pondered the thought deeply, he turned to his brothers and sisters, Lauris, Lloyd, Velma, Milton, and Jacqueline, and pitched the idea of creating and perpetuating a New York–based family business of baking fresh Jamaican goods. Market research had been very instrumental in moving Hawthorne’s ideas and desire of wanting a business from thought to action. According to Michelle Garcia of the Washington Post, ‘‘The Hawthornes’ endeavor was well timed.’’ The growing population of New York’s Caribbean Islanders and especially Jamaicans had shown evidence of there definitely being a need and then ultimately a demand for the supply of Jamaican-style baked goods and products. After being presented with the plan and strategy to launch the business, Hawthorne’s brothers and sisters were sold on the idea of working toward starting a family-owned bakery. In 1989, Hawthorne and his family had a business plan, and they needed funding of $107,000 for start-up costs to set the plan in action. Trust and commitment are two values dear to Hawthorne’s heart. He and his siblings applied for several business loans at banking institutions, and they did not get approval for any one of them. Staying true and committed, Hawthorne met with his brothers and sisters and soon-to-be business partners and made the suggestion that they fund the start-up costs themselves. He assured them that even though there would be some risk involved, they were calculated risks, which could prove to be successful if executed. They then, along with the help of their spouses, gathered all their resources and mortgaged their homes to open the Golden Krust Bakery located in New York City’s worldfamous Bronx community. In the operations infancy, Hawthorne and family members ‘‘personally baked, sold and distributed all the products, which included bread, cake and meat patties,’’ according to Linda Armstrong in the Network Journal. Some of the family members worked their regular full-time jobs each day and then went on to work shifts in the bakery. They were determined to making this a family business, and after a while they made an even greater commitment and worked solely for Golden Krust Bakery—leaving their other jobs and professions. Dedication coupled with support gave this family the edge that they needed to see that success in this venture was attainable. Even though

365

Lowell Hawthorne

this business was family driven, each member had more experience in certain areas than others. Hawthorne took on the position of chief executive, his brother Lloyd managed the operations that dealt with distribution, and his sister Lauris managed some of the baking operations. After about two years, Golden Krust Bakery’s growth in popularity and demand was quite apparent—now they operated two stores, and sales reached over $1 million. The ‘‘patty’’ is considered to be one of the bakery’s most sought after and iconic delights. These patties, made with meats and/or vegetables that boast Jamaican spices and flavors baked into a flaky crust, are said to have a taste that is very close to home cooking. As the demand grew, so did the operation. The year 1996 was the year of change for Golden Krust Bakery and the Hawthorne family. The production plant was relocated to the South Bronx, where a city block was purchased to accommodate the increase and expansion of goods and services at twenty-four locations. The bakery then became known as Golden Krust Bakery, Inc. The Golden Krust chain’s accelerated rate of success opened the doors to a varied customer base and a number of contracts, some of which includes the New York School System, New York City Prison, supermarkets, and Pepsi. Along with its incorporation also came the licensure to sell franchises in over thirty-six states across the United States. There are more than eighty Golden Krust Bakery and Grill locations in New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Florida, Connecticut, Georgia, and California. Serving up more than just patties, a menu of combination meals, platters, and specialty dishes enables the company to cater to the mainstream’s fast-food frame of mind. The operation has netted annual sales in amounts exceeding $16.5 million. The communities in which Golden Krust establishments thrive are very important to Hawthorne—the president and chief executive officer. Golden Krust has given back to its communities in a number of ways. On December 4, 2004, Golden Krust released a children’s book, the first in a series of free books, titled Mr. Krust’s Christmas. The company supports two major scholarships both in the United States and in Jamaica. Lowell, the Hawthorne family, and Golden Krust Bakery, Inc. have acquired many accolades since its inception in 1989. Golden Krust Bakery, Inc. has been ranked as one of Black Enterprise magazine’s top 100 black-owned businesses. In 2001, Hawthorne was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Golden Krust Bakery, Inc. continues on its mission to spread the taste of the Caribbean across the United States, all the while increasing its business activity and economic success. Hawthorne’s goal for the year 2010 is the addition of 165 Golden Krust Bakery and Grill locations. See also: Food Service Industry; Retail Industry Sources Aikman, Beckly. ‘‘New York City–Based Restaurant Chain Aims to Make Caribbean Cuisine Mainstream.’’ Newsday, November 22, 2004. Armstrong, Linda. ‘‘All in the Family; Business Owned and Run by Families Are Insurance for Future Generations.’’ Network Journal (August 31, 2003): 19.

366

Darryl B. Hazel Block, Valerie. ‘‘Eatery Chain Hopes Spice Is Right.’’ Crain’s New York Business, October 20, 1997, 26. Donaldson, Sonya A. ‘‘30th Annual Report on Black Business: Going Against the Grain.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (June 2002): 185–196. Garcia, Michelle. ‘‘For N. Y. Caribbean Beef Patty Co., Business Is Cooking.’’ Washington Post, February 15, 2005, A03. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ articles/A21778-February13.html. ‘‘ ‘Giant step’ for Golden Krust in California.’’ Weekly Gleaner, May 20–26, 2004, 11. ‘‘Golden Krust Bakery Launches Children’s book.’’ Weekly Gleaner, December 2–8, 2004, 14. ‘‘The Golden Touch of Lowell Hawthorne.’’ Gateway: A Bronx Community College Publication (Winter 2004). http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/Alumni/Newsletter/News letter.pdf. ‘‘Lowell Hawthorne.’’ Chain Store Age (December 2000): 88. Salaam, Yusef. ‘‘A Golden Fixture among Manhattan Eateries.’’ New York Amsterdam News, August 14, 1997, 27. Trager, Cara S. ‘‘Turning Mom-and-Pops into Miniature Empires.’’ Crain’s New York Business, May 24, 1999, 30.

Dantrea Hampton

Darryl B. Hazel (c. 1950– ), Automobile Company Executive Darryl B. Hazel stands out as a beacon to minorities that are constantly losing hope and demonstrating frustration and anxiety over the lack of progress being made in the corporate world in elevating minorities to executive positions. Hazel’s appointment to the presidency of Lincoln Mercury by the Ford Motor Company appeared to energize persons trying to move up the corporate ladder. This appointment was extra special because Hazel was an insider and a lifer who had held many positions with Ford Motor Company at various levels. Hazel joined Ford Motor Company as an analyst in Lincoln Mercury’s New York District Sales office in 1972. Hazel also held the positions of marketing manager, business management manager, and field manager. He served in management positions in Washington, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Boston. Hazel received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wesleyan University. He later earned a master’s degree in economics from Northwestern University. Along with the managerial positions held by Hazel, he also held staff positions in North American Automotive Operations Management. He served as a marketing programs manager, strategy manager, education and training manager, and marketing research director. Hazel started his work in production management in 1995 as a general sales manager for the Mercury Division. In 1997, he was appointed general

367

Darryl B. Hazel

marketing manager for the Ford Division. In February 1999, he was appointed executive director for North America for the Ford Motor Company Customer Services Division. In December 2001, Hazel was elected vice president of Ford Motor Company Customer Service Division. In August 2002, the Ford Motor Company named Hazel president of Lincoln Mercury Division. To the automotive industry, Hazel was considered an insider when he was named president of Lincoln Mercury Company. Other executives and automotive dealers believed that he had paid his dues and that he knew the industry from the inside out. They believed his experiences would be beneficial in turning the Lincoln Mercury Company around. His thirty years in the automobile business and especially his fifteen years in the Lincoln Mercury Division of the Ford Motor Company were seen as a plus by others in the industry. Hazel exhibits a commitment to the community and to diversity in the workplace. Hazel has been recognized for his efforts in diversity. In January 2003, at the 7th Annual On Wheels, Inc. Urban Wheel Awards, which celebrates diversity in the auto industry, he received the Edward Davis African American Executives of the Year Award. The On Wheels, Inc. is a multicultural media company. The award has been given annually since 1996 and recognizes African Americans for their contributions to the automobile industry. He was honored for his successful leadership, his policy of open and honest communications with employees, and his passion for diversity and mentoring through the Ford African American Network (FAAN) Resource Group. The Ford Motor Company has listed Hazel as one of the key minority executives for 2003, but his involvement in the community has received recognition. He has volunteered in many capacities over the years. Hazel served as a board member of the Oakland Family Services. Oakland Family Services is a nonprofit organization that provides programs that strengthen families in southern Michigan. He contributed his time, inside and outside the corporate world, to make a difference for others. Hazel’s rise to the top of the automotive industry corporate ladder has been seen as an effort by the Ford Motor Company to promote diversity at the upper level of management. However, Hazel’s accomplishments over his thirty-year career cannot be diminished by the appointment. In 2002, diversity was an issue among black automakers. Compared with other industries, the auto industry is in the middle when it comes to hiring, promoting, and retaining black executives. In 2002, only 5 of 130, or 3.8 percent of, corporate officers at General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler Group were African Americans, although African Americans make up 14 percent of the auto industry workforce. Ford Motor Company, over the last two years, has earned national recognition for its commitment to diversity. The FAAN is one of the groups that promotes leadership development for minorities and women. Hazel serves as a mentor to this employee resource group.

368

Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst

Hazel has also been recognized for his sensitivity to the customers and dealerships of the Ford Motor Company. With years of experience in the Customer Service Division, he has firsthand knowledge of the complaints and solutions to correct customer problems. He has provided assistance to dealerships in helping to solve customer service problems. Ford Motor Company has more black dealers than any other automobile company. Hazel supports the black dealers by his participation at the annual Ford Motor Minority Dealers Association (FMMDA) Conference and by supporting the opening and renovations of black-owned dealerships. He has also visited with successful dealerships. There are many testimonies to the care and concern exhibited by Hazel in reaching out to minorities in the auto industry and especially at Lincoln Mercury. Hazel’s appointment has made a great impact on the corporate world and especially in the automotive industry. His appointment came at a time when minorities were getting impatient with the slow progress being made in diversity at the executive levels of many corporations. Hazel came with the knowledge, experience, and leadership skills that are worthy to be emulated by any race, color, or creed. Sources Akinmusuru, Toyin. ‘‘Auto Show Ceremony Recognizes African Americans and Latinos.’’ South End. http://www.southend.wagner.edu. Connelly, Mary. ‘‘New L-M Chief Is Old Hand at Selling Cars.’’ Automotive News, July 22, 2002. ‘‘Darryl B. Hazel Named President of Lincoln Mercury Car Company.’’ Jet 102 (September 16, 2002): 8. ‘‘Ford’s Minority Dealers Meet in San Francisco.’’ Jet 103 (March 10, 2003): 25. Garsten, Ed. ‘‘Lincoln Mercury Head Resigns.’’ Associated Press Wire, July 19, 2002. http://www.ohio.com. ‘‘Issues in the News.’’ Afro American Almanac, March 5, 2002. http://www.toptags.com. ‘‘Powerplay.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (November 2002): 72. Ramirez, Charles E. ‘‘Ford Motor Pioneers Diversity.’’ Detroit News, June 9, 2003. ‘‘7th Annual Urban Wheels Awards Celebrates Diversity in the Auto Industry.’’ Press Release. http://www.noticieswire.com. ‘‘Speaking of People.’’ Ebony 58 (2002): 10. Young, Joe M. ‘‘In the Belly of the Beast.’’ A Personal View into the Management at Ford Motor Company. http://www.flatratetech.com.

Orella R. Brazile

Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst (1943– ), Automobile Executive, Entrepreneur In a relatively short period of time, Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst of Huntsville, Alabama, has risen to the forefront among this country’s leading automobile executives. Referring to her adopted home and business ventures in a recent interview, summarized in Notable Black American Women, Henry-Fairhurst

369

Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst

proudly proclaimed Huntsville to be ‘‘the best kept secret in the South.’’ In the intervening years since that interview, her business ventures have grown by leaps and bounds. After opening the first black-owned Infinity dealership in North America, she has successfully undertaken the management of three dealerships in Huntsville under the rubric ‘‘Autoplex of Huntsville,’’ selling and servicing Infinity, Lexus, and Dodge vehicles. Her ‘‘ace in the hole’’ apparently is her firm belief in the familiar business adage that the customer always comes first. This belief and her father’s advocacy of cohesive team play as well as Chrysler’s strong corporate emphasis on dealer development and training have brought much success to her managerial efforts. In terms of statistics, as reported in the June 2004 Black Enterprise annual survey of the auto industry, Fairhurst’s Huntsville dealerships showed an aggregate of $62.9 million in yearly sales, rising to a ranking of forty-seventh among the Black Enterprise list of the top 100 auto dealers in the United States. (See Tables 25 and 26 for other top auto industry rankings.) Henry-Fairhurst was born in Dayton, Ohio, on January 6, 1943, to Ellen Nora and Jack Hart. Her father was a successful football coach for thirty-six years at Dayton’s Dunbar High School, and her mother taught study and learning techniques there for thirty-two years to students with learning disabilities for thirty-two years. Their educational values formed the basis of the management style their daughter was later to implement in her entrepreneurial and business career. A valedictorian at Dunbar High School, Fairhurst matriculated at Miami University of Ohio, earning her Master of Science degree in 1965. Her first step up the management ladder was taken in the late 1960s, when she served as a legal secretary at Motown Records. She soon saw the opportunity for advancement in the auto industry and ‘‘crossed the street’’ to the Ford Motor Company, working as a secretary and market analyst for eight years. Concurrent with her employment, she took Table 25. Top Ten Growth Leaders (Auto Dealers) Company Shack Findlay Honda Prestige Automotive McKinney Dodge Ultimate Pontiac Buick GMC Isuzu Walker Family Auto Group Baranco Automotive Group Panhandle Automotive, Inc. Nissan-Mitsubishi-Kia of Lake Charles Forest Lake Ford BMW of the Hudson Valley

Location

2004 Sales*

2003 Sales*

Percentage Increase

Hendersonville, NV Detroit, MI McKinney, TX Fredericksburg, VA Laurel, MS Lilburn, GA Crestview, FL

$110.000 1066.579 50.005 40.600 49.549 151.215 140.000

$73.540 766.507 37.142 30.200 36.911 120.125 111.881

49.58 39.15 34.63 34.44 34.24 25.88 25.13

42.581 29.944 36.027

34.048 24.094 29.387

25.06 24.28 22.60

Lake Charles, LA Forest Lake, MN Poughkeepsie, NY

*In millions of dollars as of December 31, 2004. Prepared by B. E. Research. Reviewed by the certified public accounting firm Edwards & Co. Source: Black Enterprise 35 ( June 2005): 136. Published by permission.

370

Table 26. Top Twenty Auto Dealers This Year

Last Year

Chief Executive

Year Started

Staff

Type of Business

Sales*

1

1

Prestige Automotive

Detroit, MI

Gregory Jackson

1989

400

Chevrolet, Pontiac, Ford, Saturn, Lincoln-Mercury, GMC Truck

1066.597

2

2

March/Hodge Automotive Group

Hartford, CT

Tony March/ Ernest M. Hodge

1998

800

GM, Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Infiniti, Volkswagen, Jaguar, Volvo

558.383

3

3

Martin Automotive Group

Bowling Green, KY

Cornelius A Martin

1985

706

Cadillac, Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler, Kia, Chevy, Ford, Hummer, Saab

382.445

4

4

S.Woods Enterprise Inc.

Tampa, FL

Sanford L Woods

1989

354

Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Hyundai

343.556

5

5

The Harrell Companies

Atlanta, GA

H. Steve Harrell

1987

412

Lexus, Nissan, Honda, Volvo, Kia, Hyundai

287.791

6

7

Boyland Auto Group

Orlando, FL

Dorian S. Boyland

1987

380

Dodge, Nissan, Ford, Honda, Mercedes-Benz

241.630

7

6

Family Automotive Group

San Juan Capistrano, CA

Raymond Dixon

1993

320

Ford, Toyota, Honda

206.518

8

11

Winston Pittman Enterprise

Louisville, KY

Winston R. Pittman Sr.

1988

235

Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Toyota, Lexus, Scion, Nissan

167.578

9

9

Legacy Automotive Group

McDonough, GA

Emanuel Jones

1992

220

Ford, Toyota, Scion, Mercury

162.000

10

10

32 Ford Mercury Inc.

Batavia, OH

Clarence F. Warren

1990

130

Ford, Lincoln-Mercury

161.388

Company

Location

(continued)

Table 26. (continued) This Year

Last Year

Company

11

14

Baranco Automotive Group

Lilburn, GA

12

12

JMC Auto Group

13

18

14

Chief Executive

Year Started

Staff

Gregory T. Baranco

1978

225

Pontiac, GMC, Acura, Lincoln-Mercury, Buick, Mercedes-Benz

151.215

Austin, TX

J. Michael Chargois

1988

233

Lincoln-Mercury

146.814

Panhandle Automotive Group

Crestview, FL

Leon Daggs Jr.

1986

260

Ford, Lincoln-Mercury, Dodge, Buick, Hyundai, Suzuki

140.000

15

Armstrong Holdings

Homestead, FL

William J. Armstrong

1990

225

Ford, Toyota

128.000

15

13

Hubbard Automotive LLC

Charlotte, NC

Reginald T. Hubbard

1988

268

Dodge, Chevrolet, Isuzu

126.089

16

17

Fitzpatrick Dealership Group

Modesto, CA

Ed Fitzpatrick

1992

130

Lexus, BMW, Infiniti

125.000

17

19

Southgate Automotive Group

Southgate, MI

Fred J Poe

1994

130

GM, Pontiac, GMC, Chevrolet, Mitsubishi

112.000

18

39

Shack Findlay Honda

Hendersonville, NC

William E. Shack Jr.

1998

110

Honda

110.000

19

16

Wade Ford Inc.

Smyrna, GA

Steven R. Ewing

2002

100

Ford

103.425

20

32

BMW/MINI of Sterling

Sterling, VA

Thomas A. Moorehead

1999

87

BMW, MINI Cooper

100.855

Location

Type of Business

Sales*

*In millions of dollars, to the nearest thousand, as of December 31, 2004. Prepared by B. E. Research. Reviewed by the certified public accounting firm Edwards & Co. Source: Black Enterprise 35 ( June 2005): 141. Published by permission.

Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst

the opportunity to further her education, earning a master’s degree in social and consumer psychology at the University of Detroit in 1986. In her next venture, she saw the opportunity to ‘‘change ships’’ and accepted a position in the Chrysler Corporation’s retail dealer development program. Upon graduating from that program in 1986, she was offered the opportunity to serve as president and general manager of the Cumberland Chrysler-Plymouth dealership in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Here her father’s advocacy of strong team-building served her well and helped her develop her inner sensitivities, analytical strengths, and managerial skills. She is credited with assessing needs, helping her team set goals, and building a strong and mature organization. In 1992, she sought her next challenge and contemplated a move to a larger location. After obtaining a good offer, and with the backing of the Chrysler Marketing Investment Division, she sold the Fayetteville business and moved to Huntsville, soon assuming 100 percent ownership of the Huntsville Dodge dealership. Her record at Huntsville bespeaks the continuous application of sound management skills: teamwork, setting high goals, and achieving positive results. Nine consecutive years of profitability earned her new franchise the Daimler/Chrysler Five Star award, signifying the company’s highest commendation for successful management. In 1999, her team achieved several additional goals. They opened the first Infinity dealership in Huntsville, the first Nissan franchise owned by an African American woman; one of only thirteen in the country owned by African Americans. Perhaps the Nissan corporation saw this as a challenge as well. They pledged to increase the number of minority-owned dealerships in North America by 25 percent by the year 2002. Henry-Fairhurst followed her Infinity initiative in 2000 with the opening of a new Lexus dealership: again a ‘‘double first’’—for her and for African Americans. Her three dealerships were then combined in a new $7.3 million facility in 2001, as stated above. Her aggregate gross income for the combined dealerships rose to $59 million in 2001 and $62.9 million by 2004. Her own ranking grew to forty-seventh among the 100 top dealers in the country, as compiled in the June 2004 listing in Black Enterprise. Henry-Fairhurst’s professional association memberships include the National Automobile Dealers Association, National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, and the board of directors of the Chrysler Minority Dealers Association. Her community organization affiliations include the board of directors of the Sickle Cell Foundation, the board of directors of the Huntsville Downtown Rescue Mission, and the board of directors of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. See also: Women and Business Sources ‘‘Car Dealerships Expand as Local Economy Grows.’’ Huntsville Times, December 3, 2002. Thieme, Darius. ‘‘Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book III. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 2003.

373

Alexis M. Herman ‘‘Top 100 Auto Dealers Summary 2004.’’ Black Enterprise 34 (June 2004): 149–158. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Darius L. Thieme

Alexis M. Herman (1947– ), Cabinet Official, Entrepreneur After years of public service, Alexis Margaret Herman returned to the private sector in 2001 when she became chair and chief executive officer (CEO) of New Ventures, Inc. Herman, in her dual roles, advises corporations on workplace diversity. Prior to New Ventures, Herman was the twenty-third U.S. secretary of labor from 1997 to 2001; thus she was the first African American female and the fourth woman to hold the cabinet position. During Herman’s tenure as head of the U.S. Department of Labor with its more than 17,000 employees and budget of $34.2 billion, she led the department’s nine divisions: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Training Administration, Employment Standards Administration, International Labor Affairs Bureau, Mine Safety Health Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Veteran’s Employment and Training Administration, and the Women’s Bureau. One of Herman’s greatest accomplishments as labor secretary occurred a little more than three months after her May 1997 swearing-in ceremony; to the surprise of many, Herman, meeting with United Postal Service (UPS) officials and representatives from the striking International Brotherhood of Teamsters, negotiated a relatively quick end to the UPS strike. Another major accomplishment was her global efforts on behalf of children that resulted in projects that provided protection for children from abusive work conditions and that transformed 120,000 children in foreign countries from workers to students. Herman’s previous public service employment includes positions as the director of the White House Office of the Public Liaison and an assistant to the president during the first four years of the Clinton administration from 1993 to 1997 as well as serving as the director of the Women’s Bureau (WB) of the Department of Labor during the Carter administration. In 1977 when Herman was sworn in at the age of twenty-nine, she became the youngest person to serve as the WB’s director as well as the highest-ranking African American woman at the Department of Labor. Herman’s resume also includes the deputy directorship of the Clinton-Gore Presidential Transition Office, leadership roles with the Democratic National Committees and the Democratic National Convention Committee, years spent with her own marketing and management company, directorship of the Minority Women Employment Program, as well as her work with Recruitment and Training Programs, Catholic Social Services, and Interfaith.

374

Alexis M. Herman

Herman was born on July 16, 1947, in Mobile, Alabama. Her father, Alexander Herman, was a businessman, civil rights activist, and Alabama’s first African American alderman. Herman’s mother, Gloria Broadus Caponis, was an educator who, one year, was named Alabama’s top schoolteacher. When Herman was five years old, members of the Ku Klux Klan forced the car she was riding in with her father off the road. Before her father got out of the car and locked the door, he told Herman to hide under the dashboard, gave her a pistol, and instructed her to pull the trigger if anyone opened the door. As Herman sat in the dark, she heard the men beat her father. That traumatic experience was not Herman’s only encounter with the Klan. When she was in high school, her father took her to a Ku Klux Klan rally. Klan members reacted to their arrival by throwing things at them, but her father refused to leave and told his adversaries that he and his daughter had the right to be in the public place. He continued to teach his daughter to battle discrimination by taking Herman and her friends to segregated restaurants where they were denied service and to segregated ball games where they were escorted from the stands as garbage was thrown at them. Her father’s exhortation to make people tell her no and then not accept it would serve Herman well in her career. Equally valuable was the example Herman’s mother set. Caponis, a single mother, returned to school after Herman was born, graduated, and fulfilled her dream of becoming a schoolteacher; consequently, she showed her daughter that obstacles can be overcome. Herman graduated from the Heart of Mary High School, in Mobile, in 1965. She attended Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin, from 1965 to 1967, and Spring Hill College, in Mobile, in 1967. Herman then transferred to Xavier University, in New Orleans, where she received a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1969. Herman took graduate courses at the University of South Alabama, in Mobile, from 1970 to 1972. After graduating from Xavier, Herman’s first job was with Interfaith in Mobile, where she was employed as a community worker in 1969. She was employed as a social worker for Catholic Social Services, also in Mobile, from 1969 to 1972, and as an outreach worker for the Recruitment and Training Program (RTP) in Pascagoula, Mississippi, from 1971 to 1972. These three jobs enabled Herman to develop training programs for unskilled workers, young people, and new entrants to the workforce. Herman helped integrate a Pascagoula shipyard after she persuaded employers to provide apprenticeships to young African American men and women. In 1972, Atlanta’s Southern Regional Council hired Herman for its Minority Women Employment Program (MWEP). Herman adapted a RTP that was designed to get construction jobs for African Americans into one that led to white-collar jobs for minority women. Herman coached the women enrolled in the program on interview skills and even allowed them to wear her clothes to interviews. In 1974, due to Herman’s success in placing several hundred minority women in jobs in the private sector with such corporations as Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, the MWEP became a national program with Herman as its director.

375

Alexis M. Herman

When Jimmy Carter was elected president of the United States in 1976, he selected economist Ray Marshall for the cabinet position of labor secretary. Marshall, who had recommended Herman for the MWEP job, then chose Herman to lead the Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau. As director, Herman was a policymaker and program implementer who advised Secretary Marshall and President Carter on women’s economic and social issues in the labor force. She also served as a White House representative to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development as well as cochair of a presidential task force to create a Women’s Business Ownership Initiative for the federal government. When Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, Herman left the federal government. She founded and became president of A. M. Herman and Associates. Although she was working in the private sector, she was still determined to help others succeed in the workplace and to eliminate as many labor market barriers as possible. Thus she advised state and local governments as well as corporations on these issues. Herman returned to public service in 1989 when Ron Brown, who was then chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), encouraged her to become the chief of staff for the DNC. In 1991, Herman was appointed deputy chair of the DNC and was also named the chief executive officer of the 1992 Democratic National Convention Committee. Herman’s committee spearheaded the convention that was held in July at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. In recognition of Herman’s previous successes, she was named the deputy director of the Clinton-Gore Presidential Transition Office after Bill Clinton and Al Gore were elected president and vice president, respectively, in November 1992. From 1993 to 1997, Herman directed the Office of Public Liaison, which was the Clinton administration’s link to various constituencies. When Ron Brown, who became the commerce secretary after Clinton was elected president, was killed in a plane crash on April 3, 1996, in Croatia, Herman arranged the public mourning for Brown. After Clinton was reelected in November 1996, he nominated Herman as secretary of labor. However, labor unions and Republican members of Congress initially opposed her nomination; bipartisan questions were raised about Herman’s activities as a businesswoman in the 1980s and her involvement in White House fund-raising efforts during her tenure as the director of the Office of the Public Liaison. Herman’s confirmation process lasted 113 days as these issues were resolved in Herman’s favor, and she was sworn in on May 9, 1997. At her swearing-in ceremony, the new secretary of labor announced that her five goals were to build workers’ skills; transform welfare recipients into members of the workforce; monitor workers’ pensions; improve workplace safety; and help individuals balance work and family. Herman recognized the irony in her attaining the top leadership position at the Department of Labor; remembering that her ancestors were enslaved in an America that was ‘‘built on slave labor,’’ she acknowledged that for an African American woman ‘‘to have the responsibility of all

376

Alexis M. Herman

labor . . . [was] historic, special and humbling.’’ During Herman’s third year as labor secretary, she married Charles L. Franklin Jr. at the Bethlehem Chapel in the National Cathedral in Washington, on February 12, 2000. The honeymoon was delayed until March because Herman returned to work in order to prepare for a national labor convention. Herman is chair of Coca-Cola’s Human Resource Task Force and chair of the Toyota Diversity Advisory Board. She is a former chair of the National Commission on Working Women and is a founding member of the National Consumer Cooperative Bank. Herman has served on the board of directors for the Adams National Bank; Cummins, Inc.; District of Columbia Economic Development Finance Corporation; Energy Corporation; George Meany National Labor College; Leon H. Sullivan Foundation; MGM Mirage; National Council of Negro Women; National Democratic Institute; National Urban League; Presidential Life Insurance Company; and Xavier University. Among Herman’s many awards and honors are the Coalition of Labor Union Women’s Award for Affirmative Action in the Workplace, District of Columbia’s Outstanding Young Woman of the Year, Mexican-American Opportunity Foundation’s Equal Opportunity Award, National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs’ Scroll of Distinction, National Black Women’s Political Leadership Caucus’ Woman of the Year Award, Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs of Atlanta’s First Woman Award, Non-Partisan Voters League’s Award of Excellence, Outstanding Young Woman of America, Outstanding Young Person of Atlanta Award, and the Recruitment and Training Program’s Dorothy I. Height Award. In 1979, Ebony selected Herman as one of 50 Future Leaders, and in 1980, Ladies’ Home Journal named Herman as the Outstanding Young Woman of the Future. Among Herman’s honorary doctorates are ones from Central State University and Lesley College. During her impressive career in the private and public sectors, Herman has had to battle racial, gender, and age discrimination on a personal level. She surmounted such obstacles and thrived in each new position via her intellect, professionalism, dedication, diplomacy, and energy. Along the way, she made history in several influential positions because of her race, gender, and age. Today Herman is a recognized authority on workplace issues, and at New Ventures, Inc., she continues to generate employment opportunities for others. See also: Women and Business Sources ‘‘Alexis M. Herman.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 15. Gale Research, 1997. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. Edwards, Tamala M. ‘‘Labor of Love: Alexis Herman Works It! A Day in the Life of the Secretary of Labor.’’ Essence (1998): 86. Maxwell, Alison. ‘‘A Labor of Love: Alexis Herman Sees Her Job as a Dream.’’ USA Today, August 28, 2000.

377

Alonzo Franklin Herndon Randolph, Laura B. ‘‘A Black-and-White Alabama Homecoming—Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman—Interview.’’ Ebony 53 (November 1997): 124–129. Rudolph, Marva L. ‘‘Alexis M. Herman.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book II. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996.

Linda M. Carter

Alonzo Franklin Herndon (1858–1927), Insurance Company Owner, Barber Alonzo Herndon represents a rags-to-riches story as he went from being a former slave to a self-made successful entrepreneur. He began work at an early age doing various jobs. He was eventually led to Atlanta, Georgia, where he acquired barbering skills. Because he was requested often by wealthy white clients, he made enough money to open his own barbershop. At one time he had three such shops and wisely invested his funds into real estate. He later purchased an insurance company, Atlanta Life Insurance Company, and served as its first president. Atlanta Life was a profitable venture, providing jobs to many blacks in the Southeast. It remains viable today as the Atlanta Life Financial Group. Born on June 26, 1858, into slavery in Walton County, Georgia, Herndon and his family were freed as the Civil War ended, when he was seven years old. Alonzo with his mother Sophenie, grandparents, and younger brother Thomas had only a few household items when they began life in freedom. Alonzo worked with his grandfather, who got a job pulling a cross-cut saw. When he was thirteen, he was hired as a farmhand in Social Circle by their former master, Frank Herndon, who was also his father. After he would finish his duties as farmhand, he peddled goods such as peanuts and candies. During this time, he only received a year of formal schooling. In 1878, at the age of twenty, he left Social Circle and moved to Senoia, Georgia, and continued working as a farmhand. He also began learning the barbering trade, working part-time in this endeavor and earning $6 a month. His barbering skills greatly improved, which led to his ability to rent space in a barbershop. He saved enough to eventually open his own barbershop in Jonesboro, Georgia. He remained there for five years and produced a thriving business. In 1883, he settled in Atlanta, and when offered a position in the black-owned Dougherty Hutchins’ shop, whose clientele were white and wealthy, he accepted. In six months, Herndon, because of his excellent and courteous service, was often requested by white patrons, and consequently, he was able to purchase half the business, becoming a partner. The shop was renamed Hutchins & Herndon. In 1886, Herndon would again have a shop of his own, this time in downtown Atlanta. But by the next year, he would have rental space in the Markham House Hotel. His shop there grew to twelve chairs during his tenyear tenure until the hotel burned down in 1896.

378

Alonzo Franklin Herndon

In 1902, Herndon opened a grand-elegant barbershop that became known as an Atlanta attraction. Located around the corner of the famed Auburn Avenue at 66 Peachtree Street, this shop had marble floors, crystal chandeliers, twenty-five chairs, eighteen baths with tubs and showers, and solid mahogany front doors. His shop was widely recognized as the best barbershop in the South. By 1904, he owned three shops in Atlanta. Herndon steadily invested his profits from his barbershops into real estate and by 1900 was the largest black property owner in Atlanta. He also had real estate investments in Florida. ESTABLISHES INSURANCE COMPANY In 1905, a new Georgia law required that industrial life insurance businesses deposit $5,000 with the state treasurer. Realizing that his company could not meet this requirement, Peter Bryant, a black pastor at Wheat Street Baptist Church and owner of Atlanta Benevolent & Protective Association, approached Herndon for capital to aid the failing company. Prior to the new law, blacks formed church relief societies that provided financial assistance for blacks including mortgages, loans, and life insurance. Herndon bought the company for $140, provided the $5,000 deposit from his private funds, and led its reorganization. In the early years of the company, Herndon continuously used his private funds to keep the company running. He bought other failing black insurance companies, which gave Atlanta Life a greater customer base. He hoped that this would also protect the reputation of black businesses in honoring the policies previously established. Initially renamed Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association, it was later renamed Atlanta Life Insurance Company in 1922. As Atlanta Life, the company was one of four black-owned companies to achieve legal reserve status. Herndon served as Atlanta Life’s first president. Herndon headed the company for twenty-two years, opening several branch offices in Georgia, and expanded to six other southern states, providing jobs for hundreds of blacks. Atlanta Life was one of the largest black-owned businesses at that time. It was said that the insurance business was the most financially profitable business for blacks in the 1920s. Atlanta Life is still a profitable business in the twentyfirst century. In 1910, Herndon and his wife since 1893, Adrienne Elizabeth McNeil, a graduate and teacher at Atlanta University, completed construction of a mansion for their family, which included their son Norris. Adrienne, the main designer for the home, died three months later of Addison’s disease. Herndon then married Jessie Gillespie in 1912 and continued to live in the mansion, now known as the Herndon Home, until his death on July 21, 1927. After his death, his son Norris became president of Atlanta Life and later established the Alonzo F. and Norris B. Herndon Foundation. Today, the Herndon Home is a museum documenting Hendon’s life from slavery to entrepreneurship. See also: Black Banks: Their Beginning; Retail Industry

379

Dennis Fowler Hightower Sources ‘‘Alonzo Franklin Herndon.’’ Sweet Auburn Avenue: Triumph of the Spirit. http:// www.ga3d.net/sweetauburn/alherndon.htm. ‘‘Alonzo Herndon: He Made His Opportunities.’’ Issues & Views (Summer 1998). http://www.issues-views.com/index.php?article¼1007. Henderson, Alexa Benson. ‘‘Alonzo F. Herndon and Black Insurance in Atlanta, 1904–1915.’’ Atlanta Historical Bulletin 21 (Spring 1977): 34–47. ———. ‘‘Alonzo Herndon (1858–1927).’’ New Georgia Encyclopedia. http:// www.newgeorgiaencyclopedia.org. Herndon Home. http://www.herndonhome.org. ‘‘Herndon Home.’’ National Park Service, Atlanta: A National Register of Historic Places. http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/atlanta/her.htm. Merritt, Carole. The Herndons: An Atlanta Family. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2002.

La Loria Konata

Dennis Fowler Hightower (1941– ), Corporate Executive, Educator Dennis Fowler Hightower is a retired corporate executive who has had distinguished careers in both the private and public sectors. He had more than thirty years of experience in global marketing, strategic planning, operations, and international general management. With an impressive resume, Hightower became the highest-ranking African American executive at the Walt Disney Company when he was named president of the Television and Telecommunications unit in 1995. Hightower was born in Washington, D.C. on October 28, 1941, to Marvin William and Virginia H. (Fowler). He graduated from McKinley Tech High School at age sixteen. As the top U.S. Army ROTC cadet and a distinguished military graduate, he graduated from Howard University with a B.S. degree in 1962. Hightower rose to the rank of major by age twenty-seven, after serving on active duty as a regular army officer for eight years. He served in the airborne infantry and strategic and operational intelligence positions in the United States and abroad. He was a ranger and a senior parachutist. While on active duty, Hightower was awarded decorations for meritorious achievement and valor, including two bronze stars, three air medals, a Joint Service Commendation medal first class, a Purple Heart, and a Vietnam Honor Medal. He resigned his commission in 1970 after being selected to attend the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. Leaving the military, Hightower became a manager at the Xerox Corporation in Rochester, New York, from 1970 to 1972. Winning a two-year fellowship, he went to the nation’s top business school, the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration, completing his M.B.A. in 1974. He was recruited to serve as a senior associate and engagement manager at McKinsey & Co., Inc., a leading international management

380

Dennis Fowler Hightower

consulting firm in Cleveland, from 1974 to 1978. He went to Monterrey, Mexico, to serve as the vice president and general manager with the General Electric Company from 1978 to 1981. He became president of corporate planning and a corporate officer of Mattel, Inc., in Hawthorne, California, from 1981 to 1984. For Russell Reynolds Associates, Inc., a leading international executive recruiter, he served as managing director and Los Angeles office manager from 1984 to 1987. Hightower believed that his constant movement reflected his risk-taking personality and goal of being the most complete manager that he could be. Joining the Walt Disney Company in 1987, Hightower began as vice president of the Disney consumer products unit for Europe, working in Paris, France. As head of Consumer Products from 1987 to 1989, his responsibilities included book and magazine publishing, character merchandise licensing, children’s records and music, computer software, film promotion and television sponsorship, as well as management of the sixteen Consumer Products subsidiaries, offices, and joint venture throughout Europe and the Middle East. Promoted to executive vice president of Consumer Products, Europe/Middle East from 1989 to 1992, Hightower also led Disney’s entry into Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and postapartheid South Africa. He served as president of Consumer Products, Europe/Middle East/Africa, from 1992 to 1995. Under his European tenure, sales for consumer products doubled from 6 percent to 12 percent of company revenues. He helped buy the company’s publishing operations in Italy and purchased a textile facility in Portugal to supply Euro Disney stores. Disney’s European publishing grew from 120 magazines and comics published in sixteen languages to 180 periodicals and comics in twenty-seven languages. Hightower elevated the quality and creativity of Disney products overseas while building retail sales from $650 million to $4.5 billion. With a territory spanning twenty-eight countries, Hightower traveled constantly. Hightower was promoted to president of Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications on March 10, 1995. The company had recently lost several key senior executives, and Walt Disney chairman Michael Eisner wanted Hightower to head the unit that includes network television, television animation, the cable Disney Channel, syndication, pay TV, worldwide home video, and interactive media venture. Hightower was charged with expanding distribution of all Disney television entertainment, which involved managing the production of a broad array of quality programming, the creation of new interactive products, and the development of new distribution systems, particularly with the Americast joint venture with Disney’s four telephone company partners. Hightower retired from Disney on June 1, 1996. His decision to retire at age fifty-five was a surprise to many, but others suspected that Disney’s need to restructure after its 1995 merger with Capital Cities/ABC prompted his departure. His lack of television experience was cited when he was placed in charge of the unit and at his retirement. His stated reason for early retirement

381

Dennis Fowler Hightower

was to devote more time to personal endeavors. He wanted to increase his involvement with Harvard University, Howard University, the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD), and the Camp Atwater Foundation of the National Urban League and to devote more time to education and youth development. Since 1989, he has been a guest lecturer at the Harvard Business School and at Howard University and INSEAD in France. For the year following his retirement, Hightower continued with the Walt Disney Company as an international business consultant. From 1996 to 2000, Hightower was a professor of management and a senior lecturer at the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration. His teaching focused on issues of leadership, managing change, building emerging markets, and global management from the perspective of the general manager. From May 2000 to February 2001, Hightower was the chief executive officer of Europe Online Networks S.A., a privately held broadband interactive entertainment company based in Luxembourg. Hightower has served on the board of directors for Accenture Ltd.; BriteSmile, Inc.; Domino’s, Inc. and its parent company, TISM, Inc.; the Gillette Company; Northwest Airlines Corporation; PanAmSat Corporation; PhillipsVan Heusen Corporation; and the TJX Companies Inc. He has been a member, officer, and recipient of awards from the boards of the Harvard Business School Alumni, the Harvard Business School Association of Southern California, and the Howard University Alumni Association. He has also served on the board of trustees for the Southern California Center for Non-Profit Management and the Casey Family Programs and as chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Andrew Young Center for International Affairs at Morehouse College. He has been a trustee of Howard University, his alma mater, since 1996. Hightower received an alumni citation from the National Association of Equal Opportunity in Higher Education in 1985; the Alumni Achievement Award in Business from Howard University in 1986; the Alumni Achievement Award from Harvard Business School in 1992; and the U.S. Department of Commerce Pioneer Award in 1996. He was named one of the 25 Top Black Managers in America from Black Enterprise magazine in 1988. Hightower married Denia Stukes on February 2, 1962. They have two children, Dennis Fowler Junior and Dawn Denise. Denia Hightower spends time between Washington, D.C. and Paris, maintaining the homes and holdings that she shares with her husband, also a Howard University graduate of the class of 1962. He enjoys collecting antique billiard equipment and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century oriental sculpture, photography, travel, scuba diving, and swimming. He is member of the Harvard Club in New York City, where he received their Edged Group Corporate Leadership Award in 1992. He also holds membership in Cercle Foch in Paris, France and the Jonathan Club and the California Club, both in Los Angeles, California. He is a limited partner in the Washington Baseball Club. Hightower is a guest lecturer at professional and marketing conferences throughout the world.

382

Jesse Hill Jr. Sources Branch, Shelly, and Alfred Edmond Jr. ‘‘America’s Most Powerful Black Executives: Dennis F. Hightower.’’ Black Enterprise 23 (February 1993): 109. ‘‘Dennis F. Hightower.’’ Accenture. http://www.accenture.com. ‘‘Dennis F. Hightower.’’ Washington Baseball Club. http://www.baseballindc.com. ‘‘Dennis Hightower Retires as President of Walt Disney’s TV and Telecommunications Unit.’’ Jet 89 (May 6, 1996): 38. Dunbar, Donnette. ‘‘The ‘Lion King’ of Television.’’ Black Enterprise 25 (June 1995): 30. King, Thomas R. ‘‘Hightower to Leave TV Post at Disney; Hopes to Do More at Harvard, Howard.’’ Wall Street Journal, April 15, 1996. Scott, Matthew S. ‘‘Wonderful World at Disney.’’ Black Enterprise 26 (December 1995): 58–60, 64.

Kathleen E. Bethel

Jesse Hill Jr. (1926– ), Insurance Company Executive, Actuary, Civil Rights Activist Jesse Hill Jr., actuary and leader at Atlanta Life Insurance Company, was instrumental in many doors being opened to African Americans; he was often one of the first to enter the door. He was actively involved in the civil rights movement at a time when a large number of leaders feared association with the movement. In a letter of acknowledgment to Hill, cited in the papers of Martin Luther King Jr. online at Stanford University, King recognized his aid and support in collecting monies ‘‘to be used in our struggle for justice in the present situation in Montgomery.’’ Not only was he instrumental in acquiring and supplying finances for the struggle, but he also provided moral and physical support and worked for voter registration to end school segregation in Atlanta, Georgia. Hill was born on May 30, 1926, to Nancy Dennis Martin (a worker for the Pullman Company) and Jesse Hill Sr.; he grew up on the southeast side of St. Louis, Missouri, in a business world. His grandfather owned and operated Dennis Moving & Furniture Company, and he conducted business from a horse-drawn wagon. Operating on the premise that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, he collected items that families no longer wanted and sold them in his small furniture shop. Additionally, he used the wagon to sell coal and wood in the winter and ice and watermelons in the summer. Thus, Hill grew up with an entrepreneurial model. Because of his grandfather’s work, Hill had access to wagons that he too used; he hired young boys (ten to twelve years of age) to collect and recycle items using this equipment. He also sold black newspapers from various cities that he received through the mail; these included the Pittsburgh Courier, Michigan Chronicle, Norfolk Journal, and Chicago Defender. His ability to organize, to take initiative, and to capitalize on opportunities is reflected in his accomplishments. After high

383

Jesse Hill Jr.

school, he entered Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, and graduated with honors with a B.S. degree in mathematics and physics in 1947. Because of his desire to combine math and business, he entered the actuarial science program at the University of Michigan Business School, and he completed the Master’s of Business Administration in 1949. Hill moved to Atlanta, Georgia, an area with numerous business opportunities for African Americans. Due to the location and the contacts he had made during his formal training and his work experience, he was hired as an actuarial assistant (only the second African American actuary in the country) at Atlanta Life Insurance Company (founded by a former slave). From an actuarial assistant, he worked his way through the ranks to vice president and chief actuary. By 1973, Hill was named the third president and chief executive officer (the first nonfamily member) of Atlanta Life Insurance Company. In this capacity, he expanded the company by acquiring the Chicago Metropolitan Life Assurance Company in 1990 and operated it as a separate entity; however, he was the chairman. With this acquisition, Atlanta Life became the largest minority insurance company in net worth and the second largest in assets. Under his leadership, Atlanta Life is credited with playing a role in breaking the bottleneck in home mortgage financing at fair interest rates for blacks in the city of Atlanta and the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Texas. He retired as chief executive officer in 1992 and as chairman of the Alonzo F. and Norris B. Herndon Foundation in Atlanta (the majority stockholder of the Atlanta Life Insurance Company and sponsor of the historic Herndon home). In 1979, he and his friends (Herman Jerome Russell of H. J. Russell & Company and Felker W. Ward, an attorney who owns an investment banking firm in the Atlanta area) founded Concessions International, a food and beverage management company that operates in seven major airports. These include Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta, Georgia; SeattleTacoma International in Seattle, Washington; and Cyril E. King Airport– St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands. As his business involvement and production grew, so did his community participation. In 1950, Hill became an influential force in the successful Atlanta voter registration drive and later became an enabling force in the student sit-in movement and the publication of the Atlanta Inquiry. This paper provided a public forum for those voices that could not be heard in other Atlanta papers. His political activism and involvement included chairing Maynard Holbrook Jackson’s successful campaign to be Atlanta’s first African American mayor. Hill’s active participation in business and issues of racial equality led to a litany of African American firsts. These include the first African American member of the board of directors of Rich’s Department Store, first African American president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and first African American on the Georgia Board of Regents (named by Governor Jimmy Carter). He served as chairman of the Atlanta Crime Commission and

384

Casper A. Holstein

National Alliance of Business. When Jimmy Carter became president, he named Hill chairman of the Minority Business Resource Center, a congressional committee commissioned to assure minority consideration in the awarding of government contracts for the rail system. He was asked to serve on numerous corporation boards, such as Sun Trust (Trust Company of Georgia), Delta Airlines, Knight Ridder, Incorporated, and the King Center (he served for fifteen years). Hills’s contributions have not gone without recognition. His awards include National Urban League EOE Award (1965); Most Distinguished Alumni Award, Lincoln University (1970); and the Abe Goldstein Award, Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith (1973). Additionally, he has received honorary doctorates from Morris Brown College (1972), Chung-Ang University (1976), and the University of Michigan (1994). Hill, who served two years in the Korean War, was decorated for his military valor. He married Juanita Azira Gonzales, a native of Cuba and a registered nurse. He is the father of two daughters—Nancy Cooke and Azira Kendall—and six grandchildren. See also: Alonzo Franklin Herndon Sources ‘‘Jessie Hill, Jr.’’ African American Biographies: Profiles of 558 Current Men and Women. By Walter L. Hawkins. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1992. —. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 13. Gale Research, 1996. Reproduced in Biography Resources Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http:// galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1606000571. —. Notable Black American Men. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://gale net.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1622000211. ‘‘Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter to Jesse Hill, Jr.’’ May 8, 1956. The Papers of Martin Luther King Jr. Vol. 3: Birth of a New Age, December 1955–December 1956. Ed. The Estate of Martin Luther King Jr. http://www/stanford.edu/group/King/publica tions/papers/vol3/560508.014-Letter_to_Jesse.

Helen R. Houston

Casper A. Holstein (1877–1944), Policy Banker, Philanthropist Casper Holstein was born in Christiansted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, on December 6, 1877. He died in New York at the home of a friend on April 5, 1944, after a long illness. Although he died poor, during the 1920s he was one of New York City’s most affluent African Americans. He was one of the most successful policy bankers in Harlem, with a reputed worth of $500,000 until white gangsters, initially under the leadership of Dutch Schultz, took over the operations of the banks in Harlem during the late 1920s and early 1930s, making black policy bankers salaried employees of the crime syndicate.

385

Casper A. Holstein

Holstein was educated in the public schools of Christiansted and worked in hotels and tourist resorts. He eventually made his way to New York with his mother in 1885. He attended high school in Brooklyn and joined the navy as a mess attendant, the only position open to blacks at the time. After leaving the navy, he found work as a porter in a Wall Street brokerage firm. At some point, probably between 1915 and 1920, he became involved in policy banking in Harlem. To participate in policy gambling, a bettor selected three numbers and bet any amount from one cent up. The winning numbers were selected by use of an arbitrary rule applied to openly published numbers. This guaranteed a publicly verifiable randomly selected number, which typically paid off at 600:1 odds, giving a $6 return for a successful penny bet. In practice, the payoff was less since the winner was expected to tip his runner 10 percent. There are several versions of the origin of the game, including one that traces it directly to Holstein. Given a history of betting on lotteries in New York that extends back well into the nineteenth century, this is untrue. It could well be that Holstein’s contribution to numbers was a rule for his operation, selecting a winning number from the totals of clearing house transactions, combined with a clear realization of how very small bets could add up to a great deal of money. White gangsters, who controlled the wholesale distribution of the alcoholic beverages made illegal by Prohibition as well as segregated Harlem night clubs like the Cotton Club, initially considered the banks as small-time activities unworthy of their notice. In any case, there were numerous policy games in Harlem, and Holstein was only one of the most successful bankers. In 1931 he was only one of six persons considered big-time bankers—that list includes a woman, Stephanie St. Clair, who won considerable fame as the person to resist Dutch Schultz’s takeover the most vigorously. Most of the other bankers found it prudent to give in without much public complaint. Holstein was a very close-mouthed person who revealed little about his life. He neither drank nor smoked. While remaining noncommittal about his business dealings and the source of his affluence, he was prominently engaged in the community. He was, of course, known to be the owner of a Harlem club, the Turf, but he was also active in lodge activities. He was president of the (Negro) Elks in New York City and was instrumental in acquisition of the lodge building. In 1929 he ran unsuccessfully for the national presidency of the organization. In other areas Holstein won recognition as a philanthropist and activist. He was a consistent contributor to West Indian causes. Not only was it a matter of help in school construction or hurricane relief, he had definite political views in mind. When the Virgin Islands passed to the United States in 1917, the navy ran the government until 1931. Finally a governor was appointed; he did not give satisfaction. In 1917 Holstein visited the islands and on his return founded the Virgin Islands Congressional Council. Claude McKay attributes to Holstein a consistent push for greater self-determination

386

Casper A. Holstein

for the islands and sees his visit to the islands in 1935 as a major contribution to the governor’s replacement in that year. Such effort for improvement is the West Indies in consistent with Holstein’s donations to such organizations as the Urban League. He contributed generously to the league’s fund-raising and also to the literary prizes offered by the league’s publication Opportunity. This munificence gained Holstein recognition and a seat at the awards banquets but not admission to the salons of Harlem Renaissance literary figures. In addition, he was noted for such endeavors as furthering education through donations to black colleges and scholarship help to students. Much of this activity passed little noticed since he did not publicize it by use of his name. Holstein first attracted widespread notoriety in the press in September 1928 when he was kidnapped by white gangsters who demanded a $50,000 ransom. The events are murky. Holstein apparently resisted efforts at intimidation and seems not to have paid any ransom. He was released unharmed according to his own claims; the hoodlums apparently believed his assurances that he would fail to identify them. The police quickly rounded up several persons connected with the Dutch Schultz organization, headquartered in the Bronx. Holstein consistently claimed a complete inability to recognize any of the accused. The exact course of Holstein’s relations with the Schultz organization is a matter of speculation, but his prosperity as a Harlem policy banker was undermined along with that of all the others as the mob took over complete control as Prohibition came to an end and the profits from illegal alcohol ended as well. It is suggested by McKay that he ceased his operations entirely early on. Holstein had to shut down his club in the mid-1930s after a series of apparently staged fights and shootings broke out on the premises. Finally, in 1937 Holstein was arrested on a numbers charge even though he claimed to be out of the business. In any case, he was convicted and spent about a year in prison. In addition to this misfortune, his real estate holdings fell apart. Again, specific details are lacking, but Holstein seems to have sought to shield his property by concealing his ownership, and his trust in his agents was ill placed. When Holstein died on April 5, 1944, he was broke. He died at the home of a friend, and there is no mention of family in the obituary in the New York Times. As a policy banker during the 1920s, Holstein was only one among equals and probably not the most successful. He was unique, however, in his continued philanthropic endeavors. It must also be presumed that a substantial portion of the money he gained in Harlem was reinvested in the community through his real estate activities. Such investment possibilities disappeared as white mobs took over control of numbers in New York City. Sources Bell, Walter A. ‘‘Black Gangs of Harlem.’’ http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_ outlaws/gang/harlem_gangs/index.html?sect¼26.

387

Christine Moore Howell Boris, Joseph J., ed. Who’s Who in Colored America. Vol. 1. New York: Who’s Who in Colored America Corp., 1927. ‘‘Former ‘Policy King’ in Harlem Dies Broke.’’ New York Times, April 9, 1944. Ianni, Francis A. J. Black Mafia: Ethnic Succession in Organized Crime. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974. ‘‘Kidnapped Negro Freed by Captors; Five Seized in Plot.’’ New York Times, September 24, 1928. Lewis, David Levering. When Harlem Was in Vogue. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979. McKay, Claude. Harlem: Negro Metropolis. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1940. ‘‘Negro Back Home, Lauds Kidnapper.’’ New York Times, September 25, 1928. ‘‘Rich Negro Seized for $50,000 Ransom.’’ New York Times, September 23, 1928. Schatzberg, Rufus, and Robert J. Kelly. African American Organized Crime: A Social History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997.

Robert L. Johns

Christine Moore Howell (1899–1972), Manufacturer, Cosmetologist, Author, State Official From the 1920s through the 1940s, the standards of the beauty culture industry in the state of New Jersey were enhanced greatly due to the efforts of Christine Moore Howell. At first through the standards that she set for her own business—the beauty salon and the research laboratory that she founded and operated—and through her work as one of the first five state commissioners on the first New Jersey Board of Beauty Culture, Howell ensured that the training, operations, and products used were appropriate. She used an interracial approach to business operations, serving an interracial clientele. Born in Princeton, New Jersey, on March 19, 1899, Howell was the daughter of entrepreneur William and Mary Adelaide Williams Moore, both natives of Hillsboro, North Carolina. She had one sister, Bessie, and two brothers—Arthur C. and Willie. At some point William Moore, who was known as ‘‘Sport,’’ moved to Princeton, New Jersey, and became a successful owner of a secondhand store located in three buildings on Spring Street. Students from Princeton University sold their clothes to him to earn enough money to finance their trips to New York City. In his business Moore also sold furniture and antiques, while Adelaide Moore tended to the home and children. It was at this site that Christine Moore would operate a beauty shop business and laboratory for twenty-eight years. Howell was the first African American to graduate from Princeton High School. In 1919 she received a diploma from De Laurenberg’s in Princeton. For professional study in beauty culture, she attended Warren’s Institute in Pittsburgh, Knock’s School of Beauty Culture in Philadelphia, and Nestle’s in New York City. Howell went abroad for further training and studied at

388

Christine Moore Howell

Sidonia Institute in Paris. While there she also made a shop-to-shop study of beauty salons. Returning to the United States, she had special laboratory training in New Brunswick, under the tutelage of chemist Louis Du Bois. She opened two unique businesses that became highly successful— Christine’s Beauty Salon, a skin care laboratory known as Christine Moore Corporation. Her modern laboratory, which she began to operate in 1936, adjoined her beauty salon, and she hired a capable chemist to manufacture the products that she needed. These included products for good grooming as well as those required for beauty culture work. She also conducted research in her laboratory and aided in producing hair preparation and cosmetics for blacks. Her line of cosmetics became known as Christine Cosmetics. Such products that were suitable for white clientele evolved and were sold mail order throughout the world. Altogether the laboratory manufactured eleven hair-care and beauty products. Only highly trained, creative staff members who were skilled in the art of enhancing womanhood regardless of race were hired in her salon. Although she had some middle-class black customers, her shop had great appeal to those on the white and black social register, many of whom were limousinedriven customers. They included, for example, Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, who came from Northfield, Massachusetts; Mrs. Albert Einstein; Mrs. Samuel Shellebarger (whose husband was author of The Prince of Foxes); a black woman doctor; and the wife of a Princeton University professor. When she knew that Mrs. Coolidge was scheduled, she was deliberate and relentless in her efforts to maintain a quiet and pleasant atmosphere. In addition to Mrs. Coolidge, some customers drove long distances to visit her shop. Some came from as far away as Kentucky and visited during their semiannual pilgrimages. For a while, black customers were few in number, due to the fact that Howell’s shop did not straighten hair as many black women required. The shop specialized in permanent waves. In time, however, black customers grew in number as Howell began to master the permanent wave and offered more creativity in hair designs than she did when the shop first opened. Her laboratory developed a formula processing agent for black hair, removing the curly appearance characteristic of some types of black hair. Her experience as a beauty culturist, researcher, and businesswoman inspired Howell to write Beauty Culture and Care of the Hair, published in 1936. A textbook, the work was used in public vocational schools as well as private beauty schools. Howell helped to improve standards for beauty culture throughout the state of New Jersey. Having become familiar with her reputation, in 1935 Governor Harold G. Hoffman appointed her to the first New Jersey Board of Beauty Culture Control. The board, which she had helped to establish, wielded great power in the beauty culture industry: It created rules and regulations for beauty shops and beauty culture training; issued licenses; and planned and monitored examinations that were given three times a week at the state department located in Newark. All beauty salons, whether white or black owned and operated, were subject to board examination.

389

Christine Moore Howell

The appointment came at a time when race relations in New Jersey were poor. The idea of appointing a black person to a new and powerful board aroused considerable protest among whites. As well, membership was extremely limited, with space for only five persons; people petitioned hard to gain one of the posts; and it was unthinkable to give one of those to a black. Quoted in Ebony magazine, Moore recalled: ‘‘The white people were enraged because I, a Negro, had gained the post. Ugly articles appeared in the Trenton Times.’’ Howell dissuaded her friends from responding to the attacks. She wanted to handle the matter her way, and she was determined to meet her board responsibility to the best of her ability. This approach would allow her to ‘‘win the respect of those who felt that the color of my skin disqualified me,’’ she added. Howell’s work on the Board of Beauty Culture Control became a matter of record. After her initial appointment as a commissioner, she was reappointed three years later and altogether served on the board for fourteen years, from 1935 through 1949. She was elected chair of the commission and served four terms, a position that paid $3,200 as well as expenses. While serving as a commissioner, Moore assisted New York and other states as they set up beauty culture departments. The site of her business on Spring Street in Princeton, New Jersey, is shown as the Christine Moore Corporation in Princeton High School’s online publication PULSE. It is also one of Princeton’s historic landmarks. Moore operated her business from the 1920s to the 1940s. In 1924 she married Edward Gaylord Howell, a native of New Haven, Connecticut, and a physician who devoted considerable time to the study and treatment of alcoholism. He had a medical practice in Princeton with a virtually all-white clientele. The Howells lived in New Brunswick, New Jersey, but at some point reportedly had a residence both in Princeton and in New Brunswick. Whatever the case, their residence was a mecca for interracial activity, whether social or civic. Christine Howell was a member of the New Brunswick Urban League, Princeton Group Arts, Inc., National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Links, Inc. She died on December 13, 1972, and was buried in the Princeton Cemetery of the historic Nassau Presbyterian Church, established in 1757. Her influence had been widely felt in the beauty culture industry in New Jersey and beyond. Through her work, including the book that she wrote, she helped raise the standards of the industry and demonstrated her skill and success as a black woman entrepreneur. See also: Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources ‘‘Beauty Salon for the Social Register.’’ Ebony 4 (May 1949): 31–32. ‘‘The History of the African American Community in Princeton, New Jersey.’’ PULSE. http://athena.prs.k12.nj.us/groups/phs/pulse/business/business.html. Moses, Sibyl E. African American Women Writers in New Jersey, 1836–2000: A Biographical Dictionary and Bibliographic Guide. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2003.

390

Catherine ‘‘Cathy’’ Hughes Who’s Who in Colored America. 7th ed. Ed. G. James Fleming and Christian E. Burckel. Yonkers-on-Hudson, NY: Chistian E. Burckel and Associates, 1950.

Jessie Carney Smith

Catherine ‘‘Cathy’’ Hughes (1947– ), Radio Personality, Broadcast Executive Media maven Catherine ‘‘Cathy’’ Hughes is a unique personality in the U.S. broadcast arena. While her life story includes many challenges, she has been successful both personally and professionally through hard work, vision, and creativity. Not only is Hughes the first African American woman to have a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange, but she also founded Radio One, a media company that is now the seventh largest radio broadcasting network in the nation and the largest African American–owned and –operated radio broadcast company in the United States. Throughout her career, Hughes has introduced new media formats that have become popular with urban listeners and set standards throughout the radio broadcast industry. She has championed black causes and focused her company’s business on acquiring or managing struggling blackowned radio stations. In 2004, her company expanded its media interests by launching cable television channel TV One in partnership with Comcast. In 2005, Radio One acquired controlling interest in Reach Media, Inc., Tom Joyner’s company formerly associated with ABC News. As a result of her accomplishments, Hughes has received numerous awards for her business acumen, community service, and philanthropic activities. Catherine Elizabeth Woods Hughes was born on April 27, 1947, in Omaha, Nebraska, to William Alfred Woods and Helen Jones Woods and is the eldest of four children. Sources report that Hughes grew up modestly in an Omaha housing project. However, her father was an accountant and her mother, a nurse. The family set high standards. Her grandfather, Laurence C. Jones, founded the Piney Woods Country School in Mississippi in 1909. Piney Woods, located outside Jackson, Mississippi, is a private boarding school for African Americans in grades seven through twelve. Hughes attended Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, an elite Roman Catholic girls’ school in Omaha. She dropped out of high school at sixteen to give birth to her only son (Alfred Liggings III, who later joined her in business). However, Hughes was married at seventeen and completed her studies, though the marriage ended in divorce when she was nineteen years of age. Never graduating from college, Hughes attended Creighton University and the University of Nebraska. Prior to her move to Washington, D.C. in 1971, where she launched her career in radio, Hughes became a volunteer at black-owned KOWH radio station in Omaha. The experience impacted her significantly in that it

391

Catherine ‘‘Cathy’’ Hughes

allowed her to learn about the radio industry and to appreciate black radio ownership. From 1971 to 1973, Hughes was employed as a lecturer and assistant to the renowned broadcaster Tony Brown, dean of the School of Communication at Howard University. Because of her hard work, Brown appointed Hughes manager of WHUR-FM, the campus radio station, in 1973. During her tenure, Hughes made the station financially profitable and was appointed vice president and general manager in 1975, becoming the first African American general manager in the Washington, D.C. media market. It was during her tenure at WHUR-FM that she created a new format called the ‘‘Quiet Storm.’’ Although Howard University refused to license it, the late-night romantic music and chatter format was popular and continues to dominate urban radio programming. In 1978, Hughes moved to WYCB-AM in Washington, D.C., in search of more creative control and transformed the struggling station to an all-night gospel music station before leaving the position. In 1980, she purchased her first radio station, WOL-AM, in Washington, D.C. with new husband Dewey Hughes. The couple used personal savings and secured funding from investors and an African American venture capital firm but had to approach thirty-two banks before raising the required purchase price of $1 million. It is widely reported that this was one of the most difficult periods for Hughes. Her marriage dissolved shortly after the radio station was purchased, leaving her a single parent for the second time. In addition, financial problems forced Hughes to lose both her housing and car, and she and son lived in her radio station for eighteen months. Hughes implemented a twenty-four-hour talk show format at WOL-AM, but upon threats from the bank to cut funding, Hughes modified the format to include music. She met the challenges of little funding for personnel by starting her own talk show and playing records from her personal collection. However, it was through this venture that her current empire, Radio One, was born. She established her trademark of community service and being a champion of African American rights. Hughes purchased her next radio station in 1987 and continued to add stations. She became the first broadcaster to own four stations in one market due to a Federal Communications Commission change that earlier had restricted local ownership to two stations. In 1999, Radio One purchased WKYS in Washington, D.C. for $40 million, becoming the largest transaction between two African Americans companies. Between 1998 and 1999, Radio One entered an aggressive acquisitions period and purchased eighteen stations within a twenty-month period. In 1999, the company was valued at $950 million and was traded publicly for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange. Radio One is currently a network of sixty-nine radio stations, located in twenty-two urban markets around the country with 13 million listeners. It provides programming to XM Satellite Radio and operates a joint-venture cable TV channel with Comcast, TV One. The company has more than 1,700 employees with estimates of 1,500 being African American. Many are

392

Catherine ‘‘Cathy’’ Hughes

managers and women. The company has received many awards. In 2000, Radio One was named ‘‘Company of the Year’’ by Black Enterprise. In 2002, Fortune magazine named it one of the ‘‘Best 100 Best Companies to Work For.’’ In 2003, Radio One was inducted into the U.S. Small Business Administration Hall of Fame. The company has also been inducted into Maryland’s Business Hall of Fame. Hughes has received many awards reflective of her business, community service, and philanthropic activities. Those awards include the District of Columbia Community Service Award (1995), Mayor’s Business Award (1995–1999), Thomas A. Dorsey Leadership Award (1996), National Black Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year (1998), Prudential Media Black Woman on Wall Street (1998), Black History Hall of Fame Award (2000), National Action Network Keepers of the Dream Award (2000), National Association of Broadcasters Distinguished Service Award (2001), National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters Life Time Achievement Award (2002), Broadcasters Foundation Golden Mike Award (2002), Ernest and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2003), Associated Charities History Makers Award (2003), National Museum of Women in the Arts Enterprising Woman of Washington (2004), American Legacy Magazine, Strength and Courage Award (2005), and Doctor of Humane Letters, Howard University (2005). With a $3 billion radio broadcasting network, TV cable holdings, and other media interests, Hughes is among the most powerful black business executives in the United States. See also: Women and Business Sources About Radio One, the Urban Specialists. http://www.radio-one.com. Clarke, Robyn D., and Derek T. Dingle. ‘‘The New Blood.’’ Black Enterprise 29 (June 1999): 161–167. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 27. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Current Biography Yearbook. New York: H. W. Wilson, 2000. Harvard Business School African-American Alumni Association. ‘‘Cathy Hughes.’’ http://www.hbsaaa.org/conf2002/ES/confBioCathyHughes.htm. Hawkins, Walter L. African American Biographies. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1992. Johnson, Pamela K. ‘‘Cathy Hughes Changes Frequency.’’ Essence 35 (September 2004): 130. Jones, Charisse. ‘‘Owning the Airwaves.’’ Essence 29 (October 1998): 112–119. Jones, Joyce. ‘‘Keeping It in the Black.’’ Black Enterprise 25 (May 1995): 22. ‘‘Maryland’s Top 100 Women.’’ http://www.mddailyrecord.com/top100w/hughes .html. National Museum of Women in the Arts. ‘‘NMWA Honors Catherine Hughes, Founder of Radio One Inc., as Enterprising Woman of Washington 2004.’’ http:// www.nmwa.org/news/news.asp?newsid¼127. Norment, Lynn. ‘‘Cathy Hughes: Ms. Radio.’’ Ebony 55 (May 2000): 100–104. Pyatt, Rudolph A., Jr. ‘‘Whatever the Race, Radio One Is a Winner.’’ Washington Post, May 25, 2000. Shepard, Alicia C. ‘‘Empire of the Air.’’ Washingtonian (November 2001): 39–47.

393

Catherine ‘‘Cathy’’ Hughes Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Notable Black American Women. Book III. Detroit: Gale Research, 2003. Stark, Phyllis. ‘‘Radio One Owner/CEO Building an Empire: Cathy Hughes Paves the Way for Blacks, Women.’’ Billboard 107 (January 14, 1995): 61. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Gale Group, 2005.

Alma E. Dawson

394

I ‘‘Ice Cube.’’ See O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson

International Black Women’s Congress Founded in 1983 in Newark, New Jersey, as an international nonprofit organization for women of African ancestry, International Black Women’s Congress (IBWC) responded to the complex milieu of needs of global African and African-derived women. Through the leadership of its founder/ global president, clinical sociologist, professor, consultant, and author LaFrancis Rodgers-Rose, IBWC established a broad yet focused agenda with political, social, and economic overtures, respectively. Primarily through networking and exchange of strategic planning professionalism, IBWC has evolved around the vision of establishing an international black women’s bank and fund, purchasing homes throughout the United States, Caribbean, and Africa, and creating an international black women’s research institute. To achieve organizational objectives, IBWC has implemented initiatives through yearly conferences and seminars, resulting in ongoing international networking and educational tours as well as an operative Black Women’s Speakers Bureau. By empowering themselves and subsequently spreading self-help and proactive tools for a better quality of life, IBWC has built strong relationships through stressing personal credibility. Addressed at the organization’s homecoming 20th Anniversary Conference in Newark titled ‘‘Building Stronger Political, Social and Economic Relationships,’’ on September 23–26, 2004, were economic sessions covering the role of personal transformation in debt management and investment resolution. The ‘‘Investing Success Seminar’’ encapsulates the group’s efforts at empowering through tangible education-driven initiatives that simultaneously empower economically as well.

International Black Women’s Congress

From its focused beginnings, IBWC has striven and actualized institutional development for issues that matter to women of color, the world over. With the charge ‘‘Save Our Lives’’ in Washington, D.C. in 1994, 500 black women convened to outline a research agenda for black women’s health. Through a partial grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, IBWC was able to establish a base from which its institutional activities have been propelled in sustainable ways. At such activities as the 19th Annual Conference titled ‘‘African-American Women: Matters of the Heart,’’ on September 26–28, 2003, cardiovascular disease took center stage. Additionally, at a Cleveland seminar titled ‘‘In Pursuit of Health, Heart and Happiness,’’ on May 14, 2005, data indicated that of the nation’s numbers waiting for kidney transplants annually, 35 percent were African American, despite this group’s mere 12 percent of the total population. Attention should be drawn here to the sustaining qualities inherent in economically viable nonprofits’ ability to sustain themselves. In order to manage funds generated from public and private philanthropy properly, IBWC is community based and motivated by its ability to inform to the extent possible that human existence can be improved. Yet at the same time, it provides avenues of fund-raising that financially benefit the group at large, as well as individual members professionally. Through its Speakers Bureau, noted women such as Frances E. Ashe-Goins (deputy director and director of the division of policy and program development for the Office of Health and Human Services), Beatryce Nivens (renowned motivational speaker and author), and Lori S. Robinson (former Emerge: Black America’s Newsmagazine editor and author of I Will Survive: The African-American Guide to Healing from Sexual Assault and Abuse [2003]) are afforded opportunities to professionally lecture and conduct workshops in areas of respective expertise. Book tours on sexual assault and organ donation lectureships generate sources of revenue but are not profit driven. Instead, they provide necessary professional interaction toward the greater good of serving humanity in a holistic manner. Of note is Nivens’s work on topics associated with success strategies for African Americans in professional achievement and career guides for black women. Nivens’s business acumen has been highlighted in Essence, Family Circle, New Woman, Black Collegian, Daily News, Mademoiselle, Glamour, and Black Enterprise. Of further attempts to implement national and international community action programs that reclaim, empower, and transform the lives of women of African descent, IBWC has by no means offered words only on the global front. Consider the conference held at the University of Toronto on March 18, 2005, titled ‘‘Decolonizing Ourselves, Building Alliances: An Aboriginal/Black Dialogue,’’ which engaged scholars and activists around the idea of decolonizing not only through educational mediums but through independent and economic freedom that allows ownership of mediums of communication as well. See also: Women and Business

396

International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids Sources Armstrong, Kiley. ‘‘International Black Women’s Congress to Meet to Establish Health.’’ New York Beacon, August 5, 1994. HighBeam Research. http://www .highbeam.com/library/doc1.asp?docid¼1P1:2271496&refid¼ink_tptd_np&ske. International Black Women’s Congress. http://www.ibwc.info/html/conference_cen ter.html. National Black United Federation of Charities Member Organization Listings. http://www.cfcsiliconvalley.org/pages/NATIONAL_BLACK_UNITED_FEDER ATION.htm. Robinson, Lori S. I Will Survive: The African-American Guide to Healing from Sexual Assault and Abuse. New York: Seal Press, 2002. Social Justice Cluster. http://www.socialjustice.utoronto.ca/decolonizing.html. Speakers Platform Bureau. http://www.speaking.com/speakers/beatrycenivens.html. United Network for Organ Sharing: Organ Donation and Transplantation. http:// www.unos.org/helpSaveALife/promoteOrganDonation/findASpeaker.asp?display¼s.

Uzoma O. Miller

International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids. See Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

397

J Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. (1938–2003), Politician, Attorney In 1973 Jackson became the first black mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. During his tenure as mayor, Jackson empowered minority businesses with his setaside program that guaranteed minority businesses contracts for government projects. The Hartsfield Airport was one such project that successfully used set-asides and was done on time and under budget. The success of this program influenced other local governments to implement similar programs. Born on March 23, 1938, in Dallas, Texas, Jackson was the third of six children born to Maynard Jackson Sr. and Irene Dobbs Jackson. His family was considered part of the black aristocracy. His great-grandfather, Andrew Jackson, a former slave, founded the Wheat Street Baptist Church in Atlanta. Jackson Sr. was a Baptist minister who led the New Hope Baptist Church. He started a voter registration league for blacks and would later run for a seat on the Dallas school board. Although he lost by a wide margin, this may have influenced his son’s interest in political life. Jackson’s mother, Irene Dobbs, was from a political family as well. A Spelman College valedictorian (1929), she was the daughter of John Wesley Dobbs, who was a civic leader in Atlanta. J. W. Dobbs founded the Georgia Voters League and served as grand master of the Prince Hall Negro Masons of Georgia. In 1945, when Jackson was seven, his family moved to Atlanta, where his father was pastor of Friendship Baptist Church. Jackson also considered becoming a Baptist minister but instead majored in political science and history at Morehouse College, entering at the age of fourteen as a Ford Foundation Early Admissions Scholar. He graduated in 1956 at the age of eighteen. He then pursued a law degree at Boston University Law School. However, he was unsuccessful after two separate attempts and dropped out. During the next few years, he worked as an encyclopedia salesman for P. F. Collier, Inc., earning $20,000 a year, and advanced to become assistant district sales manager. Prior to that, he worked as a claims examiner for the state of Ohio’s Bureau of Unemployment Compensation in Cleveland.

Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr.

After working as a claims examiner and encyclopedia salesman, Jackson returned to law school, this time at North Carolina Central University in Durham. His mother, Irene Dobbs, who had earned a Ph.D. in French in France, was head of the language department at North Carolina Central University. In 1964, Jackson earned his law degree, graduating cum laude. The following year, he moved back to Atlanta and married Burnella ‘‘Bunnie’’ Hayes Burke. During this time, he worked as an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board and the Emory Community Legal Services Center. Jackson’s first attempt at political office was in 1968 when he spontaneously entered the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate against incumbent Herman Talmadge. Although Jackson lost the race, it was a victory of sorts because he had succeeded in winning the majority of votes in Atlanta. The next year, he was elected vice mayor of Atlanta as he defeated thirteen-year veteran Milton Farris. Jackson was Atlanta’s first black vice mayor. The success Jackson had in his race against Talmadge in getting the support of both the black and the white community was instrumental in Jackson becoming vice mayor and subsequently mayor. While vice mayor, Jackson was also president of the Board of Aldermen, which later changed to become the city council when Atlanta’s charter changed. During this time, Jackson cofounded the first firm of black lawyers in Georgia—Jackson, Patterson & Parks. ELECTED MAYOR OF ATLANTA In 1973, Jackson entered the race for mayor of Atlanta against incumbent Sam Massell and ten other candidates. Because Jackson only received 46.6 percent of the vote, with Massell receiving 19.8 percent, a runoff between the two took place. During the runoff campaign, Massell accused Jackson of being a reverse racist because Jackson ran on a platform of using affirmative action to reverse past discrimination against blacks in city jobs. The outburst by Massell negatively impacted his campaign. As a result, Jackson was elected mayor of Atlanta with almost 60 percent of the vote. In doing so, he became Atlanta’s first black mayor and the first black mayor of a major southern city. In that same year, Los Angeles and Detroit also elected black mayors—Tom Bradley and Coleman Young, respectively. One of Jackson’s first priorities as mayor was to expand affirmative action to include minority hiring and promotion in the city’s workforce and business set-asides. This stance infuriated white business leaders who saw this as ‘‘white exclusion.’’ Jackson also took his stance to the private sector and pressured banks with large city deposits to hire minorities to executive positions. When one bank failed to comply, a half million dollars was moved from that bank to another bank in compliance with Jackson’s mandate. Jackson eventually increased the number of blacks in city jobs from 38.1 percent to 55.6 percent, along with the number of black administrators from 7.1 percent to 32.6 percent, and city professionals from 15.2 percent to 42.2

400

Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr.

percent. This included the hiring of a black police chief to replace the former white police chief who was demoted because of racial discrimination. Jackson also expanded the minority set-aside program of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) and established a city Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) program to award city contracts to black-owned firms. The MBE program increased the number of city contracts to minority firms to 19 percent by the end of Jackson’s first term, to 34 percent by the end of his second term, while only being 1 percent in 1973. In 1974, Jackson announced that Hartsfield Airport would be expanded to become an international hub. This announcement also included notice that minority firms would receive 25 percent of the contracts. White business leaders opposed this mandate, leading to a two-year conflict with Jackson over this policy. Jackson told the opposition that Atlanta would not build the airport unless they agreed to his mandate. He offered them 75 percent of the project—or else they would get nothing. In 1976, a compromise was reached with a new mandate of only 20 to 25 percent of all contracts going to minority firms. Many thought the business set-asides would add millions to the cost and delay the project. Jackson was vindicated when the airport expansion was completed on time and under budget. His business set-aside program for minority firms made many blacks millionaires. Jackson was elected to a second term in 1977. He also married his second wife, Valier Richardson, after divorcing his first wife in 1976. Because Atlanta’s new city charter only permitted two consecutive terms, Andrew Young succeeded Jackson as mayor for two terms. During Young’s two mayoral terms, Jackson partnered with Chapman & Cutler, a Chicago firm while also working as a bond lawyer. He returned to public office of mayor in 1989. During this terms, Jackson continued his affirmative action programs but realized that the city and the business leaders had to work together for the economic good of the city. Jackson took a more traditional, less-aggressive approach. He was involved in the planning process of bringing the 1996 Olympic Games to Atlanta. As he did earlier, Jackson made sure that minority firms received contracts for the Olympics. Of the $23.9 million in contracts to architects and engineers, $10.7 million was granted to minority businesses. Because of health reasons, Jackson did not seek a fourth term. He continued to work in the political realm, seeking in 2001 an unsuccessful bid for president of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) but heading an initiative for the DNC to increase voter participation among African Americans. Jackson was also successful in private business. In 1987 he launched his own bond and security firm—Jackson Securities, Inc., rated by Black Enterprise as one of the top five black investment companies. Jackson proved influential in Jackson Securities landing several multimillion dollar contracts and becoming one of the largest black investment banks. In 1994 he partnered with his daughter Brooke Jackson Edmond and Daniel Halpern, a veteran in the food industry, to establish Jackmont Hospitality Inc.,

401

Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr.

a food-services company. Jackmont Hospitality owns and operates T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants in the airport in Atlanta and Greenbelt, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; and two in Philadelphia with revenue projected to be $27.5 million in 2004. Jackson was also committed to public service beyond his political office. He cofounded the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP), which serves as a resource for ‘‘minority professionals within the securities and investments industry’’ as well as the Atlanta Economic Development Corporation. He also established The Maynard Jackson Youth Foundation, which seeks to prepare tomorrow’s leaders through mentoring. Jackson held several other organizational memberships: NAACP; Morehouse College Board of Trustees; Prince Hall Masons; 100 Black Men of America; High Noon Legal Foundation; Georgia Voters League, Inc.; the National Conference of Christians and Jews; National Organization of Women; National Welfare Rights Organization; Urban League; National Gun Control Center; and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He has served on numerous committees: Democratic National Committee—Executive Committee; White House Committee on Balanced Growth & Economic Development; and the White House Committee on the Windfall Profits Tax (vice chairman) to name a few. Jackson has been honored as a recipient of The Jefferson Award for ‘‘The Greatest Public Service Performed by an American 35 Years or Under.’’ He was also named by Time magazine (1975) as one of the 200 Young Leaders of America and by Ebony magazine (1976) as 100 Most Influential Black Americans. He has honorary degrees from Morehouse College, North Carolina Central University, and Delaware State College. On June 23, 2003, Jackson had a heart attack at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., and later died en route to the hospital. He was sixtyfive years old. He is survived by his wife Valerie and their two children, Valerie Amanda and Alexandra; and three children from his first wife, Elizabeth, Brooke, and Maynard III. Shirley Franklin, current mayor of Atlanta and prote´ge´ of Jackson, spearheaded the renaming of the airport to ‘‘Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport’’ to honor his achievement in expanding the airport to become one of the busiest in the world. Sources Colburn, David R., and Jeffrey S. Adler, eds. African-American Mayors: Race, Politics, and the American City. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001. Dingle, Derek T. ‘‘The Ultimate Champion for Black Business.’’ Black Enterprise 34 (September 2003): 72–78. ‘‘Former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson Dies.’’ Atlanta Journal Constitution, June 23, 2003. ‘‘Maynard Jackson.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996. Rice, Bradley R. ‘‘Maynard Jackson (1938–2003).’’ New Georgia Encyclopedia. Athens: GA Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press, 2004.

La Loria Konata

402

O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson

O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson (1969– ), Rapper, Producer, Actor, Writer, Businessman O’Shea Jackson is a California entertainment businessman who has become successful in several fields including rapping, writing, acting, and producing. His most acclaimed success in the business came when he launched his own movie production company, Cube Vision, in 2000. The production company is responsible for the success of such movies as Friday (1995) and two subsequent sequels, Barbershop (2000) and Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004), and the 2005 release Are We There Yet? All of these films were incredibly successful, according to box-office standards. Jackson was born on June 15, 1969, in Crenshaw South Central, Los Angeles. Unlike many of his contemporaries and people with whom he would later associate, O’Shea grew up in a middle-class two-parent household. His parents Doris and Hosea Jackson were employed at the University of California located in Los Angeles (UCLA). Hosea worked as a machinist at the university, while Doris worked as a hospital clerk. During his early years, Jackson attended Hawthorne Christian School in Los Angeles. He would later attend William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California. On a dare to write a rhyme, when a friend challenged him in the middle of typing class, Jackson successfully met the challenge; he penned his first rap song in the ninth grade. In the mid-1980s, Jackson adopted the persona and hip-hop name ‘‘Ice Cube.’’ The first song he wrote, ‘‘Boyz ’N the Hood,’’ became famous a few short years later. Upon graduation from high school in 1987, Ice Cube left Los Angeles to attend Phoenix Institute of Technology in Arizona. Before totally committing himself to his music, Ice Cube wanted time off to study architectural drafting at the Institute. Within one year he completed a certificate and returned to Los Angeles to continue his newfound interest in music entertainment. ICE CUBE, HIP-HOP MUSIC, MOVIES, AND BUSINESS At age sixteen, Ice Cube sold his first rap song, ‘‘Boyz ’N the Hood,’’ to rapper Easy-E. He also began rapping with his partner Sir Jinx at parties hosted by hip-hop rap artist Dr. Dre (Andre Young). Ice Cube’s rhymes caught the ear of Dr. Dre and other rappers, quickly earning himself a spot in CIA, Dr. Dre’s fledgling rap music production company. He returned to Los Angeles to start the first incarnation of N.W.A. (Niggaz with Attitude) with Dr. Dre, Easy-E, MC Ren, the Arabian Prince, and DJ Yella. Their first album, Straight Outta Compton, was released in 1989. It was a huge yet highly controversial hit, which put N.W.A. at the forefront of ‘‘gangster rap.’’ With the release of songs like ‘‘Fuck the Police,’’ N.W.A. would become historically significant as the first group to establish the new genre of hip-hop

403

O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson

labeled ‘‘gansta rap.’’ Initially the group’s lyrics were commentary about police brutality and violence committed against blacks. Later the lyrics began to reflect more misogynistic and violent tones. Ice Cube remained with the group for another two years, and by 1990 he began a solo rap career in New York. He released five subsequent albums, all of which were successful and broadened his crossover appeal among white youth. Ice Cube has since recorded with other artists such as Mack 10, WC, and the West Side Connection. Ice Cube made his acting debut in the hit 1991 movie Boyz ’N the Hood. His performance in the movie proved that he had star potential and catapulted his acting, producing, and directing career immediately. Ice Cube’s success as an actor is clear, with films such as The Glass Shield (1995), Higher Learning (1995), the Friday films (Friday, 1995; Next Friday, 1999; Friday after Next, 2002), Anaconda (1997), The Players Club (1998), the acclaimed Three Kings (1999), Ghosts of Mars (2001), Torque (2004), Barbershop and Barbershop 2 (2002–2004) among his credits. When asked if acting, writing, directing, and producing were an extension of music, Ice Cube said in an interview with Terry Gross that ‘‘it is just all about whether you got it or not; the camera don’t lie.’’ The former rapper says that he uses ‘‘the rhythm of timing’’ in his acting, the lesson he has derived from his music. ‘‘I think doing music, and videos, have kind of set me up to do what I am doing now.’’ In 2000, Ice Cube launched his own production company, Cube Vision. The company has since produced both Barbershop films as well as the boxoffice 2005 hit Are We There Yet? Besides Will Smith, Ice Cube has emerged as one of the most successful hip-hop music artists to have made the transition to acting. However, Ice Cube has exceeded Smith’s success as musician and actor only through his work as director, writer, and producer. Off screen, Ice Cube is noted as quietly philosophical in how he deals with the fame that has been thrust upon him. ‘‘You know, it is part of what I have asked for. I take it as another extension of who I am. Not all of who I am but just a piece,’’ he said in an interview with Monikka Stallworth. One major challenge he faces in the film industry deals with perceptions of race and its impact on movie selections. Ice Cube finds disappointment with Hollywood film executives who only want to market to mainly black audiences for support of his films. Ice Cube intimated that the continued color barrier that exists in Hollywood comes from the people making the movies and not from the audience. In an interview with Tor Thorsen, he stated, ‘‘The studios target with blinders on. They’re the ones who don’t understand that if people want to see it. You don’t have to target . . . they’re not smart enough to see they [the audience] don’t care about your color.’’ Ice Cube did not imagine that he would be in the position he has achieved today. His popularity among mainstream pop culture as a music artist, leading man, and entertainment executive is even more overwhelming for him. However, having been married since 1992 to wife Kim Jackson, and having four children, he believes having family has helped

404

Thomas ‘‘T. D.’’ Jakes

ground him. While he is unsure about his continued role in hip-hop music, Ice Cube would like to continue his role as actor, writer, producer, and director of films. Sources ‘‘Actor and Musician Ice Cube.’’ Interview by Terry Gross. January 10, 2005. National Public Radio, Philadelphia, PA. ‘‘The Africana QA: Ice Cube.’’ Interview by Ronda Racha Penrice. January 15, 2004. http://archive.blackvoices.com. ‘‘Barbershop: An Interview with Ice Cube.’’ Interview by Monikka Stallworth. September 20, 2002. http://www.blackfilm.com. ‘‘Cubevision.’’ Interview by Tor Thorsen. December 2, 2002. http://www.donmega .com/cubevision.

Baiyina W. Muhammad

Thomas ‘‘T. D.’’ Jakes (1957– ), Evangelist, Entrepreneur, Author Thomas Dexter ‘‘T. D.’’ Jakes is a large-scale religious entrepreneur. In a comparatively short time, he has built up a megachurch with nearly 30,000 members and a nationwide television ministry. He holds meetings throughout the country and draws very large audiences to his conferences. In addition, he has produced award-winning gospel records and written and produced plays and movies, both of which have been very successful with predominantly fundamentalist Christian audiences. He is also the author of over two dozen books, including Woman, Thou Art Loosed (1993), which has sold more than 1.5 million copies. While his central ministry is supported by nonprofit organizations, his for-profit activities, like song and theater productions, and his writings contribute to his seven-figure income. Jakes was born on June 9, 1957, in South Charleston, West Virginia. His mother, Odith, taught economics, and his father, Ernest Sr., had successfully built up a forty-two-person janitorial service. There were two older children. Early on he undertook such business responsibilities as running a paper route. His father suffered for many years from a severe kidney disease, and when his mother fell ill also, he dropped out of high school just short of graduation. He already felt the call to become a minister, preaching wherever he could in storefront Pentecostal churches. In 1980 he helped found a church in Montgomery, West Virginia, which began with ten members. Jakes married his wife Serita in 1981; the couple has five children. Jakes became a full-time minister in 1982, the year his father died and he lost his job as the local Union Carbide plant closed. His initial affiliation as a minister was as a member of the Higher Ground Always Abounding Association, a Pentecostal oneness denomination. Oneness denominations do not espouse orthodox beliefs in the Trinity and baptize in Jesus’s name only. His church is now nondenominational, and he downplays the exact nature of his theological beliefs and baptizes both ‘‘in Jesus’s name’’ and in

405

Thomas ‘‘T. D.’’ Jakes

the orthodox ‘‘name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,’’ according to circumstances. This posture enrages those fundamentalist Christians who pride themselves on doctrinal purity but attracts large numbers of persons who are indifferent to the intricacies of Christian theology. Jakes developed early on themes and techniques that quickly increased his outreach and spurred the growth of his church. For example, 1983 saw the first ‘‘Back to the Bible Conference,’’ now simply the ‘‘Bible Conference.’’ This conference began with eighty persons and grew over the years. He also showed his willingness to change his base of operations to reach larger audiences. When he moved to Charleston in 1990, his congregation tripled from 100 to 300. In 1992, he discovered one of his major themes when he preached to a healing and inspiring sermon, ‘‘Woman, Thou Art Loosed,’’ in Sunday school. This has proved to be extremely popular in his ministry. A book of the same title was published in 1993. Jakes’s ministry has continually had a remarkable appeal to women. Conferences under the title ‘‘Woman, Thou Art Loosed’’ draw large audiences. In 1999 such a conference attracted 84,500 people to Atlanta’s Georgia Dome; in addition, there was an overflow crowd of 20,000, breaking the previous record for attendance held by Billy Graham. Various organizations organize Jakes’s different activities. In 1992 he formed T. D. Jakes Enterprises, a for-profit organization, which handles his work as an author, a musician, and a playwright; his conferences are handled by the nonprofit Potter’s House Ministry. Jakes has been quick to exploit technology. In 1993 he began a weekly television show, which ran on both TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) and BET (Black Entertainment Television). He has since added a daily thirty-minute talk show to the weekly calendar. He is also on international television with a weekly program, and still keeping up with the latest technology, there are now live Webcasts of two Sunday services and a Wednesday evening one. In 1996, continuing to expand his ministry, Jakes, his family, and fifty staff members moved their base from West Virginia to Dallas, Texas, where he purchased a former televangelist’s church on twenty-eight acres of land for $3.2 million. Renamed the Potter’s House, the church saw the congregation grow rapidly, and it now approaches 30,000. His congregation is unusually diverse, accommodating 13 percent Caucasian and 7 percent Hispanic. The congregation is 45 percent male, very high for a minority church. To accommodate such numbers, there are four three-hour church services every Sunday. There are also a vast number of additional ministries, including a prison ministry said to reach more than 350,000 persons. Many of the efforts are addressed to persons in dire circumstances: the homeless, drug abusers, people with AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), and women subject to domestic abuse. There is also a GED program. Jakes supports three major conferences, ‘‘The Pastor’s Leadership Conference,’’ ‘‘Manpower,’’ an all-male ministry, and ‘‘Woman, Thou Art Loosed.’’

406

Thomas ‘‘T. D.’’ Jakes

The foundation of these activities is Jakes’s skill as a preacher. Both the New York Times and Time magazine have featured him. The Times named him in 1999 as one of the top five candidates to become the popular successor to Billy Graham. Time put him on the magazine cover in 2001, identifying him as ‘‘America’s Best Preacher.’’ He is also active as a columnist in three national religious magazines, including Gospel Today. He is also active as a columnist in three national religious magazines, including Gospel Today. His theater production company, Touchdown Concepts, launched another play, Cover Girl, in 2004. Two previous ones, Woman, Thou Art Loosed and Behind Closed Doors became in turn the number one gospel play. In 2004 a full-length movie version of Woman, Thou Art Loosed, with Jakes playing himself, appeared. The musical label Dexterity Sounds, a collaboration with EMI Gospel Music, has also been very successful with ‘‘The Storm Is Over’’ (2001), makings its debut at number one on Billboard’s Gospel chart. Jakes has also published over twenty-five books. Three of his bestselling top five are books of religious advice: Maximize the Moment: God’s Action Plan for Your Life (1999) and The Great Investment: Faith, Family and Finance (2000) join the runaway bestseller Woman, Thou Art Loosed! (1993). All except the last were published by a major mainstream publisher, Putnam. Jakes’s first publication with Putnam was the novel The Lady, Her Lover, and the Lord in 1998 and was followed in 2002 by a second, God’s Leading Lady: Out of the Shadows and into the Light. These works have shown Christian fiction to be very profitable for mainstream publishers and bookstores to the point that specialized Christian bookstores find their business adversely affected. Jakes’s activities have led to a very visible prosperity: a $1.7 million house, an expensive automobile, and fine wardrobe. But he is not a simply ‘‘believe and you will become wealthy’’ preacher; he emphasizes that God’s will is not to make people happy but to teach them lessons. Adversity can be part of the plan. Still, he does appeal greatly to persons striving to become prosperous. Jakes has contributed to improvement at home and abroad ranging from improvements in urban conditions in Dallas to help in construction of a hospital in Belize and the provision of water wells in Kenya. The church is also very active in an outreach prison ministry in tandem with a federally sponsored program, The Texas Offenders Reenty Initiative program. A major instrument of this outreach to the urban community is the nonprofit Metroplex Economic Development Corporation founded in 1998, which among other activities sponsors a training program for budding entrepreneurs. A more traditional church-related activity is the foundation of a Christian college preparatory school, Clay Academy in 1998, which is in turn designed to be the centerpiece of a 1,000 single-family homes development. Jakes thus places himself in the tradition of religious teaching and social uplift characteristic of many black churches. While there are doubters who label Jakes’s preaching only a diluted version of pop psychology with the end goal of wealth and prosperity, detractors and

407

Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr.

admirers must agree that he is a master marketer. His message reverberates with many persons and helps them turn their lives around. The belief that individual moral reform is sufficient to create a better world is a weakness he shares with many evangelical believers. It is not yet clear how far he can go to find and hold a widening audience and whether his work will be more enduring than that of a long line of evangelical Christian reformers beginning with Charles Grandisson Finney in the nineteenth century. Sources Dooley, Tara. ‘‘Women ‘Shout to God’; 43,000 Flock to Reliant for a Revival.’’ Houston Chronicle, July 18, 2003. Freeman, Helaine R. ‘‘Making ‘Loosed Women’ of Them Bishop T. D. Jakes Brings His Gospel of New Life through Freedom from the Past to an Enthusiastic Crowd in Houston.’’ Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 2, 2003. Gruen, Dietrich, and Ralph G. Zerbonia. ‘‘Thomas ‘T. D.’ Jakes.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 43. Detroit: Gale Research, 2004. Kehr, Dave. ‘‘Woman, Thou Art Loosed’’ (movie review). New York Times, October 1, 2004. Niebur, Gustav, and Laurie Goodstein. ‘‘The Preachers: A Special Report; New Wave of Evangelists Vying for National Pulpit.’’ New York Times, January 1, 1999. The Potter’s House. http://www.thepottershouse.org. ‘‘T. D. Jakes.’’ http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/jakes.html. ‘‘T. D. Jakes’ Musical Stage Play ‘Cover Girls’ Hits the Road for 2004.’’ Business Wire, December 3, 2003. Winner, Lauren F. ‘‘T. D. Jakes Feels Your Pain.’’ Christianity Today 44 (February 7, 2000): 52–59.

Robert L. Johns

Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr. (1959– ), Basketball Player, Theater Chain Owner, AIDS Activist Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr., known for his basketball skills in the 1970s and 1980s, is now one of the top entrepreneurs in the country. After leaving basketball, Johnson has opened theaters in distressed areas of the city, signed agreements to sponsor franchises in Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, and Birmingham, Alabama, and as a developer has set his sights on acquiring residential and commercial property such as building coffee shops, restaurants, and movie theaters in urban areas of downtown Atlanta. The sixth of ten children, Johnson was born in Lansing, Michigan, to Earvin Johnson Sr., an autoworker, and Christine Johnson, a cafeteria worker. Growing up in a large family was something Johnson enjoyed. Having the encouragement of his family and friends, the happiness on Johnson’s face radiated when he smiled. A reporter gave him the name ‘‘Magic.’’ The six-feet-nine-inch Johnson led Michigan State University to a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship in 1977–1978.

408

Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr.

In the 1979 NCAA championship game, Johnson was matched against Larry Bird, a longtime rival, in which Bird’s team defeated Michigan. The two would meet again during the National Basketball Association (NBA) finals. From Michigan State University, Johnson accepted an offer from the Los Angeles Lakers in 1980. There Johnson set numerous records. His rookie year in the sixth game of the 1980 finals, Johnson was named Most Valuable Player, a reporter described his performance as ‘‘the most extraordinary show in playoff history.’’ Johnson scored forty-two points, fifteen rebounds, seven assists, three steals, and one blocked shot. Lakers veteran player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was sidelined by an injury. Bird, a team player from the Boston Celtics, would win the Rookie of the Year Award. With Pat Riley the coach, the Lakers would win their second championship in three years. Johnson’s short-lived basketball career waned in the beginning. Many felt his salary contract was overwhelming for a rookie player. A squabble between Johnson and head coach Pat Westhead over a change in strategy resulted in the coach’s firing. Many Lakers’ fans were unhappy and several seasons booed Johnson. But rising to the occasion, the Lakers, under head coach Pat Riley, won the championship in 1982, and Johnson won the Most Valuable Player in the series. Fame, fortune, and the lack of privacy that many top athletes and stars experience also embraced Johnson. Johnson traveled with body guards and lived in a guarded estate. According to Contemporary Black Biography, Johnson once commented that ‘‘the glitter is part of it, but so are the people with schemes, the thieves running scams; so are the people who want to get so close that it becomes scary. There is never a normal day.’’ During a routine physical examination for an insurance policy sought by the Los Angeles Lakers team, Johnson was found to have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that leads to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). This was a turning point in Johnson’s life. He had married his longtime girlfriend Earleatha ‘‘Cookie’’ Kelly. Johnson continued to play basketball despite the diagnosis. Later, Johnson would become a spokesperson for the HIV virus. Johnson participated in the 1992 NBA All-Star game and in the summer was selected for the Olympics team. The ‘‘Dream Team’’ at the Olympics won all eight of their games and received a medal in the event. Johnson would retire from basketball but would try to make a comeback; at the end of the 1995–1996 season, he would finally exit the game that he loved. BECOMES AN ENTREPRENEUR Johnson’s life after basketball would prove to be even more fruitful. Johnson started a development corporation. In 1990 Johnson purchased the Pepsi-Cola distribution plant in Forestville, Maryland. The Johnson Development Corporation in the ensuing years partnered with Loews Cineplex Entertainment to build movie complexes in Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta,

409

Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr.

Harlem, and Cleveland. Johnson met with Starbucks chief executive officer Howard Schultz to franchise the business in eight stores located in the inner city and urban locations. Several years later, Johnson had business associations with Fatburger and opened a series of twenty-four-hour Magic Johnson Sports Clubs. Johnson tried his hand in film and television, as executive producer of the film Brown Sugar in 2002. Television shows Who’s Got Game and The Magic Hour were shows that lasted only a few seasons. In 2003, Johnson opened the eleventh Magic Johnson HP Inventor Center at the Black Child and Family Institute in Lansing, Michigan. Through the Magic Johnson Foundation the centers offer training and skill development and access to online services for Lansing area youths and adults. The center is founded by HP (Hewlett-Packard); the initiative has already established ten centers in Los Angeles, Washington, Atlanta, Harlem, Chicago, and Houston. Introduced in 2004, Johnson and NASCAR have a program to invite more minorities into stock car racing as participants and audiences. ‘‘Magic,’’ the program’s name, will draw minorities to the sport from the grassroots, sparking interest for future generations. Also introduced in 2004 is the MAGIC Cash card, a Bank of America project, which carries Visa’s logo and Johnson’s picture. The intent of the card is to offer a stored value Visa from start-up Celebrity Cards International, which will divert business from check-cashers and bring electronic payment services to customers. In 2005, Johnson in partnership with Canyon Capital Realty (CanyonJohnson Urban Fund II) has teamed up with two companies Daniel Realty Corporation and Selig Enterprises to build Plaza Midtown in downtown Atlanta. Units are expected to sell for $600,000. The complex will have 452 condo units and 70,000 square feet of retail space. The location of the 3.3acre site is along Peachtree Place, near Technology Square. Johnson’s life after basketball has been a success, with several initiatives through the Johnson Development Corporation. Talk show host, motivational speaker, and all-around nice guy, Johnson has remained a central figure owing to his success in basketball and business. A pursuer of worthy causes, Johnson has brought jobs and businesses to minority communities. Despite retiring nearly twenty years ago from basketball, Johnson remains a headliner. Sources Canyon-Johnson Closes on New $600 Million Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund II; Successor to CJUF I Continues Tradition of Urban Development. Business Wire. http:// www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_March_23/ai_n13466340. de Paula, Matthew. ‘‘Magic’s a Downtown Hit. Now He’s Got a Card.’’ US Banker 114 (June 2004): 28. Johnson, Earvin, Jr. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 39. Gale Group, 2003. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2003. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRCEarvin Johnson, Jr.

410

Eunice Walker Johnson McMullen, Troy. ‘‘Magic’s Atlanta Play.’’ Wallstreet Journal, October 8, 2004. Roach, Ronald. ‘‘Magic Johnson Foundation, HP Open Tech Center in Michigan.’’ Black Issues in Higher Education 20 (2003): 9. Spencer, Lee. ‘‘To Know List 5: Driving for Diversity.’’ Sporting News 228 (May 13, 2004): 7.

Marvella Rounds

Eunice Walker Johnson (c. 1920– ), Fashion Show Producer, Business Executive, Editor, Philanthropist From her childhood love of making clothes for her dolls, Eunice Walker Johnson created a career in fashion. In addition to editing Ebony magazine’s fashion column, she produces and directs its popular Ebony Fashion Fair each year. According to Wormley and colleagues, in ‘‘Uncovering History,’’ one study of African American consumers identified five areas of impact of Ebony Fashion Fair and Ebony magazine: promoting a positive image for blacks and encouraging their potential; providing increased career opportunities in modeling, fashion designing, photography, and entertaining; generating millions of dollars for black charities and scholarships; highlighting blacks’ interests beyond fashion in such areas as politics, business, entertainment, and social events; and changing white perceptions of blacks as consumers. Johnson’s investment in education, religion, and social causes seems rooted in family heritage. Her grandfather William H. McAlpine founded and served as president of Selma University in Alabama and the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. Her father, Nathaniel D. Walker, a firm believer in education, paid his way through school to become a physician. Her mother, Ethel McAlpine Walker, served as a high school principal and taught art and education at Selma University. Her two brothers became physicians and her sister a professor. Johnson, in ‘‘Backstage,’’ also attributes her love of fashion to her family’s ‘‘history of beauty and excellence.’’ Early in her Selma childhood, Johnson developed a love of crafting clothes for her doll collection. She wanted her dolls to be dressed well and built the best collection among her friends. By the time she was eight years old, she could make her own clothes, shirts for her father, and fur-collared coats. She entered and won many sewing contests, content to rip out seams until she got them right. In college, Johnson studied social work while continuing her interest in fashion. She earned her B.A. degree from Alabama’s Talladega College, with a major in sociology and minor in art. At Loyola University in Chicago, she worked toward a master’s degree in social work. Further education included studies of great books at the University of Chicago and graduate

411

Eunice Walker Johnson

courses in journalism at Northwestern University. She also studied at the Ray-Vogue School of Interior Design. In 1941, Johnson married fellow Loyola student John H. Johnson. A son of sharecroppers, he founded the Johnson Publishing Company. Together, the Johnsons created Negro Digest, which later changed its name to Black World. In 1945, they began Ebony, a Life-like magazine targeted to the African American population. The Johnson Company also distributes Jet, Black Stars, and Ebony, Jr. magazines, publishes books, and owns Radio Station WJPC in Chicago. In 1973, the Johnsons formed Fashion Fair Cosmetics, which features skin care products designed specifically for the black complexion. Johnson Publishing Company grew to become the largest black publishing company worldwide. While her husband filled the role of publisher and chairman, Johnson served as secretary-treasurer. She chose the name Ebony and edits its fashion column. The couple’s daughter, Linda Johnson Rice, now serves as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the company. Their son, John Jr., once a photographer for Ebony and Jet, died in 1981 at the age of twenty-five. The idea for Ebony’s Fashion Fair originated in 1956 when Jessie Dent, wife of then Dillard University president Albert Dent, asked the publishing company to sponsor a fund-raiser for the Women’s Auxiliary of New Orleans’ Flint-Goodrich Hospital. Based on the success of the project, the Johnsons decided to take the event on the road to raise funds for other charities. Freda DeKnight, who edited the food and fashion section of Ebony at the time, organized the first national tour in 1958. Four models toured ten cities. At her husband’s request to handle production of the show temporarily, Eunice Johnson began directing the Fashion Fair in 1961. Her eye for beauty, her knowledge of fashion, and her commitment to excellence soon captured national and then international recognition. Johnson supervises the hiring and training of models and travels to Europe a couple of times each year ‘‘to buy clothes for five-foot-nine dolls,’’ she said in ‘‘Backstage.’’ She quickly caught the attention of designers by purchasing, rather than borrowing, her selections. The show, which includes everyday wear as well as high fashion, features the work of the world’s top designers. Black designers like Steven Burrows, B. Michael, and Quinton de Alexander display their work alongside those of Givenchy, Oscar de La Renta, Christian LaCroix, and Pierre Cardin. Models from host cities often join well-known models on the runway. Each year the show builds around a theme, which Johnson selects. Sponsoring organizations determine the cost of each ticket, which covers expenses, includes subscriptions to Ebony and Jet, and makes a contribution to a charity or scholarship. The Fashion Fair has raised millions of dollars for sponsors such as the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), the New York Urban League, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as well as for local social and civic organizations.

412

Eunice Walker Johnson

Cities have hosted the fair in such diverse locations as high school gymnasiums and municipal auditoriums. On two occasions, U.S. presidents have enlisted Johnson’s service. Richard M. Nixon invited her to accompany his wife Patricia as a special ambassador to William R. Tolbert Jr.’s inauguration as president of Liberia. Gerald Ford selected her as the only African American in a blue-ribbon press corps of 200 that accompanied him to China, Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Johnson has made time to take part in a number of educational, cultural, and civic organizations. She has served on the board of directors of Selma University, Talladega College, and the Women’s Division of the United Negro College Fund and on the advisory board of Harvard University School of Business. She has served on the board of trustees for the Coty American Fashion Critics Award and as a member of the National Foundation for the Fashion Industry. She sits on the Women’s Board of both the Art Institute and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Johnson’s dedication to education and the fashion industry have prompted numerous honors. In 1988, Chicago’s Boys and Girls Club named her Chicagoan of the Year. In 1999, Turner Broadcasting System presented her its Trumpet Award for career excellence and contributions to the quality of African American life. In 2000, the Art Institute of Chicago honored her at its opening gala for its exhibit titled ‘‘To Conserve a Legacy: American Art from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.’’ In 2001, the United Negro College Fund bestowed its Frederick D. [Douglas] Patterson Award for her support of education and the mission of the organization. In 2002, UNCF chose her for their Harold H. Hines Benefactor’s Award. Several colleges have granted Johnson honorary degrees: Talladega, Selma, and Shaw. Talladega College renamed its social sciences and education department for her. The child who loved to make clothes for her dolls not only became one of the world’s best-dressed ladies but also came to produce and direct the world’s largest traveling fashion show. In doing the work that she loves, she has influenced the international fashion industry, raised significant funds for charities, boosted the careers of numerous black women and men, and helped raise the self-esteem of a generation of black young people. See also: Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources ‘‘Backstage.’’ Ebony 43 (February 1988): 28. ‘‘GM Salutes the 45th Ebony Fashion Fair Tour.’’ Ebony 57 (October 2002): 35–40. Smith, Jessie Carney. ‘‘Eunice Walker Johnson.’’ Notable Black American Women. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. ‘‘UNCF Honors Ebony Fashion Fair Producer/Director.’’ Ebony 56 (June 2001): 94–96. Wormley, J. Carlyne, Barbara Heinzerling, and Virginia Gunn. ‘‘Uncovering History: An Examination of the Impact of the Ebony Fashion Fair and Ebony Magazine.’’ Consumer Interests Annual 44 (1998): 148–150.

Marie Garrett

413

John H. Johnson

John H. Johnson (1918–2005), Publisher, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist John Harold Johnson, the grandson of slaves, was the founder, publisher, and chairman of Johnson Publishing Company, Inc. (JPC), which is the largest African American–owned and –operated publishing company. JPC is the corporate home of Ebony, the number one African American magazine with more than 12 million readers each month; Jet, the number one African American news weekly with more than 9 million readers; and JPC’s Book Division, with Lerone Bennett Jr., prominent journalist, social historian, and Ebony executive editor emeritus, as the premier author. JPC also produces two spin-offs: Fashion Fair Cosmetics, the largest African American– owned cosmetics company, and Ebony Fashion Fair, the largest traveling fashion show. The Chicago-based JPC, located at 820 South Michigan Avenue, also has offices in Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., London, and Paris. For more than sixty years, JPC has been one of the most successful African American–owned businesses, and for decades, JPC has been one of the largest black-owned businesses. Johnson’s vision of African American publications that promote black achievement, pride, and heritage broke through the American media’s racial barriers as well as led to Madison’s Avenue realization that African American consumers cannot be ignored. Johnson’s implementation of his dream has earned him recognition as an African American publishing mogul, the preeminent African American businessman of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and the first African American to be included on Forbes’ list of the 400 wealthiest Americans. Johnson was born in rural Arkansas City, Arkansas, on January 19, 1918, to Leroy Johnson, a worker in a sawmill and on a levee, and Gertrude Johnson, a domestic. Leroy Johnson was killed in a sawmill accident when his son was six years old. Gertrude Johnson, the daughter of former slaves, then married James Williams, who did not provide adequate financial support for his family. Thus, Johnson’s mother cooked for a dredging company crew and for levee workers. With some help from her young son, she also washed and ironed the levee workers’ clothes. Eventually, Johnson helped his mother prepare the meals for the workers. Johnson graduated from Arkansas City Colored School in June 1932. There was no public school for African Americans to attend in Johnson’s hometown, and his family was unable to send him to boarding school in Pine Bluff or Little Rock. Johnson’s mother decided that he would continue his education in Chicago, but the family was unable to save enough money for the move before she ordered Johnson to repeat the eighth grade. That was her method of keeping Johnson away from peer pressure and menial jobs. The family moved to Chicago in July 1933, and in September, Johnson enrolled in Wendell Phillips High School, a predominantly African American school. After the school burned down, he attended another African

414

John H. Johnson

American school, DuSable High. During Johnson’s secondary education years, he was not the only member of the student body who would later gain fame; Nat ‘‘King’’ Cole, Redd Foxx, and Harold Washington were among the future celebrities who were also enrolled in the high schools. Johnson, an honors student, participated in a variety of extracurricular activities at both schools including newspaper editor, year book manager, student council president, French club member, junior class president, and senior class president. Johnson was asked to speak at his 1936 graduation ceremony, and his topic was ‘‘Builders of a New World.’’ He was awarded a $200 scholarship to the University of Chicago. At a 1936 Urban League luncheon held in honor of high school students, Johnson met Harry H. Pace, who was president of Supreme Liberty Life (SLL) Insurance Company, which was the largest African American business in the North. Pace, who was one of the most prominent African American businessmen during the first half of the twentieth century, offered Johnson a part-time job at SLL in order to help him pay his college tuition. Johnson began working as an office boy at the insurance company on September 1, 1936, and he welcomed opportunities to learn about business from Pace and the other distinguished African American businessmen at SLL. Pace assigned Johnson the task of reading periodicals and selecting articles that would be of interest to the insurance company’s African American clientele. Pace, after reviewing Johnson’s choices, selected articles that were reprinted in The Guardian, SLL’s monthly publication. In 1939, Johnson, who dropped out of college, was working full-time at the insurance company. He later attended Northwestern University. In 1940 Johnson met Eunice Walker, a graduate of Alabama’s Talladega College, who was completing her master’s degree in social work at Loyola University in Chicago. Walker, a native of Selma, Alabama, was the granddaughter of Dr. William H. McAlpine, a founder of Selma University and its second president. Walker’s father, Nathaniel D. Walker, was a prominent physician; and her mother, Ethel McAlpine Walker, was a high school principal and Selma University instructor. Johnson and Walker were married in Selma on June 21, 1941. They later adopted two children: Linda and John Harold Johnson Jr., who died of sickle cell anemia in 1981 when he was twenty-five years old. As a result of Johnson’s compilation of articles for The Guardian, he was inspired to create an African American version of Reader’s Digest. Although loan officers at Chicago’s First National Bank told Johnson that the institution would never lend money to African Americans and influential blacks discouraged him, Johnson remained determined to publish his magazine. Three people encouraged Johnson: his mother, who allowed Johnson to use her furniture as collateral for a $500 loan; his boss, who granted Johnson access to SLL’s mailing list of 20,000 policyholders in order for Johnson to ask them to buy $2 subscriptions to Negro Digest; and his wife, who helped Johnson with editorial, circulation, and mailing chores. Johnson’s subscription offer generated $6,000 from SLL policyholders. He ran his

415

John H. Johnson

Negro Digest Publishing Company in a corner of attorney Earl Dickerson’s law library in the SLL Building. The first issue of Negro Digest appeared in November 1942. Johnson mailed 3,000 copies to prepaid subscribers and asked Chicago’s largest distributor to sell the remaining 2,000 copies. Johnson was rebuffed; the distributor informed him that African American reading materials were excluded from the city’s newsstands because they did not sell. Johnson’s reaction was to have approximately thirty employees from SLL go to various Chicago newsstands and ask for Negro Digest. Thus, newsstand operators began requesting Johnson’s magazine from the distributor; once Negro Digest appeared at local newsstands, Johnson gave the SLL employees money to buy the first issue. Johnson then developed a national strategy to promote sales of Negro Digest, and within eight months, the periodical’s circulation reached 50,000 copies. In September 1943, Johnson quit his job at the insurance company. (Years later Johnson, who became SLL’s largest stockholder, was elected the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, and he sold the company in 1993.) A feature of Negro Digest was ‘‘If I Were a Negro,’’ written by famous whites such as Pearl Buck, Marshall Field, Edward G. Robinson, and Orson Welles. When Johnson persuaded First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to write the column for the October 1943 issue, circulation climbed to 150,000. Also in 1943, Johnson purchased his first building at 5619 South State Street, which became the new home for the Negro Digest Publishing Company. PUBLISHES EBONY MAGAZINE The success of Negro Digest led to the creation of Ebony after Johnson noticed that many African Americans were purchasing Life, a pictorial magazine. Heeding his wife’s suggestion, Johnson selected Ebony as the title for his new publication after his wife explained that ebony is a fine black African wood. The first issue appeared in November 1945, and Ebony was an instant success. When the initial run of 25,000 copies sold out in mere hours, Johnson had 25,000 additional copies printed. Ebony quickly amassed a readership of more than 400,000 and eclipsed Negro Digest. Although no advertisements were included in the beginning, ads from SLL as well as major white corporations such as Armour Foods, Chesterfield, Elgin Watch, Quaker Oats, and Zenith began appearing in 1946 after Johnson persuaded white advertising and corporate executives to give Ebony the same consideration extended to Look and Life. In 1949, Johnson renamed the Negro Digest Publishing Company the Johnson Publishing Company and moved the headquarters to 5125 Calumet. In 1951, Johnson began publishing Jet, which remains the most widely read African American newsweekly. Also in 1951, Johnson retired Negro Digest until 1961 when it was revamped as a literary quarterly. In May 1970, Negro Digest, with Hoyt Fuller as editor, became Black World. While Ebony and Jet document the civil rights struggles of the 1950s, 1960s, and beyond, Black World contributed to the Black Arts

416

John H. Johnson

Movement in the 1960s. The last issue of Black World appeared in April 1976. Over the decades, JPC has published at least five other magazines that were short-lived: Hue, Tan Confessions, Ebony Jr., Ebony Man, and Ebony South Africa. In addition to Ebony and Jet, other JPC brands are its Book Division, Ebony Fashion Fair, and Fashion Fair Cosmetics. Although JPC printed its first book in 1945, additional books were not published until the Book Division was established in the early 1960s. Among its publications is Lerone Bennett Jr.’s classic Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America (1962; 7th rev. ed., 2003). JPC’s success is not limited to magazines and books. Eunice Johnson is the creator, producer, and director of the annual Ebony Fashion Fair, which since 1958 has featured African Americans modeling the latest creations by American and European designers, with the proceeds going to various nonprofit groups in approximately 200 cities. When Johnson and his wife noticed that the Fashion Fair models had to blend cosmetics to match their skin tones, they asked cosmetic companies to create products for African American women. After their attempts to persuade the cosmetic executives proved futile, the Johnsons went to a laboratory that created Fashion Fair Cosmetics in 1973. The makeup is currently sold in department stores throughout the United States and in foreign countries such as Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, England, and France. JPC’s influence also extends to the broadcasting industry. The company created television shows such as the Ebony Music Awards and American Black Achievement Awards, as well as the Ebony/Jet Showcase, which was a weekly variety show. Johnson invested in a Chicago cable franchise, and with his purchase of WGRT, he became the first African American to own a radio station in Chicago. Johnson renamed the station WJPC. Following that, he bought and sold several radio stations. Johnson was a member of the board of various business corporations such as Arthur D. Little, Bell and Howell, Chrysler Corporation, Conrail, Continental Bank, Dillard Department Stores, Supreme Life Insurance Company, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, VIAD Corporation, and Zenith Electronics Corporation. Johnson was a consultant to America’s top politicians. He accompanied Vice President Richard Nixon on trips to nine African countries in 1957 and to Russia and Poland in 1959. Johnson was appointed as special U.S. ambassador to the Independence Ceremonies of the Ivory Coast in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy; special U.S. ambassador to the Independence Ceremonies of Kenya in 1963, by President Lyndon Johnson; a member of the National Selective Service Commission in 1966, by President Johnson; and a member of the President’s Commission for the Observance of the 25th Anniversary of the United Nations in 1970, by President Nixon. Throughout the decades, Johnson received numerous accolades. In 2005, the John H. Johnson Cultural and Educational Museum, which is a replica

417

John H. Johnson

of Johnson’s childhood home, was dedicated in Arkansas City, Johnson’s hometown. Arkansas City will also be the site of the John H. Johnson Cultural and Entrpreneurial Center, and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will house an academic complex in Johnson’s name. In 2003, Howard University named its journalism school the John H. Johnson School of Communications in honor of Johnson’s $4 million contribution to the school earlier in the year. Johnson received honorary doctorates from at least thirty-one institutions of higher learning including Carnegie-Mellon Institute, Harvard University, Howard University, Morehouse College, and Northwestern University. He was inducted into the Chicago Business Hall of Fame, 1983; Black Press Hall of Fame, 1987; Publishing Hall of Fame, 1987; Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame, 1990; Junior Achievement Hall of Fame, 1997; and the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame, 2001. In 1996, President Bill Clinton presented Johnson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Among Johnson’s additional honors were the Black Journalists Lifetime Achievement Award, Chicagoan of the Year Award, Columbia Journalism Award, Founders Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the Distinguished Service Award from Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration, Robie Award from the Jackie Robinson Foundation, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Spingarn Medal, National Press Foundation Award, and Wall Street Journal Dow Jones Entrepreneurial Excellence Award. In 1987, Black Enterprise named Johnson entrepreneur of the decade, and in 1997, the magazine cited Johnson as one of its five marathon men or ‘‘captains of the industry’’ in recognition of Johnson’s inclusion on each Black Enterprise ‘‘100 list’’ during the magazine’s first twenty-five years. Today JPC remains a family corporation. Until his death on Monday, August 1, 2005, Johnson was the publisher and chairman. His daughter Linda Johnson Rice is the president and chief executive officer, and his wife Eunice is the secretary-treasurer and director of Ebony Fashion Fair. See also: Fashion Industry; Advertising and Marketing; Retail Industry Sources Dingle, Derek T. ‘‘John H. Johnson: Johnson Publishing Company, Inc.: The Pioneer.’’ Black Enterprise Titans of the B.E. 100s: Black CEOs Who Redefined and Conquered American Business. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1999. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. ‘‘John Harold Johnson.’’ African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. ‘‘John H. Johnson.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 3. Gale Research, 1992. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. Johnson, John H., with Lerone Bennett Jr. Succeeding against the Odds: The Autobiography of a Great American Businessman. New York: Warner Books, 1989. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. ‘‘John H. Johnson.’’ Notable Black American Men. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.

Linda M. Carter

418

Robert L. Johnson

Magic Johnson. See Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr.

Robert L. Johnson (1946– ), Entrepreneur Robert L. Johnson is an entrepreneur who amassed a great deal of money as the founder of BET (formerly Black Entertainment Television), which he sold in 2001 to Viacom for $2.33 billion and Viacom’s assumption of $570 million in debt. His 63 percent holding of BET netted him $1.5 billion in Viacom stock, increasing his personal wealth to $1.63 billion. He thus became the first black billionaire, placing at number 172 on the ‘‘Forbes 400’’ list of the richest Americans. BET was the core of Johnson’s financial ventures; many of his other entrepreneurial efforts, however, have met with less success. In the black community he has a mixed reputation: There is pride in his achievement in attaining great wealth mixed with disapproval for allegedly fostering a degrading image of blacks through the programming on BET, coupled with his failure to assume a highly visible ‘‘uplifting’’ leadership role. Johnson was born on April 8, 1946, in Hickory, Mississippi, the ninth of ten children in a working-class family, which moved to Freeport, Illinois, by the early 1960s. He became the only one of the children to graduate from college, receiving his B.A. from the University of Illinois in 1968 and an M.A. in public administration from Princeton in 1972. In 1969 Johnson married Sheila Crump, daughter of a Chicago neurosurgeon. She is a talented musician and music educator. The couple adopted two children and divorced in 2002. After his graduation from Princeton, Johnson worked for the Corporation for Public Television and the Washington branch of the Urban League and in 1973 became press secretary to Walter E. Fauntroy, then a nonvoting delegate to Congress from the District of Columbia. In 1976 he went to work for the National Cable Television Association, a lobbying organization, as vice president for government affairs. This last position gave Johnson a knowledge of the industry that served him well when he established Black Entertainment Television in late 1979. Johnson borrowed $15,000 and secured two hours a week television time for free. A major infusion of capital came from Tele-Communications Incorporated, headed by John C. Malone, who was interested in access to the black urban audience and thus in Johnson’s black cable channel. Malone’s company invested $500,000, a sum that gave it in due time a 35 percent stake in the new company. That minority share was intact and controlled by another Malone company, Liberty Media, when BET was sold to Viacom in 2001; the sale brought Liberty Media $800 million in Viacom stock.

419

Robert L. Johnson

Beginning with two hours of programming late Friday nights, BET became a twenty-four-hour operation on October 1, 1984. It presented a mixed bag of programming at first, featuring movies and sports from black schools. MTV, founded a year later than BET, quickly built a spectacular success on pop and rock videos. MTV, however, neglected black artists, whose studios usually failed to produce high-quality videotapes for them. Johnson grasped the opening and featured gospel, rhythm and blues, and soul. The newly emerging genre of rap also entered the mix. As rap skyrocketed to success, so did BET, which shed its former name Black Entertainment Television in favor of the letters at the same time as it actively portrayed itself as the black community’s own channel. (The change was pragmatic, aimed to overcome buyer resistance from cable franchises with small numbers of black viewers.) In 1986 the company earned a small profit for the first time. The profits rose rapidly thereafter. Increasingly, music videos became a staple of programming. As the popularity of hip-hop took off in the 1990s, BET became a major force in the music business. By 1996 over 60 percent of the airtime was filled by music videos, a percentage that continued to creep upward. While immensely popular, the channel was disparaged by some blacks for its alleged singleminded focus on sex in music. Many went on to complain that rap and hiphop presented an unfavorable image of blacks in general and especially demeaned black women. Beginning in 1999, for example, such criticism surfaced in the comic strips in Aaron McGruder’s ‘‘The Boondocks.’’ Still BET presented news, public service programs, children’s programs, and other features of interest to blacks even as it continued to rely on music and other types of programming with mass appeal for most of its programming and profits. Critics also pointed out that BET paid its entertainers much less that comparable white entertainers received. For example, the hit Comic View was produced for about $18,500 per hour show. Established black comedians avoided appearing on the channel because of the pay scale. While charges were made against the content of BET, behind the scenes it became a cradle of black executives and producers in entertainment. In an industry still dominated by white men, of its current 290 employees, 96 percent are black and 52 percent women. The rapid growth of the channel was supported by the growth of cable networking in urban areas, which made its programming increasingly available for its targeted audience. From 1990 to 1998 BET added around 4 million subscribers a year. In 1991 it was the first black-owned company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Still it soon became clear to the market that the market for its entertainment was becoming saturated. In order to sustain growth at past levels, BET needed to move into new fields. Johnson, conceiving of BET as a brand identity, tried to expand into such areas as restaurants, credit cards, skin-care products, and movies, in addition to establishing such new cable networks such as BET on Jazz. Still BET’s

420

Robert L. Johnson

failure to convince investors that it had a viable and coherent diversification scheme caused its stock to perform below expectations, and Johnson took the company private in 1998. SELLS BET TO VIACOM Then in January 2001 Viacom purchased BET for $2.9 billion. Johnson and his chief operating officer, Debra Louise Lee, continued in their positions with BET under a five-year contract. Johnson did not actively seek the sale, but when the opportunity arose, he found it too advantageous to refuse. The news dismayed some people: They felt that blacks were giving up the possibility of control of what was presented on television to unsympathetic and greedy white capitalists bent on exploiting the black community. The ownership controversy flared up again in March when Johnson fired Tavis Smiley, the popular host of BET Tonight. Johnson resisted a firestorm of criticism and refused to alter his decision. After selling BET Johnson continued to explore other avenues in business, most notably in trying to develop a new airline. This effort fell through due to an unfavorable regulatory decision by the Federal Aviation Authority. In 2002 Johnson won much publicity when he became the first black to become a principal owner of a major sports team. The National Basketball Association awarded him the expansion franchise for Charlotte, North Carolina, after Johnson made full use of his negotiating skills, contacts, and financial worth in his pitch to the organization. The team began to play in the 2004–2005 season, and it will take all Johnson’s skills, along with the continuation of favorable conditions in the market, to build up a profitable franchise. Johnson deployed considerable skills in building up a major business, enriching himself in the process. He became for some an icon for black achievement, which in turn led him to be judged differently from the general run of entrepreneurs. Some people were incensed by BET’s seemingly endless programming of gyrating pelvises and raunchy lyrics and called on him to abandon profit for uplift. Many of the same people who strongly disapproved of what he was doing were equally vocal in condemning him when he gave up ownership of BET to Viacom. What is certain is that Johnson is one of the most spectacular exemplars of the rags-to-riches story of the present day. Sources Hughes, Alan. ‘‘Slam Dunk! How Billionaire Bob Johnson Is Making History As the First African American to Aquire an NBA Basketball Franchise.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (March 2003): 94–102. Jones, Joyce. ‘‘BETting on Black.’’ Black Enterprise 31 (January 2001): 58–61. McAdams, Deborah D. ‘‘More Than a Music Channel.’’ Broadcasting & Cable 130 (October 30, 2000): 46–50. Pulley, Brett. The Billion Dollar BET: Robert Johnson and the Inside Story of Black Entertainment Television. New York: Wiley, 2004. Sandomir, Richard. ‘‘Founder of TV Network Becomes First Black Owner in Major Sports.’’ New York Times, December 19, 2002.

421

Caroline R. Jones Whitford, David. ‘‘Taking BET Back from the Street.’’ Fortune 138 (November 9, 1998): 167–170.

Robert L. Johns

Caroline R. Jones (1942–2001), Advertising Executive The president and creative director of the trailblazing company MingoJones Advertising, Caroline R. Jones was one of the highest-ranking minority women in her field. She was a practicing advocate of diversity in advertising, as demonstrated when she left her first employer because of its indifference to diversity. She worked her way up the creative ranks in some of New York’s major advertising agencies. She is said to have blended sophistication and soul in her advertising campaigns, and throughout her career, she was an inspiration to women and people of color whom she sought to persuade to enter the advertising industry. Caroline Robinson Jones was born in Benton Harbor, Michigan, on February 15, 1942. She was the first of ten children born to Ernest and Mattie Robinson. As she grew up, she read widely. She was an entrepreneur early on; to earn money, she sold magazine subscriptions, greeting cards, potholders, and cosmetics. She also picked berries during summer months. Although very enterprising, suggesting an interest in business, Jones was determined to become an orthopedic surgeon. After graduating from high school in 1959, when she was just seventeen years old, she entered the University of Michigan as a premed student and with the support of a scholarship. She performed well in her courses but reconsidered her plan for medicine after fainting at the sight of a dead cat on a dissection table in an anatomy class. By the end of her second year, she changed to a dual degree program—science and English. Jones graduated in 1963 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Realizing that employment opportunities were limited, she enhanced her career options by earning teaching credentials. While attending a career fair on campus, she met a representative from the J. Walter Thompson advertising firm in New York City, and her career in advertising would begin to take shape the next year. In 1964, Jones moved to New York and joined Thompson in a beginning position as secretary. She volunteered for extra work in the firm and learned as much as she could about the business and advertising; her ambitions led to a promotion as secretary for a top creative director—J. Walter Thompson— who would become her mentor. Jones was also given a job as an interviewer in the consumer research department and eventually joined a copywriting team at the agency, becoming the first African American to hold the post. She realized also that assertiveness and aggressiveness would get her ahead. Jones forged ahead, studying successful advertising campaigns, examining their color, design, and word count; as a result, she knew the advertising

422

Caroline R. Jones

business inside out. Her new knowledge would serve her well. Jones was promoted to supervisor of the Consumer Research Group. Now in the late 1960s, she knew that great black icons such as Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali were popular, and she suggested a need to use more black images in advertising. As well, the slogan ‘‘Black is Beautiful’’ was widely recognized and accepted in the black community. But Thompson was unyielding, which prompted Jones to leave the company after a five-year stint. In 1968 Jones cofounded Zebra Associates, a fully black-owned advertising agency; it was one of the first such firms to target African Americans. As vice president and cocreative director, she found it difficult to mix work and her new life as wife and mother and left two years later to become senior copywriter for Eckhardt Advertising. By now her experience in advertising had grown substantially, and she left that firm in 1973 to help found the Black Creative Group. A pioneer in black consumer marketing, she served as creative director from 1972 to 1975 and became vice president of the internationally known Batten, Barton, Durstine, Osborn (BBDO) Worldwide, New York. There she helped to create campaigns for Campbell’s Soups and other well-known companies and was the first African American woman vice president at a major agency. As yet disconcerted over the continued racial inequality in advertising, Jones wanted to make a drastic and immediate change in the way the industry operated. Thus, in 1977 she left and cofounded Mingo, Jones, Guilmenot, which later became Mingo-Jones Advertising. The agency is best known for the slogan it developed for Kentucky Fried Chicken (as it was known then): ‘‘We do chicken right.’’ This was one of the first times a minority agency had created an idea that became the mainstream slogan for a company. Jones left the company in 1986 to work on her own; she formed Caroline Jones Advertising and developed an impressive list of clients that included American Express, Anheuser-Busch, McDonald’s, Toys ‘‘R’’ Us, the U.S. Postal Service, Westinghouse Electric, and Prudential. She was widely sought to speak before business symposia, colleges and universities, and elsewhere, and she lectured on her struggles as a black woman in an industry that had been hostile to women and to blacks. She had become a role model, and others wanted to know how she rose from secretary to the pinnacle of the advertising world. In 1994, Jones’s company voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, in an effort to overcome the $1 million client arrears accounts and to put pressure on many companies that owed her money. In that same year her company won an assignment to prepare a public service campaign to inform blacks how to file a claim against the parent company of Denny’s Inc. The South Carolina restaurant chain had agreed to settle a racial discrimination lawsuit by paying $54 million. She also served emerging African governments by providing them with business strategies. Outside of advertising, Jones hosted radio and television programs, such as Focusing on the Black Women and In the Black: Keys to Success. She

423

John Jones

endowed a scholarship in her name at her alma mater, the University of Michigan. Her memberships include the New York State Banking Board and the advisory committee of the Women’s Bank of New York and boards of the New York City Partnerships, Eureka Communications, the Advertising Council, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the National Urban League. Her recognitions were in advertising and business, from Clio, a Galaxy Award for Public Relations, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and an Obie Award. A divorcee with one son, Anthony R. Jones, she died of cancer in New York City on June 28, 2001. Her son planned to continue the firm to keep her name and her legacy as a pioneer and successful African American woman in advertising. Jones is remembered as a polished, intelligent, and articulate woman who sought and achieved perfectionism in her work. See also: Advertising and Marketing; Women and Business Sources Brennan, Carol. ‘‘Caroline Robinson Jones.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book III. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 2003. Elliott, Stuart. ‘‘Caroline Jones, 59, Founder of Black-Run Ad Companies’’ (obituary). New York Times, July 8, 2001. LaBalle, Candace. ‘‘Caroline R. Jones.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 29. Detroit: Gale Research, 2002. Vagnoni, Anthony. ‘‘ ‘Role Model’ Jones, 59, Dies.’’ Advertising Age 72 (July 16, 2001): 4.

Jessie Carney Smith

John Jones (1816–1879), Tailor, Civil Rights Activist, Politician John Jones was one of the first African Americans to establish a business in downtown Chicago; his thriving cleaning and tailoring shop made him one of the wealthiest African Americans in the country. He was also active in civil rights and politics: He established his home as a terminal on the Underground Railroad; was vice president of the Colored National Convention of free black men; was president of the first Black Illinois State Convention held in Chicago; became the state’s first black notary public; and as Cook County commissioner, was the first black elected to public office in Chicago. Born on a plantation in Greene County, North Carolina, on November 3, 1816, Jones was the son of John Bromfield, a German, and a free mulatto woman named Jones. Her first name is unknown. His mother’s status as a free black meant that John Jones was also born free. Fearing that Bromfield or his family might enslave her son, she protected his status by apprenticing Jones to a man named Shepard, who saw that he received training as a tailor. Later Shepard relocated to Tennessee, where he bound Jones over to Richard Clere, a tailor who lived in the Memphis area. He trained well and

424

John Jones

became an experienced tailor; when Clere’s business became slow, however, he often hired out Jones to work with other tailors in the area. In 1841 Jones met and fell in love with Mary Jane Richardson, daughter of Elijah Richardson, a free blacksmith in Memphis. The Richardsons moved to Alton, Illinois, while Jones remained in Memphis for three years to complete his apprenticeship and to become financially secure. Sometimes Jones used his father’s last name, becoming John Bromfield. He obtained his free papers from North Carolina and then petitioned the Eleventh District court in Tennessee to free him from Clere’s service and custody. By 1844, when he was age twenty-seven, he had saved approximately $100; with both economic and legal freedom, he moved to Alton and married Richardson. The Joneses decided to relocate to Chicago to work in a climate that was more favorable to blacks than Alton and to become active with the abolitionist movement. Although they were free, they complied with Illinois law that required free blacks and mulattos to obtain a certificate of freedom and to post a $1,000 bond for the privilege of traveling and living in the state. In March 1845 the Joneses, including their only child Lavinia, traveled by stage and canal and reached Chicago on March 11. Jones became one of Chicago’s first black entrepreneurs in March 1845, soon after his arrival in the city. His home at 119 Dearborn was the site of his business known as J. Jones, Clothes Dresser and Repairer. Some sources claim that at first they lived in a one-room cottage at Wells and Madison Streets and opened their business a few blocks away. A skilled tailor, he soon had a thriving enterprise and catered to many of Chicago’s elite. By 1860 his business was called Clothes Cleaning and Repairing Room and, by his claims, was the city’s oldest and best business enterprise. His wealth had increased from the mere $3.50 that he had when he reached Chicago to between $85,000 and $100,000. Although he lost money during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, he continued to be recognized as one of the country’s wealthiest African Americans. As well, from the 1850s until he died, Jones was undisputed leader of black Chicago. JOINS THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT Without formal education, Jones knew that he needed fundamental reading and writing skills to manage his business venture and to enable him to operate in the abolitionist’s activities that he found appealing. Under Chicago abolitionist and noted lawyer Lemanuel Covell Paine Freer, Jones learned to read and write. Another Chicago abolitionist, physician Charles V. Dyer also befriended Jones and Freer and Dyer remained steadfast friends with Jones the rest of his life. Jones also became active in the abolitionist movement by opening his home, now at 43 Ray Street, as the second major station on the Underground Railroad—the first having been established at Quinn Chapel, Chicago’s oldest African Methodist Episcopal church. From that station many slaves escaped to Canada for freedom. Jones hosted several abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, John Brown, and Wendell

425

Quincy Jones

Phillips. Jones also had developed a powerful pen and voice and used these skills to lash out in support of the black struggle. Jones distinguished himself in the black convention movement beginning August 7, 1848, when he was elected vice president of the Colored National Convention; Frederick Douglass was elected president. As a delegate to the Cleveland conference held in September that year, he supported their primary interest in equality for blacks. He saw mechanical trades, business, farming and other professions as appropriate for blacks and condemned menial labor except when it was the only means of obtaining a living. Jones was elected president of the first Black Illinois State Convention held in Chicago on October 6–8, 1853. He enlisted the support of the white abolitionist movement and the state Republican Party to protest Illinois’ Black Laws that banned free blacks from entering the state. He led a long and successful campaign and finally saw the state ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on February 1, 1865, to become the first state to abolish slavery. He also saw the legislature repeal the Black Laws on February 7, 1865. He joined a committee headed by Frederick Douglass and went to Washington, D.C., in 1866 to urge President Andrew Johnson to grant suffrage to the newly freed slaves. Political office soon attracted Jones. When blacks became eligible to hold office in 1869, Governor John M. Palmer appointed him a notary public for the state, making him the first black in that post. Later, in 1871, he was elected a Cook County commissioner, becoming the first black elected to public office in Chicago. After his one-year term was over, he was reelected for a three-year term and was defeated in the 1875 elections. While in office, however, he protested the segregated school system, resulting in school integration in 1874. Long before Jones died on May 21, 1879, he had become a prominent, wealthy, and important black leader of Chicago. His wife, Mary Jane Richardson Jones, and daughter, Lavinia Jones Lee, survived him. Sources Bontemps, Arna, and Jack Conroy. Anyplace But Here. New York: Hill and Wang, 1966. Gliozzo, Charles A. ‘‘John Jones.’’ American National Biography. Vol. 12. Ed. John A. Garrity and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. ———. ‘‘John Jones: A Study of a Black Chicagoan.’’ Illinois Historical Journal 80 (Autumn 1987): 177–188. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. ‘‘Mary Jane Richardson Jones.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book III. Detroit: Gale Research, 2003.

Jessie Carney Smith

Quincy Jones (1933– ), Composer, Producer, Media Entrepreneur Quincy Delight Jones Jr. was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 14, 1933, to Sara Wells and Quincy Delight Jones Sr. His early schooling was in

426

Quincy Jones

Chicago. In 1943, his father remarried and moved the family to Bremerton, Washington. It was there that his talents and development in music truly began. He started playing brass instruments including the French horn and trumpet from the age of ten, then in high school. He began playing in various bands with friends quite early, and at the age of fourteen he met Ray Charles, who was then sixteen years old. They became lifelong friends. Among his other musical acquaintances were Ernestine Anderson, Charlie Taylor, and bandleader Bumps Blackwell. Charles gave him his first instructions in jazz harmony and arranging. He also met Jeri Caldwell, whom he later married and with whom he had his first child, Jolie. EARLY TUTORING WITH CLARK TERRY At this time things started happening quickly for Jones. Soon (in 1947) his father moved the family to Seattle, and Jones’s acquaintances broadened, as did his opportunities. He was able to meet many major entertainers at events in the Seattle area, including Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton, Sammy Davis Jr., and Count Basie. Clark Terry, in town for an engagement, took a liking to him and saw his potential as a musician. Jones would wake him up early in the mornings after only a few hours of sleep following a late-night gig. Terry gave young Jones (then only about thirteen years old) trumpet lessons early in the mornings before Jones went to school and helped him work on his technique as well as on jazz phrasing and style. They became lifelong friends. In another interesting incident, Lionel Hampton, also in town for an engagement, invited him to play with his band and compose some arrangements, whereupon young Jones took this as an open invitation, packed up, and literally ‘‘got on the bus.’’ Hampton’s wife, Gladys, however, objected, insisting that Jones first ‘‘finish his schooling,’’ which he did. Jones continued to grow as a composer, writing a suite for orchestra, titled From the Four Winds, and a Nocturne in Blue. The suite was submitted and earned him a scholarship to Seattle University; the Nocturne was performed at a high school recital. After graduating from high school, Jones attended Seattle University for one semester, prior to being awarded a scholarship to the Schillinger House of Music in Boston, Massachusetts (now the Berklee School of Music). Looking past the horizon, Jones saw a glimpse of his future. He left Seattle to make a new home in New York City, with his soon-to-be new wife Jeri to follow later. They soon married and got an apartment. Jones, however, went on to Boston to study at Berklee, commuting often to New York as the next step on his road to professional success in the music industry. The road took him to engagements as an arranger and performing musician in New York, tours of the United States, Europe, and South America, and eventually a career as a composer, producer, and media executive, working in the film and recording industry. During his long career he has earned numerous awards: Grammies, Emmies, Academy Awards, honorary degrees, and commendations in the United States and abroad.

427

Quincy Jones

WORKS WITH LIONEL HAMPTON Ironically, his first major engagement following his studies at Berklee was with Lionel Hampton, who reflected on his earlier offer and agreed that Jones was now old enough to join his band. After engagements in New York, the band went on a long tour of the South. He met many of the major musicians of the day, including Oscar Pettiford, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, and others. Pettiford, particularly, was helpful on many occasions. Jones prepared arrangements for him for recording sessions, and Pettiford was somewhat of an elder brother, providing housing and encouragement at times of need. Jones also made his first recording while with the Hampton band in 1951, a recording of his composition ‘‘Kingfish,’’ on which he played the solo part. On the Hampton band’s southern tour, Jones got a taste of sequential ‘‘one-nighters,’’ as well as a firsthand introduction to all the manifestations of racial segregation. The tour scheduled seventy-nine one-night stands in the Carolinas and numerous performances at various halls in Texas and the other southern states. His fellow musicians told Jones their interpretations of the social situation: This was the early 1950s, he was eighteen, and this was comparable to an open-registration college course in racism for him. The Hampton band’s next assignment was a tour of Scandinavia, beginning in 1953. Following their southern tour, there was only time for a brief respite before the plane left for Oslo on September 2. The tour was to include concerts in Oslo, Stockholm, and other venues, where they were met by sophisticated audiences who loved jazz. A group of recognized Swedish jazz instrumentalists was assembled for the concerts and for later recording sessions. Jones served regularly as arranger, working with Art Farmer, Clifford Brown, and the assembled musicians, producing a record titled Quincy Jones and the Swedish All-Stars (now a valuable collector’s item). The record was received with acclaim by European jazz enthusiasts as well as by the press; it went a long way toward establishing Jones as an important jazz artist in Europe. DEVELOPMENT AS AN ARRANGER AND COMPOSER The Scandinavian tour was a very busy one, with concerts often twice a day with extensive travel between dates. Jones used all the free time he could muster to compose and arrange new works. While they were in Paris, he participated in numerous recording sessions, composing works for a variety of combinations ranging from sextets to a seventeen-piece ensemble including both American and French musicians. It was while in Paris that he heard by phone from his wife Jeri, telling him of the birth of his new daughter, Jolie. From Paris, Jones returned to New York, found an apartment, and took on more work focusing on freelance composing and arranging on assignment for several colleagues in the music field as his principal means of support for his new family. His next assignments in 1955 came in work for Tommy Dorsey’s

428

Quincy Jones

summer TV show on CBS and work for a variety of groups—jazz, gospel, R&B (rhythm and blues), and popular—from James Cleveland to Cannonball Adderley. Then, in 1956, another prestigious assignment surfaced: Jones was named to organize a tour group of well-qualified jazz and bebop musicians to give concerts in the Middle East, sponsored by the State Department and led by Dizzy Gillespie. STATE DEPARTMENT TOURS OF MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH AMERICA The tour of the Middle East was to begin in Rome, following the completion of a tour by Dizzy Gillespie in Europe with ‘‘Jazz at the Philharmonic.’’ Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, the well-known minister and Harlem congressman, had shepherded the concept to fruition as a sponsored program to present public concerts in the Middle East. Jones served as music director. After assembling and rehearsing the group for about two months, Jones and the group met with Dizzy in Rome, where they had a few more rehearsals and left on their goodwill tour. The tour visited Karachi, Beirut, Damascus, Ankara, Istanbul, Belgrade, Zagreb, and Athens and proved an immense success. The region acquired an excellent opinion of the United States, jazz, and its practitioners. In fact, some Cypriot students had previously stoned the American embassy in a political protest, but the band’s concert in Cypress was met with cheers and boisterous applause. After reviewing the immense success of the program, the State Department decided to continue the program and approved an extension. They decided to send the group to South America, where the band played concerts in Quito, Guayaquil, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and several cities in Brazil. Jones remarked that the international language of music as well as the interracial composition of the band, including blacks and whites, men and women, accounted for their warm reception everywhere. Following these tours, Jones left the group and returned to New York to write and spend some time with his family. In 1957 a job opened up for Jones in Paris, with Barclay Disque. He was named head of recordings and music for the company, associated with Mercury Records. This gave Jones an excellent opportunity to study with Mme. Nadia Boulanger, the famous French theorist and composer, with whom Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein had also studied. He also attended seminars conducted by Pierre Boulez and Jean Barraque. As a result of these studies, he developed further and experimented with new combinations and voicings. Mme. Boulanger was a leading authority on ‘‘French’’ harmonic sounds, as well as the supremacy of melody. She later said that he and Igor Stravinsky were her most distinguished pupils. ASSOCIATION WITH MERCURY RECORDS In 1961–1963, Jones worked for Mercury Records, initially in talent development, then as head of its artists and repertory department. He returned

429

Quincy Jones

to the United States and was named vice president, the first black vice president in the music business. His scoring of Ray Charles’s hit song ‘‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’’ rose to the top of the charts and earned him a Grammy in 1962. The next year he worked abroad for Mercury, in Holland, Italy, Japan, and Great Britain, and also recorded ‘‘Swinging at the Sands’’ with Frank Sinatra. In 1965 he left Mercury and moved to Hollywood, and his career blossomed in a new direction again. He scored the movie Mirage (1969) with Gregory Peck and a major feature film, The Pawnbroker (1971), directed by Sidney Lumet. Regular TV and film work followed: Walking in Space (1969), Rodgers and Hart Today (1971), Ironside (1972); he was named music director of The Bill Cosby Show in 1972. CHILDREN, WOMEN, AND SERIOUS HEALTH ISSUES A major crisis in Jones’s life occurred in 1974, when he suffered a painful attack of severe headaches, comparable to a stroke. He was rushed to the hospital for tests, and the diagnosis was an aneurism—a swelling of the aortic artery in his brain. Major brain surgery was needed to repair the artery. This could have proved fatal except for the skill of his surgeons and Jones’s willpower. While convalescing, Jones got the news that the operation was only a partial solution. An additional operation would be necessary to excise an aneurism on the other side of his brain. Again, despite very unfavorable odds, Jones pulled through and made a full recovery. His wife, the former Peggy Lipton, was with him throughout the entire ordeal. Unfortunately, the stressful time as well as his ‘‘normal stresses’’ wore very severely on their marriage. They separated in 1986 and subsequently divorced. They had two daughters, Rashida and Kidada, born in 1974 and 1976. The breakup caused a severe depression for Jones, bordering on a mental breakdown. To recover, he took his doctor’s suggestion and, with Marlon Brando’s help, withdrew to a convalescence on the island of Tahiti. On reading Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones (2001), one might gather the impression that he was somewhat of a predator where women were concerned, particularly in his youth. At the very least, one may certainly say that he had a constant series of close relations with women; seven children born to five women testifies amply to this. However, we also learn of a very giving father who dearly loved his children and who maintained a familial closeness at all times. Two points stand out in this regard in the warm and loving relationship with Jolie, his first child, born in 1953, and Quincy Delight Jones III, his son, born to Ulla Anderson in 1968. Jolie contributed a significant chapter to his Autobiography, as did his daughters Rashida and Kidada. As for Quincy Delight III (or ‘‘Snoopy’’), his father set him up in business and encouraged his full participation in Jones’s Back in the Block (1990) album project, rehearsing, recording, writing lyrics, performing with his father, and generally contributing substantially to the final product. In preparing for the album, Jones introduced his son to a number of major rap

430

Quincy Jones

and hip-hop artists, including Melle Mel, Ice T, LLCool J, and Big Daddy Kane, and encouraged a merging of talents. The release dovetailed with Jones’s penchant for stressing a fusion of styles—a constant stream flowing from deep in Africa’s past into contemporary black music. The album traced this flow and met with great success, earning Jones a Grammy for Album of the Year in 1988. Continuing in the same vein, ‘‘We Are the World’’ was an attempt at a humanistic and cultural outreach to Ethiopia and Africa in general and its serious problems with AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), civil war, and famine. The original concept stemmed from a suggestion by Harry Belafonte stressing the need for help by the world’s richer nations in a time of a drastic crisis. The means was to be an effort by prominent artists to produce a musical work that could sell across the world, furnishing cash to quench this massive thirst. Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson were tasked with writing the lyrics of a passionate song. A group of forty-six artists of the world’s best musical artists gathered in January 1985 for a massed single recording session in Los Angeles, directed by Jones, to give their best efforts to producing a finished recording. Amazingly, as Jones told them all to leave their egos at the door, an almost magical harmonious blending resulted, and the final tapes were cut by the group early the following morning. The artists included Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan, the Pointer Sisters, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, and others. The combined creative efforts of these artists resulted in a masterful product that was released by CBS Records, was immensely popular, and garnered more than $200 million in sales in the United States alone. Similar outpourings followed from other sources. The task of taking care of African refugees, as we know, still continues. Other major projects undertaken by Jones included the Thriller (1982) album, produced as an output of a close collaboration between two committed artists, Jones and Michael Jackson, with some assistance from Rod Temperton, who cowrote some of the songs and participated in engineering and editing the final version. The finished product was the result of serious interplay between Jones and Jackson, listening to partial solutions along the way. They listened to segments many times, worked out various musical problems, retried voicings, harmonies, and accompaniments, working steadily on the product intensively over a period of about six weeks. The result was a masterpiece, acknowledged to this day as perhaps their finest work and one of Jackson’s signature albums. It is still the all-time bestselling album, with sales of about $40 million and winning for Jones the award of a Grammy for Producer of the Year in 1984. Another project for which Jones will be remembered for many years to come is the film Color Purple (1985), an adaptation of Alice Walker’s bestselling novel. He, together with Steven Spielberg, masterminded this project to a success shared by principal actress Oprah Winfrey. The film, coproduced and with a musical score by Jones, gleaned a record eleven Oscar nominations and had a successful run in cinemas both here and

431

Vernon Eulion Jordan

abroad. It marked Winfrey’s debut as a screen actress: She credited her triumph in this role to Jones’s constant support. Other recent achievements by Jones include the launching of Vibe magazine, in 1992, specializing primarily in news of urban popular music, and in 1998, Blaze, the first major publication devoted to hip-hop music and culture. For this and similar achievements, Jones was honored at the 67th Academy Awards in 1995 with the Jean Hersholt Award for Humanitarianism. He produced the 1996 Academy Awards show and telecast and received the MusiCares Award for philanthropic giving from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In 1997 he became executive producer of the syndicated talk show Vibe and received the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Image Award as Best Jazz Artist for his album Q Live in Paris. Having produced ‘‘America’s Millennium Gala’’ to usher in the New Year as well as the millennium, we can look forward to more from Jones in the coming years, for as he says himself in Linda Bayer’s book Quincy Jones, he has seen what happens when people retire: ‘‘[T]hey just dry up.’’ Sources Bayer, Linda. Quincy Jones. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2001. Brow, Anthony. New Grove Dictionary of Music. Vol. 13. New York: Macmillan, 2001. Gates, Henry Louis. ‘‘Interview with Quincy Jones.’’ PBS and WGBH/Frontline, 1998. Haley, Alex. ‘‘Quincy Jones: A Candid Conversation with Pop’s Master Builder about Rock, Rap, Racism and His Thriller of a Career’’ (July 1990). The Playboy Interviews. New York: Ballantine Books, 1993. Horricks, Raymond. Quincy Jones. New York: Hippocreme Books, 1985. Jones, Quincy. Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones. New York: Doubleday, 2001. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Darius L. Thieme

Vernon Eulion Jordan (1935– ), Corporate Lawyer, Investment Firm Official, Organization Leader As a prote´ge´ of the immortal Thurgood Marshall, Vernon Jordan emerged as a famous civil rights attorney whose impeccable skills would lead him on the front lines of desegregating the University of Georgia, directing fieldwork with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), developing the United Negro College Fund and the National Urban League, and on to significant battle as a fund-raiser, negotiator, arbitrator, and all-around power broker. His direct influence through directorships is paralleled through his behind-the-scenes influence on numerous corporate boards at the highest level of national and international

432

Vernon Eulion Jordan

prominence. With a carefully tailored reputation, Jordan has earned the respect of colleagues and adversaries alike and positioned himself as one of the more widely recognized men of power in the world. This reality came to pass when Jordan became a household name to the average American citizen when he was characterized as former President Bill Clinton’s right-hand man as the embattled president made sensational headlines during his tenure from 1992 to 2000. On August 15, 1935, Vernon Eulion Jordan was born into middle-class, Jim Crow Atlanta, Georgia. Jordan interacted with upper-class whites of society but still experienced the undeniable sting of being black in a society that was defined by whites, for whites, and the perpetual state of such affairs. After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School in 1953, he embarked on an educational journey that ultimately led him to experiences marked by psychological adjustments. He was the only black in his graduating class at DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, in 1957; in 1960, he graduated from Howard University School of Law. Jordan’s passage through the rugged terrain of intimate contact within high levels of white society at DePauw and the rich tradition of civil rights law under the tutelage of the esteemed legal mind of Thurgood Marshall produced a dynamic professional life. He emerged as a member of the legal team that desegregated the University of Georgia in 1961; as field director for the Georgia Branch of the NAACP from 1962 to 1963; as executive director of the National Urban League from 1972 to 1982; as Washington, D.C. legal and political guru, power broker, and counsel member for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld from 1982 to the present; as chief of the Transitional Team, political insider, and primary confidant for President Bill Clinton’s administration from 1992 to 2000; and as senior managing director of Lazard Freres Investment Firm from 2001 to the present. Throughout his career, Jordan has consistently nurtured networks and sustained communication within all levels of society. His ability to adapt to radical, conservative, and neutral camps has made him a most effective source of influence and power, all toward the greater good of black people in the United States. His bold stance and literal escorting of Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes through hate-filled air of white mob nostalgia at the University of Georgia cemented his courage while still fresh from law school. His track record as executive director for the United Negro College Fund in 1970 solidified his credentials as a superb fund-raiser and efficient organizational force with which to be reckoned. Accordingly, his efforts propelled him to the National Urban League post as its leader. Jordan remarked in Newsweek for February 19, 1973, on the changing nature of civil rights and the process of attaining true equality in American society. He noted that people in leadership positions should not try to recreate the dramatic conditions of the 1960s because it was unwise. To further his claim, Jordan stressed that the era of street protests were over and the time was long overdue for delivery of services to the community. He made this point by using the analogy of trench

433

Vernon Eulion Jordan

warfare as a vehicle for bringing about meaningful change through job creation. Immediate gains for black citizens were felt from Jordan’s tenure as Urban League director, primarily because his work at the league helped integrate American businesses and provide economic and social support to the new and expanding black middle class. An On-the-Job Training Program provided work for upward of 70,000 people, and the Labor Education Advancement Program assisted blacks in securing work within manual labor crafts and unions in the mid-1970s under Jordan’s watch. Additionally, his administration launched a Family Planning Program and a Street Academy and erected 2,500 public housing units for lower-income residents. Jordan, however, was not content to rest on the loins of the civil rights gains of the 1960s and refused to lose sight of necessity for group identification. While under political attack in 1977, Jordan responded to criticism launched by staunch conservatives who felt that getting the right to sit on a bus should have ended the struggle for civil rights. By looking at blacks as a group, he pointed out that the critics marginalized the legitimate interests of blacks such as in issues other than formal, legalized segregation. For instance, Jordan hammered the issue of employment, where black jobless rates were double those for whites. Furthermore, among young people they were considerably worse. He furthered his cause and shook the baseless criticisms by suggesting that crippling effects of joblessness were rampant realities within the entire black community. Black representation in most professions was approximately 2 percent, according to Jordan. He went on to question the feasibility or responsiveness for black groups ignoring disadvantages aligned with racial discrimination and how their constituency could no longer be silenced on such matters. Rather than co-opt into white society in a fashion that abandoned his calling to assist his people’s cause, Jordan worked within high levels of the corporate power structure to lobby and secure vital funding needed to advance efforts aimed at an egalitarian society for citizens. A racially motivated attempt on Jordan’s life occurred in 1980, but he survived. Into the 1980s he was a noted ‘‘mover and shaker’’ in political and legal circles because of his calm, yet firm savvy. Jordan attracted clients and handled business with a determined since of integrity. He is generally characterized as one who offers precise judgment, exudes confidence in his abilities, is personable, and has a manner about him that is warm and attentive. Such power broking would propel Jordan in 1992 to the role of Presidentelect Bill Clinton’s Transitional Team chief. Longtime close personal friends, Jordan and Clinton would mutually benefit throughout Clinton’s two terms in office. Jordan’s cool approach and contacts from his Urban League years with leading corporate heads made him a valuable player. Concerning his clout as an ‘‘insider’’ and priceless accountability as a centerpiece for influence, Clinton’s association with Jordan raised some political eyebrows as possible conflicts of interests. But, to no avail, the pundits did not get their wishes met. Instead Jordan was noted as a ‘‘Rainmaker,’’ or deliverer of legal business to the firm he represented. Seven of

434

Marjorie Stewart Joyner

the twelve companies whose board Jordan served on were also represented by Jordan’s law firm. RJR Nabisco, Union Carbide Corporation, Corning Incorporated, Revlon Group Incorporated, Xerox Corporation, Ryder System Incorporated, and Sarah Lee Corporation all were represented by Jordan on their respective boards and also as their lawyer in the 1990s. American Express Company, Bankers Trust Corporation, Banker’s Trust New York, Dow Jones and Company, and J. C. Penny were other boards Jordan served simultaneously, but in a capacity as legal counsel. What is readily apparent from Jordan’s major corporation board involvement is that he carries tremendous weight in national and international affairs because he has positioned himself to be at the tables where decisive stands are taken, monies are allocated, and human conditions are impacted directly. Beginning in 2001, Jordan assumed responsibility as senior managing director of Lazard Freres and Company Investment Firm. Lazard has global firms representing the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe and focuses on financial advice, asset management, and capital markets. The year 2001 also produced Vernon Can Read!: A Memoir, by Jordan and Annette Gordon-Reed. In classic tongue-and-cheek mode, the title derives from the summer of 1955 when Jordan was home in Atlanta visiting on summer recess. His summer job was to chauffer a retired white banker who responded in amazement as his young black driver routinely read books while the elder statesman napped. He replied, ‘‘Vernon can read.’’ Apparently he can do more than just read. He can analyze, interpret, and make tough decisions. Most important, though, is his demonstrated utility in sustaining bridges and not burning them, cultivating productive resource relationships and not letting them dry up, and always standing front and center at the door leading to equal access of opportunity for blacks in America. He is married to the former Anne Dibble and lives in Washington, D.C. Sources Goldman, Peter. ‘‘Black America Now.’’ Newsweek, February 19, 1973, 29–34. Grove, Lloyd. ‘‘Vernon Jordan: He’s Doing Well, but Is He Doing Good?’’ Washington Post, National Weekly Edition, November 30–December 6, 1992. Jordan, Vernon E., Jr. ‘‘Race and the Issues.’’ To Be Equal, November 30, 1977. Jordan, Vernon E., Jr., and Annette Gordon-Reed. Vernon Can Read!: A Memoir. New York: PublicAffairs, 2001. Wortham, Jacob. ‘‘League Leader.’’ Black Enterprise 5 (March 1975): 15–18.

Uzoma O. Miller

Marjorie Stewart Joyner (1896–1994), Hairstylist, Inventor, Educator, Philanthropist Born into poverty, Marjorie Joyner worked through life’s obstacles to help shape America’s black hairstyling industry. She played significant roles as a

435

Marjorie Stewart Joyner

stylist, inventor, educator, and advocate. In her later years, she led community and political causes and raised funds for education and other philanthropies. Only four of George Emmanuel and Annie Dougherty Stewart’s thirteen children survived beyond infancy. Their daughter Marjorie entered the world on October 24, 1896. Her own life spanned ninety-eight years. George Stewart taught school, and the importance of education played a role throughout Marjorie’s life. In 1904, the family moved from Monterey, Virginia, Marjorie’s birth home, to Dayton, Ohio. Soon her parents divorced, and Marjorie lived with other families. In 1912, she moved to Chicago to live with her mother. Her education required persistence because she often had to abandon school to work as a waitress, babysitter, or domestic. In 1924, she earned a certificate in dramatic art and expression from Chicago Musical College, but it took her until 1935 to complete high school. She undertook her college education much later in life, graduating in 1973 with a B.S. degree from Florida’s Bethune-Cookman College, at the age of seventy-seven. Her own family life proved much more stable than that of her original family. During her early years in Chicago, a young man named Robert S. Joyner roller-skated by her house and into her life. The two married on April 4, 1916. Robert became respected in the field of podiatry. They raised two daughters, Anne and Barbara, who became educators. When Robert died in 1973, the couple had been married fifty-seven years. BECOMES AGENT FOR MADAME C. J. WALKER Joyner attended A. B. Molar Beauty School in Chicago and, after becoming its first African American graduate, opened her own salon in 1916. A bad haircut prompted her mother-in-law to sponsor her enrollment in a class with Madame C. J. Walker, a noted black beautician. Joyner soon became an agent for the Walker Company and worked closely with Madame Walker to build the company. By the time of Walker’s death in 1919, Joyner had risen to the role of national supervisor over Walker’s 200 beauty schools. Walker’s ‘‘hair culturists’’ traveled door to door styling women’s hair. Dressed in black skirts and white blouses, they carried black satchels containing a range of sixteen beauty products. Joyner’s own travels for the company took her to Paris, London, Rome, the Holy Land, the West Indies, and West Africa. Her clients included notables Ethel Waters, Marian Anderson, Billie Holliday, Dinah Washington, and Louis Armstrong. Through more than fifty years with the company, she taught 15,000 people and eventually was named vice president. Throughout her career, Joyner created a number of hairstyling products. The Walker Company actively promoted her Satin Tress, a type of permanent that relaxed hair and made it easier to style. She invented and, in 1928, patented her permanent wave machine. The product was used widely within the company, but Joyner drew no profit from its invention.

436

Marjorie Stewart Joyner

Joyner helped shape the hairstyling industry in other ways as well. In 1924, she and two other women drafted Illinois’ first cosmetology laws. After white beauty associations excluded her, she saw the need to establish an organization for black beauticians. In 1945, she and Mary McCloud Bethune founded the United Beauty School Owners and Teachers Association along with its Alpha Chi Pi Omega sorority and fraternity. In 1954, Joyner took 195 black beauticians on a tour of Europe. The idea originated in 1932 as a result of being banned from participating in a contest because of her race. Then once she suggested the idea to others, it took five years to plan the trip. Paris and London, in particular, extended elaborate welcomes to the group. The ladies trained under master hairstylists and toured a variety of European sites. Robert Joyner and four other men accompanied the group. Joyner’s convictions about equality of the races led to political involvement. She developed a friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt. The two once faced down the Ku Klux Klan to attend a Bethune–Cookman College concert. In 1935, she helped found the National Council of Negro Women. President Franklin Roosevelt appointed her to leadership in the Democratic National Committee during World War II. She worked with the Works Progress Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the National Youth Association. Joyner came to know other presidents up through President Jimmy Carter’s administration. Joyner became active also in community affairs, especially in Chicago’s annual Bud Billiken Parade. Sponsored by the city’s only African American newspaper, the Chicago Defender, the parade has become the largest African American parade in the United States. Founder Robert Sengstacke Abbott began the parade in honor of his newspaper carriers. Joyner helped organize and rode at the head of each parade for more than sixty years. She also headed the Chicago Defender Charities, raising money and organizing food and clothing drives. She helped found and actively participated in the city’s Cosmopolitan Community Church. In her later years, Joyner engaged in fund-raising for the Bethune– Cookman College she had attended. Donors included Nelson Rockefeller and the United Beauty School Owners and Teachers Association. In the 1970s, the college named a residence hall for her. Several other honors came her way. In 1975, Chicago named her Senior Citizen of the Year. A 1987 Smithsonian Institution exhibit featured Joyner’s permanent wave machine and a replica of her original salon. In 1990, during the 44th National Council of Negro Women, participants honored the ninety-three-year-old as one of five recipients in their ‘‘Salute to Black Women Who Make It Happen.’’ That same year, the Washington Post named her ‘‘Grande Dame of Black Beauty Culture.’’ Joyner continued to go to her office and to attend church regularly until a heart attack took her life on December 27, 1994. Throughout nearly a century, she made significant contributions to hairstyling, education, and community endeavors. Along the way, she also influenced how young African American people thought about themselves.

437

Marjorie Stewart Joyner Sources ‘‘Beauty Pilgrimage.’’ Ebony 9 (August 1954): 38–44. Flug, Michael. ‘‘Marjorie Stewart Joyner.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book II. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996. MacDonald, Annie L. Feminine Ingenuity: Women and Invention in America. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992. ‘‘Madame Walker Has New Hairdressing Treatment.’’ Ebony 4 (January 1949): 62–64. Manheim, James M. ‘‘Marjorie Stewart Joyner.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Nelson, Jill. ‘‘The Fortune That Madame Built.’’ Essence 14 (June 1983): 84–86, 154, 156.

Marie Garrett

438

Encyclopedia of African American Business

Encyclopedia of African American Business Volume 2 K–Z

EDITED BY JESSIE CARNEY SMITH Millicent Lownes Jackson, Consultant Linda T. Wynn, Consultant

Greenwood Press Westport, Connecticut  London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Encyclopedia of African American business / edited by Jessie Carney Smith ; consultants : Millicent Lownes Jackson, Linda T. Wynn. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–313–33109–X (set : alk. paper)—ISBN 0–313–33110–3 (v. 1 : alk. paper)— ISBN 0–313–33111–1 (v. 2 : alk. paper) 1. African American business enterprises—United States—Encyclopedias. 2. African American businesspeople— United States—Encyclopedias. I. Smith, Jessie Carney. II. Jackson, Millicent Lownes. III. Wynn, Linda T. HD2358.5.U6E53 2006 338.7092'396073—dc22 2006002866 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright # 2006 by Jessie Carney Smith All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. This book is included in the African American Experience database from Greenwood Electronic Media. For more information, visit www.africanamericanexperience.com. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2006002866 ISBN: 0–313–33109–X (set) 0–313–33110–3 (vol. 1) 0–313–33111–1 (vol. 2) First published in 2006 Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed in the United States of America

The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In recognition of African American entrepreneurs for their vision, endurance, and notable contributions to the world of business; and to my father, James A. Carney, an early entrepreneur and my inspiration for this book

Contents Entry List

ix

Topical Entry List

xiii

African American Business Leaders by Occupation

xvii

Preface

xxiii

Introduction

xxvii

The Encyclopedia

1

Selected Bibliography

855

Index

861

About the Contributors

879

K Kid/Teenpreneurs: Business Leaders in the Making Kid and teen entrepreneurs are organizations dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship among young blacks regardless of age, socioeconomic and educational level, or career plans. Since about half of the new economic ventures fail within the first four years, becoming an entrepreneur is not necessarily easy. To become successful, future business leaders are encouraged to begin with a service or product that they know. They should conduct research in their area of interest and then examine the data collected. Such data should indicate whether a service or product will supply unfilled needs. The future leader should consider the targeted population and direct publicity toward that particular group. The leader should inventory his or her investment capital and decide whether or not the market is right. Unless the future leader has a totally different approach to marketing a product, the investment of time and capital may be unwise. Once the need has been identified, one should raise questions to himself or herself that will help focus planning. Who will use your service? How much capital is needed to start the business, and will profits be large enough to sustain the business? Examine finances particularly closely since the lack of sound financial planning can lead to business failure. Even if the future leader is fortunate enough to be advised by a family financial guru, it is still wise to look into some of the services provided by the Black Enterprise United Clubs. Black Enterprise magazine and its newsletter offspring KidpreneurNews and Teenpreneur are publications of the Black Enterprise United Clubs. With a $20 membership to either of the two Black Enterprise clubs, young people receive a copy of that club’s newsletter. Black Enterprise, the parent publication, publishes Teenpreneur as a supplement to Black Enterprise, where it appears on a quarterly basis. KidpreneurNews is available six times a year from September to June, along with a teaching supplement that has increased its popularity as a classroom tool. The newsletters are intended to

Kid/Teenpreneurs: Business Leaders in the Making

teach young African Americans about economic success, enterprise, and independence. Kidpreneur programs focus on earning money, management, and past African American business leaders, while Teenpreneurs look more closely at getting ready for college, personal finance, and scholarship resources. A major benefit that Black Enterprise (BE) clubs offer is recognition for Kid/Teenpreneurs. They encourage creativity and provide feedback from peers and older successful black leaders. While the clubs aim to instill pride and a can-do spirit, there are plenty of fun activities, workshops, and awards. For instance, a recent Black Enterprise/NationsBank Entrepreneurs Conference took place at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Florida. Another activity Black Enterprise sponsors is the selection of the most able entrepreneurs for its annual Small Business Awards. From this group one individual will be selected for the annual Kidpreneurs Award. This award showcases a young, outstanding African American business owner who has made a significant contribution in the area of economic achievement. More recently, the three-day Black Enterprise/General Motors Entrepreneurs Conference was held in Dallas at the Wyndham Anatole Hotel. Participants were divided by age into four teams: Futurepreneurs (seven to ten), Junior Executives (eleven to thirteen), Future CEOs (chief executive officers) (fourteen to eighteen), and the President’s Club (eleven to eighteen), who have already started a business. President’s Club members were sent out to sell lemonade. Selling lemonade is an old moneymaking scheme, but selling it at a large conference to strangers is different. Team members worked together to attract customers, market a good product, and turn a profit. While the more experienced President’s Club members were being tested in the lemonade contest, the others brainstormed new ventures. Teams were encouraged to make decisions by voting on how profits were to be dispersed— through an equal split among team members or by who earned the most money. Futurepreneurs at the conference learn that studying entrepreneurship is a creative but fun activity. They were assigned the task of making business cards and fliers on laptops for a theoretical shopping mall called ‘‘Plaza of Heaven.’’ The conference closed with two sure-fire motivational events: A graduation ceremony for Kidpreneurs, who presented their future ventures, and a closing banquet for the participant selected to receive the annual Teenpreneur Award. Other recognition for the Teenpreneur Award recipient included a television appearance to discuss the award-winning project. The Black Enterprise Web site http://www.blackenterprise.com is the online guide for wealth building, a complete rundown of available BE products and services. Listed at the site are the following: BE events, BE 100’s, Black Wealth Initiative, BE Store, Archives, Conventions, Classifieds, Manage Your Portfolio, Buy Stock for $4, Open a Franchise, Own a Home, Find a Job, and Post a Job, and pick-and-click category Channels featuring the latest information on such topics as small business, investing, personal

440

Kid/Teenpreneurs: Business Leaders in the Making

finance, career, and lifestyle. News, another pick-and-click division, contains news categories such as African American News, Business & Finance, Economy/Markets, New Government, Human Resources, Investments, Professional Services, Real Estate, Small Business, and Taxation. The site also offers valuable information on BE conferences and Kid/Teenpreneur activities. Log In and Search boxes located on the top page are easily accessible and well configured. In addition to the Teenpreneur site, other online sources are geared to educate young people about money and finance: Bank Jr., http://www.ban kjr.com; Banking on Our Future, http://www.bankingonourfuture.org; Fleet Kids, http://www.fleetkids.com; and U.S. Treasury for Kids, http://www.treas .gov/kids. SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS The Teenpreneur Resource Guide references business-based programs for entrepreneurs who want to contact other business-oriented teenpreneurs to share experiences and compare planned projects. Besides Black Enterprise’s flagship organization, the Teenpreneur/Kidpreneur Conference, Business United in Investing, Lending and Development aims to help low-income youth in Silicon Valley communities of California. Its mission is to provide basic and advanced business training along with seed money to launch their ventures. Children’s Entrepreneurial Opportunities (CEO) Academy Inc. is a Nashville, Tennessee–based organization devoted to teaching both business and academics. There are programs to promote business acumen such as Millionaires in the Making, Servant Leadership, and a local university-based summer camp, Camp C.E.O, offering instruction in academics, money management, business development, and public speaking. Granville Academy sponsors after-school programs nationwide for youngsters in grades eight through 12. The programs’ focus is business, finance, science, and engineering. An important feature of the program is the Granville Academy Youth Conference. Here the youngsters meet and learn from successful African American business owners who have years of business experience behind them and a wealth of practical business tips to share with teens. Other similar institutes for young people interested in enterprise learning are: the Institute for Entrepreneurship, My Own Biz, Young Biz, and Youth Venture, and The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. These organizations assist young entrepreneurs with their businesses; provide conferences, competitions, and grants; and teach entrepreneurial skills. Young Biz also has its own magazine, Y & E. Two other notable youth organizations are Junior Achievement (JA) and NAACP Reginald F. Lewis Youth Entrepreneurial Institute. Junior Achievement features a Student Entrepreneur Center at its Web site (http:// www.ja.org). JA offers advice on choosing your own business, financial

441

Kid/Teenpreneurs: Business Leaders in the Making

management, and entering the Student Entrepreneur of the Year Contest. The Youth Entrepreneurial Institute takes youngsters from fourteen to eighteen with a 2.0 grade-point average for the purpose of teaching them the fundamentals of launching a business. The organization offers a fiveweek summer program starting in April and ending in September. Following the summer program is a Saturday Business Institute that occurs one Saturday a month—September through April. One of the most important lessons that any of these organizations can teach young entrepreneurs is respect for money—not so much the actual cash but what it means in terms of work, management, and time. If children are encouraged to work to earn money at an early age, they will begin to see money in a different light. It represents work and not something simply owed them by life. In a 2004 Black E.O.E. Journal article titled ‘‘Why Are African-American Youths Interested in Studying Business!’’ Karen Johns, of Diversity Pipeline Alliance, documents African American youngsters’ increased interest in business. The article implies that interest in business as a career is motivated by the African American community itself—partially in anticipation of a shortage of business talent and as a way to take control of their own economic welfare. Conceivably in response to the downsizing of large corporations, colleges and universities are providing greater opportunities to minority students. Consequently, enterprise education organizations prepare youngsters from elementary through high school to take advantage of those opportunities. Finally, one of the most important lessons that enterprise teaches is selfreliance: an old-fashioned kind of entrepreneurship, one founded in necessity and innovation. See also: Centers for Entrepreneurship in Academic Institutions Sources Asinoff, Lynn. ‘‘Kids and Capital: First Paycheck (With) Holds Lessons.’’ Wall Street Journal, August 16, 1996. Beech, Wendy M. ‘‘And the Winners Are . . .’’ Black Enterprise 28 (1997): 86. Brown, Carolyn M. ‘‘In the Running.’’ Black Enterprise 28 (1998): 27. Browne, J. Zamgba. ‘‘Teen Publisher’s Magazine Strives for ‘America’s Youth in Partnership.’ ’’ New York Amsterdam News 92.1 (2001): 16. Cronan, Mia. ‘‘Teaching Entrepreneurship.’’ The Dollar Stretcher. http://www.stret ches.com/stories/01/010115f.cfm. Freedman, Alix M. ‘‘. . . But It Is the Good Life That Lures These Youths.’’ Wall Street Journal, January 14, 1987. Graves Ventures LLC. ‘‘This Is the Remix.’’ Black Enterprise 34 (2003): 1. ———. ‘‘What You’ve Always Expected.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (2003): 165. Johnson, Raelyn C. ‘‘Blackgirl Rules! Publisher Kenya James Wins Our 2003 Teenpreneur of the Year Award.’’ Black Enterprise 34 (2003): 2. Kisker, Carrie B. ‘‘Raising a Young Entrepreneur.’’ Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation 10, #03-07 (2003). http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite7.html. Reed Elsevier. ‘‘Show: The Flipside.’’ Cable News Network 10 (September 2003): Transcript # 091004cb.132. Savage, Terry. ‘‘7 Steps to Teach Your Kids the Mysteries of Money.’’ Microsoft Network, Money. http://moneycentral.msn.com/ articles/family/kids/1444.asp.

442

Don King Smith, Dorett. ‘‘B.E. Builds on Youth Brands.’’ Black Enterprise 29 (June 1999): 351. Sykes, Tanishsa A. ‘‘The 2003 Teenpreneur Money Guide: The Best Online Resources and Organizations for Financial Literacy, What They Have to Offer, and How You Can Tap into Them.’’ Business and Company Resource Center Database. Gale Group. Torres, Blanca. ‘‘Teen’s Lemonade Stand Part of Lesson at Dallas Business Conference.’’ Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 15, 2004. ‘‘Why Are African-American Youths Interested in Studying Business?’’ Black EOE Journal 20 (2004): 54.

Lois A. Peterson

Don King (1931– ), Boxing Promoter, Businessperson, Activist, Philanthropist Don King is perhaps most noted for his contributions as a boxing promoter. His career as a promoter spans three decades and consists of more than 500 world championship fights. However, his keen entrepreneurial skills are what has sustained him and placed him among the ranks of the most noted businessmen in North America. King was born on December 6, 1931, in Cleveland, Ohio. His parents Hattie and Clarence King had a total of seven children. Clarence King worked in the steel industry at the Jones and Laughlin Plant in Ohio. Tragically, King’s father died in an explosion on Pearl Harbor day in 1941. Hattie King then raised her seven children as a single parent. King would later borrow from the strength and guidance his mother provided him during his developing years. By the age of thirty-nine, King decided to become a boxing promoter, following several turbulent years of participation in illegal activities. King spent most of his time as a young person participating in gambling and as a chicken runner. A low point for King came when he was sentenced to serve four years in prison for stomping a numbers runner to death. Ironically, the time King spent in prison helped him develop the desire to pursue business and to become a boxing promoter. He spent most of his time in jail reading and preparing for the next phase of his life. Perhaps the fact that he had family to support was a motivator for him as well. King joined the ranks of other boxing promoters in 1971. Where there were no other African American boxing promoters, seeking the limelight, stood King. In a field that had been traditionally dominated by white men, King stood out for all obvious reasons. His physical stature (six feet four inches tall and weighing 200 pounds), highly unique locks, and bold demeanor did not make him popular among his white counterparts. He boldly pronounced in African American Biographies that ‘‘there ain’t no other like me. . . . [I am] the world’s greatest promoter.’’ One year after King proclaimed himself a boxing promoter, he persuaded Muhammad Ali, boxing champion and activist, to participate in a charity

443

Don King

boxing exhibition in 1972. In an effort to help save the Forest City Hospital in Cleveland, which suffered from a budget crisis, King wanted to host a charity fight to raise funds for the hospital. His primary concern was that the hospital served the poor and working-class community of Cleveland, and without the institution the community would function at a greater disadvantage. He therefore sought the assistance of the then–heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali for support. Ali accepted the invitation to participate in the benefit fight to raise money for the hospital. Ali had already become a household name, and King’s association with the man made him a household name as well. The exhibition was such a success that King and Ali continued to work together for more than a decade, until Ali’s retirement in the 1980s. There were several subsequent fighting events that solidified King as the ‘‘greatest boxing promoter.’’ By 1974, King managed to coordinate a fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Months before the scheduled fight took place, King’s financial backers declined to support King after he promised each fighter more than $5 million a piece. When everyone lost support for King and his vision as a boxing promoter, he focused on the commitment he had made to himself to be the best promoter in America by staging one of the greatest fights in history, ‘‘The Rumble in the Jungle.’’ The fight took place on the continent of Africa in the country of Zaire. Proving his critics wrong, King went on to promote countless numbers of successful fights—the ‘‘Thrilla in Manilla’’ between Ali and Joe Frazier; the ‘‘Grand Slam of Boxing’’ headlined by Julio Ce´sar Cha´vez; the first Mike Tyson versus Evander Holyfield fight, which exceeded all previous viewing records for a boxing event; and the Holyfield-Tyson II fight, which attracted even more attention within the United States as well as globally. King’s boxing promotion career set new standards for promoters joining the ranks as well as those who were seasoned professionals. Under Kingpromoted events, approximately 100 boxers have earned $1 million or more for fighting. In fact, the first Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield fight shattered almost all previous records related to boxing events. By 1981, King topped his own boxing promotion record. He became the first promoter in history to guarantee $1 million to nonheavyweight fighters. During the same year he promoted the Sugar Ray Leonard fight against Roberto Duran. In maintaining his record of ‘‘first’’ titles, King guaranteed Leonard $10 million for his participation. KING AS ACTIVIST, BUSINESSMAN, AND PHILANTHROPIST In addition to receiving notice for his business skill, King also prides himself as an activist and philanthropist. He uses boxing to promote diversity and tolerance. In an interview published in ‘‘Don King’s Biography’’ he noted, ‘‘I work for the day when all people would be clothed in dignity.’’ The joy and thrill of bringing fighters, trainers, media personnel, and

444

Don King

businesspeople from all parts of the world together keeps King committed to his work. He believes that providing people an opportunity to work with people they would not otherwise come into contact with is a worthwhile investment. Ultimately, people learn that neither skin color nor race nor religion determine a person’s worth, King noted. Since the establishment of the Don King Foundation in 1990, he has donated millions of dollars to causes and foundations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), the Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation, the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund, National Coalition of Title 1 Chapter 1 Parents, Wheelchair Charities, and his own Children’s Foundation. In 1997 King was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame. He has been the only boxing promoter named to Sports Illustrator’s list of ‘‘40 Most Influential Sports Figures of the Past Forty Years.’’ Subsequently, the New York Times included King on its list of ‘‘100 African Americans Who Helped Shape the Country’s History during the Last Century.’’ King has been recognized and honored by numerous organizations. His most noted honors came from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the NAACP. He was honored as the Man of the Year by the former and received the President’s Award by the latter. King also received an honorary doctorate degree from Shaw University in Raleigh and was named to the university’s board of trustees. Finally, at age seventy, King was proclaimed by all three major boxing organizations—the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, and the World Boxing Council—the ‘‘Greatest Promoter in History.’’ Sources Don King Production Company Inc. ‘‘Don King’s Biography.’’ 2001. http:// www.donking.com. Hawkins, Walter L., ed. African American Biographies: Profiles of 558 Current Men and Women. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1992.

Baiyina W. Muhammad

445

L Ladies Auxiliary to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. See Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Thomy Lafon (1810–1893), Real Estate Broker, Philanthropist, Human Rights Activist Thomy Lafon was born in poverty and, just before the Civil War, rose to wealth and success in New Orleans. Because he was a free person of color, he was among the city’s privileged blacks. He established a modest business of selling cakes to workmen on the city’s wharves, operating a small store, and making financial loans for a considerable profit. It was his frugality, coupled with his shrewd real estate investments, that increased his fortune and enabled him to leave an estate of over $600,000 at his death. During his lifetime, however, he contributed generously to the charities of his choice. The circumstances of Lafon’s life are reported variously in published sources, and much of what is given cannot be substantiated. He was born in New Orleans on December 28, 1810, the son of Pierre Laralde—perhaps a Caucasian from France or a free black from New Orleans—and Modest Foucher, who may have been of Haitian descent. Little is known about his birth or his parents, since his birth records are lacking. It appears, however, that his birth father deserted the family while Thomy was still a child. There are claims that he may have assumed the name Lafon from Barthe´le´my Lafon, prominent local businessman and city planner, who in some way was connected to his mother. Lafon grew up in poverty. There are conflicting reports on the level and quality of Lafon’s education; one report is that he attended the School of Louis XIV I in Paris. Nonetheless, he spoke languages fluently, especially French and English, and became a schoolteacher.

Thomy Lafon

His business ventures began before the Civil War when he sold cakes to workers along the city’s wharves. By 1842 he had a business on Rampart Street and was listed in the city director as ‘‘T. Lafon, Merchant.’’ The city directory shows him again in 1867, this time with his business relocated to Exchange Street. The next year his work as a broker was documented in the city directory, and reports are that he made considerable profit on the money that he loaned to others. His real estate was worth $10,000 in 1860, and by 1870 it was valued at $55,000; thus, by the standards of the time, he was a very rich man. He continued to prosper between 1871 and 1880, as he purchased $41,000 worth of property and sold $22,000 worth. He moved his business again to Royal Street, and after 1887, when no record of his business is listed in the city directory, he may have moved his business to his home or simply retired. Beyond his business affairs, Lafon had some involvement in city life. Before and during the Civil War, Lafon worked with other prominent Creoles to demand political equality for those of color. He favored racial integration in the schools. Lafon and other Creoles also supported and ran the Tribune, the South’s first black-owned newspaper after the war. A Republican, he joined Durant’s Radical Republican Club. He was, however, a religious man and became a devout Roman Catholic. He was highly cultured as well. Although he avoided social affairs, he loved music, attended concerts, and was a patron of the arts. Notwithstanding his wealth, Lafon’s place in history appears to be his support of philanthropic causes. He gave generously to the American AntiSlavery Society, the Underground Railroad, and the Catholic Indigent Orphans Institute that Madame Bernard Couvent founded in the early 1830s. As well, in 1866 he gave two parcels of land as the site for the first Louisiana Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans. Support of other charities as well as his family and friends were provided in his will. He willed support for his aged sister and to friends. Most of his funds went to twelve local charitable, educational, and religious institutions operated by whites, blacks, Protestants, and Catholics. These included the Charity Hospital, the Lafon Old Folks Home, Straight (now Dillard) University, and the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital. The largest portion of his estate provided a perpetual trust to an order of African American nuns known as the Sisters of the Holy Family. It has been said that both in life and death every black charitable institution in New Orleans and every newspaper that supported human rights received a donation from Lafon and benefited from his generosity. He felt the greatest satisfaction, however, when he assisted destitute people of any race or religion. Lafon’s physical appearance was no indication of his success. The tall, gaunt, light-skinned man with steel-grey, straight hair lived as if he had no money. Rather than live in any of the fine houses that he owned, he lived with his sister in a shabby home on Ursuline Street. His frugality carried over into his dress. Although he was impeccable in dress, his frock coat, beaver top hat, and cane were inexpensive, unfashionable, but serviceable.

448

Lunsford Lane

He never married. Always a man of utmost dignity in life and in all of his business transactions, he commanded and received respect: Apparently society of the day held him in high regard. Lafon died at home on December 22, 1893. His only known survivor was his widowed sister Alfree Lafon Baudin, with whom he still lived and who had been his lifetime adviser and companion. While the astute businessman was best known as a philanthropist, Lafon’s work to support human rights, the Underground Railroad, and the American Anti-Slavery Society has received little notice. Nevertheless, it was his skill as a business leader that made him a rich man and provided money to support those charities and institutions that he treasured most. See also: Roadside and Street Vending Sources Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Directory. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Logan, Rayford W. ‘‘Thomy Lafon.’’ Dictionary of American Negro Biography. Ed. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982. Wynes, Charles E. ‘‘Thomy Lafon, Black Philanthropist.’’ Midwest Quarterly 12 (Winter 1981): 105–112.

Frederick D. Smith

Lunsford Lane (1803–c. 1863), Slave, Entrepreneur, Free Man, Abolitionist Lunsford Lane, a nineteenth-century entrepreneur, was born a slave in Raleigh, North Carolina, and was the author of the narrative of his life story. Herein he details his early life. In this narrative, he speaks of his life as a slave as one representative of the slave who is more favored. However, the narrative itself is an example of his ingenuity and industriousness, for it was used as a tool for the antislavery camp, as encouragement for other slaves, and as a means of earning money to take care of his large family. He was one of the slaves able to purchase not only his own freedom but the freedom of his family as well. Even though his conditions as a slave were less than harsh, he presents the plight of enslavement and the fact that even the best of conditions still leaves a man yearning for freedom. In his lifetime, he was a salesman, handyman, tobacconist, messenger, lecturer, medicine man, and steward. The first of his money came as a result of his father presenting him with a basket of peaches that he sold for thirty cents. This became the catalyst for his business endeavors. If he could earn money and save it, then he could eventually save for the purchase of himself. Following this, he won marbles and sold them, began to save the monies men visiting his master Sherwood Haywood gave him for his service, and had as his constant companion plans

449

Lunsford Lane

for making money. He worked at night after a hard day of toil and sold his wares later. His father had taught him a way of preparing smoking tobacco that made it better and sweeter than any available. He improved on the product and manufactured it at night, wrapped it in papers, and sold it for fifteen cents. However, a good smoking tobacco, to be truly appreciated, needed a smoking pipe. Using reeds that grew plentifully in the region, a hot wire, and a clay pipe, he constructed a pipe that he sold for ten cents. He sold these in the early part of the night and made more in the latter part. Members of the Raleigh legislature were some of his best customers, and he became known as a ‘‘tobacconist.’’ Later, he expanded this business. In his narrative, Lane tells how his owners fell on hard times, and he was hired out. In spite of this, he continued to amass funds, enlarged his business, labeled his product ‘‘Edward and Lunsford Lane,’’ and had others working on commission, dispensing his product not only in his area but also in other parts of the state. He bought goods at a bargain or in bulk and sold them for profit. He was ultimately able to buy himself and over a period of time his wife and family. He also worked as a handyman and messenger in the office of Governor Edward B. Dudley and part of the term of Governor Morehead. Additionally, according to John Bassett in Anti-Slavery Leaders of North Carolina, he used his knowledge of herbs to manufacture a ‘‘medicine which he called ‘Dr. Lane’s Vegetable Pills’ ’’; served as a lecturer for the antislavery cause; and was a ‘‘steward at Wellington Hospital’’ (Bishop) in Worcester. Massachusetts. Lane was born on May 30, 1803, to Edward and Clarissa Lane (the father’s last name came from Lane’s original owner), owned by Sherwood Haywood. Lane grew up as a house slave and says his life was essentially a happy one compared to many other slaves. However, he still dreamed of freedom. Toward that end, he worked assiduously at accruing monies to purchase his freedom. In May 1828, he married Martha Curtis, who belonged to the Boylan family; she was later sold to Benjamin B. Smith, a merchant and a class leader in the Methodist church, who was held in high regard for his piety and regard for religion. To this union were born seven children: Edward, William, Lunsford Jr., Maria, Ellick, Lucy, and Laura. Lane tells of the hard work, troubles related to slavery and the laws governing it, the lack of human rights, the jealousy of men in the neighborhood, and the aid of influential individuals, which hampered the purchase of his own and his family’s freedom. However, at the end of thirty-two years, he was a free man; he spent eighteen years ‘‘in the purchase of his family,’’ wife and children, wrote William Hawkins in Lunsford Lane; Another Helper from North Carolina. In this effort, he lost much of his property and monies by unscrupulous actions on the parts of many persons with whom he had business dealings; but ultimately he won. The family settled in Philadelphia and was soon joined by Lane’s mother (a farewell gift from Mrs. Haywood with the understanding that Lane would pay $200 whenever he got it, or she would just count it as a loss) and father (freed by the Haywoods), where they stayed for a brief period.

450

Ronald N. Langston

Lane moved to New York, then to Boston, on to Oberlin, Ohio, and back to Boston for a period. Because of the climate, four of his children died. According to Sande Bishop in ‘‘Dale Hospital,’’ his last known move was to Worcester, Massachusetts, where ‘‘ ‘Dr.’ Lunsford Lane, steward of Wellington Hospital cared[d] for soldiers.’’ He, ‘‘his wife, and two daughters cared for 100 patients who were injured or fell ill at Massachusetts’ training camps.’’ The date of his death is unknown; there is no record of him after 1863. Sources Bassett, John Spencer. Anti-Slavery Leaders of North Carolina. Ed. Herbert B. Adams. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, June 1898. http://www.webroots.org/library/usa black/aslonc00.html. Bishop, Sande P. ‘‘Dale Hospital: A Civil War Hospital with Community Support.’’ http://www.ci.worcester.maq.us/cco/history/dale_hospital.htm. Cotton, Alice R. ‘‘Biography of Lunsford Lane (30 May 1803–ca. 1863).’’ Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. Vol. 4. Ed. William S. Powell. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~bowers/lane/ biolunsf.htm. Hawkins, Rev. William G. Lunsford Lane; Another Helper from North Carolina. 1863. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969. Lane, Lunsford. Narrative of Lunsford Lane, Formerly of Raleigh, N.C., by Lunsford Lane. Boston: J. G. Torrey, Printer, 1842. http://www.guttenberg.org/dirs/1/5/1/1/ 15118/15118-h/15118-h.htm.

Helen R. Houston

Ronald N. Langston (1953– ), Government Official Ronald N. Langston was appointed the fourteenth director of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) by President George W. Bush on March 19, 2001, and is the first to officially hold the title of the agency’s ‘‘national director.’’ By placing less emphasis on the agency’s administrative functions and more focus on moving it to being a national entrepreneurial model, Langston successfully implements new strategies in service to the agency’s mission of the development, growth, and expansion of minority-owned businesses. With a career spanning microenterprise development, commercial real estate, marketing, and legislative affairs, Langston is a proven and experienced executive in private, public, nonprofit, and international arenas. Prior to his appointment, Langston served as legislative research analyst to the Iowa General Assembly from 1974 to 1979. From 1979 to 1981, he was a legislative assistant to former U.S. Senator Roger Jepsen (R–Iowa) and then was a presidential appointee during the Reagan administration (1982– 1984) with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Washington, D.C.

451

Ronald N. Langston

In the private sector, Langston served as vice president of administration and organizational management for EMCO Enterprises, director of National Markets for Principal Financial Group, vice president of governmental affairs for the Greater Des Moines Chamber of Commerce Federation, and director of economic development for the Institute for Social and Economic Development. Langston’s international experience includes serving as a delegate of the American Council of Young Political leaders (1982), serving on the Council of International Understanding (Des Moines, Iowa, 1993–1997), and serving as the U.S. Department of Commerce’s delegate to the 2003 Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Conference in Mauritius. His combined international travels also include West Germany, France, Belgium, Ghana, South Africa, and Botswana, and he has hosted and sponsored delegations from Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Langston has also served as a C-Span Panelist (1989) and as a delegate to the RIPON Society Trans-Atlantic Conference (1985–1986); he is a member of the American Society of Public Administration and is a recent contributing author to Outside In: African American History in Iowa, 1838– 2000, for which he was the corecipient of the prestigious Iowa Literary Award. Numerous other awards and honors for Langston include the Ronald H. Brown Economic Development Prism Award from Minorities in Business Magazine, the Asian Business Association’s Strategic Thinker Award, and the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Appreciation Award. He also received the Indian Business Award from the National Center for American Indian Development, the National Diversity Gala Best Practices Government Leader Award, the Minority Business and Professionals Network’s 50 Influential Minorities in Business Award, and the Black Business Association of Los Angeles’ Keynote Speaker Award. He is former chair of the Iowa Commission on the Status of African Americans and commissioner of the Iowa Department of Transportation. In 1988, Langston was appointed to the Personnel Advisory Committee of President-elect George Herbert Walker Bush and was the first African American Republican candidate for the Iowa State Senate in 1996, 2000, and 2004. Langston holds a degree from the University of Iowa and two master’s degrees from the City University of New York (National Urban/Rural Fellow) and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa, with his wife, attorney Inga P. Bumbary. Langston’s consistent and insightful professional performance as a change agent over time exemplifies the strategic goals of the Minority Business Development Agency in serving both the federal government and the African American, Native American, Puerto Rican, Spanish-speaking Amer-

452

John Anderson Lankford

ican, Eskimo, Aleut, Asian Indian American, Asian Pacific American, and Hasidic Jewish minority communities. He is known for entrepreneurial training, access to capital, equity funding, e-commerce, technical management training, management of organizational knowledge, and core competencies’ performance verification. Langston’s breadth and depth of expertise, strategic planning, innovation, and leadership rank him as one of the leading and empowering African Americans in the federal government as well as in community and global services. Sources ‘‘Keynote Speaker.’’ Longbeach, California, Web site. http://www.longbeach.gov/ bdc/programs/keynote.htm. ‘‘Mr. Ronald N. Langston.’’ African American Chamber of Commerce. http:// www.africanamericanchamberofcommercenys.org/ronaldnlangstonbio.asp. ‘‘Ronald N. Langston.’’ Div2000. http://www.div2000.com/Events/DivEvent/2003/ Langston.html. ‘‘Ronald N. Langston—MBDA National Director.’’ U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency. http://www.mbda.gov/templates/inside .php.

Linda Combs Hayden

John Anderson Lankford (1874–1946), Architect, Educator John A. Lankford may have been the first black architect to establish an architectural office. He also designed and supervised construction of the United Order of True Reformer Building in Washington, D.C., the first large building owned and built by blacks. He was the first black licensed to practice architecture in the District of Columbia and in Virginia, and he became known for building numerous facilities in Washington, D.C. and beyond, including churches, fraternal buildings, school facilities, and residences. Born on the family farm near Potosi, Missouri, on December 4, 1874, Lankford was the son of Phillip Anderson Lankford and Nancy Ella Johnson Lankford. Lankford was educated in the local public schools, and from 1889 to 1896, he studied mathematics, natural and chemical sciences, carpentry, blacksmithing, mechanical drawing, and woodworking at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. From 1896 to 1898 he studied physics and chemistry at Tuskegee Institute (now University) in Alabama and completed his training there with a certificate in steam fitting. The next year he enrolled in a correspondence course at the International Correspondence School in Scranton, Pennsylvania, taking courses in architectural and mechanical drawing. Lankford received a Bachelor of Science degree from Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1898 and served the school as superintendent of the Industrial Department in 1900–1902. He received

453

John Anderson Lankford

an honorary Master of Science degree from Morris Brown College in Atlanta in 1901 and from Wilberforce University in Ohio in 1902. Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) College, in Normal, awarded him a master mechanic (M.M.S.) degree in 1908. He taught at Alabama A&M, 1898–1900; Shaw University, 1900–1902; Wilberforce, 1910–1912; and Edward Waters College in Florida, 1912–1914. Sometime around this time, Allen University conferred the LL.D. degree on Lankford. Lankford also had an interest in law and pursued that field at John Mercer Langston School of Law at Frelinghuysen University in Washington, D.C. in 1917–1921; he graduated in 1921 with a Master of Laws degree. He designed a large administration building for the university in 1927, but the facility was never erected. Between 1896 and 1902, Lankford became an entrepreneur; he owned a blacksmith shop in St. Louis and was also superintendent of the Blacksmith Department of Atlanta’s Fulton County Mills, which, at that time, was one of the largest white-owned cotton mills in the country. He continued his business ventures as chief engineer of the National Ice Cream Company and as a master mechanic for the black-owned Coleman Cotton Mills in Concord, North Carolina. In 1901, Lankford married Charlotte Josephine Upshaw, one of his former students. The next year the Lankfords and their daughter, Nancy Josephine, relocated to Washington, D.C. There Lankford supervised construction of a sizeble structure that he had designed, the national office for the Grand Fountain United Order of the True Reformers, which organized one of the first banks owned by blacks. The facility would play prominently in his life later on. He lived near the building, attended concerts and meetings there, and studied law in classes held there. On October 2, 1922, Lankford became the first black architect licensed in Virginia. Although the Board of Architects issued a number of licenses that day, they were given in alphabetical order, thus placing him before another black architect, Charles Thaddeus Russell. Two years later, in 1924, he became the first registered black architect in the District of Columbia. When Lankford established his architectural business, his office was in his residence; later he moved to a business facility and ultimately to 115 U Street, Northwest. His clients were primarily black Washingtonians. He also completed projects beyond the District of Columbia, with commissions chiefly for churches, fraternal facilities, school buildings, and residences. His 1906 entry for competition to design the Negro Building for the Jamestown Ter-centennial Exposition held in Norfolk, Virginia, the next year earned him second place among the five entrants. Langford was appointed supervising architect in 1908 for the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The appointment resulted in numerous commissions nationwide and in South and West Africa as well. These included Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Deland, Florida, about 1915; Cosmic Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Capetown, South Africa, about

454

John Anderson Lankford

1920; and Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Atlanta in 1924—a landmark in the historic Auburn Avenue district. Many of his drawings and photographs of his work were published in 1916 in his book Artistic Churches and Other Designs. While some of his designs were not published, there are illustrations of the types of facilities that he designed and built, including Arnett Hall at Wilberforce University (1910) and his only design extant in Washington, D.C., Haven African Methodist Episcopal Church. When Capitol View Realty Club began to prepare for a major development in Maryland called ‘‘America’s Finest Colored Community,’’ it retained Lankford as consulting architect. It was said to be for blacks a community without equal and to afford its residents a chance to develop their own standards of living. In addition to his private practice, Lankford served the U.S. government as housing consultant and adviser to the Department of Interior. He was also a consulting engineer for the U.S. Navy during World War II, at its facility on Capitol Hill. Lankford was well known at Howard University, where in the 1930s he helped to establish the School of Architecture. Later on, after the university trustees approved the architectural school for closing, he was credited with saving the program. Among his memberships were the bar associations of Virginia, Indiana, and the District of Columbia. Whether or not he ever practiced law is unclear. In 1905 he founded the Colored Men’s Business League and in 1905 the National Negro Business League, Washington, D.C. branch. He was president of the board of trustees of the Army of Rescue and Religion and director of the YMCA in Jacksonville, Florida. He was national president of the National Technical Association from 1941 to 1942 and president of the American Technical Institute (ATI). For the latter organization he chaired the liaison committee and represented the ATI before Congress and various governmental departments. He was a member of the Mu-So-Lit Club and the Independent Order of Saint Luke and a thirty-third-degree Mason. Lankford was hospitalized at Freedmen’s Hospital in Washington, D.C. for seven days. He died there from heart disease on July 2, 1946, and was buried in Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland. He is remembered for his work as architect and for his design and supervisory work on numerous facilities, chiefly in the black community. Sources Schuyler, George S. ‘‘John A. Lankford: Prominent Negro Architect.’’ Messenger (June 1924): 192. Who’s Who in Colored America. 5th ed. Brooklyn: Who’s Who in Colored America, 1940. Williams, Paul Kelsey. ‘‘John Anderson Lankford (1874–1946).’’ African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary 1865–1945. Ed. Dreck Spurlock Wilson. New York: Routledge, 2004.

Frederick D. Smith

455

Dorothy R. Leavell

Dorothy R. Leavell (1944– ), Newspaper Publisher and Editor When Dorothy R. Leavell was elected chair of Amalgamated Publishers, Incorporated (API) in April 2002, she became the first woman to head the oldest African American–owned advertising placement firm that represents more than 200 black newspapers in at least seventy-five markets across the United States and is considered a preeminent source on reaching and motivating African American consumers. Leavell, who is the publisher and editor of the Chicago Crusader and the Gary (Indiana) Crusader, has been an influential member of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), an African American trade organization of more than 200 newspapers that is also known as the Black Press of America, for approximately four decades. She hosted the 1983 NNPA Convention in Gary and the 1990 NNPA Convention in Chicago, where she voiced her disapproval that the planners of Nelson Mandela’s 1990 tour of the United States did not include a visit by Mandela to the NNPA’s 50th Anniversary Convention and that Mandela only granted lengthy interviews to the New York Times and the Washington Post, thus excluding African American–owned and –operated newspapers. In addition to serving as a member of NNPA’s board of directors for several terms, Leavell has held the offices of assistant secretary (1976), treasurer (1983–1987 and 1989–1995), and president (1995–1999). Leavell was the second woman to be elected president of the NNPA, and during her tenure, the NNPA’s combined readership was 15 million. In 1996, Leavell led a nineteen-member delegation of African American newspaper publishers to Nigeria in reaction to the negative views of Nigeria that were presented in America’s mainstream press and on television. One year later, Leavell returned to Nigeria with a second group of publishers in order to observe the local elections. She also cochaired the NNPA’s Long Range Planning Committee and chaired its Merit Awards Committee as well as the NNPA/NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Liaison Committee. Leavell is also a member of the Chicago Black Publishers Association and a regional board member of the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), which is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that represents approximately 95,000 black-owned businesses and is dedicated to African American communities’ economic empowerment. The NBCC has 190 chapters in the United States and international affiliated chapters in the Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, and Jamaica. On October 23, 1944, the future publisher and editor was born to Blane and Sallie Gonder in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Dorothy Gonder attended segregated schools in Pine Bluff and graduated from Merrill High School as class valedictorian. She attended Roosevelt University in Chicago until 1961 when she was hired as the office manager of the Chicago Crusader, the African American newspaper that was founded in 1940 by Balm L. Leavell

456

Dorothy R. Leavell

Jr. and Joseph H. Jefferson as a publication for the Negro Labor Relations League and is Chicago’s oldest African American weekly. During the early 1960s, Gonder and Leavell, who was also the newspaper’s publisher, married. In 1964, Dorothy Leavell was appointed business manager of the Chicago Crusader. She remained in that position until her husband died in 1968, and she accepted the challenge of heading her late husband’s newspaper company. Consequently, Leavell became the publisher and editor of the Chicago Crusader as well as Indiana’s Gary Crusader, the African American newspaper Balm Leavell founded in 1961. Dorothy Leavell made extensive changes at both newspapers including modernizing as well as financially stabilizing operations, updating technology, and purchasing the buildings that housed the Crusader newspapers. Under her leadership, the Chicago Crusader’s and Gary Crusader’s circulation and advertising have increased. To this day, Leavell continues to oversee the daily operations of both newspapers as she commutes between Chicago and Gary. Leavell remains active in the Chicago and Gary communities. At Holy Name of Mary, the Chicago church where Leavell is a member, she founded the Odyssey Club for teenagers, which helps youths to raise funds for their educational and career goals. Leavell is a cofounder of Heroes in the Hood, a program that was created in 1983 to recognize the contributions of inner-city youth, between twelve and eighteen years old, to their communities. She is a board member of the Gary Opportunities Industrialization Center and a member of the Chicago Friends of Music. Leavell has also done volunteer work for Gary’s chapter of the American Cancer Society. In the 1970s, Leavell donated more than 150 commissioned works of art that were valued in excess of $50,000 to Chicago’s DuSable Museum of African-American History. Leavell’s professional achievements and her concern for others have garnered many tributes. She is one of twenty-eight women profiled in Kenneth W. Bentley’s sixty-four-page book Women of Courage II: Inspirational Stories of African American Women (1998). Ebony magazine acknowledged Leavell’s presidency of the NNPA by placing her on its 1998 and 1999 lists of ‘‘The 100þ Most Influential Black Americans.’’ On January 13, 1999, a Ghanian royal delegation proclaimed Leavell as Queen Mother of Ghana in a coronation ceremony that was held in Phoenix, Arizona. Among Leavell’s additional honors are the Dollars and Sense Award; Gary Indiana’s Fourth District Community Improvement Association Award; Holy Name of Mary School Board Award; Mary McLeod Bethune Award; National Association of Black Media Women Award; National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs Publishing Award; NNPA Publisher of the Year Award, 1989; Operation Push’s Family Affair Award; Chicago’s V-103’s 13th Annual Expo for Today’s Black Woman; and YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago Award. Leavell is the mother of two children, Antonio and Genice, born during her marriage to Balm Leavell. The couple also raised Leavell’s niece Sharon Gonder and nephew Leonard Gonder. Leavell and her second husband, John Smith, reside in Chicago. Although Leavell is a grandmother and has

457

Debra Louise Lee

been a prominent member of the black press since the 1960s, she continues to be an authoritative voice in and for the African American press. See also: Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cites; Women and Business Sources ‘‘Dorothy R. Leavell.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 17. Detroit: Gale, 1998. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. Smith, Hazel. ‘‘Dorothy R. Leavell: A ‘News’ Crusader.’’ New York Beacon, November 20, 1996.

Linda M. Carter

Debra Louise Lee (1954– ), Attorney, Television Executive As president and chief operating officer for Black Entertainment Television (BET), Debra Lee wields significant power as one of the relatively few female executives in cable television. And as a black female, her position spotlights her even more in the male-dominated industry. Now she is positioned to wield greater power in the male-dominated industry when she became chief executive officer (CEO) in summer 2005 and then chairperson and CEO when BET founder Robert L. Johnson stepped down in January 2006. Lee started at BET as corporate counsel in 1986 after being recruited by Johnson to serve as the company’s first staff lawyer. During the next ten years, Lee, a motivated achiever, served as executive vice president and general counsel for BET. In 1996, she was promoted to president of the company. During her tenure at BET, she has helped steer the company as it grew from a small, privately held cable company to a multibillion-dollar, multimedia, publicly traded corporation. In 1981, Lee took a job as attorney at the law firm Steptoe and Johnson in Washington, D.C. BET was one of that firm’s clients, and Lee was introduced to the company. She admired the fact that BET was black owned and sensed a future for the company. When Robert Johnson offered a position as BET’s lawyer, Lee saw it as an opportunity—in fact, as it turned out, a perfect opportunity. In 1986, she joined BET in its fledgling stage. This move has given Lee some coveted professional opportunities: As an early investor in the company, she has seen the value of her investment grow astronomically, making her a millionaire many times over. As an executive in the company, she has been involved in every critical strategic planning and decision-making move for BET. It was under Lee’s guidance that BET went public on November 1, 1991. She was pivotal in the development of BET into a media conglomerate with other cable networks— BET on Jazz, BET Digital Networks, BET Gospel, and BET Hip Hop, which Nielsen Media Research reports reaches over 79 million homes. When Viacom, Inc. bought BET in 2001 for $3 billion, Lee was retained as president and chief operating officer of the company. Thus, she continued her

458

Debra Louise Lee

role as head of BET’s business development, responsible for, among other things, BET’s further diversification and growth. With Lee at the helm, BET continues to experience steady growth and profitability. As reported by Yale’s School of Management prior to Lee’s speech at the December 2003 Leaders Forum, ‘‘Lee clearly embodies the prototypical corporate leader of the new millennium.’’ Lee was born on August 8, 1954, in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. She is the youngest of the three children (including Ronald, the older brother, and Greta, the older sister) of Richard and Delma Lee. Her father retired from the U.S. Army in the 1960s with the rank of major. As is common in cases of those who make careers of military service, Lee reports that her father was a disciplinarian who motivated, encouraged, and imbued her with a strong work ethic and desire to achieve. Lee attributes her mother Delma, a licensed cosmetologist, with serving as a role model. By self admission, Lee was ‘‘focused on school.’’ She served as president of her class in middle school and with her parents’ encouragement; she set her academic sights high. She received an undergraduate degree in political science from Brown University in 1976 and jurist doctorate at Harvard’s Law School and simultaneously master’s degrees from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1980. Her original goal was to be a journalist, but while at Brown, a change in her academic focus steered her toward studies in law and government at Harvard. This academic switch led to Lee’s decision to pursue a career in the federal government. She served as law clerk to the late Barrington Parker of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia from 1980 to 1981 with the goal of a subsequent move into a government career. However, at the end of that clerkship she found that the federal job market was frozen, and the accompanying political climate convinced her to put the pursuit of a job with the federal government on hold until the Republican Party was no longer in charge of federal government administration. Lee is described in Broadcast and Cable by her boss Robert Johnson as ‘‘a great captain’’ having a deliberate style of ‘‘decision-making.’’ She is known as a person of integrity, dynamic, a consensus forger, charismatic, very intelligent, amiable, and self-assured. No doubt these characteristics were critical factors in Lee’s amazing success not only at BET but in the entire cable industry. When BET named Lee to succeed Johnson as CEO effective in summer 2005, Johnson told Jet magazine, ‘‘I could not have chosen a better chief executive and outstanding leader to succeed me at BET.’’ Lee is a trustee emeritus for her alma mater Brown University. She serves as corporate board member for Eastman Kodak Company, Washington Gas and Light Company, and Genuity, Inc. She is a member of the board of directors for a number of organizations: the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater; the Center for Communication; the Executive Campaign Cabinet for the American Red Cross; Girls, Inc.; the Kennedy Center’s Community and Friends Board; the National Cable and Telecommunications Association

459

Spike Lee

(NCTA); the National Symphony Orchestra; and the Telecommunications Development Fund. During her career, Lee has received a number of prestigious awards: Vanguard Award from the NCTA, 2003; Positively Visionary Award from Cable Positive, 2003; Quasar Award from the National Association of Minorities in Communications, 2003; Woman of the Year Award from Women in Cable and Telecommunications, 2001; Wonder Woman Award from Cablevision Magazine; most notable Tower of Power Trumpet Award from Turner Broadcasting System, 2000; Silver Star Award from American Women in Radio and Television; named to cable television’s Hundred Heavy Hitters list by Cable Fax Magazine. Lee lives in Washington, D.C. with her two children. See also: Women and Business Sources Broadcasting and Cable 128 (June 8, 1998): 70. http://web6.infotrac.galegroup.com/ itw/infomark/946/182/67887047w6/purl¼rc1_GRGM_0_A20790665&dyn¼10! xrn_1_0_A20790665?sw_aep¼cham62449. ‘‘Cable Positive to Honor BET’s Bob Johnson and Debra Lee with 2003 Joel A. Berger Memorial Award for Their Outstanding Contribution to the Fight against AIDS.’’ http://www.cablepositive.org/news//11-22-02.html. ‘‘Debra Lee.’’ http://www.hbsaaa.org/conf2002/Biographies/confBioDebraLee.htm. ‘‘Debra Lee. President and COO. Black Entertainment Television.’’ http://mba .yale.edu/leaders_forum/profiles/lee_debra_bio.shtml. Rathbun, Elizabeth A. ‘‘A Good BET for Growth.’’ http://web6.infotrac.galegroup .com/itw/infomark/946/182/67887047w6/purl¼rc1_GRGM_0_A20790665&dyn¼ 10!xrn_1_0_A20790665?sw_aep¼cham62449. ‘‘Robert Johnson Steps Down as BET CEO; Names Debra Lee to Succeed Him in Post.’’ Jet 107 (June 20, 2005): 18. ‘‘The Sheroes.’’ http://www.womenet.org/People/debra_lee. Yale School of Management Leaders Forum. http://mba.yale.edu/leaders_forum/ profiles/lee_debra_bio.shtml.

Alicia Henry

Spike Lee (1957– ), Filmmaker, Entrepreneur Shelton Jackson Lee, who is better known as Spike Lee, is one of America’s most talented, prolific, and ambitious filmmakers. By the time he was forty-two, Lee had completed fourteen films in fifteen years. He, along with Woody Allen, is the rare filmmaker who consistently writes, directs, edits, and acts in his films. Beginning with his first feature film that was released in 1986, Lee has created an impressive body of work that portrays the African American experience in particular and humanity in general. As one of the world’s most successful filmmakers, he has helped advance the careers of African American actors and younger African American

460

Spike Lee

filmmakers. As an entrepreneur, Lee has established Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Forty Acres and a Mule Musicworks, retail stores that carry products associated with his films, and advertising ventures. Lee, the eldest of five children, was born on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia, to William ‘‘Bill’’ Lee, a jazz composer and bassist, and Jacquelyn Shelton Lee, a teacher of art and African American literature. When Lee was a toddler, his mother nicknamed him ‘‘Spike.’’ During Lee’s early childhood, his family moved to the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, New York. Lee and his siblings had the option of attending the predominantly white private school where their mother taught; however, Lee chose to attend public schools. Regardless of which schools they attended, the Lee children knew that they were expected to excel. Lee, his brothers, and sister were exposed to music, art, and theater as they saw their father play at the Newport Jazz Festival as well as other venues, and their mother took them to museums and Broadway shows. After Lee graduated from Brooklyn’s John Dewey High School in 1975, he matriculated at Morehouse College in Atlanta, the alma mater of his father and grandfather. During his sophomore year, Lee decided to become a filmmaker. In 1979, he graduated from Morehouse with a B.A. degree in mass communications. Lee was a summer intern at Columbia Pictures prior to his enrolling at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University in the fall where Martin Scorsese was his mentor. Lee, for his first-year project, created The Answer (1980), a tenminute film about an African American screenwriter who is given the assignment to remake D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation. Lee, who was one of few African American students enrolled at Tisch, was informed that he was almost dropped from the graduate program; Lee opined that the faculty did not like his criticism of Griffith’s stereotypical African American characters. Lee, while completing his graduate studies, founded Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks, Inc., a production company, with Monty Ross, a Morehouse classmate. (The company’s name evokes memories of the reparations that were promised to former slaves after the Civil War.) For his master’s thesis project, Lee created Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1982), a forty-five-minute film that won the 1983 Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ Student Academy Award for best director and was the first student film included in Lincoln Center’s New Directors and New Film Series. Lee received his M.F.A. in film production in 1983. After Lee completed graduate school, he worked at a movie distribution house where he cleaned and shipped film until his career as a filmmaker was established. Lee has stated that he became a filmmaker because he wanted to tell stories. His first feature film, She’s Gotta Have It (1986), is the story of a young African American Brooklynite and her romantic involvement with three men. She’s Gotta Have It, with a minuscule budget of $175,000, was shot in twelve days on location in Brooklyn, and Lee edited it in his apartment. The film won the Cannes Film Festival’s Best New Director Prize; led to Lee’s receiving a distribution contract from Island Pictures for

461

Spike Lee

three films, including She’s Gotta Have It; and grossed over $7 million at the box office. With the film’s success, Lee paid all of Forty Acres and a Mule’s debts and relocated his company to a renovated Brooklyn firehouse in 1987. School Daze (1988), Lee’s second film, is a musical with an African American college setting that lost the backing of Island Pictures after production costs climbed to $4 million. However, Columbia Pictures provided additional funding, and the film grossed $15 million. Lee’s third film, Do the Right Thing (1989), was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and was released by Universal Pictures. The film revolves around racial tension between African Americans and Italians in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Do the Right Thing received the Los Angeles Film Critics’ Award for best picture; Golden Globe nominations for best picture (drama), best director, best screenplay, and best supporting actor (Danny Aiello); and Academy Award nominations for best screenplay written directly for the screen and best actor in a supporting role (Aiello). The film, which was produced for $6 million, grossed at least $28 million. Lee’s fourth film and another Universal Pictures’ release, Mo’ Better Blues (1990), tells the story of a jazz trumpeter; it was followed by Lee’s third Universal Pictures’ release, Jungle Fever (1991), which focuses on an interracial love affair. MALCOLM X CALLED BEST FILM Malcolm X (1992), which is based on James Baldwin’s 1972 One Day When I Was Lost: A Scenario Based on Alex Haley’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X and stars Denzel Washington in the title role, is acknowledged as Lee’s best film. Warner Brothers selected Norman Jewison to direct the movie; however, when Lee publicly complained about a white man directing the film about the African American leader, Jewison left the project. When the film exceeded Warner Brothers’ $20 million budget, Lee, who had originally requested $40 million, invested part of his director’s salary of $3 million, sold foreign rights to Malcolm X for $8.5 million, and received additional funding from African American celebrities such as Tracy Chapman, Bill Cosby, Janet Jackson, Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson, Michael Jordan, Prince, and Oprah Winfrey. The three-hour-long film cost approximately $35 million and earned $48 million at the box office. Washington was nominated for an Academy Award as best actor. Lee marketed clothing, posters, books, and other promotional material for Malcolm X. One of the books associated with the film is Lee’s By Any Means Necessary: The Trials and Tribulations of the Making of Malcolm X (1992); Lee has written additional books about his career as a director including Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It: Inside Guerilla Filmmaking (1987), Uplift the Race: The Construction of School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo’ Better Blues (1990), and Five for Five: The Films of Spike Lee (1991). Two years prior to the release of Malcolm X, Lee opened Spike’s Joint, a retail store located in Fort Greene that was an outgrowth of his film par-

462

Spike Lee

aphernalia mail-order business. Lee later opened Spike’s Joint West in Los Angeles. Lee’s additional feature films include Crooklyn (1994), a coming-of-age story; Clockers (1995), about drugs in the inner city; Girl 6 (1996), written by Susan-Lori Parks, who later won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for her drama Topdog/Underdog; Get on the Bus (1996), about the 1995 Million Man March in Washington, D.C.; He Got Game (1998), a father and son story that revolves around basketball; Summer of Sam (1999), about the 1977 serial killings in New York City; Bamboozled (2000), a ‘‘satirical look at television’’; 25th Hour (2002), about a drug dealer who is about to begin a sevenyear prison term; and She Hate Me (2004), about a former biotech executive who fathers children for lesbian couples for profit. Among those who have acted in at least one Spike Lee film are Angela Bassett, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Halle Berry, Samuel L. Jackson, Laurence Fishburne, Jada Pinkett Smith, Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington, and Damon Wayans. In addition to the aforementioned films for which Lee has functioned as scriptwriter, director, and editor, he has served as the producer of Tales from the Hood (1995), The Best Man (1999), Love & Basketball (2000), and other films. Lee, who also appears in most of his films, has also appeared in the documentaries Seven Songs for Malcolm X (1993) and Hoop Dreams (1993) and films such as Michael Jordan to the Max (2000). Lee has been the executive producer of Drop Squad (1994), New Jersey Drive (1995), and Tales from the Hood (1995) in efforts to help younger filmmakers advance their careers. Among the documentaries that Lee has directed are 4 Little Girls (1997), the Academy Award–nominated HBO documentary about the 1963 bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama; and The Original Kings of Comedy (2002), which features comedians Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, D. L. Hughley, and Bernie Mack. Lee has adapted for television such works as John Leguizamo’s Broadway production of Freak (1998) and Roger Guenveur Smith’s Obie Award–winning off-Broadway production of The Huey P. Newton Story (2001). Lee’s diversity extends to sports programs, and his HBO/Real Sports program on John Thompson, former Georgetown University basketball coach, won an Emmy Award in 1995 for the outstanding long sports feature. Lee is the founder of Forty Acres and a Mule Musicworks, a record label that produces the soundtracks of his films. Lee has produced and directed music videos for such artists as Anita Baker, Miles Davis, Chaka Khan, Bruce Hornsby, Phyliss Hyman, Michael Jackson, Branford Marsalis, Prince, and Stevie Wonder. Lee has been involved with commercials since 1988. That year his first commercial for Nike Air Jordan appeared; Lee, who played the role of Mars Blackmon in She’s Gotta Have It, reprised the role in his appearance with Michael Jordan in a number of Nike commercials, directed by Lee, that aired until 1993 and in 2003 when Jordan retired from basketball. Lee’s

463

Spike Lee

other commercial work includes American Express, AT&T, Ben & Jerry’s, Diet Coke, ESPN television, Levi’s, Philips, Snapple, and Taco Bell. Lee, who had worked with DDB Needham, an advertising agency, in generating an educational spot for the United Negro College Fund, partnered with DDB Needham in 1997, an advertising powerhouse, and established Spike/ DDB, a full-service advertising agency that focuses on urban, ethnic, and youth markets. In 2000, Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks formed a marketing partnership with Jaguar North America designed to broaden Jaguar’s appeal to a more diverse customer base. Lee was involved in a highly publicized lawsuit with Viacom, Inc. due to the company’s transforming the TNN channel into Spike TV, the first television network for men. Lee hired famed attorney Johnny Cochran, and although the terms were not disclosed, a settlement was reached in July 2003. Since 1992 Lee has been a member of Morehouse College’s Board of Trustees. In 2004, he joined the Inaugural National Geographic All Roads Film Festival Advisory Board. In addition to his previously mentioned nominations and awards, Lee is the recipient of Sony Electronic’s Media Masters Award and an honorary doctorate from New York University, where he has taught in the film school. Lee has also established a Forty Acres and a Mule Film Institute at Brooklyn’s Long Island University for aspiring filmmakers. He is married to Tanya Lewis Lee, who is a writer, children’s television producer, and former corporate attorney. The Lees are the parents of a daughter and son as well as the authors of the children’s book Please Baby, Please (2002). Lee, who has been a lifelong fan of the New York Knicks, has also written Best Seat in the House: A Basketball Memoir (1997) with Ralph Wiley. Although Lee is extremely enthusiastic about basketball, his greater passion remains his twofold quest to improve as a storyteller and to find different ways to tell stories. See also: Advertising and Marketing; Retail Industry Sources Reid, Mark A. ‘‘Spike Lee.’’ African American Lives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. ‘‘Spike Lee.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 19. Detroit: Gale, 1999. ‘‘Spike Lee.’’ International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. Vol. 2. Directors. 4th ed. St. James Press, 2000. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ BioRC. ‘‘Spike Lee.’’ Take a Lesson: Today’s Black Achievers on How They Made It and What They Learned Along the Way. By Caroline V. Clarke. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2001. Wise, Flossie E. ‘‘Spike Lee.’’ Notable Black American Men. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.

Linda M. Carter

464

Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Legal Defense and Educational Fund The Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDEF) officially began operation on March 20, 1940, as the tax-exempt and nonprofit component of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). As a precursor to court advocacy groups in the modern era, LDEF played vital roles in protecting the interests of disenfranchised blacks and in raising substantial funds toward such causes. Initially, this body had difficulty passing the technical mustard with the New York Department of Education, due to its close affiliation with the NAACP. In fact, so close was this relationship that the initial members also were all board members for the NAACP. Notwithstanding, the incorporation papers were finalized, and LDEF was successfully chartered, with the gauntlet of direction immediately passed to Thurgood Marshall as the first director-counsel. From a business vantage point, it is imperative to acknowledge LDEF in the context of substantial marketing and fund-raising initiatives, for it was out of this context that it blossomed and was able to provide resources in civil rights advocacy. Without the business framework and understanding of the need to function as a business, LDEF would have had limited output and might not have run the course it eventually did. According to Jack Greenberg, Marshall’s successor as director-counsel in 1961, it would be the June 1943 Detroit race riot that propelled LDEF into direct action, as a specific point of reference was now in place to galvanize financial support. Moreover, the craftsmanship of fund-raising under the tutelage of Harold Oram would emerge as an anchor for LDEF for years to come. The need to immediately raise $25,000 for the purpose of legally protecting African Americans was the initial plea made in solicitation of public and private support. In direct response to the tumultuous Detroit race riot, LDEF was established as a fund to be administered by the Legal Defense Department of the NAACP. Accordingly, any financial donations were considered and documented as gifts wherein tax-exempt status was applicable. Herein lay the genius of LDEF because essentially a Committee of 100 concerned, cross-race, cross-gender, and high-profile citizens signed the petition and in effect continued to serve as a public relations conduit for respectability. Their names provided faces of accountability toward the cause and generated residual income from donors who respected them. Mary McCloud-Bethune, Rabi Stephen S. Wise, Roger Baldwin, Albert Einstein, Frank P. Graham, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and A. Philip Randolph are but a few of the names who were apart of the illustrative 100. From the financial support raised, LDEF was the primary agency responsible for legally dismantling Jim Crow America. Moreover, the administrative governance of the fund was impressive because it demonstrated the efficiency of fund-raising when an operable plan was implemented. Through shrewd public relations and marketing, LDEF was portrayed as a cause worthy

465

Byron Eugene Lewis

of respect and careful consideration. By virtue of the Committee of 100 who provided the face for the operation, publicity could not be ignored. Although the infamous Brown v. Board of Education case of 1954 successfully reversed the ‘‘separate but equal’’ ruling, other school integration, equal employment, fair housing, and voter registration cases through the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s have come under their litigation grasps as well. In 1968, the Fair Housing Act was enacted, and Johnson v. Railway Express Agency was argued in 1975. In the 1980s new leadership was assumed under Julius L. Chambers as the third director-counsel in 1984, and such cases as Jiggets v. Housing Authority of the City of Elizabeth was argued in 1988. In 1993, Elaine R. Jones became the first female director-counsel and fourth overall. Continuing the plight, Robinson v. Shell Oil Company was argued in 1997. The 2000s have proven no different either. Belk v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education was argued in 2000, and in 2004, Theodore M. Shaw became the fifth director-counsel. In lieu of power struggles and jurisdictional debates with the parent NAACP body, LDEF officially parted ways in 1957 and has functioned as an entirely separate entity ever since. At the forefront of human rights and class-action litigation in the new millennium, LDEF has argued more cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court with the exception of the U.S. Justice Department. In addition to litigation, LDEF has been instrumental in nurturing minority scholarships, engaging in political policy research, forging power blocks of diverse groups, and advocating proactive moral suasion in an effort to hold the legal system accountable to its binding creed. Shaw was explicit in stating his unconditional vision for LDEF in the twenty-first century where diversity and integration are necessities. He believes the United States should be bound by the spirit implied in treaties of international human rights and that this spirit should be practiced nationally and internationally. Sources Greenberg, Jack. Crusaders in the Courts: How a Dedicated Band of Lawyers Fought for the Civil Rights Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 1994. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund. http://www.naacpldf.org. Williams, Juan. Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary. New York: Times Books, 1998.

Uzoma O. Miller

Byron Eugene Lewis (1931– ), Advertising Agency Executive After Byron Eugene Lewis could find no employment with mainstream advertising agencies, he founded UniWorld Group, Inc. in 1969. Creating an African American advertising agency was an audacious venture at that time because there were no African American or Hispanic advertisements

466

Byron Eugene Lewis

on television stations in the United States, yet Lewis refused to let segregated practices interfere with his career goals. Due to Lewis’s successful implementation of his vision for his company, he is credited with helping to make certain that African Americans as well as Hispanics are no longer ignored by the mainstream media. UniWorld is the largest African American–owned advertising agency in the United States. Located at 100 Avenue of the Americas, the Manhattanbased agency has more than 150 employees, specializes in multicultural marketing communications, and focuses on African American and Hispanic markets. In 1994, AT&T chose UniWorld as its link to the African American media. UniWorld also includes general markets; when Burger King gave its general market account to UniWorld in 1994, Lewis’s company developed Burger King’s national interim creative campaign, which resulted in the largest six-month sales increase in Burger King’s history. The following year, Mars Inc. handed over its candy brand Three Musketeer’s general market account to UniWorld. Thus Lewis broke another racial barrier because the Burger King and Three Musketeers assignments were the largest general market accounts given to an ethnic advertising agency. UniWorld Group, Inc. has three divisions: UniWorld Group Advertising, UniWorld Group Healthcare, and UniWorld Group Hispanic. UniWorld Group, Inc. offers a variety of services that include strategic planning, public relations, creative services, entertainment marketing, marketing research, media planning, event marketing, urban promotion, and interactive marketing. In 2003, the company had actual capitalized billings of $183 million. Lewis was born on December 25, 1931, in Newark, New Jersey. His father, Thomas Eugene Lewis, was self-employed as a house painter and worked as many as seven days a week. Lewis’s mother, Myrtle Allen Lewis, was employed as a domestic. Lewis was raised in the Far Rockaway section of Queens, New York. As early as his high school years when he worked on his school’s newspaper, Lewis displayed writing talent. Pursuing his interest in writing, Lewis matriculated at the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University where he majored in journalism. Lewis’s dream of becoming a professional writer was deferred in 1953 after he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Long Island University, and he was unable to get a job with major periodicals because they refused to hire African American reporters. The same year Lewis graduated from college, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Prior to the end of his military service in 1955, Lewis considered extending his time in the army because he viewed it as his opportunity to compete with white men, be treated fairly, and receive corporate training in such areas as how to manage men and money. Instead of staying in the army, Lewis worked as a social worker until he was hired by the Citizen Call, a Harlem-based newspaper. Since there were no positions available in the newsroom, Lewis was employed as an advertising salesman until John Patterson, the Citizen Call’s publisher and Lewis’s mentor, terminated the periodical in 1960. One year later, Lewis cofounded The Urbanite, a national African American literary magazine.

467

Byron Eugene Lewis

Although Lewis was disappointed that The Urbanite ceased publication after three months, he was grateful for the opportunity to interact with and learn from other African American businessmen who were located in Harlem including Richard Clarke, who became the owner of one of the largest African American executive recruiting firms; attorney David Dinkins, who became the mayor of New York; attorney James Bruce Llewellyn, who became president of Fedco Food Stores of New York; attorney Charles Rangel, who became a congressman; and Percy Ellis Sutton, who became Manhattan Borough president, an activist, as well as an owner of a cable television system, radio station, and the New York Amsterdam News. During this period, Lewis frequently saw Congressman Adam Clayton Powell leading a store boycott and Malcolm X orating. Lewis gained inspiration from these businessmen and leaders. He held day jobs in sales and promotion, pursued graduate courses in business and public relations at New York University in the evenings, and sold classified ads for the New York Times on the weekends. Lewis was the assistant advertising manager for Amalgamated Publications, a company that sought national advertising accounts for 153 African American–owned newspapers from 1963 to 1964. During the next four years, he was vice president and advertising director for Tuesday, an African American supplement in fourteen metropolitan newspapers. Lewis, after receiving $250,000 from two venture capital groups, founded UniWorld Group, Inc. The advertising agency, located in a three-room office off New York City’s Time Square, originally had five employees, and the company’s first account was Smirnoff’s. The nation’s recession in 1974 slashed many company’s advertising budgets and threatened to lead to UniWorld’s demise until Lewis received inspiration from two family members. He remembered that years ago his mother and grandmother listened intently to a radio soap opera called Stella Dallas and talked about the show long after each episode was broadcast. Consequently, in an effort to reach African American consumers, Lewis created Sounds of the City, an African American soap opera that aired for fifteen minutes on Mondays through Fridays. The soap opera centered around a southern African American family’s adjustment to northern life, starred Robert Gillaume and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, and was heard on twenty-seven African American–owned radio stations. Sounds of the City, with Lewis as its executive producer, was broadcast for thirty-nine weeks. The soap opera helped UniWorld earn its first million dollars in gross sales and provided Lewis with time to attract new clients. In 1975, UniWorld reached a new plateau when the company began creating television commercials. UniWorld’s first television advertisements were for Avon cosmetics. FOUNDS ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION COMPANY In 1977, Lewis formed UniWorld Entertainment, a production company that developed national television specials including This Far by Faith, a program on the impact of the African American church; Sweet Auburn, with

468

Byron Eugene Lewis

the Martin Luther King Jr. Center; annual telecasts of the Congressional Black Caucus weekends; and the annual Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame television specials. Also in 1977, UniWorld Entertainment was expanded to include an ongoing public affairs program when America’s Black Forum (ABF), with Lewis as its executive producer, debuted as one of the first (if not the first) African American news programs on commercial television. Today Lewis’s son, Byron Lewis Jr., is executive producer of ABF. The show is broadcast on more than 100 major television stations across the United States and is also broadcast overseas through the Armed Forces Radio and Television Services network. UniWorld Group, Inc.’s influence also extends to films, and Lewis’s company has handled publicity for such motion pictures as A Bronx Tale (1993), Amistad (1997), Boyz ’N the Hood (1991), Glory (1989), Malcolm X (1992), Shaft (1971), and the Shaft sequels (Shaft’s Big Score, 1973; Shaft in Africa, 1973). In another film-related venture, Lewis created the American Black Film Festival (ABFF) in 1997. Formerly known as the Acapulco Black Film Festival, the ABFF is an annual international event for African American filmmakers, actors, industry executives, and others who are involved in the independent African American film community. UniWorld Group, Inc. has also been active in events marketing. In 1971, Lewis supervised media and advertising strategies that helped Kenneth Gibson become Newark, New Jersey’s first African American mayor. Lewis also led the media and advertising strategies for the first Black Political Summit in Gary, Indiana, in 1972; the first on-site African American press and radio coverage of the 1976 Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns; and Reverend Jesse Jackson’s first presidential campaign in 1984. In addition, UniWorld, involving Spain’s king and queen, the president of the United States, as well as twenty-one heads of state from Latin countries, developed the campaign for Spain’s quincentennial celebration of the discovery of America. UniWorld’s clients include leading corporations, and a number of these companies have been long-term clients including AT&T (since 1976); Kraft (since 1978); Burger King (since 1983); Lincoln-Mercury (since 1986); Colgate-Palmolive (since 1990); Daily News, Ford, and Three Musketeers (since 1995); Consolidated Edison (since 1997); Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline, Home Depot, Marines, and Pro-Line International (since 2001); and AstraZeneca, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, Greater Fort Lauderdale, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (since 2003). UniWorld’s strengths have not been ignored by the advertising industry; hence, the company is the recipient of more than 100 advertising awards. Lewis, as UniWorld’s founder, chairman, and chief executive officer, has also had a variety of honors and awards bestowed upon him including the Industry Influential Mosaic Award, presented by the American Advertising Federation, in 2001; Excellence in Advertising Award, presented by African Americans in Advertising, 2000; Minority Business Man of the Year Award,

469

Delano Eugene Lewis

presented by the Interracial Council for Business Opportunity, New York City, in 1980; and the Pioneer of Excellence Award, presented by the Board of Communication Excellence to Black Audiences (CEBA). In addition, Lewis was one of four honorees at Senator Hillary Rodman Clinton’s Fourth Annual African-American Heritage Event, 2004, where he was heralded for his significant contributions to his community as well as society and was also acknowledged as an individual who is ‘‘making history today.’’ Lewis is a board member of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation, American Institute for Public Service, Apollo Theater, Jackie Robinson Educational Foundation, Phoenix House Foundation, New York City Sports Commission, Long Island University, and Metro Board of Governors for the U.S. Olympic Committee. Although Lewis has attained extraordinary success in the advertising industry, he is determined to take UniWorld Group, Inc. to even greater heights as he pursues opportunities to propel his company into dominance in a global market. In 2000, Lewis sold a 49 percent stake in UniWorld Group, Inc. to the WPP Group, the London-based communications company. Lewis commented that the partnership with WPP, one of the largest communications services companies in the world, was in the best interests of UniWorld, its clients, and staff. He added that the joint venture will preserve UniWorld’s independence and its special features while at the same time providing UniWorld with opportunities to expand resources, enhance client services, and enhance career opportunities for UniWorld’s multicultural staff. UniWorld continues to operate as a separate and autonomous business, yet works with a variety of WPP companies to form cooperative ventures when they are beneficial to clients. Lewis remains a pioneer in ethnic marketing as well as an icon in the advertising industry. See also: Advertising and Marketing Sources ‘‘Byron E. Lewis.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 13. Detroit: Gale, 1997. Dingle, Derek T. ‘‘Byron E. Lewis; UniWorld Group, Inc.–Mr. Madison Avenue.’’ Black Enterprise Titans of the B.E. 100s: Black CEOs Who Redefined and Conquered American Business. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1999. Hayes, Cassandra. ‘‘Changing Culture: How UniWorld Is Redefining Reality.’’ Black Enterprise 30 (June 2000): 188–195.

Linda M. Carter

Delano Eugene Lewis (1938– ), Communications Executive, Ambassador, Fund-raiser Delano Lewis’s most notable careers involved heading Washington, D.C.’s massive telephone company, presiding over National Public Radio,

470

Delano Eugene Lewis

and—after retirement—serving as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of South Africa. In addition to his leadership in the field of communications and his contributions to the political arena, he has raised millions of dollars for civic and cultural charities. Born on November 12, 1938, in Arkansas City, Kansas, Lewis spent his school years in Kansas City. His father, Raymond Ernest Lewis, worked as a porter for the Santa Fe Railroad. His mother, Enna Wordlow Lewis, a domestic and beautician, played a strong and supportive role in his life. The Lewises had President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in mind when they chose their son’s name. An only child, Delano credits his parents for providing a solid foundation for his adult years—fostering moral values, a strong work ethic, and self-confidence. Del, as he was called, also encountered good male role models in the allblack Sumner High School he attended. At the University of Kansas, he earned a B.A. in political science and history in 1960. There he met and married Gayle Carolyn Jones. Their family would eventually include four sons: Delano Jr., Geoffrey, Brian, and Phillip. After college, Lewis pursued graduate work at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. He received his Doctor of Jurisprudence from its School of Law in 1963. While working toward this degree, he held a full-time job at Menninger Clinic. Following law school, Lewis moved to Washington, D.C. to work as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. He served as one of ten African American lawyers in that department. Two years later, the Equal Opportunity Commission hired him in its Office of Analysis and Advice. In 1966, he volunteered for the Peace Corps and filled terms as associate director in Nigeria and country director—one of the Peace Corps’ youngest—in Uganda. His fourth son was born during those years in Kampala, Uganda. On Lewis’s return to the United States, the Peace Corps named him director of its East and Southern Africa division. In 1969, Lewis settled again in Washington, D.C. and joined Massachusetts’ Senator Edward Brooke’s staff as legislative assistant. Then in 1971, he moved to the office of D.C.’s Congressman Walter E. Fauntroy. During this time, Lewis began to build a record of community service. He ran for city council, losing to Marion Barry, who would later become the district’s mayor. In 1973, Lewis entered a related but different, career. Chesapeake and Potomac (C&P) Telephone Company, a subsidiary of Bell Atlantic, hired him as public relations manager. Bringing his understanding of both the community and politics, he made significant contributions to the company and D.C., helping upgrade and expand service, holding costs down, and improving personnel practices, especially related to minorities. Lewis worked his way up to the position of vice president of C&P in 1983, president in 1988, and then chief executive officer (CEO) in 1990. While working at C&P, Lewis continued his involvement in political and community endeavors. He took the bold move to endorse his former opponent, Marion Barry, in his bid for mayor and then served on Barry’s

471

Delano Eugene Lewis

transition team. He raised millions of dollars for such organizations as the United Way, the YMCA, the Eugene and Agnes Meyer Foundation, and Washington’s Arena Stage. He served on the Greater Washington Board of Trade, becoming president in 1988, the first African American to hold this position. Then in 1994, Lewis surprised many people by moving to the helm of National Public Radio (NPR), at significantly reduced pay. NPR named him to this post after considering over 200 potential candidates and interviewing a dozen. Lewis called NPR ‘‘the best kept secret in the country.’’ He brought leadership and vision to the task of helping the company—and radio—find its place in the competitive, fast-paced arena of modern telecommunications. As president and CEO, and the first black to head a public broadcasting company, according to the African American Almanac, he embarked on a mission to make NPR ‘‘the leading provider of quality news, information, and cultural programming worldwide.’’ He sought to continue quality programming but chose not to tinker with the content of such popular broadcasts as All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Performance Today. During Lewis’s tenure at NPR, Vice President Al Gore invited him to join the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council. From 1994 to 1996, he served as cochair of this organization that helped shape America’s communications network. The council dealt with such issues as uses of technology, universal service, issues of privacy, and intellectual property. While engaged in demanding positions of leadership, Lewis maintained his participation in civic, cultural, and business organizations. He cochaired the D.C. Vocational Education and Career Opportunities Commission and took part in the D.C. Youth Employment Advisory Council. He became an honorary member of Mainstream, a national board member of Africare, and an emeritus board member of the Washington Performing Arts Society. He has served on the boards of Lincoln Theatre and the Menninger Foundation. He helped found the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington. He has lent his expertise to the boards of Colgate-Palmolive, Black Entertainment Tonight, Halliburton, Apple Computer, Guest Services, Inc., Geiko Corporation, Foundation Schools, City National Bank, and Eastman Kodak (1998). BECOMES AMBASSADOR On August 1, 1998, Lewis resigned his position at NPR, intending to retire to Las Cruces, New Mexico, to teach, lecture, and write. But on December 17 of that year, Al Gore phoned again. On behalf of Bill Clinton, he invited Lewis to serve as ambassador to the Republic of South Africa. On December 17, 1999, the Lewises left their family, which by then included nine grandchildren, for a sojourn in South Africa. As ambassador, Lewis focused on education, economic development, the HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) crisis, and mental health care. He served in this post until July 2001.

472

Reginald F. Lewis

Following his second retirement, Lewis started a communications consulting practice, Lewis & Associates. Serving as president and CEO, he works out of Las Cruces, New Mexico. In May 2002, he added KnowledgeMax Inc. to his list of board of director memberships. The honors Lewis has received along the way attest to the strength of his civic involvement. In 1978, Washingtonian magazine chose him as ‘‘Washingtonian of the Year.’’ That same year, Catholic University granted him its President’s Medal. In 1987, he was named to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and received the Citizenship Award from the National Council of Christians and Jews. In 1990, George Washington University’s School of Business granted him its Social Responsibility Award. In 1991, the Cultural Alliance of Washington gave him their Community Service Award. The Greater Washington Board of Trade named Lewis ‘‘Man of the Year’’ in 1992. In 1994, Kansas University’s Alumni Association gave him their Distinguished Service Citation. He received both Amnesty International’s Distinguished Leadership Award and the U.S. Media Spotlight Award in 1997. Lewis holds honorary degrees from Loyola and Lafayette Colleges, as well as from Marymount, George Washington, Bowie State, Kent State, Nova Southeastern, Southern Illinois, and Barry Universities. Whether focused on business, communications, or politics, Lewis demonstrated strong leadership skills. In his professional and volunteer endeavors, and into retirement, he has served as the kind of role model that helped shape his own life. Sources Bender, David. ‘‘A Conversation with Delano Lewis, President and CEO of National Public Radio.’’ Information Outlook 2 (March 1998): 17–24. ‘‘Delano Lewis.’’ African American Almanac. 9th ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 2002. ‘‘Delano E. Lewis: America’s New Ambassador to South Africa.’’ Ebony 55 (July 2000): 116–120. Johnson, Anne Janette. ‘‘Delano Lewis.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 7. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Skrzycki, Cindy. ‘‘Answering a New Call: Del Lewis Leaves C&P after 20 Years for the Chance to ‘Fly Free’ at NPR.’’ Washington Post, October 25, 1993. Trescott, Jacqueline. ‘‘All Things Considered: NPR Post Perfect Fit for His Background, Lewis Says.’’ Washington Post, August 21, 1993.

Marie Garrett

Reginald F. Lewis (1942–1993), Sewing Products Executive, Foods Company Executive, Entrepreneur, Lawyer, Philanthropist Reginald Francis Lewis’s ownership of the largest African American business in the United States propelled him to fame as the most prominent African American businessman and to fortune as one of the 400 wealthiest Americans, with an estimated net worth of $400 million by the late 1980s.

473

Reginald F. Lewis

Lewis’s career as a tycoon began in 1983, when after fifteen years of practicing corporate law, he decided to establish TLC Group L.P. in order to conduct business deals. After founding TLC, Lewis’s first major deal was the 1984 leveraged buyout of the McCall Pattern Company, a home-sewing products firm that a number of business analysts initially considered a bad investment because of its shrinking market. Prior to Lewis’s heading McCall, the company never topped $6.5 million in sales; however, under his leadership McCall earned $14 million the year before he sold it. In 1992, the year prior to his death, TLC had sales of over $1.6 billion. Lewis’s acquisition of Beatrice International Foods for $985 million in 1984 was the largest offshore leveraged buyout in the annals of American business. Lewis then created TLC Beatrice International, a food processing and distribution conglomerate that was the first African American–owned company with sales of more than $1 billion. Lewis was born on December 7, 1942, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Clinton and Carolyn Lewis. Clinton Lewis was an army signal corps civilian technician who later owned several small businesses and entered the U.S. Navy. When Reginald Lewis was five years old, his parents separated (and eventually divorced), and he and his mother moved to the home of Samuel and Savilla Cooper, Lewis’s maternal grandparents. Carolyn Lewis, in order to support her son and herself, worked as a waitress during the day and as a clerk at a department store in the evenings until she gained employment as a postal worker. In 1951, Lewis’s mother married Jean S. Fugett, a soldier who later became an elementary school teacher. The couple purchased a home where Lewis was raised; he did not remain an only child because the Fugetts became the parents of five more children: Jean Jr., Anthony, twins Joseph and Rosalyn, and Sharon. When Lewis was ten years old, he delivered the Baltimore Afro-American, which was published on Tuesdays and Fridays. Lewis, who increased his paper route from 10 to 100 subscribers, heeded his grandfather’s advice about saving some of the $15 to $20 he earned each week. Thus, Lewis was able to buy his own clothes and pay for summer camp. In order to deliver the more profitable Baltimore News American, which was published daily, Lewis sold his Baltimore Afro-American paper route to his friend, Dan Henson, who later became a real estate developer and Baltimore’s housing commissioner. Lewis attended St. Francis Xavier; the private elementary school was run by the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first African American order of Roman Catholics nuns that was founded in the late 1820s. He attended Dunbar High School, where he was an outstanding athlete; Lewis played football, basketball, as well as baseball and was a quarterback, forward, and shortstop, respectively. In addition, he was the captain of all three teams. One of the most memorable football games for Lewis and his teammates occurred after the Maryland Scholastic Association allowed African American and white high schools to compete against each other. Dunbar’s first white opponent was Polytechnic Institute. The Baltimore News American rated Dunbar as underdogs by four touchdowns. Cited in Reginald Lewis and

474

Reginald F. Lewis

Blair Walker’s Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun, Clarence ‘‘Tiger’’ Davis, who is now a Maryland state legislator, Lewis was the only one of his teammates who believed that Dunbar could defeat Poly. Game day arrived, and Lewis led Dunbar in a 12–8 upset over Poly. During Lewis’s junior and senior years, he worked several jobs including stints at a pharmacy and a country club. In Lewis’s senior year, he was vice president of the student council, and his campaign running mate, Robert Bell, who is now a Maryland court of appeals judge, was president. After graduating from Dunbar in 1961, Lewis matriculated at Virginia State University in Petersburg, where he majored in political science and economics. He was the recipient of an athletic scholarship and was a thirdstring quarterback during his freshman year. When Lewis suffered a shoulder injury after the first year, he quit the football team, lost his sports scholarship, concentrated on his studies, and worked as a manager of a bowling lane for a semester and a half before becoming a photographic salesman. Lewis graduated from Virginia State in 1965 and entered Harvard Law School. He was the only student admitted in the then 148-year history of Harvard Law before he applied. During Lewis’s third year, he enrolled in a securities regulation course and wrote a paper on takeovers. That course, coupled with Lewis’s interest in economics, helped him to fine-tune his career plans. Lewis graduated from Harvard Law School in 1968. Armed with an LL.B. from Harvard, Lewis began his career as a corporate lawyer with the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison in New York in 1968. Two years later, Lewis left the company and became a partner in Wallace, Murphy, Thorpe, and Lewis, which was one of the first African American law firms on Wall Street (if not the first). Lewis eventually hired Charles Clarkson, a white attorney; by 1978 Wallace, Murphy, and Thorpe had left the company, and the firm of Lewis and Clarkson was established. The firm, which concentrated on business law, venture capital, and finance, moved to 99 Wall Street in 1979. Lewis’s experience with venture capital companies motivated him to establish TLC Group L.P. in 1983 in order to conduct his own business deals. TLC Group was Lewis’s vehicle for purchasing McCall Pattern Company and Beatrice International. Black Enterprise proclaimed TLC Beatrice International the magazine’s 1988 company of the year in recognition of TLC Beatrice International’s $1 billion in revenues. Lewis encouraged corporations such as General Foods, Equitable, and Aetna to lend money to minority-owned firms. He helped many minority enterprise small business investment corporations (MESBICs) acquire more than $100 million in funding between 1973 and 1984. In 1984, Lewis received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Association of MESBICs. Lewis was a member of the board of New York’s WNET-TV Public Broadcasting System station, the Business Roundtable, and the Economic Advisory Committee of New York City. In May 1979, New York Mayor Edward Koch appointed Lewis to the Off Track Betting Corporation; and during his four-year tenure, Lewis attempted to increase the numbers of

475

Reginald F. Lewis

African Americans and Hispanics bidding for contracts. In 1992 Koch’s successor, David N. Dinkins, nominated Lewis to be a member of the Municipal Assistance Corporation. Also in 1992, Lewis was inducted into the Sales and Marketing Executives of Greater New York’s National Sales Hall of Fame. Lewis’s personal life continued to prosper along with his professional life. On August 16, 1969, he married Loida Nicolas, who worked at Manhattan Legal Services prior to becoming an attorney. Their first daughter, Leslie, was born in 1973, and their second daughter, Christina, was born in 1980. In 1988 Lewis, who owned a brownstone in the Chelsea section of Manhattan and two homes in East Hampton, New York, moved with his family to Paris in order to manage TLC Beatrice’s European operations. His American and European residences housed an impressive collection of paintings by Bearden, Matisse, Miro, Picasso, and others. Lewis divided his time between Paris and New York as his corporate jet shuttled him from city to city. In November 1992, Lewis was diagnosed with brain cancer. On December 8, he received an award from the New York Urban Coalition; Lewis’s attendance at that Manhattan event was his last public appearance. He continued to preside over TLC Beatrice International, arranged a currency swap that generated a profit for the company, and on January 13, 1993, dictated a memo to TLC Beatrice’s shareholders announcing his retirement from day-to-day operations as well as his selection of Jean Fugett Jr., his half brother who was a member of TLC Beatrice’s Board of Directors, a lawyer, and a former member of the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins, to replace him as chairman of the company. On January 19, 1993, Lewis died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Among his survivors were his wife of twenty-three years, two daughters, mother, stepfather, three half brothers, and two half sisters. On January 23, Lewis’s funeral was held in Baltimore, at St. Edward’s Roman Catholic Church, and he was buried at New Cathedral Cemetery, also in Baltimore. His fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, held a private farewell service to Lewis on January 24 at Manhattan’s Riverside Church, and one of the men who spoke was tennis legend and activist Arthur Ashe, who died thirteen days later. Lewis’s memorial service was also held at Riverside Church on January 25 and was attended by approximately 2,000 people. In 1994, Loida Lewis replaced her brother-in-law as chairman and CEO of TLC Beatrice International. The company began liquidating its holdings in 1999 and completed the process in 2000. Reginald Lewis’s genius as an entrepreneur is well documented in various sources including ‘‘Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?’’ How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion-Dollar Business Empire (1995), by Lewis and Blair S. Walker. Shortly before his death, Lewis began writing his autobiography, and after his death, Walker was selected to complete the work as a biography. The book’s title refers to one of Lewis’s earliest childhood memories. When he was five or six years old, his grandparents were discussing racial discrimination and opined that

476

Reginald F. Lewis

maybe it would be different for Lewis. When one of his grandparents asked Lewis if he thought things would be different for him, Lewis answered, ‘‘Yeah, cause why should white guys have all the fun?’’ In 2003, a Baltimore high school was renamed in Lewis’s honor. The mission of the Reginald F. Lewis High School is to prepare students for careers in business and law. Lewis’s legacy is greater than his phenomenal talents as a lawyer and businessman. As a result of Lewis’s great wealth amassed through TLC Group L.P., he established the Reginald F. Lewis Foundation (RFLF) in 1987, which is an ongoing testament of Lewis’s philanthropy. He contributed $2 million to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); $1 million to Howard University; $85,000 (approximately) to Virginia State University; and $50,000 to Morgan State University to establish the Reginald F. Lewis Scholarship. He made other monetary donations to organizations including the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at the New York Public Library; Dance Theater of Harlem; Boys Choir of Harlem; Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem; Mother Hale House in New York; St. Edward’s Roman Catholic Church; and the New York chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, which after Lewis’s death established a scholarship in his name. In 1992, the RFLF awarded a $3 million grant to Harvard Law School, which, at that time, was the largest contribution to Harvard from a single donor. The gift established the Reginald F. Lewis Fund, which was used for fellowships for students from Third World countries, faculty research, and visiting lectureships. Consequently Harvard renamed its international law center in Lewis’s honor. The Reginald F. Lewis International Law Center, Harvard’s first major facility named in honor of an African American, was dedicated on April 23, 1993. To date, the RFLF’s largest gift is the $5 million endowment to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History and Culture, located in Baltimore, which had its grand opening on June 25, 2005. See also: Food Service Industry Sources Hicks, Jonathan P. ‘‘Reginald F. Lewis, 50, Is Dead; Financier Led Beatrice Takeover.’’ New York Times, January 20, 1993. ———. ‘‘Wall Street’s New Takeover Star Warms to the Spotlight.’’ New York Times, March 20, 1988. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. ‘‘Reginald F. Lewis.’’ African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Ed. John N. Ingham and Lynne B. Feldman. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Lewis, Reginald, and Blair S. Walker. ‘‘Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?’’ How Reginald Lewis Created a Billion Dollar Business Empire. New York: Wiley, 1995. ‘‘Reginald F. Lewis.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale, 1994. Scott, Matthew S. ‘‘Black Business Loses a Star: Lewis Dies of Cancer.’’ Black Enterprise 23 (March 1993): 17. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. ‘‘Reginald F. Lewis.’’ Notable Black American Men. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.

Linda M. Carter

477

William M. Lewis Jr.

William M. Lewis Jr. (1956– ), Wall Street Executive, Investment Banker William M. Lewis Jr. exemplifies what a talented, hardworking person can accomplish when granted financial assistance early in life. The organization A Better Chance helped Lewis acquire the quality education that prepared him for a job on Wall Street. For twenty-four years, Lewis worked for Morgan Stanley Group, Inc., a long-established company offering financial advice to large corporations, governments, and agencies, as well as to individuals, throughout many countries of the world. He became the first African American managing director in the company’s history. In 2004, Lewis joined the staff of Lazard Fre´res, an advisory investment bank that operates internationally. As one among a small number of African Americans at the top ranks of the financial industry, he sought to make similar careers more accessible for minorities. Born on April 30, 1956, Lewis grew up in the inner city of Richmond, Virginia. His father, William M. Lewis Sr., earned his living as a roofer. His mother, Essie Lewis, worked as a maid. Although financial circumstances provided little disposable income, the Lewises built an atmosphere of strong support for William and his younger sister and brother. Lewis eventually married. His wife, Carol Sutton Lewis, became a lawyer, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. A junior high school counselor connected Lewis with A Better Chance, an organization offering gifted minorities the opportunity to achieve their education in some of America’s top college preparatory schools. With the assistance of this group, fourteen-year-old Lewis entered Phillips Academy, an independent boarding school in Andover, Massachusetts, noted for its outstanding curriculum. Lewis adapted well to an environment vastly different from Richmond’s inner city and peopled mostly by wealthy whites. He played varsity basketball, football, and lacrosse and participated in a number of school organizations. In addition to his extracurricular activities, Lewis maintained a superior academic record. At his graduation in 1974, he received the Aurelian Honor Society Award, granted each year by a Yale University society to a student who excels in character, scholarship, and leadership. Lewis’s academic standing won him a scholarship to Harvard University, where he majored in economics. He played freshman and varsity lacrosse, became active in the Economist Club, and helped with the business aspects of the student newspaper The Independent. He also joined a number of African American organizations. In 1978, he graduated cum laude, then planned to work in New York for a couple of years, earn his M.B.A., and establish a career as an economist. Lewis began his career as a financial analyst with Morgan Stanley, a major financial services firm operating in a number of countries. Lynn Norment observes, ‘‘Success on Wall Street requires long weekends, exceptional

478

William M. Lewis Jr.

stamina and intellect, plenty of confidence, enthusiasm and energy, and sound judgment and intuition. It also helps to be armed with an M.B.A. from an elite university, and it is imperative to be able to handle stress well.’’ Norment also observes that many Wall Street executives come from backgrounds that involve competitive sports. Lewis honed his already welldeveloped skills, met the competition, and found himself well suited for Wall Street. He took a two-year leave to acquire his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. On his return to Morgan Stanley in 1982, he became an associate in the mergers and acquisitions department. His role involved advising major companies about whether to buy or sell or merge with another company. In 1985, he helped Union Carbide avert an $8.3 billion takeover by GAF Corporation. The following year, he helped Hammermill Paper Company avoid a similar $1.3 billion takeover by Bilzerian and Mack Associates. Lewis set a goal of becoming a managing director within eight years. In 1988, Morgan Stanley sent Lewis to Chicago to establish and serve as department head for its Midwest Mergers and Acquisitions. He helped broker sales that involved billions of dollars, such as Coleman’s $545 million sale to Ron Perelman, a private investor. Lewis became a managing director in 1989, a year sooner than he had projected and in a shorter time than anyone else had achieved that status. As the first African American to become a managing director with Morgan Stanley, he took seriously his responsibility to serve as a role model and to do what he could to pave the way for other minorities. He served on the diversity committee and took opportunities to encourage the company to recruit blacks. He also served as chairman of the charitable foundation and engaged in a number of philanthropic endeavors. In 1992, Lewis returned to New York to work in Morgan Stanley’s Advisory Services Division of Investment Banking for Institutional Securities. Each of his positions after that carried increased responsibility. His ability to manage a number of roles and jobs at the same time took on a crucial importance. His workdays usually ranged from 7:00 in the morning to 7:30 or 8:30 in the evening. People who follow the financial world noticed Lewis’s achievements. In 1992, Black Enterprise named him among the ‘‘25 Hottest Blacks on Wall Street.’’ To comprise their list, magazine personnel considered investment bankers, traders, and analysts who worked for domestic investment firms and who earned over $300,000 a year. They also looked for people who had achieved a leading role in their companies as partner, managing director, senior vice president, director, or perhaps vice president. By 1997, Lewis had become codepartment head of Worldwide Real Estate and president and chief operating officer of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds. He also filled the role of cohead for Worldwide Mergers, Acquisitions, and Restructuring. That year, Morgan Stanley merged with Dean Witter. In 1999, Lewis became department head for Worldwide Corporate Finance. In February 2001, the firm named him head of its Worldwide Banking Department, where he oversaw international banking

479

William M. Lewis Jr.

operations for such companies as Sara Lee, Whirlpool, and Reuters. In the fall of 2002, Richard Kauffman joined Lewis as cohead of the department. In his career with Morgan Stanley, Lewis served as adviser to a number of other major companies: Phillips Petroleum, Whirlpool Corporation, Outboard Marine, Pittway, Weyerhaeuser, Ball Corporation, Hillenbrand Industries, and Overnite Transportation. He traveled to Europe a half dozen times and to Asia at least a couple of times each year. Lewis found himself particularly drawn to Asia. He told Fortune magazine, ‘‘You just get off the plane and feel the excitement in the air.’’ Lewis maintained his status as a noted African American in a highpressure financial world. In 2002, Fortune named him to its respected ‘‘Most Powerful Black Executives’’ list. In 2003, Black Enterprise ranked him among the ‘‘Top 50 African Americans on Wall Street.’’ In 2004, Lewis ended his twenty-four-year career with Morgan Stanley and joined Lazard Freres & Co. LLC, a global advisory investment bank. As cochairman of investment banking for the firm, he works with corporations, governments, institutions, and individuals worldwide. Lazard welcomed Lewis as ‘‘an outstanding investment banker with years of experience at the highest levels.’’ The Lazard press release, dated April 21, 2004, states, ‘‘Bill also brings a wealth of solid client relationships from many of the world’s largest corporations. This appointment is the most recent example of Lazard opportunistically hiring the best investment bankers in the world.’’ In addition to his outstanding work in the financial world, Lewis has contributed to the boards of a number of organizations. He has functioned as chairman for A Better Chance and as vice chairman of the Central Park Conservancy. He has served on the boards of Phillips Academy and the New York City Department of Education Fund for Public Schools. He invested his time as treasurer for the National Urban League. Other advisory boards that benefit from his expertise include the Cancer Research Institute, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the American Museum of Natural History. Lewis’s involvement continues to grow. In November 2004, he joined the board of Freddie Mac, a company that seeks to make home mortgages and rental housing more affordable. He serves on the Chairman’s Advisory Council of the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, an organization that helps New York City high school students achieve success in the nation’s outstanding public colleges and universities. SEO honored Lewis at its 2005 Annual Awards Dinner. On March 22, 2005, Darden Restaurants, which owns more than 1,350 restaurants and handles sales of over $5 billion annually, named him to its board. On June 28, 2005, the United States Golf Association named Lewis, an avid golfer, to its Executive Committee. Lewis overcame what he described to Candace LaBalle as ‘‘some pretty steep odds’’ to achieve these leadership positions in a highly exclusive financial world. Where possible, he uses his influence to help create a path for other minorities. He consistently urged Morgan Stanley to develop a program

480

Alfred M. Ligon

to recruit and hire black M.B.A.s. As a member of the company’s Minority Development Task Force, he advocated including traditionally black colleges, such as Howard University and Morehouse College, in the search for employees. Lewis believes the future looks promising. He told Lynn Norment, ‘‘Wall Street has made a major commitment to diversify, realizing that in order to succeed, it must embrace inclusiveness in order to attract the very best talent wherever it may be. In general, African Americans are faring well.’’ Sources Clarke, Caroline V., and Frank McCoy. ‘‘25 Hottest Blacks on Wall Street.’’ Black Enterprise 23 (October 1992): 47–104. LaBalle, Candace. ‘‘William M. Lewis, Jr.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 40. Detroit: Gale Group, 2004. Norment, Lynn. ‘‘Blacks on Wall Street and Other Money Streets.’’ Ebony 54 (February 1999): 86–94. ‘‘The Players: The New Black Power.’’ Fortune 136 (August 4, 1997): 72–83. ‘‘William M. Lewis Jr. to Join Lazard as Co-Chairman of Investment Banking.’’ Press release, April 21, 2004. http://www.lazard.com/newsroom/pressreleases/2004/Lewis apr21.htm.

Marie Garrett

Alfred M. Ligon (1906–2002), Bookseller Alfred M. Ligon in 1994 was owner of the longest continuously operated black bookstore in the United States. He opened Aquarian Book Shop in South Central Los Angeles in 1941 and relocated it to a strip mall in 1992, after the store was destroyed during the Los Angeles riots that year. It was regarded as an intellectual beacon, attracting young activists early during the civil rights movement and introducing them to black history and culture. The store attracted notable black writers who held book signings there. It was also a stopping place for black writers who promoted their books in Los Angeles. He also operated the Aquarian Spiritual Center that was attached to the store. Ligon was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1906 and moved to Chicago while still in his youth. He worked as a ballroom dancing instructor, a printer’s apprentice, and a waiter. In 1936, he moved to Los Angeles and at some point worked as a waiter on the Southern Pacific Railroad. Using approximately $100, the money he had saved from working as a waiter on the railroad, in 1941 he opened the Aquarian Library and Book Shop in the basement of his home on Jefferson Boulevard. The store was named for the Aquarian Gospel of Jesus Christ that, according to Gwendolyn E. Osborne of Black Issues Book Review, was ‘‘a New Age tome’’ that Levi H. Dowling wrote in 1907; it chronicles ‘‘Jesus’ travels and studies.’’ Ligon had become interested in metaphysics and African American culture and history

481

Alfred M. Ligon

and saw that the store mirrored his interests. Initially Ligon, along with his sister, stocked the facility with metaphysics, nonfiction, and fiction books that they bought from a secondhand dealer in downtown Los Angeles. Sometime later they changed the name to Aquarian Book Shop, expanded the scope of the inventory, and included works by notable black figures such as poet Langston Hughes, scholar and activist W.E.B. Du Bois, historian and activist John Henrik Clarke, and historian J. A. Rogers. The black studies boon of the 1960s created a heightened interest in books by and about African Americans and Africans. Black bookstores were opened in many cities cross the country; however, many of them failed to survive the 1970s and 1980s, as financial and community support waned. As megastores and discount chains opened and the established mainstream bookstores increased their stock of works by prominent black authors such as Toni Morrison and Richard Wright and made a conscious effort to become a part of the profitable market for black books, many of the black-owned, lesswell-financed stores closed. Ligon’s shop survived and thrived and until the early 1990s was the only bookstore in Los Angeles that specialized in books by and about African Americans. In November 1990, Ligon relocated the store to 3995 S. Western Avenue and had an inventory of over 5,000 volumes on many subjects, including African history and children’s books. The Los Angeles riot of 1992 devastated, but did not destroy, the collection that Ligon had assembled. However, some 7,000 volumes were destroyed by a massive fire. Local residents, along with notable artists and writers such as Alice Walker and Maya Angelou, came to Ligon’s aid, raised $70,000 for the store, and helped Ligon to reopen in a nearby strip mall. The momentum that the business had known earlier was gone forever. Ligon met Bernice Goodwin in 1942 and persuaded her to work in his store. They married six years later and continued to nurture the business as well as the family that they had together. Her African American book-ofthe-month club became highly successful, garnering some 500 subscribers. The collection grew to assemble a wide-ranging inventory, including works that were scarce. By the mid-1960s Alfred taught a course at the store called ‘‘Black Gnostic Studies.’’ In addition, the main topics that the Ligons taught in their bookstore were black history and the civil rights movement. The store also hosted plays and became a staging area for civil rights groups in Los Angeles. It was a meeting ground for prominent black artists, writers, actors and actresses, educators, healers, and members of the local black community. The bookstore and its work attracted well-known figures from the African American community in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Among those who held book signings there were Maya Angelou, Lerone Bennett, Ossie Davis, and Alex Haley. Ligon’s long interest in metaphysics and spirituality culminated in his founding of the Aquarian Spiritual Center and in its offering esoteric spiritual studies. In fact, the riots that resulted in the destruction of his store and acquittal of police officers who were charged with beating black

482

James Bruce Llewellyn

motorist Rodney King caused Ligon considerable distress that was eased only when he called upon his spirituality. He believed that these events were a part of a larger cycle of destruction and renewal and gave him an opportunity to move to a higher stage. In 1991 U.S. Congressman Julian C. Dixon (D–California) presented a petition in the U.S. House of Representatives to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary jubilee celebration of the Aquarian Book Store that was located in his district. The petition was also designed to honor Ligon and his wife Bernice for their dedication, commitment, and service to the community. In 1994, after doctors diagnosed Bernice Ligon’s illness with liver cancer, the store closed permanently. Ligon kept boxes of his inventory in his home and garage. After a brief illness, Ligon died on August 10, 2002, in Montebello, California, hospital. His life is documented in the oral history program at the University of California, Los Angeles, published in 1984 as ‘‘All the Lights the Light.’’ His survivors were his sister Jeni LeGron; a daughter and son by his first marriage, Jeni and Alfred Ligon Jr.; four grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Ligon was called the dean of black book collectors. He led a long and productive life, compiling one of the nation’s most impressive collections of books on African American history, astrology, the occult, and philosophy. For over fifty years Aquarian Book Shop, which he founded and operated, was a center for black literary and philosophical thought and activity in Los Angeles. Sources ‘‘Alfred Ligon, 96; Bookseller Fostered Many Black Authors.’’ Unidentified news clipping. Special Collections, Franklin Library, Fisk University, Nashville, TN. Boyd, Herb. ‘‘Legendary Bookseller Passes On.’’ Amsterdam News. Special to the AmNews, August 21, 2002. http://www.amsterdamnews.org. ‘‘Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Aquarian Book Shop—Hon. Julian C. Dixon. Extension of Remarks, September 30, 1991.’’ Hon. Julia C. Dixon in the House of Representatives, Monday, September 30, 1991. http://thomas .loc.gov/cgi/bin/quert/z?r102:EcoSE1-46. Newton, Edmund. ‘‘Owner of Oldest Black Bookstore Dies at 96 in L.A.’’ Deathwatch Central. http://slick.org.deathwatch/mailarchive/ms00824.html. Osborne, Gwendolyn E. ‘‘Tribute: A Life Devoted to Books; Alfred Ligon 1906– 2002—Founder of the Antiquarian Book Shop in Los Angles, California.’’ Obituary. Black Issues Book Review, November–December 2002. http://www .findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_mOHST/is_6_4/ai94224203.

Frederick D. Smith

James Bruce Llewellyn (1927– ), Entrepreneur, Lawyer, Public Official, Banker, Philanthropist James Bruce Llewellyn is a remarkable entrepreneur and business pioneer who showed big business that investing in black-owned business is

483

James Bruce Llewellyn

profitable. Always described as energetic and decisive, he is eager to cut to the heart of business matters. He began in business with a small liquor store in Harlem and rose to be the owner of the Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Fedco Foods, and several cable television stations. He was a presidential appointee to prestigious government agencies as well as a banker and a member of the influential 100 Black Men of America. Llewellyn was born in Harlem, New York, on July 16, 1927, to Vanessa and Charles Wesley Llewellyn, who immigrated to the United States from Jamaica in 1921. His parents instilled a strong work ethic in him and his sister Delores, who would become a judge. Success runs in the family, as his cousin is General Colin Powell. When he was a child, his family moved to White Plains, New York, and he lived in an integrated neighborhood and attended integrated schools. He attributes much of his success to this fact. He was able to see at a young age that he could compete with children of all races and win. As a child, he worked in his father’s restaurant and bar and sold Fuller Brush products and magazines. At the age of sixteen, he joined the U.S. Army and advanced swiftly, becoming the youngest commissioned officer in his battalion. Even though he had studied engineering at Rutgers University as part of his military training, when the war ended shortly after Llewellyn joined the service, he found himself in command of a truck company. He was not challenged by this and left the army in 1948. He used his army severance pay to open a liquor store in Harlem and attended City College at night. He received a B.A. degree from City College and continued to the School of Business at Columbia. He then entered New York Law School and obtained his J.D. degree in 1960. He passed the bar exam and worked at the District Attorney’s Office. He also set up a small private practice. With his wife Shahara, he has children Kristen Lisa, Alexandra, and JayLaan. In the 1960s he worked at various city government jobs including the New York City Housing and Redevelopment Board and the Upper Manhattan Small Business Administration but found that he did not like the donothing attitude of many of the city employees and vowed to enter private business in some way. At that time, African Americans were not hired by the big Wall Street firms, so he needed another avenue. He found out that Fedco Foods Corporation was for sale. Fedco was located in the economically devastated South Bronx, and many mainstream companies wanted nothing to do with an inner-city business. Llewellyn was faced with the challenge of raising $3 million to buy the store chain at a time when investors were unlikely to lend large sums to African Americans. He had a friend, Robert Towbin, a managing partner at the firm of L. F. Rothchild, Unterberg, and Towbin. Llewellyn’s plan was for a leveraged buyout of Fedco Foods at a time when this concept was practically unheard of. Towbin helped Llewellyn convince Prudential Insurance to arrange financing, and the deal went through. Llewellyn had mortgaged his house and sold everything he owned to complete the deal. His entire future depended on his ability to learn the

484

James Bruce Llewellyn

retail grocery business quickly to enable him to expand Fedco Foods. Fedco was a profitable venture when he acquired it, but it faced unusual challenges. All retail grocers were facing rising wholesale food prices at this time, and Fedco had special problems, such as high staff turnover, shoplifting, and employee theft. In spite of these challenges, Fedco became more and more profitable and expanded the number of its stores. For an African American businessman to receive multimillion-dollar financing in the 1970s was a landmark event, and Llewellyn proved to Prudential and his other lenders that the risk was worth taking. He served as a pioneer for other African Americans who sought capital investments. In another venture in the 1970s Llewellyn became involved in helping his friend baseball star Jackie Robinson restore his bank to financial health. The Freedom National Bank in Harlem was in financial distress, and Llewellyn became chairman of the board after Robinson. Llewellyn was able to restore profitability to the bank, but continued financial woes caused it to close in 1990. By now, Llewellyn had come to the attention of national leaders, and Jimmy Carter offered him the job of secretary of the army, but he refused. Carter called back later to offer him a job with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, which insured American companies doing business in other countries. He accepted this job, which exposed him to international businessmen, and he made contacts across the globe. He was able to turn this organization into a profit-making organization that distributed $65 million to support new projects in developing areas. In 1981, with the advent of the Reagan administration, he had to leave the job. In 1984, Llewellyn sold Fedco stores and joined a group of African American businessmen who tried to build a UHF station in California. After the investors realized they could not get along, they disbanded the group. ENTERS THE BOTTLING INDUSTRY Since 1974 Llewellyn had dreamed of owning a soft drink bottling company, but these businesses rarely come on the market. He had tried to acquire a Pepsi-Cola bottling company, but the owner pulled out of the deal at the last minute. In order to increase his buying power, he partnered with Julius Erving and Bill Cosby. In 1983, these three businessmen purchased 36 percent of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of New York, becoming the largest single stockholders and assuring Llewellyn a seat on the board. He became the chair of subsidiary Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company. By 1985 the group had raised $75 million to acquire the entire Philadelphia subsidiary. The Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company was the fifteenth-largest Coke bottling operation in the country. Under Llewellyn’s guidance, business improved over 300 percent. By 1987, the company was the eighth-largest Coke bottler and the third-largest black-owned business. In 1985 Llewellyn turned his interests to acquiring a television station. The parent company of ABC television was ordered by the Federal

485

James Bruce Llewellyn

Communications Commission (FCC) to divest itself of its Buffalo station, WBKW-TV. Llewellyn turned to his former partners Julius Erving and auto dealer Richard Gidron as well as other investors and offered a highly leveraged bid for the station. The fact that the seller would receive a favorable tax treatment for selling to minority buyers helped seal the deal for Llewellyn and his group. Within two years, the station was ranked first in its category and was very profitable. By the late 1980s the business climate for television stations had become less favorable, and Llewellyn arranged a creative way to get out of ownership without losing profit for himself or his partners. By this time, Llewellyn had realized the value of cable television stations and was able to purchase the New York Times Cable Company. His purchase of a cable company was groundbreaking, because until this time the cable television industry was considered too capital intensive for a black businessman to enter. With the success of this station, Llewellyn proved again that black businessmen could raise large sums of money and repay the loans. Llewellyn gives back to the business community by his work with 100 Black Men, a business networking organization that works to help the black community in New York City. To assist the community 100 Black Men has mentoring, health and wellness, and community development programs. He has won numerous awards such as an honorary doctorate at Atlanta University, and a chair has been named in his honor at City College. He is on the boards of many community organizations such as New York Urban Coalition, the Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital, and the National Interracial Council for Business Opportunity. He has led the way for today’s black entrepreneurs and contributed his time, money, and expertise to his community. See also: Food Service Industry; Grocery Store Enterprises Sources Chevalier, Jack. ‘‘Llewellyn: Education Is Key to Success.’’ Philadelphia Tribune, January 18, 2000. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Johnson, Robert. ‘‘Climbing to the Top of Black Businesses.’’ Wall Street Journal, Eastern Edition, May 10, 1999. ‘‘Living Proof That Blacks Can Excel.’’ Sacramento Observer, August 16, 1995. Reynolds, Rhonda. ‘‘Where Are They Now?’’ Black Enterprise 22 (June 1992): 218. Smikle, Ken. ‘‘Bruce: The Boss.’’ Black Enterprise 17 (September 1986): 36. Wilson, Kendall. ‘‘Philly Firms Fill Magazine’s List of Businesses: Philadelphia CocaCola Bottling Company Comes in Second Overall.’’ Philadelphia Tribune, June 8, 1999.

Elizabeth Sandidge Evans

486

M Paula Madison (1952– ), Television Executive Paula Madison has successfully climbed the ranks of television and radio to become the first black woman to be named general manager at a networkowned station in a top five market. In November 2000 she was named president and general manager of NBC4 (KNBC) Los Angeles. In this dynamic role, Madison is in charge of programming, content development, strategic planning, marketing, and sales. Additionally, she was appointed to lead KVEA and KWHY, the two NBC/Telemundo television stations purchased by NBC in 2002 in Los Angeles. In this capacity Madison serves as the regional general manager. To further fill her executive cup, NBC leans heavily on Madison to provide leadership in the realm of corporate diversity. From February 2000 until May 2002, Madison was president of diversity and chair of the NBC Diversity Counsel. She was responsible for diversifying the NBC staff and the shows that it aired. She was the first person to ever hold this position. Before landing her current post, Madison was adequately prepared through numerous stints as a writer, director, and executive. She graduated from Vassar College in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in history and black studies. Taking the advice of a friend, Madison applied to graduate school for journalism. She was accepted to Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. She never completed the master’s program but immediately jumpstarted her journalism career at the Syracuse Herald Journal as a print reporter. With her writing background and proven ability to follow solid leads, she rose to the rank of investigative bureau reporter with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1980, where she served simultaneously at the Dallas Times Herald as the assistant city editor. Armed with the skills of writing, editing, and content development, Madison’s breaking into the ranks of broadcast television was a natural progression. Accordingly, in 1982 Madison assumed the responsibilities of community affairs director at WFAA-TV in Dallas and in 1984 grew to manage news content at the station. Tulsa, Oklahoma, was her next stop

Paula Madison

when Madison accepted the position offered by KOTV-TV as news director. She served in this capacity from 1986 to 1987 before going back to Texas as executive news director of Houston’s KHOU-TV from 1987 to 1989. The big break for Madison would come in 1989 at the NBC network. First, as assistant news director of the affiliate WNBC, her valuable contributions proved worthy of a considerable promotion to news director in 1996. With titles comes accountability, however, and Madison has more than earned her share. In 1999, ratings under her inspiration witnessed WNBC ascend to the apex of New York’s market as the top television station, which was a position the station had not held for sixteen years. Moreover, her guidance also led to the trend-breaking reality of becoming the leader of news presentation in all documented categories in the New York area for the first time in nearly two decades. Having proven herself worthy, Madison was now ready for bigger, better, and more challenging broadcasts. Thus, when NBC promoted her to the position of president and general manager of their Los Angeles–operated and –owned station KNBC (NBC4) in 2000, she was willing, and more important able, to call the shots. KNBC is the second largest television market. Madison has changed KNBC to focus more on local communities. As one of the top women of color in the broadcast-journalism profession, through public persona and active involvement Madison has lent herself proportionately. She is a member of the International Women’s Media Foundation, St. Mary’s College Center for Women’s Inter-Cultural Leadership National Advisory Board, National Medical Fellowships, National Association of Black Journalists, and the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. In addition, her work has been rewarded in the forms of the Asian-Pacific American Corporate Impact Award; the United Negro College Fund’s Frederick D. Patterson Award; Los Angeles County Commission for Women, Woman of the Year Award; California National Organization of Women’s Excellence in Media Award; National Association of Minority Media Executives Diversity Award; NAACP President’s Award; Ellis Island Medal of Honor; the Tri-State Catholic Committee on Radio and Television’s TRISCCORT Award; National Association of Black Journalists Ida B. Wells Award; and being named by New York City’s comptroller as Distinguished African American New Yorker. With such impressive credentials, Madison is always in high demand for speaking engagements. On April 16–17, 2001, she continued her considerable work with her alma mater where she serves as the alumni president of Vassar’s 30,000-plus organization. Moreover, she participated in the two-day executive-in-residence program speaking on news on television, journalism, and workplace diversity. Similarly, on October 30, 2003, she was a keynote presenter at California’s State of the State Conference in Los Angeles. Her charge was to address the ways in which California could maintain its position in providing business leadership. Further work can be found from Madison’s involvement with National Medical Fellowship, Inc. (NMF), where she serves as a board member and was the 2005 Founder’s Dinner

488

Annie Turnbo Malone

chairperson. Her call to professional and social responsiveness to medical students is appropriate because it hits home. She and her husband Roosevelt are the proud parents of their only child, Imani Walker, a resident psychiatrist. Her sentiments regarding the affair sum up her consistent drive for perfection and ability to carry her weight in corporate America. Commenting on the appropriateness of serving humanity and God through the assistance of educational opportunities for doctors, she said, these young people, including her daughter, are fortunate to be able to save lives. She is determined to help NMF fulfill its mission. With such an impressive, confident, and polished representative, NMF certainly is thankful as well because Madison has made its mission that much more attainable. Madison does present an incomparable resume full of promotions and accomplishments. She has been awarded numerous recognitions for a job well done. However, Madison’s motivation for success does not come from plaques on her wall or trophies symbolizing greatness. Madison is driven by her determination and commitment to leaving the world in a better place than she found it. See also: Women and Business Sources Contemporary Black Biography: Profiles from the International Black Community. Vol. 37. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2003. Milken Institute. http://www.milkeninstitute.org/events/events.taf?function¼show& cat¼allconf&EventID¼SOS03&SPID. National Medical Fellowship, Inc. http://www.nmfonline.org/News/FoundersDinner/ profiles.htm. Operation Hope. http://www.operationhope.org/Epublications/dec_2001/bio_paula_ madison.htm. San Diego Association of Black Journalists. http://www.sdabj.org/Paula-Madi son%20Bio.htm. Vassar College. http://collegerelations.vassar.edu/2001/734. Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism. http://www.wkconline.org/index .php/seminars/speakerpage/?sid¼666.

Shannon L. Mathis

Annie Turnbo Malone (1869–1957), Entrepreneur, Philanthropist Annie Minerva Turnbo Pope Malone ran a multimillion-dollar empire, was founder of the Poro Company—one of the first successful African American hair-care businesses—and was reputed to be the first African American millionaire, worth in excess of $14 million at one point in the 1920s; she used her funds for effecting social change and racial uplift. She founded a line of hair-care products, a marketing strategy/system, and a college devoted to African American cosmetology, all targeting African Americans. Malone, who has received little attention, has been eclipsed by

489

Annie Turnbo Malone

one of her former agents, Madame C. J. Walker. This overshadowing, many believe, is the result of Malone’s later business losses. Yet, in her more affluent days, she made major monetary contributions to African American life. At one point in her career, she was reported to be supporting two fulltime students in every black land-grant college in the United States and to have donated more than $25,000 to the Howard University Medical School Endowment Fund. She was born on a farm in Metropolis, Illinois, on August 9, 1869, the tenth of eleven children. Her parents, Robert Turnbo, a poor farmer, and mother, Isabella Cook Turnbo, died when Malone was young, and her older sister in Peoria, Illinois, raised her. As a result of Malone’s ill health, she did not complete high school. During these formative years, she seems to have been interested in improving on the techniques then in use by African American women for dressing their hair. At that time, goose fat, soap, heavy oils, and items that damaged hair follicles or the scalp were in use. She formulated a line of hair products that straightened the hair and were nondamaging, special hair oils, hair growers (her famous Wonderful Hair Grower), and tetter reliefs; by 1900, she sold these products in the local stores around her home in Lovejoy, Illinois. She is reported to have attributed the creation of her products to her study of chemistry and the influence of an aunt who was an herbal doctor. Many credit her (others credit Madam C. J. Walker) with inventing the pressing iron and comb; however, these were being advertised in the 1880s and 1890s in catalogs for white women. It was the result of these women that they became popular in the African American hair-care community. In 1902, in an effort to expand her opportunities, she moved her business to St. Louis, Missouri. It was here that she began to develop her training and merchandising system, which proved to be enormously successful. She hired three assistants and began to sell her products door to door; the women offered on-the-spot demonstration of her hair and scalp products. They offered hair treatments and free demonstrations showing women how to care for their scalps, apply hair grower, and use a straightening comb. In 1903, she embarked on a short-lived marriage to a Mr. Pope; it was soon ended because he tried to interfere in her business enterprise. She opened a retail outlet during the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. The reception of her products encouraged her to expand her marketing venue nationally, and soon she had agents throughout the United States and the Caribbean. Malone held press conferences, advertised in black newspapers, and traveled throughout the South giving demonstrations in black communities, hiring and training women to serve as Poro agents and trainers, speaking at women’s clubs and black churches. It was by using these methods that she grew her business. In 1906, Malone found it necessary to copyright the name of her products, Poro. The term was a Mende (West African) term for an organization dedicated to disciplining and enhancing the body both spiritually and physically. Madame C. J. Walker, one of the first agents hired by Malone, and Malone became rivals for the African American hair-care business. She began to

490

Annie Turnbo Malone

market, at the same time as Malone, similar products, including her ‘‘Wonderful Hair Straightener,’’ and utilized some of the same marketing techniques. Walker established her first office in Denver, Colorado (1906) and her second in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1908); she consolidated her two offices into one plant to manufacture her products in Indianapolis, Indiana (1910). Historians have generally agreed that Malone and her enterprise preceded Walker. By 1910 there were a number of hair-care and face cream companies targeting African Americans. However, when Walker died, she was acclaimed a millionaire. In spite of the fact that Malone was so materially successful in the early part of her career, there was little wealth at her death. Under the name Poro, Malone built a financial empire that included her multiplex Poro Building in the heart of The Ville (Elleardsville) in St. Louis, Missouri. This included Poro College of Beauty Culture, her manufacturing plant, her business offices, sales operations, school for training agent operators, gymnasium, bakery, chapel, and hall for theater, music, and lectures. It also served as a community center for civic, religious, and social functions for the African American residents of St. Louis, Missouri. The physical plant and equipment were valued in excess of $1 million. With the belief that improved appearance, good deportment (how to walk, talk, eat), and education were necessary for more economic opportunities and success for African American women, attention was paid to these areas of development. By 1926, the college employed 175 people and had 75,000 agents in the

Poro College Building, completed in 1918, was an enterprise of Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone, hair-care magnate, entrepreneur, and manufacturer. Source: Thomas O. Fuller. Pictorial History of the American Negro. Memphis: Pictorial History, Inc., Publishers, 1933, p. 139.

491

Annie Turnbo Malone

United States and other parts of the world. In 1930, the college and the business were moved to the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, an area known as Poro Block. At the peak of her career, she employed 100,000 Poro agents, operated forty-eight beauty schools and over 100 beauty supply stores nationwide, and owned a block of four mansions on Poro Block. Around 1921, she married Aaron Eugene Malone, a former teacher and bible salesman. He became the chief manager and president of the business. Malone traveled extensively for the business, leaving her empire to her husband and managers to run. Not all of the managers were strong and knowledgeable, and her husband challenged her for power and control of the Poro business. This weakened her empire and added to her business problems. Prior to suing Annie Malone for divorce, her husband actively sought support from black leaders and supporters of Poro in his claim on the company. His argument was that his contacts and knowledge were the force behind the business. Due to her networking, philanthropy, and travels, she had a stronger support system; this included the press and Mary McLeod Bethune, president of the National Association of Colored Women. In this highly publicized divorce, she negotiated a settlement of $200,000 and got a divorce. The divorce and poor management greatly impacted the business and her image; it seemed to be the beginning of lawsuits, one by a former employee who claimed credit for her success. The settling of that suit forced her to sell her St. Louis, Missouri, property. Adding to her troubles were the claims made by the federal government: She had failed to pay real estate taxes and the 20 percent excise tax (to be paid on luxuries and cosmetics in the 1920s) over a period of time. In 1943, she owed almost $100,000 in taxes, and by 1951, the government had seized control of Poro and sold most of the property for back taxes. During her career, Malone was committed to the improvement of the race; thus, she generously supported those works that would contribute to racial uplift. In addition to her Poro building, her support of students at land-grant colleges, and her support of the Howard University Medical School, she also donated large sums to charities and to Tuskegee Institute (now University), and she educated many family members. Her gifts helped in the building of the St. Louis Colored YWCA, several orphanages, and the St. James A.M.E. Church; and she donated land for the St. Louis Colored Orphans’ Home. She raised most of the money for the construction cost and served on the home’s board from 1919 to 1943. In 1946, the name was changed to the Annie Malone Children’s Home. Additionally, she served as a civic leader; she was president of the Colored Women’s Federated Clubs of St. Louis, an executive member of the National Negro Business League and the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, an honorary member of Zeta Phi Beta, and a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. On May 10, 1957, at age eighty-seven, in Chicago, Illinois, Malone died of a stroke. At the time of her death, she had been overshadowed by Madam C. J. Walker and had lost her national image and her money; her estate was valued at $100,000.

492

Julianne Malveaux Sources ‘‘Annie Malone.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 13. Detroit: Gale, 1996. ‘‘Annie Turnbo Malone.’’ Encyclopedia of World Biography Supplement. Vol. 23. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Collier-Thomas, Bettye. ‘‘Annie Turnbo Malone.’’ Notable Black American Women. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992.

Helen R. Houston

Julianne Malveaux (1953– ), Entrepreneur, Economist, Activist, Writer Julianne Malveaux is known for her provocative, progressive, and insightful observations and her long-standing stance on a variety of issues, including race, culture, gender, and economics. Through public dialogue, writings, and other channels, she continues to shape public opinion in twenty-first-century America and beyond. Born on September 22, 1953, in San Francisco, Julianne Marie Malveaux is the oldest of the five children of Paul Warren Malveaux, a realtor, and Proteone Alexandria Malveaux, a social worker. She studied economics at Boston College and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in 1974 and competed her master’s degree there in 1975. Continuing to study economics, Malveaux received her Doctor of Philosophy degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1980. An academic scholar, from 1980 through 1991 Malveaux’s academic affiliations include visiting faculty member in the African Studies Department at the University of California, Berkeley (1987–1991), the New School of Social Research (1980–1981), San Francisco State University (1981–1985), and the Institute for Study of Research on Women and Gender at Stanford University (1987–1989). As well, she has been a staff member of the Council of Economic Advisors and for the Rockefeller Foundation. In 2004 Malveaux was named professor of diversity in residence at the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity & Inclusion Institute at Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, North Carolina. In the business arena, Malveaux founded her own multimedia production company, Last Word Productions, Inc., in Washington, D.C., where she relocated in 1994. She serves as president and chief executive officer of the company. Through the firm she has produced local and national programs. A radio show on public affairs and a PBS television show are among her productions. The writing skills that she demonstrated as a teenager were made in the late 1960s, when her poetry was published in the Journal of Black Poetry. She published again between her high school and college years, this time a review of Martin Delany’s book Blake, or the Huts of America in the journal Black Scholar. She won an Essence magazine contest while in college, writing her poem ‘‘Black love is a bitter / sweetness,’’ and she saw her work published in a later issue of Essence.

493

Bridget ‘‘Biddy’’ Mason

Each week her thoughts on national affairs, the American workplace, and the economy are published in over twenty national newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Sum Reporter, and the Detroit News. She regularly contributes to USA Today, Crisis, Ms., Essence, Emerge, Black Enterprise, Black Scholar, and other national journals. Her writings focus on a wide range of issues, from politics to gender, economics, and race. Among the books that Malveaux has published are Black Women in the Labor Force, which she coauthored in 1980; Slipping Through the Cracks: The Status of Black Women, coauthored in 1986; Sex, Lies and Stereotypes, a collection of her newspaper articles, 1994; Wall Street, Main Street, and the Side Street; a Mad Economist Takes a Stroll, 1999; and No Images: Contemporary Black Women in the Workplace. Often appearing on national talk shows as commentator or guest expert, she has been seen on Politically Incorrect (ABC), To the Contrary, and Lehrer News Hour (PBS). Her appearances on CNN, MSNBC, CSPAN, and CNBC have been frequent as well. Her numerous organizational affiliations and memberships, both current and past, are oriented to civic, civil rights, economic, political, and women’s issues and include the board of the National Child Labor Committee, the American Economic Association, the Bay Area Association of Black Journalists, and the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, which she served as first national vice president. Quoted in the African New World Studies newsletter, Cornel West called her ‘‘the most provocative, progressive, and iconoclastic public intellectual in the country.’’ She has consistently upheld West’s characterization of her through her fights for political, economic, and social justice and through her contributions to scholarship. Sources ‘‘Julianne Malveaux.’’ Florida International University. African New World Studies (Spring 2002). http://www.fiu.edu/~Africana/newsletter/spring2002/news_malve aux.htm. Sanchez, Brenna. ‘‘Julianne Malveaux.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 32. Detroit: Gale Research, 2002. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. ‘‘Julianne Malveaux.’’ Notable Black American Women. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992.

Jessie Carney Smith

Bridget ‘‘Biddy’’ Mason (1818–1891), Day-Care Owner, Midwife, Philanthropist Bridget Mason, better known as ‘‘Biddy,’’ was born a slave and learned the art of midwifery during her childhood. Later on, after she had relocated to Los Angeles, she turned her craft into a profitable business and became an influential figure in the black community. The frugal and astute

494

Bridget ‘‘Biddy’’ Mason

entrepreneur was one of the first blacks to own land in Los Angeles. She was also philanthropic and shared her wealth with the poor and needy of all races. Mason was born into slavery in Hancock County, Mississippi, on August 15, 1818. While nothing is known of her parents, records indicate that her heritage was a mixture of black and Choctaw, Seminole, and Geegi Indian. She spent her childhood on the plantations of three different owners, one each in South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi. Robert Marion Smith, who held her in bondage in Mississippi, is said to have been the father of her three children. Biddy Mason learned the art of midwifery while in service at the Smith plantation. She also handled the business affairs of the plantation, which doubtless served her well later in her own business ventures. Smith converted to Mormonism in 1847; he set out for the Utah Territory on March 10, 1848, and took with him Biddy Mason and forty other slaves. Mason and the other slaves were promised freedom if they took the trip. Along the strenuous journey Mason demonstrated various skills that she had acquired. She became camp organizer for the fifty-six whites and thirty-four slaves on the trip, prepared the meals, attended to her own children, and was midwife to the women who gave birth en route. As well, she herded the oxen, cows, and mules that the party owned. The travelers remained in Utah from 1848 to 1851, but long enough to experience the indignities that the Mormons levied against the blacks. Robert Smith learned of the new Mormon community in San Bernardino, California, and that Mormon leader Brigham Young wanted volunteers to come out and help establish the site. They headed west, camped out in Cajon Pass for three months, then moved on to the new community. Smith would learn that California’s laws left the matter of slave ownership in question. The state constitution, drafted in 1849, forbade slavery, but a debate over the slave question was argued between opposing forces until September 1850. At that time, California became a member of the Union as a free state. Some confusion remained over the status of those who entered California before and after the state joined the Union. This prompted Smith to plan to relocate his family and his slaves to Texas, where slavery was still legal. Meanwhile, Biddy Mason learned of the possibility of the move and feared that she would remain enslaved and not be freed as promised. She sought the advice of two free blacks in Los Angeles who, along with a local influential black entrepreneur, contacted local authorities who invaded Smith’s encampment site and served him a writ of habeas corpus. Mason and her family had sued for freedom. They were successful in their petition, and all were manumitted on January 1, 1856. Biddy Mason began to practice her skills as a nurse and midwife; she worked for John S. Griffin, a physician in Los Angeles and surrounding areas. Soon Mason became highly respected and in demand as a midwife among Anglo immigrants, American Indians, and the wealthy. She saved her wages of $2.50 a week and, within ten years, fulfilled her dream of home ownership for herself and her family. The site that she purchased on Spring

495

William G. Mays

Street in Los Angeles became the heart of downtown much later. She also became one of the first black women to own land in the city. Mason secured her future and became financially independent. By 1884, she moved onto her land, sold a part of it, and built a commercial structure with rental spaces. Her homestead became a base for her philanthropic work with the city’s poor, regardless of their race. It often became a refuge for the needy who needed shelter. Continuing her entrepreneurial skills, she founded a day care and nursery for children of black working parents. She visited the mentally ill and the local jails and assured the inmates that they were remembered and loved. To women of various ethnic groups, Mason demonstrated that it was possible to acquire land, educate their children, and become influential within the community. In 1872, Mason was a cofounder of the Los Angeles branch of the First African Methodist Episcopal church, where she held membership until her death on January 15, 1891. Her grave site in Evergreen cemetery in Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights remained unmarked until March 27, 1988, when Mayor Tom Bradley and 3,000 members of Mason’s church unveiled a headstone at her grave. At her death the community mourned her passing; with the placing of her tombstone thousands celebrated her life; and all remembered her devotion to midwifery, aid to the sick and needy, and humanitarian efforts to people of all races. See also: Women and Business Sources Beasley, Delilah L. The Negro Trailblazers in California. Los Angeles: Times Mirror Printing and Binding House, 1919. Jackson, Bobi. ‘‘(Bridget) Biddy Mason.’’ Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. Brooklyn: Carlson, 1993. Sims, Oscar L. ‘‘Biddy Mason.’’ Notable Black American Women. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992.

Jessie Carney Smith

William G. Mays (1945– ), Chemist, Entrepreneur William G. Mays built the Mays Chemical Company, Inc., from the bottom up in the turbulent business climate of the 1980s, and he is not afraid to help others like him do the same. While many entrepreneurs allow upand-coming business owners to struggle on their own, Mays has reached out financially to minority business owners in Indianapolis through the Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Corporation. In addition to giving back to the business world, he also devotes his time to local philanthropies. Entrepreneur, philanthropist, leader, and mentor, Mays has taken many risks to get to the top. He was born in Evansville, Indiana, on December 4, 1945, to two teachers, one of whom was a chemistry professor. His parents strongly advocated the

496

William G. Mays

power of a college education and encouraged him to shine in his schoolwork. Their support paid off, and Mays graduated from Evansville Lincoln High School at the top of his class in 1963. He received a Bachelor of Science in chemistry in 1968 from Indiana University, Bloomington, and then worked for six months as a test chemist at Link Belt, a local metallurgical laboratory. A natural ‘‘people person,’’ Mays grew tired of testing lubes and gels in the confines of a sterile lab and sought a job that provided human contact. He joined Procter & Gamble sales and became a statewide sales manager in three years. However, Mays knew he needed more business education to reach his goals and took the risk of walking away from a lucrative career to return to his alma mater. He was married with a child on the way when he received a Consortium Scholarship and worked at Eli Lilly and Company while attending business school. After receiving his M.B.A. in 1973, Mays became the marketing manager at Cummins Engine Company, a local engine manufacturer. There he was exposed to the upper echelons of management, which became useful later on as Mays was structuring his own company. His ascent to the top was still in the making, however. Four years later he joined a minority start-up firm, Specialty Chemicals, Incorporated. In running the distribution division, he excelled at negotiations, drawing up seven-figure deals with top companies, such as Bristol Myers Squibb and Abbot Industries. Within three years, sales at the company climbed from $300,000 to $5 million. During this time he also nurtured strong ties to large chemical manufacturers—something that would also prove useful when his own company came into being. FOUNDS CHEMICAL COMPANY When the minority stockholders of Specialty Chemicals lost control of the company in 1980, Mays resigned and launched Mays Chemical Company. He was thirty-four years old. With his experience working with upper management and driving his former business to a million-dollar company, he knew he could build his own company from scratch. Within thirty days, he put up the capital himself by obtaining a second mortgage on his home and contributing $10,000 from his personal savings account. In another month, he supplied solvents to his company by negotiating $750,000 in contracts with Abbot Industries and the Upjohn Company. With Mays’s skill, drive, and determination, Mays Chemical went from a one-man company in 1980 to the largest African American–owned chemical distributor and fifteenth largest in the nation. In 2003, the company reached $166 million in sales, surpassing Mays’s longtime goal of reaching $100 million. Mays Chemical is in the low-risk and recession-proof food and pharmaceuticals industry, providing over 300 solvents, additives, and preservatives to the nation’s largest food and drug makers, such as Pillsbury, Kraft General Foods, Eli Lilly, E. I. du Pont de Nemours, and SmithKline Beecham.

497

William G. Mays

Mays’s formula for success is multifaceted. While most companies rely on sales figures and returns on investments as indicators of success, he focuses on net profit and, more important, on his employees’ happiness and wellbeing. Mays Chemical was rewarded in the late 1990s when the company reached $100 million in sales. In addition to preservatives and other chemicals, Mays sells customer service by concentrating on product quality and the management of lasting relationships with clients. Mays is a firm believer in sending his product out correctly the first time and going beyond his clients’ expectations. As the middle man in the chemical distribution industry, he gives his customers exactly what they want—one-stop shopping with low-cost quality products that meet all regulatory requirements, delivered with a commitment to service. To do this, Mays looks for chemical components and ingredients during shortages and works with each company to ensure the distribution process is as simple as possible. Another best-business practice at Mays starts from the inside and works its way outside the company. The company practices the belief that a company is only as strong as the sum of its parts and makes sure that every employee is properly trained and content with his or her job. The corporate structure is relaxed, and Mays allows all of his managers to make critical decisions about their respective departments without having to wade through a bureaucracy. Thus, managers conduct their day-to-day business without fear of second-guessing from the executives. Unlike most other companies, Mays Chemical has a low turnover rate; almost half of the employees as well as most of the executives have been with the company for several years. This stability in structure translates to customer contentment. Mays Chemical has garnered several awards over the years and was one of only 3 of 4 of more than 400 suppliers to be a multiple recipient of the Pillsbury-Grand Metropolitan Food Sector Supplier of the Year Award. It also received the Outstanding Supplier of the Year Award from General Motors (GM) at least six times, as well as the GM QSP Award for excellence in quality, service, and price. DIVERSIFIES BUSINESS HOLDINGS In addition to chemical distribution, Mays has diversified his business holdings to include media channels. He acquired the Indianapolis Recorder, an African American–oriented newspaper, and appointed his niece, Carolene Mays, as president. The Recorder, a key source of information within the African American community had run into hard times, and Mays had loaned the newspaper money to make its payroll. In 1993, he expanded his media holdings by purchasing a low-powered television station, WTLC, with Bill Shirk. Later, after acquiring several radio stations featuring hiphop, jazz, and classic soul, his Hoosier Radio and TV became the largest minority-owned media company in the state, grossing more than $5.2 million in revenue in 1999.

498

William G. Mays

Perhaps one of the main things for which Mays has been known is being an ‘‘angel’’ to other minority business owners. Minority businesses success rate is low. This is due to the fact that the majority of the owners either run out of capital or struggle to obtain clients because they believe that most minority companies will fail. Many African Americans also have the illusion that business is not a trendy thing to do but more of a ‘‘white’’ thing. In order to diminish the myths and help raise capital for businesses, Mays spearheaded the effort to establish the LYNK Capital Corporation in 1991 to set up a fund to help minority-owned businesses. LYNK is not the only outgrowth of Mays’s ‘‘angel investing’’; he has given generously to several minority businesses, often using his position and influence to gain connections for the struggling owners. Angel investing involves lending capital to small business owners who may not survive start-up or hard times. In addition, Mays also gives back to the community at large. In 1991, he raised $31.5 million for the United Way of Central Indiana as the head fund-raiser. His giving attitude carries over to Mays Chemical, which donates between 2 and 5 percent of its pretax profits to philanthropic organizations. However, the giving reaches beyond the corporate level; managers all participate in an outside nonprofit activity. One of the principal reasons Mays donates so much to community philanthropies is his perspective as a minority; he wants to ultimately set the record straight about minorities— African Americans do not just receive assistance; many give it as well. Mays not only donates money to the community; he is also very giving of his time. He established the Minority Key Club and was the first African American to be appointed to chair both the United Way of Central Indiana campaign and the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. He has been honored with the Herman B. Wells Visionary Award, which was established by the Indiana University Foundation to honor individuals with remarkable accomplishments and lifelong humanitarianism. He has received honorary doctorates from Indiana University and the University of Evansville. As a member of various bank, educational, and charity boards, he emanates spirited servant leadership and entrepreneurial strength. While successfully mastering the art of executive management heading a million-dollar-grossing chemical distribution company, Mays still gives back with fervor to benefit the community, especially fellow minorities. Sources Bernstein, Andrew. ‘‘Black Innovators and Entrepreneurs under Capitalism.’’ Capitalists Lounge. http://www.andrewbernstein.net/capitalists/8_blackcap.htm. Edelhart, Courtenay. ‘‘Amid Media Mergers, Indiana Radio Firm Happy with Chunk of Home Turf.’’ Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, October 20, 1999. Genasci, Lisa. ‘‘Hostility Persists for Black Execs.’’ Standard Times Online, June 1995. http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/06-95/06-11-95/0611blackexecs.HTML. ‘‘General Motors Names Mays Chemical Company Premier Worldwide Supplier of 1998.’’ Automotive Intelligence, August 1999. http://www.autointell.com/news1999.

499

Jewell Jackson McCabe Heikens, Norm. ‘‘Indianapolis Entrepreneurs Discuss Challenges for Black-Owned Businesses.’’ Indianapolis Star, July 2001. InfoTrac Database. http://web1.infotrac .galegroup.com. Mays, William. ‘‘Mays on Customer Service, Minority Business and IBJ’’ (interview). Indianapolis Business Journal, May 21, 1990. Parent, Tawn. ‘‘Risky Career Moves Pay Off for Civic-Minded Mays.’’ Indianapolis Business Journal, January 27, 1992. ‘‘Six Honored by IU and IU Foundation with Herman B. Wells Visionary Awards.’’ Indiana University Office of Communications and Marketing, November 2000. http://www.iuinfo.indiana.edu/ocm/releases/visionary.htm. Whittingtham-Barnes, Donna. ‘‘The Freshman Class of 1992.’’ Black Enterprise 22 (June 1992): 186–187, 190, 192.

Thura Mack

Jewell Jackson McCabe (1945– ), Entrepreneur, Organizational Official Born on August 2, 1945, into an upper-middle-class family in Washington, D.C., Jewell Jackson McCabe has established herself as an effective business leader representing public and private domains simultaneously. She is a graduate of Bard College, New York, and received honorary doctorates from Tougaloo College, Jackson, Mississippi, and Iona College, New York. Professional insight has led McCabe on a quest to help navigate black women through political, economic, and social channels in mainstream America, thereby maximizing their collective leverage as voices for change. One needs only to look to her presidential, gubernatorial, and mayoral appointments, substantial board appointments, and the leadership willed through her positions as president of Jewell Jackson McCabe Associates, Inc. and founder and chairperson of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women (NCBW) to contextualize her contributions as a powerful businesswoman. Jewell Jackson McCabe Associates, Inc. is a consulting firm that specializes in managerial communication strategically and has a partial client list that includes American Express; Reliance Group Holdings; NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Legal Defense & Educational Fund; Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art; Panasonic; and The College Board. NCBW is an advocacy group composed of over 5,000 professional black women and serves as a platform for leadership cadre. McCabe divorced twice and has no children. Kujichagulia is the Swahili principle that refers to self-determination. McCabe’s understanding and demonstration of its meaning and application as an entrepreneur and advocate for empowering black women in greater numbers cannot be overstated. While addressing the New Rochelle chapter of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs (NANBPWC) in 1983, she asserted that blacks need to be more focused and dogmatic in their efforts to make the most of their involvement

500

Jewell Jackson McCabe

in the entire political arena. Including elective and appointive politics, she argues that black women are in positions to determine their own destinies and necessarily that of the black family as well. Yet she is certain to point out how this ability is wasted when it is ignored and taken for granted. Such clarity of maximizing one’s potential certainly was impacted from her upbringing where she was molded by her mother Julia O. Hawkins-Jackson and her father Harold ‘‘Hal’’ B. Jackson, who was a pioneer in the field of black broadcasting in the United States. Genetic ties alone do not ensure the outcome of one’s course of action, but McCabe has proven she can more than hold her own. Her business astuteness can be measured from appeals to black women’s ability to maintain a balanced approach in striving toward the zenith of power. According to Dorothy Gilliam, she concludes that to attain such heights first black women have got to be about what she calls the ‘‘politics of presentation,’’ wherein agendas inundate the public domain. But her business sensibilities are never lost because she encourages her members to do for themselves financially through dues collections and strategic fund-raising. Her larger point is that approaches should broaden self-reliance and never breed dependence on public or private sources of income because money represents the source of power negotiation. For instance, she notes that alliances and coalitions with other groups are appropriate only when you have the wealth to dictate the boundaries of discourse and operate from a position of strength. To support such an appeal, McCabe once referred to the contradictory relative absence of recognized black women in massive leadership capacities from the feminist movement of the 1970s, despite the movement’s boast of symbolic women’s independence generally from such black heroines as Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Madame C. J. Walker, Ollie Chin Porter, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Elizabeth Jennings from the nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth centuries. Never lost in her analyses is the critical necessity of group identity rooted in financial security as the base for the political and social realms of society. Whereas McCabe advocates more black women running for elective office, she is emphatic about the role needed on corporate boards and executive positions within major financial institutions to help balance the slate of power in a much broader sense than politics exclusively. Leading by example is the McCabe way. Accordingly, she sits on the following boards: Reliance Group Holdings, Inc.; Alight.Com; the New York Investment Fund, L.I.C; the Wharton School of Business; Bard College; the National Alliance of Business; the New York City Partnership; Research America; New York City Commission on the Status of Women; the Children’s Advocacy Center of Manhattan; New York State Council on Fiscal and Economic Priorities; the Tax Reform Committee; Economic Club of New York; Overseas Education Fund; Coro Foundation; Phelps-Stokes Fund; and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed McCabe to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, and previously she has filled important posts from

501

H. Carl McCall

gubernatorial appointments as well. Under the governor’s office in New York she served as director of public information. Moreover, her endeavors as director of Government and Community Affairs Department for WNET stabilized $10 million in federal and state financial assistance for New York’s public access station. An architect for empowering black women, McCabe has stayed the course by not wavering on her commitment to push the envelope for encouraging viable participation in the creation, management, and perpetual innovation of business ventures. Ultimately, true power rests with those who control the resources to define their own markets and mediums, a point McCabe hammers home through her diverse affiliations and interaction. See also: Women and Business Sources Gilliam, Dorothy. ‘‘Political Clout and How to Get It.’’ Essence 16 (May 1985): 112–114. McCabe, Jewell Jackson. ‘‘Black Women—Meeting Today’s Challenges.’’ Crisis 90 (June–July 1983): 10–12. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. ‘‘Jewell Jackson McCabe.’’ Notable Black American Women. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. White House Office of the Press Secretary. http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/ political-science/whitehouse-papers.

Uzoma O. Miller

H. Carl McCall (1936– ), Minister, Politician H. Carl McCall is the first African American to be elected to a statewide office in New York. He has had success in both the public and private sectors of American society. He is a minister, politician, and businessman. Early in his career he formed his own company, H. Carl McCall and Associates; served as vice president of Citi-Corp; and served on the editorial board of the New York Amsterdam News. In the public sector his career path led him in many directions, including senior vice president of WNET-TV, a PBS television network; president of the New York Board of Education; commissioner of the New York State Division of Human Rights; and commissioner on the New York and New Jersey Port Authority. He was elected three times as New York state senator, ran for lieutenant governor, served under President Jimmy Carter as UN ambassador, was elected New York State comptroller, and in 2002 ran for governor. He is an expert in public finance, economic development, fiscal policy, and infrastructure. McCall has been labeled fiscally astute, bright, and an exceptional talent. Born in Boston, on October 17, 1936, the son of a single parent, McCall and his five siblings were raised on welfare. Despite these humble beginnings, he prepared himself academically by excelling in high school, graduating from Dartmouth College, attending the University of Edinburgh in

502

H. Carl McCall

the capital city of Scotland, and obtaining a Master’s of Divinity Degree from Andover-Newton Theological Seminary. From a position as branch manager at a bank, his leadership abilities soon became apparent. Early in his political career he served as commissioner of the New York City Council against Poverty. In 1975 he won his first elected office as a state senator. While serving on the Senate Minority Taskforce of the City of New York, he wrote a report on neighborhood growth. In 1978, he served on the New York Senate Democratic Task Force on Truancy in the Public Schools. Harold Washington’s election as mayor of Chicago brought about bitter city council wars; similarly McCall’s election to the post of comptroller was met with controversy. Republicans sought to bar him from carrying out his duties, and the Democratic-controlled state assembly voted for a bill to undercut his authority. As comptroller from 1999 to 2002, McCall served as the chief fiscal officer for the state. He was outspoken on environmental issues and used his position to encourage cleanup of toxic chemicals that General Electric had dumped into the Hudson River. Friends and foes considered him a persistent watchdog, using his auditing powers to ensure that environmental programs functioned effectively. Never afraid to tackle a difficult problem, he fought the discriminatory practices of Texaco and used his influence to battle tobacco companies. He sued the governor of New York to safeguard the Common Retirement Fund twice. As comptroller, he became sole trustee of a $56 billion pension fund and was authorized to oversee and audit spending for the state and public authorities. Unlike most states where pension funds are run by boards, politicians, and interest groups, in New York the comptroller calls all the shots. McCall eagerly embraced this roll and accepted that the buck stopped with him. By the end of his tenure as comptroller, he had carefully invested the pension fund, causing it to grow from $56 billion to $122 billion. He viewed his position as comptroller as nonpartisan and a representative of the interests of all of the people of the state. He ran as an independent Democrat for governor of New York in 2002 at age sixty-six. His Republican opponent was the incumbent governor George Pataki. Creating the Working Families Party, he was the first black candidate from a major party to run for governor. He ran a successful campaign but lost to a popular Republican governor who was in office during the attack against the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Supporting his gubernatorial efforts were notables Spike Lee, Bill Cosby, and Johnnie Cochrane. Although McCall has always fought for racial equality, he was criticized for not speaking out against police brutality and racial profiling during his bid for the governorship. In February 2003, he became vice chair and managing director of HealthPoint LLC, a firm that provides financials services to the orthopedic device industry. He resigned from the board of the New York Stock Exchange in 2003 after having served since 1999. Also during 2003 he spent time making speeches, raising funds, and promoting the party’s attempt to regain the White House. He is married to Joyce Brown, president of the

503

Renetta McCann

State University of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. They have a daughter, Marci. Rising from poverty to achieve a long and distinguished career in the public and private sectors, he is considered as someone who achieved the American dream. He began his working career as a minister, became a vocal advocate against poverty, attacked the welfare system, and fought for educational improvements for the state of New York. For his achievements, WABC-TV, an ABC affiliate, chose McCall to be part of a program that focuses on people who excel despite coming from difficult circumstances. He is known for his leadership skills, bold decisions, fiscal acumen, and even temperament and for embracing and not avoiding the issue of race. As a public official he focused his energies on eradicating the economic divide between the haves and have-nots. When he became comptroller, 87 of his first 100 appointees were women and minorities. His affirmative action policy included setting aside resources for managed funds for minority- and female-owned firms, and he invested $100 million in a state minority business agency. McCall was outspoken against apartheid and was a vocal and effective advocate for getting American companies to pull out of South Africa. Sources Burr, Barry B. ‘‘McCall Takes Comptroller Post.’’ Pensions and Investments 21 (May 17, 1993): 2. ‘‘Election 2002.’’ http://www.mcCall02.org. Greene, Pam. ‘‘McCall Boosts Democrats; Former Comptroller Speaks at FundRaiser in Dewitt.’’ Post-Standard, July 22, 2004. Henderson, Ashyia N., ed. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 27. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Hueston, Sylvia, et al. Making It: A Message to African American Youth. WABC Television, 1990. Video recording. New York. Landon, Thomas, Jr. ‘‘McCall to Quit Stock Exchange after Pay Furor.’’ New York Times, September 26, 2003. Maroney, Tyler. ‘‘McCall to Duty.’’ Fortune 141 (May 1, 2000): 302. ‘‘McCall Leaves NYSE.’’ Boston Herald, September 26, 2003. Reed, K. Terrell, and Sonia Alleyne. ‘‘What It Takes to Win.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (November 2002): 82.

Gloria Hamilton

Renetta McCann (1958?– ), Media Firm Executive A pioneer and industry leader, Renetta McCann is the first and only African American to achieve senior status within Starcom MediaVest—one of the largest and most prestigious media houses in America. Although she comes from a family of educators, McCann is a first-generation businesswoman. She is recognized for her work in cultivating Starcom into one of the nation’s top strategic planning and think tanks in the media industry.

504

Renetta McCann

A firm advocate and practitioner of diversity in the workforce, she is disturbed that few members of her race are coming behind her. McCann is the oldest of five children. Her mother, Editha Walker, is a teacher and her father an insurance salesman. McCann grew up on Chicago’s South Side, where she continued to live after her rise to corporate success. Although she had planned to become a lawyer, she chose speech instead and graduated from Northwestern University around 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts in speech. McCann got her start in media in 1978 at the Leo Burnett agency, where she worked as a media assistant and in 1982 as media director. She was promoted in 1989 to media director and during a ten-year span handled clients such as Sony, Keebler, and McDonald’s. Her success was immediate, as she brought in new clients, and by 1993 she had learned to identify and address different client needs. In 1995, McCann was promoted to senior vice president, and by 1999, both the media industry and McCann’s career path changed direction. In 1999, Leo Burnett’s executives formed Starcom Global and became the driver of strategy—a new trend in the media market. The company wanted to develop its talent and find new ways to enable advertisers to communicate with their clients. Since technology was changing so rapidly, the company saw urgency in the need to change its direction. In 1999 as well, McCann was named managing director, and when the company merged with D’Arcy, she had greater responsibility—to oversee three other vice presidents. Starcom had contracts with leading companies such as Hallmark, Polaroid, Sara Lee, McDonald’s, and Showtime Networks. While in that role, she approved a new diversity effort for the company. She used a joint internal/ external team to help design a program to locate, hire, retain, and nuture promising people of different backgrounds. Starcom’s remarkable performance in 2001 and 2002 was due to McCann’s leadership skills as well as her skill in managing human resources. Her keen ability to manage Starcom effectively and to bring innovation into the company led her to another promotion. In August 2004, McCann was promoted to chief executive officer (CEO) of Starcom MediaVest Group/ The Americas (SMG), with oversight for the Publicis Groupe’s media properties located in the United States, Canada, and Latin America. These properties include Starcom, MediaVest, GM Planworks, and Starlink. The promotion has been called external recognition to McCann, who for some time was a trusted adviser to the CEO and to the board of SMG worldwide. She led a core team through a lengthy communications planning review process for Procter & Gamble, culminating in SMG’s enlarged portfolio with P&G—a successful act that helped to ensure her promotion. At Starcom MediaVest Group, McCann has responsibility for the largest office in the group’s network. Her group is a subsidiary of Publicis, a French media company and one of the leading media companies in the world. She oversees all annual business plan development, financial issues, client

505

Renetta McCann

relationships, and strategic media planning functions. She doubled the size of her team and now has 600 employees; her team has also had the lowest turnover rate in the industry—the result of her ability to nurture and grow new talent. She also brought in a $600 million account from Walt Disney World. McCann is well sought as a speaker at industry conferences. She is also chair of the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ Media Policy Committee. She is a board member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations and is on the Advisory Board of Northwestern University’s Media Management Center. In addition, she is a board member of Chicago United, a metropolitan coalition of business leaders who work to enhance capital and educational opportunities for different communities. Other memberships include the American Advertising Federation’s Multicultural Bureau Practices Leadership Council. She is affiliated with the local networking and leadership group, The Chicago Network, to which prominent women in Chicago belong. Honored widely for her achievements, in 2000 McCann was the only media/advertising specialist honored with the Black Expo President’s Award. In 2001, she was named Media Maven by Advertising Age. She also received the Business Week Media Strategies Award, the Chicago Magazine Association’s Vanguard Award, and her agency’s Black Pencil for outstanding creative thinking. Young minority media professionals in her company presented to her an internal Trailblazer Award for her efforts on their behalf—an award that she especially appreciated. Active in the community as well, she is a supporter of Chicago’s oldest boys and girls club—The Off the Street Club—and chaired its bozo Buckets Fundraiser in 2000 and 2001. In 2002 McCann was listed in Black Enterprise magazine as ‘‘2002 Corporate Executive of the Year.’’ In that same year, the Advertising Club of Chicago named her the 2002 ‘‘Advertising Woman of the Year,’’ and in 2003 Essence magazine named her one of ‘‘50 Women Who Are Changing the World.’’ She was recognized by Ebony magazine in March 2004 as one of the top fifteen executives in corporate America; the executives were masters of technology, media, and management. In February 2005 Black Enterprise magazine named McCann to its list of the ‘‘75 Most Powerful African Americans in Corporate America.’’ McCann is married to former advertising executive Kevin McCann and has two children—Ella and Alexander. She has had an illustrious career of twenty-five years in media and continues to be an advocate for the power of media communications. See also: Advertising Agencies; Advertising and Marketing; Women and Business Sources Alleyne, Sonia. ‘‘No Commercial Breaks.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (September 2002): 90–96. Brenann, Carol. ‘‘Renetta McCann.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 44. Detroit: Gale, 2002.

506

McKissack and McKissack Architects and Engineers, Inc. Cleveland Advertising Association Luncheon Series. Creative Module 2002. November 20, 2002. http://66.181.85.124/calendar/nov-2.php. Elkin, Tobi. ‘‘Starcom Elevates Renetta McCann to CEO—The Americas.’’ Media Daily News. http://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?cb¼083401P&NewsID¼ 262669&newsDate. Meeks, Kenneth. ‘‘The Most Powerful African Americans in Corporate America.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (February 2005): 104–142. ‘‘Renetta McCann.’’ http://www.mediamanagementcenter.org/center/web/inside/ directories/advisory/mccann.htm.

Jessie Carney Smith

McKissack and McKissack Architects and Engineers, Inc. McKissack and McKissack, the nation’s oldest African American–owned architectural and engineering firm, began its operation in 1905 in Nashville, where the company was headquartered until moving to Philadelphia in 2001. McKissack men managed the firm in its beginning; however, it is now owned and operated by the McKissack women. The McKissack and McKissack architectural tradition dates back to the first Moses McKissack (1790–1865) of the West African Ashanti tribe, who was sold into slavery to William McKissack of North Carolina. Under the tutelage of his owner, one of America’s first contractors, Moses McKissack became a master builder. Although physically enslaved, he used the implements of the building trade and became one of its skilled craftsmen. In 1822, he married Mirian (1804–1865), a Cherokee, and they became the parents of fourteen children. The ninth child, Gabriel Moses McKissack (1840–1922), moved to Pulaski, Tennessee, after America’s Civil War and continued in the building trade he learned from his father. When Moses II began his business in Pulaski, builders were often responsible for designing their structures. Like his father, Gabriel Moses II taught the building skills to his sons Moses McKissack III (1879–1952) and Calvin McKissack (1890– 1968). One of Moses II and Dolly Ann McKissack’s seven sons, Moses III was born in Pulaski, Tennessee, on May 8, 1879. He received his education in the town’s racially segregated public schools. Working with his father, McKissack III gained hands-on experience in his native rural community. In 1890, just one year away from being graduated, he dropped out of Pulaski Colored High School. The same year, James Porter, a white Pulaski architect, hired young McKissack, and he served as a construction superintendent, building houses in Pulaski, Mount Pleasant, and Columbia, Tennessee, and Athens and Decatur, Alabama. After working five years for Porter, he worked as construction supervisor at Vale Rolling and Riverburg Mills, preparing shop drawings for B. F. McGrew and Pitman & Patterson. His proficiency and acumen in construction earned McKissack the reputation as

507

McKissack and McKissack Architects and Engineers, Inc.

a superb artisan. Having mastered the principles of construction under his father’s supervision, McKissack III left the familiarity of his native surroundings and set out to establish his own business. In 1905, McKissack III moved to Nashville and opened his architectural and construction business in the Napier Court Building. The same year, Granberry Jackson, Vanderbilt University’s dean of architecture and engineering, commissioned McKissack III to design and construct his home. Later, he designed and built other homes in Nashville’s West End area and the home of Tennessee Governor A. H. Roberts. The first major commission he received was Fisk University’s Carnegie Library, for which Secretary of War William Howard Taft laid the cornerstone in 1908. Fisk’s Carnegie Library was one of the first major structures in America designed by an African American architect. In 1909, McKissack advertised as an architect in the Nashville City Directory. Listed as a ‘‘colored architect,’’ he was among eighteen other architects in the city. Three years later, McKissack designed and built the Administration Building for Turner Normal and Industrial Institute in Shelbyville. He also designed dormitories for Nashville’s Roger Williams University and Jackson, Tennessee’s Lane College. By 1920, McKissack was designing buildings for clients in all sections of Nashville, and his reputation spread throughout the state. McKissack’s younger brother, Calvin Lunsford McKissack (1890–1968), assisted him on many projects. The McKissacks offered contracting services, with a number of masons, carpenters, and laborers on staff. In 1921, when the Tennessee professional registration law went into effect, the McKissacks were among the first registered architects in the state. Licensed as architects by the Tennessee Board of Architects and Engineers Examiners, Moses McKissack III received Certificate No. 117, and his brother received Certificate No. 118. The following year Calvin joined Moses as a business partner, and they formed McKissack and McKissack Architects and Engineers, Inc., becoming Tennessee’s first professional African American architectural firm. Within three years, the architectural enterprise gained the attention of one of America’s largest denominational conventions. In 1924, the firm received a contract from the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., to design the Morris Memorial Building on Charlotte Avenue. McKissack and McKissack moved into space on the first and second floors. Successful across the southern states and noted for their church edifices, they also received municipal contracts to design a number of educational facilities for Nashville including, but not limited to, Washington Junior High, 1927; Pearl High, 1936; and Ford Green Elementary, 1937. Of these, only Pearl High is extant. They also designed the Tennessee State University Memorial Library (1927) and other buildings on that campus. Between the 1940s and 1950s, McKissack and McKissack also designed buildings on the campuses of Fisk University and Meharry Medical College. The firm was selected in 1929 to build the new headquarters for Tennessee’s only African American–owned insurance company, Universal Life of Memphis. Other McKissack buildings include the C.M.E. Publishing House in

508

McKissack and McKissack Architects and Engineers, Inc.

Jackson, Tennessee, and the A.M.E. Publishing House in Nashville. These buildings, demolished in the late 1970s, represented the firm’s expertise in the Art Deco style. As the tentacles of the Great Depression reached everywhere, McKissack and McKissack did not escape its snare. While the firm struggled financially and glided toward insolvency, it avoided liquidation because of a series of contracts it received to design and build public schools and numerous Public Works Administration projects. The architectural firm received various Public Works Progress Administration contracts in the 1930s and later designed several federal housing complexes. In 1941, Alabama granted the firm a business license. Two years later licenses were granted in Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and Mississippi. The McKissacks received national recognition in 1942, when the federal government awarded the construction contract for the 99th Pursuit Squadron Air Base, a World War II African American combat air unit, in Tuskegee, Alabama, to McKissack and McKissack. This contract was the largest federal government contract ever awarded to an African American firm. Moses and Calvin received the Charles Clinton Spaulding Medal, given to the outstanding ‘‘Negro’’ business firm in the country. The firm was involved in the design of several community housing developments, one of which was the College Hill development in northwest Nashville. Because of his national standing and expertise in the design and construction of public housing, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed McKissack III to the White House Conference on Housing Problems. McKissack III, the founder of McKissack and McKissack, died at age seventy-three on December 12, 1952, after having been in the architectural business for forty-seven years. Funeral services for the firm’s patriarch were held at Capers Memorial Christian Church where he was a member and designer of the church edifice. His brother Calvin, the surviving partner, became president and general manager of the firm, remaining until his death in 1968. Subsequent to the demise of Moses and Calvin McKissack, the scepter of administration passed to Moses III’s son, William DeBerry McKissack (1925–1988). The younger McKissack directed the company until an incapacitating stroke caused him to relinquish his post. After his untimely resignation, management of the country’s oldest African American architectural firm shifted to his spouse, Leatrice Buchanan McKissack. In 1987, the Tennessee Building Commission awarded McKissack and McKissack the design for the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. Following the death of William DeBerry McKissack, the McKissack daughters, who were professional engineers, joined the company. With assistance rendered by her daughters, the McKissack women opened satellite offices in Tennessee, Washington, D.C., and New York. In August 1993, McKissack and McKissack, Architects and Engineers received its first contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority when the firm was chosen to design a crew maintenance facility in Corinth, Mississippi, and an in-processing facility at the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The firm remained Nashvillebased until it moved its headquarters to Philadelphia in 2001.

509

Calvin McKissack and Moses McKissack III

McKissack and McKissack, the nation’s oldest African American–owned architectural and engineering firm began its operation in Nashville, Tennessee. Unlike its beginning, however, when the firm was managed by the McKissack men, it is now owned and operated by the McKissack women. Sources Thomason, Phil. ‘‘Moses McKissack III (1879–1952).’’ African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865–1945. Ed. Dreck Spurlock Wilson. New York: Routledge, 2004. Wynn, Linda T. ‘‘Building Tennessee: The Story of the McKissacks.’’ The Courier. Nashville: Tennessee Historical Commission, October 1977. ———. ‘‘Leatrice B. McKissack.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book II. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996. ———. ‘‘McKissack and McKissack.’’ Creating Traditions, Expanding Horizons: A History of Tennessee Arts. Ed. Carroll Van West. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2004. ———. ‘‘McKissack and McKissack.’’ Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Ed. Carroll Van West. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1998. ———. ‘‘McKissack and McKissack, 1905– .’’ Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee. Ed. Bobby L. Lovett and Linda T. Wynn. Nashville: Local Conference on African American Culture and History, 1996.

Linda T. Wynn

Calvin McKissack (1890–1968) and Moses McKissack III (1879–1952), Architects Born in Pulaski, Tennessee, brothers Moses and Calvin McKissack learned the building trade from their father, Moses McKissack II. Early in the twentieth century, Moses III left Pulaski for the state’s capital and established himself as an architect. He received his first commission to design and construct the home of Granberry Jackson, Vanderbilt University’s dean of architecture and engineering. McKissack’s success with the Jackson project caused him to receive other commissions. Joined by his brother Calvin in the early 1920s, the brothers became the state’s first registered African American architects. For several decades, the brothers worked side by side designing some of the region’s most beloved buildings. Together, they built their company’s reputation as one of the nation’s leading premiere architectural firms. Decades after their death, family members continue to extend the brothers’ vision for McKissack and McKissack as a builder of national renown into the twenty-first century. Founder of the first African American–owned architectural firm (1905– ) in the state of Tennessee, Moses McKissack III was born on May 8, 1879, to Gabriel Moses and Dolly Ann McKissack in Pulaski, Tennessee. One of seven sons born to this union, he received his formal education in the segregated public schools of Pulaski. Like his father, who learned the

510

Calvin McKissack and Moses McKissack III

building trade from his father Moses McKissack I, Moses III learned from and gained experience in the trade working with his father Moses II. In 1890, one year before being graduated, he dropped out of Pulaski Colored High School to further enhance his building skills by working with James Porter, a local white architect. To hone his skillfulness, McKissack III prepared construction drawings and went to job sites to construct his renderings. After five years of working under Porter’s tutelage, he worked for B. F. McGrew and Pitman & Patterson as construction supervisor at Vale Rolling and Riverburg Mills, preparing shop drawings. Appreciative of the experience he gained while working for others, he also mastered his craft by building his own designed houses in his native town, as well as in Mount Pleasant and Columbia, Tennessee, and Athens and Decatur, Alabama. After becoming proficient in the building trades, McKissack III left Pulaski and relocated to Nashville, Tennessee. Arriving in Nashville in 1905, McKissack III opened his own construction business, with an office located in the Napier Court Building. Soon after his arrival in the ‘‘Athens of the South,’’ the dean of architecture and engineering at Vanderbilt University, Granberry Jackson, commissioned the young architect to design and construct his home. His success with the Jackson home led to several other commissions to design and build majestic homes in Nashville’s West End area, including the home of Tennessee Governor A. H. Roberts. To enhance his architectural adroitness, he took and completed a correspondence course in architecture from the International Correspondence School, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Nashville’s Fisk University gave McKissack his first major commission in 1908, when it awarded him the contract to design and construct its Carnegie Library. Neoclassical in design, Secretary of War William Howard Taft laid the building’s cornerstone. Four years after arriving in Nashville, McKissack III began advertising in the Nashville City Directory as an architect. The directory listed him as a ‘‘colored architect,’’ along with eighteen other architects in the city. His reputation spread outside of Nashville, and the up-and-coming architect garnered new contracts to design buildings for educational institutions in middle and west Tennessee. In 1912, McKissack III was awarded the contract to design the Administration Building for Turner Normal & Industrial School for Negroes in Shelbyville, Tennessee. He also won the contracts to design dormitories for Roger Williams University in Nashville and Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee. The same year that he designed the Administration Building on the campus of Turner Normal & Industrial School for Negroes, McKissack III married Miranda P. Winter. To this union six sons were born, all of whom entered the architectural or building trades. Lewis Winter, Moses IV, and William DeBerry became architects. Lemuel and Samuel became industrial arts teachers, and Calvin became a construction supervisor. By the 1920s, McKissack was designing buildings for clients throughout Nashville and the state of Tennessee. McKissack not only designed

511

Calvin McKissack and Moses McKissack III

educational buildings; he also designed several Nashville houses. One of his more significant residences was the Hubbard House at 1109 First Avenue, South, which was built for Dr. George Hubbard, president of Meharry Medical College. Calvin Lunsford McKissack (1890–1968), McKissack III’s younger brother, assisted him in most architectural endeavors. Calvin was born on February 23, 1890, in Pulaski. Calvin grew up in the town of his birth exposed to the building trades. Working along with his father and older brother, he followed them into the business of design and construction and entered the architectural field. He spent three years at Barrows School in Springfield, Massachusetts, and attended Fisk University from 1905 to 1909. Like his brother, Calvin received his architectural degree through the International Correspondence School in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Three years after leaving Fisk, Calvin left Nashville and began a practice in Dallas, Texas. Remaining there for three years, he designed a number of churches and schools for the African American community. From 1915 to 1918, he was superintendent of industries and teacher of architectural drawing at Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State Normal School (now Tennessee State University). After 1918, he was the director of the Industrial Arts Department at Pearl High School. Later, Calvin became the first executive secretary of the Tennessee State Association of Teachers in Colored Schools, a position he held until his resignation in 1922. The same year that he resigned his position with the Tennessee State Association of Teachers in Colored Schools, Calvin McKissack officially joined his older brother as a partner in the architectural firm of McKissack and McKissack. The year before the McKissacks established their architectural firm, the state of Tennessee enacted its professional registration law, which became effective in 1921. Some degree of difficulty impeded the process of granting Tennessee’s first African American architectural firm a license to practice. However, the more biased members of the board of review were maneuvered, if not placated, by the less prejudiced committee members such as Carlton Bush: ‘‘I . . . request you to act without regard to color as we have not authority to disqualify any race,’’ he penned to W. H. Sears of Chattanooga, according to Wynn in ‘‘Building Tennessee.’’ Notwithstanding the ‘‘Jim Crow’’ era and the entrenched and predisposed racism of some of the board of examiners, the brothers were among the first registered architects in the state. Acknowledging the McKissacks’ professional aptitude, a majority of the board members voted and approved their certifications. McKissack III received Certificate No. 117 and his brother Calvin received Certificate No. 118. However, their skills were inspected more thoroughly than were those of other firms. As exemplified by the abundant correspondence to the Tennessee’s board of examiners, other southern states also demonstrated their reluctance to grant the McKissack brothers licenses to practice. As noted further in ‘‘Building Tennessee,’’ the Tennessee Board of Architects and Engineers Examiners replied that the firm of McKissack and McKissack was ‘‘somewhat unique in the fact that it was one of few Negro architectural

512

Calvin McKissack and Moses McKissack III

firms in the country. They have done creditable work in Nashville, including several large school buildings running into a total cost of several hundred thousand dollars.’’ The McKissacks’ clientele expanded throughout the 1920s. Calvin McKissack designed numerous residences in Nashville and was noted for his church designs. With the expansion of the firm’s reputation, the younger McKissack became a principal in the city’s African American business community. In 1925, he served as president of Nashville’s Negro Board of Trade. Later, from 1951 through 1952, he served as national president of the National Technical Association. During the 1940s, he received licensure in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and Mississippi. In September 1948, McKissack and W. S. Davis, president of Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State College (now Tennessee State University), established the college’s School of Engineering. Before that time, only a building construction– engineering curriculum, which led to a Bachelor of Science degree, existed at the institution. Just as Calvin McKissack gained recognition and became a leader in Nashville’s African American business community, Moses McKissack III also became a chief player, in not only Nashville and the state of Tennessee; he also gained national recognition. The progenitor of the nation’s oldest African American architectural and engineering firm became a major stockholder in the African American–owned and –operated Universal Life Insurance Company of Memphis, Tennessee, and the Penny Savings Bank in Nashville. Because of his expertise and experience in designing and constructing public housing complexes, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed McKissack III to the White House Conference on Housing Problems. In 1942, Calvin and Moses McKissack III received national recognition when the federal government awarded a $5.7 million construction contract for the 99th Pursuit Squadron Air Base, a World War II African American combat air unit, in Tuskegee, Alabama, to their architectural firm. This contract was the largest federal government contract ever awarded to an African American–owned firm. The same year, Moses and Calvin received the Spaulding Medal from President Roosevelt. Named for Charles Clinton Spaulding, the founder and first president of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, the largest African American–owned insurance company in America, the award honored the ‘‘Outstanding Negro Business’’ in the country. Moses McKissack III died at age seventy-three on December 12, 1952, after having been in the architectural business for forty-seven years. Funeral services for the firm’s patriarch were held at Capers Memorial Christian Church, where he was a member and designer of the church edifice. Calvin, his brother and surviving partner, became president and general manager of the firm until his death in 1968. In recognition of the contributions made by the McKissack brothers to the historic building heritage of the United States, the National Park Service

513

Frank Mercado-Valdes

of the U.S. Department of the Interior listed a number of the McKissacks’ Nashville buildings in the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to the national acknowledgment, Nashville officials recognized Moses McKissack III’s contributions when it named Moses McKissack Middle School and McKissack Park in his honor. Sources Thomason, Phil. ‘‘Moses McKissack III (1879–1952).’’ African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865–1945. Ed. Dreck Spurlock Wilson. New York: Routledge, 2004. Wynn, Linda T. ‘‘Building Tennessee: The Story of the McKissacks.’’ The Courier. Nashville: Tennessee Historical Commission, October 1977.

Linda T. Wynn

Frank Mercado-Valdes (1962– ), Television Network Founder and Executive Frank Marcelino Mercado-Valdes founded a black television syndication, the African Heritage Network (AHN), a television sales, distribution, and marketing company, in 1993 when he was barely thirty-one years old. Mercado-Valdes subsequently changed the name of the company from the African Heritage Network to The Heritage Networks (THN) and built the fledgling company with revenues less than $1 million in 1993 into a $60 million business with programs that reached over 85 percent of the general television viewing audience by 2002. At its pinnacle, Mercado-Valdes’s THN was one of the largest black-owned companies in the United States. Mercado-Valdes was born to Linda Valdes and Frank Mercado on May 18, 1962, in New York, New York. He graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science in 1985. With his charismatic personality, persuasive speech, and determination, MercadoValdes could have become a very successful executive for a big corporation. However, these personal traits along with his ambitions, boundless energy, enthusiasm, passion for old movies—specifically black movies—and his exceptional vision created the perfect foundation for him to become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship gave Mercado-Valdes the platform to become a salesman extraordinaire—one who sold his ideas and his concepts at great profits. Until he was eleven years old, Mercado-Valdes was a gifted elementary school student. He was influenced by his grandparents to have dreams and expectations and to respect education and hard work. He witnessed their efforts to participate in the American dream; his grandmother worked as a seamstress, and his grandfather worked at a gas station during the day and played conga drums in a band by night. Although neither of them was very well educated, each of them appreciated the importance of education and

514

Frank Mercado-Valdes

understood what a significant difference an education could mean to their beloved grandson. In order for him to have a better opportunity to receive a good education, his grandparents decided to move the family to Miami, Florida, when Mercado-Valdes was eleven. At this point in his life, his dream was to become a lawyer. Unfortunately, the family settled in a neighborhood where young Frank was isolated from others who looked like him. In this neighborhood, Confederate flags were conspicuously displayed, pickup trucks were the preferred method of transportation, and racism was rampant. Here in this AngloSaxon, blue-collar neighborhood, Mercado-Valdes experienced for the first time the pain of being different. He was verbally and physically abused to the point that he had to resort to fighting every day. The academic nurturing, personal confirmation, and sense of belonging that he felt by being a part of the diverse Bronx neighborhood where he spent the first eleven years of his life were nonexistent in his South Florida neighborhood. He was alone and intimidated by the white students who harassed him on a daily basis, and he gave up trying to compete academically. However, he did become very good with his fists, and by the ninth grade, his fighting skills were so good that he considered a boxing career. Although he did not go on to make a career of boxing, he earned several Florida Golden Glove championships when he was in high school. His grades continued to suffer, and when he finished high school in 1980, he was at the bottom of the graduating class. Because of his poor academic standing, he felt that he would be unable to get into any college. He believed that his dream of becoming a lawyer had been ruined. At this point, Mercado-Valdes joined the military, the U.S. Marine Corp, and served a two-year stint. When he was discharged from the Marine Corps in 1982, he enrolled at Miami-Dade Junior College and graduated with an Associate in Arts degree. He subsequently matriculated at the University of Miami, receiving a degree in political science from that institution. While at the University of Miami, Mercado-Valdes began toying with an entrepreneurial idea that would change his life in ways he had never dreamed. Mercado-Valdes’s foray into entrepreneurship came in 1984 with his idea to create a beauty pageant for African American college students. In October 1984, the first semester of his senior year in college, Mercado-Valdes and five other members of his fraternity began a letter-writing campaign and took a tour of some of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to try to convince the institutions to allow their campus queens to participate in the pageant. When the whirlwind tour was finished the foundation for the ‘‘Miss Collegiate Black American’’ Pageant had been set. Mercado-Valdes realized that although he had made much progress in developing the pageant, he had not addressed administration and funding for it. Never one to be deterred easily, Mercado-Valdes used his political contacts gained from the days when he worked as a college intern in Miami’s City Council Office to secure shoestring funding for the event. And some of his influential contacts agreed to serve as members of the board of directors for the pageant. In April

515

Frank Mercado-Valdes

1985, the first Miss Collegiate Black American Pageant took place at the Miami Marine Stadium. The pageant did not go over without a hitch—many problems were experienced. Nevertheless, Mercado-Valdes had become passionate about the pageant and dreamed of making it a profitable venture. The key to profitability, he believed, was to make the pageant a televised event. In the summer of 1990, five years after the first Miss Collegiate Black American Pageant, he cut a deal with Universal Studios in Los Angeles to televise the pageant, and he secured advertisers for the show. In the first two years of its being televised, the show ran a deficit, but in year three, the pageant generated $.6 million in profits. Mercado-Valdes was now a successful entrepreneur. His success with the pageant encouraged him to seriously pursue other entrepreneurial ideas. An idea that would grow to make him richer than he had ever imagined was his plan to locate hard-to-find classic black films, license and package the films, and sell them to hundreds of television stations throughout the states. MercadoValdes drew up a business plan and incorporated the new business. He called his new venture African Heritage Network (AHN). He tapped one of his wealthy business associates, Comer Cottrell, who had been a sponsor for the pageant, to partner with him and provide start-up funding. Cottrell loaned $350,000 and invested $25,000 for 25 percent ownership of the company. In January 1993, the African Heritage Network presented its first ‘‘Movie of the Month’’ airing on seventy-three stations. AHN soon became very popular with the African American population. By the end of 1993, the company’s programming was in the homes of 75 percent of the country and 88 percent of all black households with television sets. THN’s market share remained strong, large corporate advertisers were standing in line, and revenues doubled each year of operation. THN was now established in the television industry, and Mercado-Valdes was unquestionably a very successful entrepreneur. He continued to expand his television movie syndication business but opted to discontinue televising the pageant in 1996. Beginning in 1996, the entrepreneur began to focus his attention on acquisitions in order to grow THN into a powerful network syndicate. However, the expensive and competitive business of acquisition, although having the potential to be lucrative, would also prove to be very treacherous for Mercado-Valdes and his company. Mercado-Valdes’s THN remained profitable for the next five years. However, after a very expensive and cutthroat acquisition of licensing rights to ‘‘Showtime at the Apollo’’ from the Apollo Theater Foundation in 2002, THN’s financial armor began to crumble. Several other flawed acquisitions further depleted THN’s finances. By early 2003, a number of disgruntled former employees who had not been paid filed suit with California’s Labor Commissioner for back pay, creditors were screaming, and it was rumored that THN was teetering on bankruptcy. In an attempt to fix the problems and return the company to financial stability, Mercado-Valdes was replaced as chief executive officer (CEO) of THN in January 2004. In March 2004, THN filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Today THN is far removed from its brilliance of former times.

516

John Merrick

Mercado-Valdes, once hailed as a brilliant media strategist, is a pariah in the industry. His name no longer appears in the profiles of the Heritage Networks. Comer Cottrell, multimillionaire businessman, CEO and founder of Proline Corporation (a line of black hair-care products), and one of THN’s earliest investors, is now chairman of the bankrupt company. But this bright young man’s star has probably not burned out. At forty-three years of age, he no doubt has many more productive years as a visionary and an entrepreneur ahead of him. He is intelligent enough to benefit from his past mistakes and determined enough to put them behind him. The business world should not be surprised to hear a lot more from Mercado-Valdes. Sources ‘‘Apollo Theater Files Trademark Suit.’’ http://www.backstage.com/backstage/news/ article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id¼1782839. ‘‘Apollo TV Server Hit by Money Woes.’’ http://www.nydailynews.com/business/ story/171597p-149715c.html. ‘‘Employees May Never See Back Pay. Former Heritage Networks Employees May Not See a Dime Because of Language in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.’’ August 20, 2004. http://www.blackenterprise.com/ExclusivesEKOpen.asp?id¼841. Harris, Wendy Beech. Against All Odds: Ten Entrepreneurs Who Followed Their Hearts and Found Success. New York: Wiley, 2001. Henderson, Ashyia N., ed. Who’s Who among African Americans. 14th ed. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2001. ‘‘The Heritage Networks L.L.C.’’ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_3_ 34/ai_109355248#continue. ‘‘Heritage Networks Wins Showdown: Frank Mercado-Valdes Plans to Build a Bigger Brand after Landing the Rights to ‘Showtime at the Apollo’—B.E. 100s.’’ October 2003. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_3_34/ai_109355248# continue.

Alicia Henry

John Merrick (1859–1919), Barber, Life Insurance Executive, Real Estate Investor, Entrepreneur Born a slave, John Merrick became a barber and eventually owned five barbershops in Durham, North Carolina. Through the years, he invested in real estate. But his most notable accomplishment involved founding and presiding over the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, the nation’s oldest and largest African American–owned company of its kind. In all his business ventures, he modeled leadership and philanthropy. Born on September 7, 1859, in Clinton, Sampson County, North Carolina, Merrick knew only one of his parents—his mother Martha. In 1871, the Merricks moved to Chapel Hill, where twelve-year-old John worked in a brickyard to help provide for his younger brother Richard and his mother, who worked as a domestic. In 1877, the family moved to Raleigh, North

517

John Merrick

Carolina, where Merrick took employment as a hod carrier. Learning the skill of brick masonry, he helped construct the first buildings on the campus of Shaw University. Then, while a bootblack in W. G. Otey’s barbership, he learned the barber’s trade. In Raleigh, he began a family of his own, marrying Martha Hunter. The couple had five children: Geneva, Mabel, Edward, John Jr., and Martha. Merrick barbered for many of Raleigh’s prominent white men, including tobacco tycoons Washington Duke and Julian S. Carr. In 1880, Carr convinced Merrick and fellow barber John Wright to move to nearby Durham and open a shop. For the first six months, Merrick worked as Wright’s assistant and then co-owned the Wright and Merrick Barber Shop. The friends purchased a lot on Pettigrew Street and built homes side by side. In 1887, Merrick purchased a more elaborate six-room home on Fayetteville Street, in a more prominent area of Durham. When Wright moved to Washington, D.C. in 1892, Merrick became sole owner of the barbershop. Over time, he opened five shops, two for blacks and three for whites. Some sources indicate that he may have owned as many as nine shops for a short time. In 1890, Merrick began working on a cure for dandruff. He recorded his handwritten advertisements in a notebook found after his death. According to R. McCants Andrews, Merrick declares, ‘‘No greec no fussy oder its quick erfeck its cooling and clensing Power make it wonderful,’’ and confidently advises, ‘‘Treat your head at once with Merrick’s Dandruff Cure.’’ Andrews portrays the town barbershop as ‘‘the original chamber of commerce, men’s clubs, and civic forum.’’ Merrick cut hair and shaved beards for some of Durham’s most influential white men, who later invested funds in the black community. The shop occasionally served out-of-town guests as well. Andrews claims that, around 1895, orator William Jennings Bryan stopped by for a shave. As Bryan left the shop, he gave Merrick an 1882 silver dollar with the instruction not to spend it until Bryan became president of the United States. According to Andrews, the Merrick family still possessed the dollar after Merrick’s death. As early as 1881, Merrick began buying real estate and building rental homes in Hayti, the African American part of town where he lived. He hauled the lumber and built the houses himself, eventually becoming one of the community’s largest landowners. According to John Ingham, Merrick knew how to locate inexpensive land and materials. Often, he bought land for the price of taxes, once purchasing a house for $9. At Christmas, he gave his renters toys and food and refunded a week’s rent. In his early days, Merrick became involved in the Durham community. On September 24, 1883, he and several other men purchased the Royal Knights of King David from Georgia minister Reverend Morris. Merrick served as Supreme Grand Treasurer until he died. The fraternal order offered insurance but provided only minimal death benefits. Black families faced extreme financial difficulties when the head of a household died.

518

John Merrick

HELPS FOUND INSURANCE COMPANY In October 1898, Merrick and six other men banded together to form a life insurance company for blacks. Merrick, Aaron McDuffie Moore, Pintney William Dawkins, Dock T. Watson, William Gaston Pearson, Edward Austin Johnson, and James E. Shepard invested $50 each in the company. Merrick served as president, Watson as secretary and manager, and Moore as treasurer and medical director. The North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association opened for business on April 1, 1899 (Table 27). The company found it difficult to sell the idea of insurance to blacks, many of whom possessed meager funds. Facing the prospect of failure throughout the first six months, most of the investors favored dissolving the enterprise. Merrick and Moore bought out the other five founders and hired Charles Clinton Spaulding, Moore’s nephew, as manager. Robert G. Fitzgerald joined the firm as an investor and later as a director. For $2 a month, the association rented office space in the building where Dr. Moore operated his medical practice. A local carpenter built a desk for $4 and six chairs for a total of $3. Neither Merrick nor Moore took a salary. Spaulding worked on commission at first. While the owners attended to their other businesses, Spaulding began developing a clientele. Not long after he sold the first policy, a widow filed a death claim for $40. At a meeting in the back of Merrick’s barbershop, the three men pooled their own money to pay this initial claim. Spaulding then used the experience to emphasize to prospective clients the association’s reliability. The company ended its first year with $840 in assets and a good beginning toward the concept that formed its motto: ‘‘Merciful to All.’’ In 1900, the owners rented two rooms above a store, its office space for the next four years. But even into 1902, Merrick used his own money to keep the company operating. Income finally exceeded expenses in 1903. North Carolina Mutual bought land and established a more permanent home in 1904. That same year, the company expanded into South Carolina. By 1905, Merrick felt comfortable taking a salary of $100 a month; he quit barbering and focused his efforts toward the company. Andrews recounts that Merrick, Moore, and Spaulding met at noon each day to share updates on the business. In 1908, the association bought property and constructed a set of buildings that housed the home office, Merrick’s barbershop, Moore’s doctor’s office, the Royal Knights of King David office, and other businesses. That year, the association opened a state headquarters in South Carolina and published the only pictorial album in the firm’s early history. In 1911, North Carolina Mutual moved into Georgia under the direction of Merrick’s son, Edward, who later became treasurer for the insurance company. In 1913, a fire destroyed the Mutual’s building but not its progress. By 1915, the company established its presence in Virginia and then moved into Washington, D.C. in 1916. Maryland and Tennessee joined the list of states in 1918. That year, the company survived payment of almost $100,000 in claims resulting from an influenza epidemic.

519

Table 27. Select Insurance Companies Ranked by Assets This Year

Last Year

Company/Location

Chief Executive

Year Started

Staff

Assets*

Statutory Reserves*

Insurance in Force*

Premium Income*

Net Investment Income*

1

1

North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co. Durham, NC

James H Speed Jr.

1898

147

161.207

92.288

14,372.304

67.891

5.478

2

2

Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co. Los Angeles, CA

Larkin Teasley

1925

250

112.836

88.899

2,842.000

28.559

6.520

3

3

Atlanta Life Financial Group Atlanta, GA

Ronald D Brown

1905

30

76.389

16.459

11,809.837

49.242

2.108

4

4

Booker T. Washington Insurance Co. Birmingham, AL

Walter Howlett Jr.

1931

85

56.209

50.820

1,382.784

8.131

1.911

5

—

Williams-Progressive Life & Accident Insurance Co. Opelousas, LA

Patrick Fontenot

1947

44

10.366

7.805

35.158

1.314

0.497

*In millions of dollars, to the nearest thousand, as of December 31, 2004. Prepared by B. E. Research. Reviewed by the certified public accounting firm Edwards & Co. Source: Black Enterprise 35 ( June 2005): 188. Published by permission.

John Merrick

On May 12, 1918, at one of the noontime meetings, the directors voted to change the association’s name to North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. New branches opened in Mississippi, Florida, and Arkansas. As the company grew, the founders engaged in philanthropy, funneling profits back into the black community through investments in businesses, educational institutions, and churches. For many years, the Merrick-Moore Scholarship Fund helped deserving high school students gain college educations. In 1917, the firm began sponsoring an annual conference for its agents. By 1919, Merrick’s health had deteriorated, and he had lost a leg. Most sources speculate that he had cancer. He briefly attended the June conference to address his insurance agents for the last time. R. McCants Andrews notes in his biography of John Merrick that Merrick’s tearful remarks included a typically positive outlook: ‘‘I have more to thank God for than everybody put together in this house. . . . As long as it is God’s will, I want this institution to move, for men to support their families; and God will let it live.’’ Merrick died on August 6, 1919. St. Joseph’s African Methodist Episcopal Church hosted his funeral. His grave lies in a cemetery that he created and named Violet Cemetery, in honor of his mother. Representative honors include the Merrick-Moore School, a ship named the SS John Merrick, and the company’s annual Merrick-Moore-Spaulding National Achievement Award. In Merrick’s final year, the company took in $1.7 million, and North Carolina Mutual still thrives. Dr. Moore, and then C. C. Spaulding, succeeded him as president. By the time of Merrick’s death, the insurance company had expanded into twelve states and Washington, D.C. and now has established a presence throughout the states. A stunning, twelve-story building in the midst of Durham’s white business district now serves as the home office. Throughout his life, Merrick had contributed generously to Durham’s black community. In 1901, when his friend Dr. Moore founded Durham’s Lincoln Hospital, Merrick played a key role, soliciting support from the wealthy Duke family. He invested himself in the venture by serving as president of the board of trustees. BLACK BANKS AND OTHER BUSINESS VENTURES In 1907, R. B. Fitzgerald, W. G. Pearson, J. E. Shepard, John Merrick, A. M. Moore, and S. L. Warren banded together to establish a bank for blacks. After incorporating Mechanics and Farmers Bank of Durham, the men sent out a notice announcing a July 29 meeting. Stockholders elected Fitzgerald president, Merrick vice president, and cashier. The bank opened in August 1908. Merrick became president in 1910 and served until his death. In 1908, some of the same men who established the bank saw the need for a drugstore to serve blacks. Merrick, Moore, Spaulding, Pearson, C. H. Shepard, and S. T. Jones founded the Bull City Drug Company. James served as pharmacist for the establishment located in the group of stores founded by

521

John Merrick

North Carolina Mutual. In 1910, the Merrick-Moore-Spaulding Real Estate Company formed to manage properties owned by Merrick and North Carolina Mutual. In 1914, Merrick, Moore, and Spaulding established the Durham Textile Mill. They hired C. C. Amey to oversee the manufacture of socks. In addition to difficulty in finding employees, the enterprise faced the hardships of the war and the depression and could not establish a market. The venture failed but still serves as a notable attempt to establish such an industry among the black population. In July 1916, Dr. Moore rented a building that Merrick had recently constructed to house a library that he had begun at White Rock Baptist Church in 1913. Both blacks and whites—many of them Merrick’s friends— supported the library and, within a year, raised enough funds to purchase the building. Merrick gave back to the library $1,000 of the $4,000 sale. Merrick also contributed generously to Kittrell College, establishing the Martha Merrick Library on that campus. Through Merrick’s varied business ventures, chiefly North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company, he worked toward improving the economic status of fellow African Americans. John Ingham and Lynne Feldman describe Merrick as ‘‘one of those rare entrepreneurs who radically transform their environment.’’ In his business relationships, Merrick promoted a strong image of blacks and fostered goodwill and respect between the races. Andrews noted that one of Merrick’s contemporaries described him as the ‘‘connecting link’’ between his race’s ‘‘old life of discontent, idleness and poverty and its new life of satisfaction, industry, and success.’’ See also: Black Banks: Their Beginning; Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History; Retail Industry Sources Adams, Russell L. Great Negroes: Past and Present. 3rd ed. Chicago: Afro-Am Publishing Company, 1981. Andrews, R. McCants. John Merrick: A Biographical Sketch. Durham, NC: Press of the Seeman Printery, 1920. Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American Lives. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Garraty, John A., and Mark C. Carnes, eds. American National Biography. Vol. 15. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Ingham, John. Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Kennedy, William J., Jr. The North Carolina Mutual Story: A Symbol of Progress, 1898–1970. Durham: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, 1970. Logan, Rayford W., and Michael R. Winston, eds. Dictionary of American Negro Biography. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982. Weare, Walter B. Black Business in the New South: A Social History of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1973.

Marie Garrett

522

Lightfoot Solomon Michaux

Lightfoot Solomon Michaux (1885–1968), Evangelist, Entrepreneur Lightfoot Solomon Michaux was the founder of an independent holiness church, the Church of God (Gospel Spreading Tabernacle Association), and a noted radio evangelist. He began broadcasting in 1929 and moved to Columbia Broadcasting System radio in 1932, where he enjoyed great popularity for several years. Although there was a sharp decline in the number of stations carrying his programs around 1938, he continued broadcasting until his death and even tried the new medium of television from 1949 to 1951, appearing on a local television station for two years. In politics Michaux is credited as a leader inducing African Americans to switch their support from the Republican to the Democratic Party with his endorsement of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 and subsequent elections. With a background in commerce, Michaux both encouraged his followers to better themselves and followed his own advice. Becoming wealthy through his real estate investments, at his death he left a fortune estimated at over $20 million to his church and family. Michaux was born in Newport News, Virginia, on November 7, 1885. His father John was a fish peddler and a grocer. Michaux left school in the fourth grade to take up fish peddling himself and apparently never developed great fluency in reading. In 1906 he married Mary Eliza Pauline; the couple had no children. Michaux’s wife was responsible for his turn to the ministry while they were living in Hopewell, Virginia, a World War I boomtown. The two began to hold street meetings in 1917. In 1918 he was ordained in the Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A. In 1919 they moved back to Newport News, and Michaux formed a congregation that separated from the Church of Christ in 1923 under the name Church of God. He subsequently began establishing branch churches along the East Coast, but he remained the sole minister of the group, paying weekly visits to each church and appointing in each deacons with limited and closely supervised authority. About 1928 Michaux established his headquarters in Washington, D.C. and the following year began to broadcast on station WJSV. The signature tune of the program, ‘‘Happy I Am,’’ led to his nickname of the ‘‘Happy I Am Preacher’’ and suggested the name of his monthly paper, Happy News. After CBS network started carrying the program from coast to coast in 1932, Michaux became very popular: CBS estimated an audience of 24 million listeners for his Saturday night programs in 1934. His preaching was backed by the vocal solos of his wife and a choir. The program’s music contributed to the rise and diffusion of gospel music, and future gospel stars Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward sang for a time in the choir. However, by 1938 his popularity underwent a sharp decline, and soon he was broadcasting mostly in the cities where he had churches. Michaux and his congregation were hard-pressed by the Great Depression. Some of his initiatives went beyond help to the members of his church

523

Lightfoot Solomon Michaux

and garnered wide attention. In 1932 he organized the Good Neighbor League to support the Bonus Expeditionary Force, a movement to demand relief by early payment of a bonus to jobless veterans. The league went on to provide housing for evicted families. Using several donated buildings, church members renovated the premises and gave free living space to seventy to eighty evicted persons without income. In addition, Bernard MacFadden, a celebrated health food advocate, donated the use of one of his chain of restaurants. During one year this Happy News Cafe´ served over 250,000 free meals. Another service provided by Michaux and the Good Neighbor League was a free employment service. The sight of the army driving the demonstrators of the Bonus Army from the streets of Washington and destroying their encampment in late summer 1932 turned Michaux against President Herbert Hoover and the Republicans, and he endorsed Franklin D. Roosevelt for president. He is thus credited with a major role in furthering the massive switch of black Americans from the Republican to the Democratic Party in the elections of 1932 and 1936. Michaux’s support for the Democrats continued through the 1948 election of Harry Truman, but in the following presidential election, he switched to Republican candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower. All of this political activity gained for Michaux influence, which was important for his real estate efforts. INVOLVED IN REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT Michaux purchased a tract of 1,800 acres near the Yorktown and Williamsburg historical parks in 1934 and planned to develop the site as a National Memorial to the Progress of the Colored Race in America. Due to suspicions of some prominent memorial’s board member about the integrity of Michaux and his plans for fund-raising, heightened by the failure of the board to meet after 1936, the plan fell through. That Michaux viewed the project emphatically as a Church of God project did not help build widespread support in the black community. Then in 1939 the Parks Service’s plan to construct a highway between Yorktown and Williamsburg precipitated a six-year struggle by Michaux to hold on to valuable parts of his land since the Park Services endeavored to take the land between the proposed highway and the ocean. Michaux retained most of the disputed land, but the final settlement in 1945 was not a clear-cut victory. In 1942, Michaux was involved in the construction of Mayfair Mansions, a federally funded project to build housing for middle-class African Americans. The actual events are murky and the structure of the deals is not clear; major suspicions centered on the role of government officials in the financing. The architect, Albert Irvin Cassell (1895–1969), celebrated for his work at Howard University, later felt he had been cheated out of his fair share and also accused Michaux of soliciting a bribe to push the project forward. In any case, in January 1944 the National Housing Agency refused further needed funding. Michaux was successful in an appeal to Mary McLeod

524

Lightfoot Solomon Michaux

Bethune to solicit the support of Eleanor Roosevelt, the president’s wife. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation advanced new moneys and made another loan in 1949. Enough information came out during the congressional hearings in 1951 to arouse the suspicions of many persons about Michaux’s integrity. No taxes were paid on Mayfair Mansions from 1948 to 1951, and in 1953 the Reconstruction Finance Corporation authorized foreclosure. Michaux avoided this catastrophe, and by 1966 he had settled his tax and loan liabilities to the government since he then received $6 million in funding from the Federal Housing Agency to build Paradise Manor, an 617-unit apartment complex next to Mayfair Mansions. There is no question that Michaux was determined to control his business activities just as closely as he did those of his church. He opposed giving financial information to his members and preparing any to assume financial direction of the church. He lived well but may not have enriched himself unduly. The bulk of his properties went to the church at his death. Unfortunately, the members of the church’s financial committee were unprepared to deal with the financial disorder they faced and made at least two very disadvantageous actions early on. A sign of the confusion in the estate was the presence of three wills; a 1966 will was first set aside in favor of one dated 1958 due to the death in 1967 of a major beneficiary, Michaux’s wife; then a vague and incoherent 1968 will turned up, naming a white man with a very dubious reputation and much distrusted by church members as executor. This in turn was set aside. By the time of his death on October 20, 1968, Michaux had accomplished much, but he seems to have been a disappointed man. He had seen his own influence diminish from its height around 1938 as he lost much of his radio audience, and his political influence declined after he threw his support to Eisenhower in the 1952 election. He limited the potential for the growth of the church he founded by his inability to develop leaders who could support his efforts in much the same way as his business operations suffered from his obsession with control and secrecy. It was not unknown for other leaders to be jealous of the success of Martin Luther King Jr., but most were better advised than Michaux who published his attack on King, blaming King for using protest tactics he himself had used years before. His conservatism also appears in his efforts to ingratiate himself with J. Edgar Hoover, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director. Michaux was a major pioneer in the use of radio for evangelism and became widely known. Unfortunately he was linked with Daddy Grace and Father Divine and aroused the same sort of suspicions that he was a fringe cult leader. His religious activities were nonetheless within the mainstream of the Holiness movement, and his social reform and business activities fall within a tradition in the black church stretching from activist ministers like Hugh Proctor at the turn of the twentieth century to contemporaries like Leon Howard Sullivan and Floyd Flake. His own failures in leadership and judgment go far to explain the limits of his enduring achievements.

525

Minority Businesses in Major Cities Sources Ashcraft-Eason, Lillian. ‘‘Lightfoot Solomon Michaux.’’ American National Biography. Vol. 14. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Dupree, Sherry Sherrod. African American Holiness-Pentecostal Movement: An Annotated Bibliography. New York: Garland, 1996. ———. Biographical Dictionary of African-American, Holiness-Pentecostals 1880– 1990. Washington, DC: Middle Atlantic Regional Press, 1989. Green, Constance McLaughlin. The Secret City: A History of Race Relations in the Nation’s Capital. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1967. ‘‘$10,000 Held Paid Ex-Aide of F.H.A.’’ New York Times, October 6, 1954. Webb, Lillian Ashcraft. About My Father’s Business: The Life of Elder Michaux. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981.

Robert L. Johns

Minority Businesses in Major Cities Black Enterprise magazine defines a black-owned company as one in which at least 51 percent of the company’s assets belongs to African Americans. According to 2004 issues of the magazine, the largest percentage of minority business in major cities is auto dealerships. (Tables 28 through 30 provide historical context.) This is followed, respectively—in terms of amount of sales—by businesses that specialize in technology, food and beverage distribution, manufacturing, media, energy, construction, transportation, telecommunications, and entertainment. During 2003 minority car dealers enjoyed over $9 billion in sales, while the black-owned entertainment businesses made $320 million. The June 2004 issue of Black Enterprise lists the 100 top industrial services companies and the top 100 auto dealerships. All 100 of the industrial service companies and the top ten automotive companies are grouped by their location in this entry. The top ten blackowned investment banks and private equity firms are also included. Some of the businesses located in the suburbs of major U.S. cities are identified also. Only companies that responded to Black Enterprise’s questionnaires are included on their lists. The lists change year by year as companies thrive or decline. Black-owned businesses in many other U.S. cities, which are not among the leaders in revenue, are omitted from their lists. Others are excluded because they failed to respond to Black Enterprise’s survey or because African Americans do not hold the majority of their business holdings. MIDWESTERN BUSINESSES V and J Holding Companies, Inc., of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, earned over $90 million with its Burger King and Pizza Hut franchises and was thirtyeighth on Black Enterprise’s list for 2003. Minneapolis, Minnesota–based

526

Minority Businesses in Major Cities Table 28. Business Establishments, 1863–1913 Kinds of Business 1863 Bakery Barbering Blacksmithing Boot and Shoe Repairing Cabinet Making Catering Dressmaking Fish and Oyster Business Hairdressing Sailmaking Shopkeeping Vending Total 12

Kinds of Business 1913 Automobile Service and Garage Architecture Bakery Banking Barbering Blacksmithing and Wheelwrighting Bottling and Soda Water-making Broom Making Cabinet Making Carriage Making Catering Confectionery Contracting and Building Cigar Making Dairying Delicatessen Business Dressmaking Drug Store Dry Goods Store Electrical Business Employment Bureau Fish and Oyster Business Floral Culture Fruit Raising Furmaking and Repairing Furniture Store General Store Grocery Store Haberdashery Hair Goods Manufacturing Hairdressing, Manicuring, and Massaging Hack Business Hospitals and Sanitarian Management Hotel Keeping Huckstering

Insurance Jewelry Loan and Investment Business Laundrying—Steam and Hand Livery Business Lumber Business Meat Market Mine Operating Millinery Painting and House Decorating Photography Plumbing Poultry Raising Printing and Publishing Produce and Provisions Real Estate Restaurant Keeping Regalia Making Sawmilling Saloons Shoemaking and Repairing Shoe Store Stationary [sic] Stockraising Tailoring Theatre and Amusement Park Truck Gardening Tea and Coffee Business Tinsmithing Business Undertaking Upholstering Vacuum House Cleaning Wood and Coal Wine and Liquor Business Total 72

Source: Monroe N. Work, ‘‘Fifty Year Business Progress—1883–1913,’’ Negro Year Book and Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1913 (Tuskegee, AL: Tuskegee Institute, 1913), 300–301.

Thor Construction, Inc., a general contracting and construction management business, was eighty-sixth, with revenues of almost $35 million in 2003. Other midwestern companies on the top 100 industrial service companies list were Mays Chemical Company, Inc., of Indianapolis, Indiana, which specializes in chemical distribution, and Power & Sons Construction Co., Inc., located in Gary, which provides general contracting and construction management services.

527

528 Table 29. Negro Businesses in Selected Cities, 1939

City Baltimore Birmingham Chicago Cleveland Detroit Jacksonville Houston Los Angeles Memphis New Orleans New York Richmond St. Louis Washington

Auto Repairs and Garage

Barber Shops

Beauty Parlors

54 9 71 49 30 4 39 27 20 17 104 17 42 17

179 41 250 85 105 32 84 66 92 137 266 89 130 175

217 19 262 99 145 19 79 118 49 57 567 70 140 249

Kind of Business Cleaning, Pressing Undertakers 87 22 217 56 105 16 33 55 45 82 298 26 72 68

26 10 41 8 24 5 13 3 13 3 63 17 30 32

Printing Shops

Shoe Repairs

Shoe Shine Parlors

5 4 25 7 13 — 9 7 3 9 54 7 4 17

49 27 58 10 31 18 22 17 36 24 63 31 18 25

119 28 95 68 37 4 62 460 82 10 205 23 111 56

Source: Census of Business, Vol. 3, Service Establishments: 1939. Published in Jessie P. Guzman, ed., Negro Year Book: A Review of Events Affecting Negro Life, 1941–1946 (Tuskegee, AL: Department of Records and Research, Tuskegee Institute, 1947), 184.

Table 30. U.S. Firms—Ownership by Race and Hispanic Origin, 1997 All Firms Firms Sales/receipts (1,000) (mil. dol.)

Group All firms Black

20,822

18,553,243

Firms (1,000) 5,295

Firms with Paid Employees Sales/receipts Employees (mil. dol.) (1,000) 17,907,940

Annual payroll (mil. dol.)

103,360

2,936,493

823

71,215

93

56,378

718

14,322

1,200 125 472 70 57 287 188

186,275 26,492 73,707 7,461 16,923 40,998 20,694

212 30 91 11 13 43 24

158,378 23,873 62,271 5,814 15,264 34,798 16,654

1,389 176 695 62 76 239 140

29,830 4,163 13,015 1,497 2,046 5,863 3,247

American Indian and Alaska Native

197

34,344

33

29,226

299

6,624

Asian and Pacific Islander Asian Indian Chinese Filipino Japanese Korean Vietnamese Other Asian Native Hawaiian Other Pacific Islander

913 167 253 85 86 136 98 71 16 4

306,933 67,503 106,197 11,078 43,741 45,936 9,323 19,016 2,250 1,888

290 67 91 15 23 50 19 22 2 1

278,294 61,760 98,233 8,966 41,295 40,746 6,768 16,801 1,957 1,768

2,203 491 692 110 262 334 79 202 21 13

46,180 12,586 12,945 2,667 7,107 5,789 1,166 3,136 498 286

17,317

7,763,011

4,373

7,252,270

54,084

1,395,150

85

37,732

39

34,632

302

8,619

382

10,161,242

10,104,058

44,458

1,437,195

Hispanic Cuban Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano Puerto Rican Spaniard Hispanic Latin American Other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino

White non-Hispanic Fifty percent minority/fifty percent nonminority Other

1

(S)

S ¼ Does not meet publication standards. 1 Includes publicly held corporations, foreign-owned companies, and not-for-profit companies.

529

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, 1997 Economic Census, Company Statistics Series, Company Summary 1997, EC97CS-1; Survey of Minority-Owned Business Enterprises—Asians and Pacific Islander 1997, EC97CS-5; and Hispanic 1997, EC97CS-4. Published in U.S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004–2005, 124th ed. (Washington, DC: GPO, October 2004), 497.

Minority Businesses in Major Cities

Missouri World Wide Technology, Inc., in Maryland Heights, St. Louis County, rated number 1 on Black Enterprise’s list of 100 black industrial service companies for 2004. This company resells information technology products and services. Its sales in 2003 totaled almost $1.2 billion. Other St. Louis companies in the top 100 were Millennium Digital Media, a broadband services company that offers cable television and related telecommunications services, and Roberts Broadcasting Company, a firm that specializes in television broadcasting. Illinois Illinois businesses in the top 100 are Baldwin Richardson Foods Company of Frankfort, a manufacturer of liquid products for the food service industry; Commodities Management Exchange of Northfield, provider of electronic trading platforms for the sale and management of raw materials; and Capsonic Group, LLC., in Elgin, a manufacturer of automotive parts. Sayers, in Mount Prospect, supplies technology and customized technology solutions. Chicago Johnson Publishing Company of Chicago, Linda Johnson Rice and John H. Johnson, chief executive officers (CEOs), made almost $500 million in sales during 2003 and was the fourth most successful business on the Black Enterprise list. Another Chicago-based company, Blackwell Consulting Services, was ninety-sixth on the list and had almost $32 million in sales in 2003. Loop Capital Markets, LLC, is ranked second on Black Enterprise’s investment banking top ten list. Michigan The Bartech Group, Inc., of Livonia is a professional staffing, information technology solution, and outsourcing service. Number 17 on the Black Enterprise industrial service company list, Bartech earned $190 million in 2003. Pontiac Michigan’s DBM Technologies, LLC, is an automotive supplier of blow-molded parts and assemblies. Its 2003 sales amounted to $72 million. Specialized Services, Inc., in Southfield, provides telecommunications and fuel management services. TAG Holdings, LLC, located in Troy, manufactures crankshaft dampers, temperature sensors, and tire assemblies. Workplace Integrators in Bingham Farms provides contract furniture installation and design and project management. Located in Ypsilanti, Engineered Plastic Products, Inc., is a manufacturer of injection-molded components for the automotive industry. Howell, Michigan’s Gilreath, Inc., Leon E. Tupper, CEO, manufactures injection molding, components, and subsystems for cars. SET Enterprises in Warren is a metal processing and assembly business.

530

Minority Businesses in Major Cities

Detroit A number of the most flourishing black-owned businesses are in Detroit. Black Enterprise’s number 1 ranked car dealership, Prestige Automotive, is located in this city. The company had almost $800 million in sales in 2003. The Bing Group of Detroit, the seventh-ranking industrial service company, does steel processing and stamping as well as automotive full-seat and mirror assembly. Global Automotive is a parts manufacturer and distributor. Bridgeway Interiors manufactures car seat systems. The James Group offers supply chain management and marine operations and serves as an automotive exporter. Detroit Heading, LLC, produces automotive fasteners. LaVan Hawkins Food & Entertainment Group LLC retails restaurant and home video operations. Barden Cos, Inc., a casino gaming, real estate development, and international trade company, is also in Detroit. MPS Group, Inc., Roderick K. Rickman, CEO, provides industrial, environmental, and waste management services. Ohio and Kentucky In Solon, Ohio, the Anderson-DuBose Company, Warren E. Anderson, CEO, is a distributor of food and operating supplies to McDonald’s restaurants. This company earned almost $200 million in sales in 2003. Ozanne Construction Company, Inc., does general contracting, construction and program management. Q3 Industries in Columbus provides engineering services, sells robotic weld assemblies, and does metal stamping. H.L.W. Fast Track, Inc., in Youngstown earned almost $31 million from McDonald’s restaurants. Midwest Stamping, Inc., in Maumee, does automotive stampings and assemblies. Cimarron Express, Inc., in Genoa, offers transportation services and is a truckload carrier. Cimarron earned $33 million in 2003. Batavia, Ohio, is the home of 32 Ford Mercury, Inc., the tenth-ranked car dealership with sales of $159 million in 2003. The SBK Brooks Investment Corporation in Cleveland is ranked ninth on Black Enterprise’s investment bank list. Martin Automotive Group of Bowling Green, Kentucky, is the third-ranked auto dealership. Manna, Inc., of Louisville earned $173 million in proceeds from Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburger restaurants. THE EAST COAST Massachusetts and Connecticut Several New England towns had prosperous black businesses. Converge, a Peabody, Massachusetts, company that was not on Black Enterprise’s top 100 list in 2003, was number 10 in 2004 with sales over $300 million for services as market maker and broker for RAM (random access memory), CPUs (central processing units), and linear integrated circuitry. The Specialized Packaging Group, Inc., of Hamden, Connecticut, manufactures folding cartons and packaging machinery. ShopRite supermarkets of West Haven, Connecticut, Samuel O. Chapman Jr., CEO, earned over $33 million in 2003. Three of the

531

Minority Businesses in Major Cities

top ten private equity firms and one of the top ten car dealerships are located in Connecticut. These are Fairview Capital Partners, Inc., in Farmington, the Capital Group, LLC, in Stamford, Smith Whiley & Company in Hartford, and March/Hodge Automotive Group, also in Hartford. New York New York City New York City’s major black-owned companies among the top 100 in 2004 include Rush Communications, an entertainment, fashion, and financial service with about $320 million in sales for 2003. The city’s Granite Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts and sells commercial airtime to advertisers, and Essence Communications Partners publishes magazines and provides entertainment products. Inner City Broadcasting Corporation of New York City focuses on radio broadcasting and cable communication. Earl G. Graves, Ltd., publishes Black Enterprise, holds conferences, and does radio and TV programming. Six investment banks on Black Enterprise’s top ten list are located in New York City. They are the Williams Capital Group, LP, Blaylock & Partners, LP, Utendahl Capital Partners, LP, M. R. Beal & Company, Ormes Capital Markets, Inc., and Rice Financial Products Company. Four of the top ten black-owned private equity firms are also in New York City: Quetzal/J. P. Morgan Partners, Provender Capital Group LLC, ICV Capital Partners, LLC, and Black Enterprise Greenwich Street Corporate Growth Management. New Jersey and Pennsylvania A New Jersey business thirty-fifth on the industrial service company list was the Integrated Packaging Corporation of New Brunswick, manufacturer of corrugated and allied products. Freehold Chevrolet, located in Freehold, was ranked eighth in the list of top ten car dealerships with sales of over $220 million in 2003. Philadelphia minority companies include the Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company, James Bruce Llewellyn, CEO, which bottles and distributes soft drinks. The bottling company’s 2003 sales figure was almost $450 million. PRWT Services, Inc., of Philadelphia does outsourcing and provides labor and management services. Larry C. McCrae, Inc., specializes in electrical and telecommunication construction. Another Pennsylvania company on the list of 100 top industrial services companies was Erie-based OEM-Erie, Inc. This company specializes in automotive, plastic injection, and molded assembly. THE SOUTH Maryland and Virginia Because of the taxes, congestion, and high costs of property in major cities, many minority-owned businesses are in suburban areas. The Baltimore/

532

Minority Businesses in Major Cities

Washington, D.C. megalopolis includes a number of minority-owned businesses that were in Black Enterprise’s top 100 service and industrial business list for 2004. These businesses are located in both Maryland and Virginia. Radio One, Inc., located outside Washington in Lanham, Maryland, is a radio broadcasting company whose sales amounted to almost $345 million in 2003. RS Information Systems, Inc., of McLean, Virginia, south of Washington, has a staff of 1,450 and provides software engineering and applications development. Thompson Hospitality, with offices in Herndon, Virginia, offers contract food services. Health Resources, Inc., of Baltimore is a pharmacy benefit managing company. It also handles specialty pharmaceuticals. RLJ Development, LLC, of Bethesda, Maryland, Robert L. Johnson, CEO, has seven employees. This business specializes in hotel development and investment and accumulated over $79 million in sales in 2003. Other businesses in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. include Dimensions International, Inc., in Alexandria, Virginia, which does systems engineering and program management. Communications Technologies, Inc., of Chantilly, Virginia, provides telecommunications services and network operations. Also located in Chantilly, Omniplex World Services Corporation offers security and background investigations as well as preemployment screening. Both of the Chantilly businesses had over $70 million in earnings. Spiral, Inc., of Chandler, Reginald Fowler, CEO, is a real estate development business and a manufacturer of aviation simulators in 2003. McNeil Technologies of Springfield, Virginia, offers information management services, consulting services, and facilities management. Rockville, Maryland–based Paradigm Solutions Corporation provides high-quality information technology solutions and support services. SENTEL Corporation in Alexandria, Virginia, specializes in engineering and software services. Advanced Resource Technologies, Inc., also located in Alexandria, does automotive plastic injection molded assembly. SENTEL had $43 million in sales in 2003, while Advanced Resource Technologies had over $75 million. Axiom Resource Management, Inc., in Falls Church, Virginia, does management consulting, information technology marketing, and accessibility support. Arlington, Virginia’s MTS Technologies, Inc, Daniel T. Perkins, CEO, provides management consulting, information technology and systems analysis. Telecommunication Systems, Inc., of Annapolis, Maryland, missed Black Enterprise’s top 100 businesses in 2003 but was number 37 in 2004, with total sales of wireless data software and systems integration technologies of over $92 million. SYNCOM, located in Silver Spring, Maryland, Herbert Wilkins Sr., CEO, is Black Enterprise’s fifth ranked black-owned private equity firm. Other Virginia-based industrial service companies are Community Pride, Inc., in Richmond, a grocery retail and catering firm; UNITECH, in Centreville, a technology solutions and homeland security business; and Brooks Rood Group, Inc., in Bedford, Virginia, a provider of battered and breaded products to the food industry.

533

Minority Businesses in Major Cities

Georgia C. D. Moody Construction Company in Lithonia earned $31 million in 2003 for general construction and construction management. Legacy Automotive Group in Union City is the ninth-ranked auto dealership. Savannahbased Vanguard Holding, Inc., Sylvester C. Formey, CEO, is a Marathon Oil Corporation supply chain management and safety equipment distribution firm. Bronner Brothers of Marietta is the eightieth-ranked industrial service company. This firm manufactures ethnic health-care products. Atlanta Black Enterprise’s seventh-ranked investment bank, Jackson Securities, LLC, is located in Atlanta, and the fifth-ranked auto dealer, Harrell Companies, is also in that city. H. J. Russell & Company (Herman Jerome Russell, founder) of Atlanta is the twelfth-ranked industrial service company. This firm earned over $300 million doing construction, real estate development, and program management. The Gourmet Companies enterprises include food services, a golf course, hotel management, and catering. Black Enterprise’s 100th-ranked service industrial company, Sanderson Industries, Inc., provides metal stampings and welded assemblies. Other Southern States Calhoun Enterprise of Montgomery, Alabama, is a supermarket food service and telecommunications company. American Product Distributors, Inc., of Charlotte, North Carolina, is the thirty-sixth-ranked industrial service company. It provides customized solutions and is a distributor of business services. Madison Research Corporation in Huntsville, Alabama, is an information technology and engineering services firm. Lexington, Tennessee– based Manufacturers Industrial Group, LLC, is an automotive supplier of welded and assembled components. It ranked forty-fourth on the industrial service list, earning over $80 million in 2003. LESCO, the sixty-sixth-ranked company on the industrial service list, Anita B. Williams, CEO, does government contracting and offers base and facilities support. Lundy Enterprises, LLC, of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a pizza hut franchise. Southeast Fuels based in Greensboro, North Carolina, Ralph K. Shelton, CEO, specializes in sale of industrial/utility coal, fuel oil, and natural gas. Florida Tampa is the home of S. Woods Enterprises, Inc., the third-ranked auto dealership. Coral Gables–based Peebles Atlantic Development Corporation specializes in real estate development and property ownership. Sun State International Trucks, LLC, is also in Tampa. The company sells, services, rents, leases, and provides parts for commercial trucks. Jacksonville’s Raven Transport Company, Inc., offers truckload transport.

534

Minority Businesses in Major Cities

Texas Several black-owned service and industrial businesses in Texas cities made the top 100 list. CAMAC International, Inc., was the second most prosperous black business. The company, which produces crude oil and sponsors gas exploration, production, and trading, had almost $600 million in sales in 2003. Total Premier Services, Inc., also in Houston, is a domestic and international supplier of oil and gas drilling operations. This business made $184 million worth of sales in 2003. Another Houston firm, ChaseCom, L.P., was number 97 on the list. This business provides inbound, outbound, and back office processing. Simeus Foods International, Inc., of Mansfield Texas, Dumas M. Simeus, CEO, manufactures frozen foods for restaurant chains and food distributors. A Carrollton business, Wilson Office Interiors sells, services, and designs office furniture and equipment. Management & Engineering Technologies Intl., Inc., in El Paso, a provider of engineering and information and technology support, made almost $44 million in sales in 2003. Facility Interiors, Inc., in Dallas sells, installs, and services office furniture. Dallas is also home to Pharos Capital, Black Enterprise’s fourth-ranked private equity firm. THE WEST COAST AND THE SOUTHWEST Only 1 of the top 100 industrial service companies named by Black Enterprise was in Oregon. United Energy, Inc., of Portland, James Winters, CEO, earned $39 million in 2003 for energy management and restaurant services. Boyland Auto Group, located in Gresham, Oregon, was the seventh-ranked car dealership. One company, ranked eleventh on the industrial service company list, was in Arizona. This was Spiral, Inc., of Chandler, Reginald Fowler, CEO, a real estate development business and a manufacturer of aviation simulators. The company’s 2003 earnings were $314 million. California Act-1 Group in Torrance provides staffing and professional services. It was the third-most profitable company on the Black Enterprise industrial service companies list, with proceeds of $520 million in 2003. MV Transportation, Inc., in Fairfield provides fixed-route mass transit and paratransit services. Dick Griffey Productions in Sherman Oaks does music publishing and licensing and is an oil and gold brokerage. Beauchamp Distributing Company, located in Compton, distributes malt beverages. PNS of San Jose is a telecommunications, program management, and general contractor business. The fourth-ranked investment bank, Siebert Brandford Shank & Company, LLC, is located in Oakland, and the eighth-ranked private equity firm, Opportunity Capital Partners, is in Fremont. Whittier, California, is the home of the sixth-ranked auto dealership, Family Automotive Group.

535

Minority Enterprise Development Week

Los Angeles The Romar Group, Inc., based in Los Angeles, specializes in apparel design, product development, and marketing support. Karl Kani Infinity, also located in Los Angeles, designs, manufactures, and distributes clothing. Los Angeles–based Surface Protection Industries, Inc., manufactures and markets paints and specialty coatings. Some of the businesses on Black Enterprise’s lists are less than five years old, while others like Johnson’s Publishing Company of Chicago and H. J. Russell & Company of Atlanta have been around for decades. Each company has to be able to adjust to the changing technological, economic, and cultural scene. Fifteen of the companies on the top 100 industrial service company list failed to make the list in 2003; these included the Bing Group, which is in seventh place in 2004. Only six of the companies have that same ranking on the list as they had in 2003. One company, Peebles Atlantic Development Corporation, moved from eighty-eighth to forty-second. PNS of California fell from forty-first to ninetieth. Most companies varied only about ten ranks up or down. In the ever-changing economy, only the strong, adaptive businesses survive. See also: Advertising and Marketing; Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History; Retail Industry Sources Black Enterprise 34 (June 2004). Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998.

Debra Newman Ham

Minority Enterprise Development Week Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week is an annual national celebration to acknowledge the contributions of minority businesses to the nation’s economy. Since 1983, the president of the United States has proclaimed one week beginning late September and extending into early October National MED Week. In doing so, he acknowledge MBEs and recognizes those corporations and financial institutions that support minority business development. Each year the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Government Contracting and Business Development collaborate to hold regional conferences and activities. The recognition also aims to promote the growth of minority-owned businesses as well as encourage equal access to federal contracts, capital, management, and technical assistance.

536

Minority Enterprise Development Week

Reporting on the results of a survey that the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Urban League (NUL) presented in Washington, D.C. at the league’s 2005 annual meeting, Elizabeth Olson for the New York Times wrote that ‘‘in 2002 African Americans owned 1.2 million businesses, an increase of 45 percent, or more than four times the national growth rate.’’ Growth for other minority-owned businesses was phenomenal as well; for example, Hispanic businesses increased 31 percent and Asian-owned businesses 24 percent. Businesses owned by women increased by 20 percent for that period. For African American–owned companies, those with a single operator continue to grow at a greater rate than any other minority. Inasmuch as all minority enterprises continue to grow at a rapid rate and at rates that are at least twice as much as the national average, the need for recognition and assistance may be greater now than ever before. NUL president Marc H. Morial emphasized ‘‘the need to help existing minority-owned businesses become larger.’’ The national MED celebration represents this country’s largest activity of federal advocacy and education earmarked for minority business enterprise. The recognition provides a forum for articulating the administration’s position on minority business development. It provided the medium for interaction among various groups—including corporate America; federal, state, and local governments; and private entities—to work with minorityowned businesses to identify promising business opportunities and forge new alliances to support these businesses. Through the new partnerships that are forged, the partners will share successful experiences. According to President George W. Bush’s proclamation establishing Minority Enterprise Development Week for September 28 through October 4, 2003, ‘‘businesses are a path to the American Dream.’’ Businesses also must be accessible to all Americans. Although most businesses are small, they help to create new jobs in the community. President Bush also encouraged the public to recognize that the country’s minority businesses and their employees are important. They have talents, skills, and a sense of dedication to the community, and the nation should honor them for their gifts to the business world and the economy. The National MED Week celebration for September 25 to October 9, 2005, had as its theme ‘‘The Art of the Deal: Making It Happen.’’ Regional conferences were held in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York, and San Francisco. Exceptional speakers were selected to discuss best practices in successful deal making in the current business landscape, deal-making techniques and tactics needed to work in a structured networking environment, and new business relationships. MED Weeks have brought about a variety of experiences in communities. For example, in 2005, Nashville, Tennessee, provided an opportunity for the faith-based community to recognize local minority entrepreneurs within their congregations. As business owners participated in Minority Business Recognition each Sunday beginning September 25 and concluding Sunday,

537

Aaron McDuffie Moore

October 9, they exposed their businesses to the congregations and, in turn, identified networking opportunities that were possible. The Nashville celebration, which spanned a two-week period, was conducted by a Public-Private Sector Committee and the SBA District Office. Committee representatives came from major corporations, federal departments and agencies, business and trade associations, and minority firms. In addition to the regional conferences, communities elsewhere have held conferences with featured speakers who underscored the strong commitment to diversity initiatives that private industry and the federal government presented. Some focused on the future of minority-owned firms within the economy. Generally, participants in such conferences are given a wealth of information from a variety of industry sectors, such as telecommunications and e-business. Discussions may be given on implementing growth strategies, becoming successful as a minority exporter, contracts and loans, and partnering with leading corporations in the country. MED Week joins other national celebrations that recognize and honor people’s or groups’ contributions to American culture. See also: E-Commerce and the African American Community; FaithBased Entrepreneurship Sources ‘‘Minority Enterprise Development Week.’’ Email from the Nashville Minority Business Center to Jessie Carney Smith, August 4, 2005. ‘‘Minority Enterprise Development Week Conferences.’’ http://www.medweek.gov/ medweek2004/attendee/enter.asp. ‘‘Minority Enterprise Development Week Conferences.’’ Atlanta Regional MED Week Conference. http://www.medweek.gov/medweek2004/attendee/Content.asp? ID¼118&exp¼8%2F2%2F2. ‘‘Minority Enterprise Development Week, 2003.’’ By the President of the United States of America: A Proclamation. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/ 2003/09/20030926-5.html. Olson, Elizabeth. ‘‘Minority-Owned Businesses Are on the Rise.’’ New York Times, July 29, 2005.

Jessie Carney Smith

Aaron McDuffie Moore (1863–1923), Businessman, Insurance Company Executive, Health-Care Official, Bibliophile, Philanthropist A multitalented man, Aaron McDuffie Moore added tremendously to the well-being of blacks in Durham, North Carolina, and its surrounding areas through his work as a medical doctor, hospital founder, and cofounder of several businesses, including North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. His association with North Carolina Mutual brought many years of progress through the combination Moore, John Merrick, and Charles Clinton Spaulding. A firm advocate of education as well, he led a movement

538

Aaron McDuffie Moore

to improve rural schools for blacks in eastern North Carolina, and he helped to increase literacy among blacks by founding the first black branch library in Durham. Moore was born in Elkton, in the eastern section of North Carolina, on September 6, 1863, the son of Israel and Annie Eliza Spaulding Moore. His birth came during slavery and while the Civil War was being fought. He attended the local public schools with other youngsters who became prominent politicians and professionals. He knew early on that he wanted a college education and so prepared for it. Moore entered the all-black State Normal School in Fayetteville, now known as Fayetteville State University. Following his training there, he was accepted into the Leonard Medical School of Shaw University in Raleigh—one of several medical schools for blacks at that time but now closed. He completed the four-year program in three years and graduated in 1887 with the M.D. degree. He knew his subjects so well that when he went before the board of examiners, he finished second in a class of forty-two. After the Civil War ended, North Carolina’s legislature revoked the civil rights and voting privileges of blacks. This move also meant that blacks were systematically excluded from many other opportunities that they had until then. This may have been the catalyst that set in motion numerous self-help activities that Durham’s black community set in place. Moore was among that group. He moved to Durham and in 1888 became the city’s first black physician. He set up practice in his home located next to White Rock Baptist Church located at the corner of Pettigrew and Coleman streets, where he would hold membership, chair the Deacon Board, and become superintendent of the Sunday school. He offered a number of medical services, including tooth extractions. For operations, he used his screened-in back porch as his work site. Moore soon built a highly successful medical practice and became one of the prominent black physicians in the state. On December 18, 1889, Moore married Sarah McCotta ‘‘Cottie’’ Dancy, of Tarboro, North Carolina, whose father was a prominent political leader in eastern Carolina. The Moores had two daughters—Lydia Vivian and Mattie Louise. The Moores saw that their children were well educated and thus sent them to Scotia Seminary (later known as Barber Scotia College) in Concord, North Carolina, and on to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where they graduated cum laude in 1911. Early in Moore’s career he met John Merrick, who was personal barber to Washington Duke, a tobacco tycoon and member of the prominent Duke family in North Carolina. The men developed a relationship that would last a lifetime and result in the founding of three of Durham’s most prominent institutions for blacks: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, Lincoln Hospital, and the Durham Colored Library. The men had diverse business interests, but the uplift of Durham’s black community remained central to their enterprising endeavors. In 1898, Merrick and five other black entrepreneurs founded the North Carolina Mutual Provident Association. It was based on the fraternal benefit

539

Aaron McDuffie Moore

society, the successful Royal Knights of King David. The men had bought the rights of the society, which until then had provided health and life insurance to blacks. Unfortunately, the Royal Knights, like other fraternal aid societies of that era, began to lose its appeal and its resources. In 1899, the investors’ interest and enthusiasm waned; then Moore and Merrick bought the coinvestors’ shares and reorganized the firm. It became a mutual assessment life insurance company. Responsibilities of the top men were divided so that Merrick was placed in charge of finance, Moore was medical assessor, and Moore’s nephew, Charles C. Spaulding, was chief salesman. Moore would serve as secretary-treasurer for twenty years and eventually succeed Merrick as president, and Spaulding would succeed Moore. At least at first, they took no salaries for their work. In 1909, the charter was amended and emphasis was removed from ‘‘assessment’’ and placed on the old-line legal reserve plan. The firm that became known by its motto—‘‘A company with a service and a soul’’—grew rapAdvertisement for North Carolina Mutual and Provident As- idly after that and became one of the sociation, the former name of North Carolina Mutual Life nation’s largest and most profitable Insurance Company in Durham, North Carolina, with bran- black-owned businesses. For a time ches in Atlanta and in Columbia, South Carolina. Organized white insurance companies would not in 1899, it was then the world’s largest black-owned insurance sell life insurance policies to blacks, or company. Source: Monroe N. Work, Negro Year Book and if they did, the premiums were overAnnual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1912. Tuskegee, AL: Tus- priced. Thus, the time to develop the kegee Institute, 1912, p. 7. insurance business among blacks was ripe; North Carolina Mutual easily gained a stronghold in the life insurance business for blacks in North Carolina and, much later, in other states as well. While Moore, Merrick, and their associates flourished during a time of racial segregation in Durham and throughout the South, they were offered some assistance from the white community. Although Durham’s blacks wanted their own institutions—founded, operated, and financed by blacks— they accepted some financial support from whites. Moore and Merrick, of course, were among the emerging and leading black entrepreneurs. Recog-

540

Aaron McDuffie Moore

nizing a critical need for a hospital to serve the medical needs of the black community, Washington Duke offered to build an annex on the whiteowned Watts Hospital. According to Jessica Harland-Jacobs in ‘‘The History of Public Library Service in Durham,’’ Duke would build the structure ‘‘as a memorial to the black mammy who took care of the Duke family.’’ Moore and Merrick would have no part of the plan. In 1901, Moore founded the black Lincoln Hospital and became its superintendent. BEGINS SEVERAL BUSINESS VENTURES The black community thrived during the early 1900s. By 1910, the black population had increased by 200 percent. Moore would become involved in other ventures. These were the Real Estate Company that Moore and Spaulding established in 1910; the Bull City Drug Company that Moore, Merrick, and others founded in 1908; and the Durham Textile Mill that Moore, Merrick, and Spaulding founded in 1914. Local black entrepreneurs continued to respond to their needs by establishing their own businesses. Several black entrepreneurs were highly successful. These developments resulted in the labeling of Parrish Street as the black ‘‘Wall Street.’’ Beyond the workplace, Moore demonstrated his great love for books; he was a lifelong scholar. So concerned was Moore that African American children lacked access to wholesome reading materials that, in 1913, he set up a room in the basement of White Rock Baptist Church, gathered several hundred volumes from the community, and began a library. He wanted the library accessible to the entire community; thus, three years later, in 1916, he moved the library to a building that Merrick owned and leased to the library. This was the beginning of the Durham Colored Library that Moore founded; it opened for business on August 14, 1916. In 1887, Shaw University awarded Moore the degree Doctor of Laws, to recognize his success thus far. Moore was associated with several medical societies but only those that were open to blacks. An active community servant as well, Moore was a director of the Mechanics and Farmers Bank in Durham and of the Oxford Orphan Asylum (for blacks) in Oxford. He was secretary of the Extension Department of the State Teacher’s Association and superintendent of the State Rural School Movement, which hired a fieldworker to examine the state’s public school system and help to improve it. Moore was a member of Shaw University’s Executive Board. He was a member of the secret societies the Masons and the Pythians. He traveled widely throughout the United States, Cuba, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. A prominent physician, successful business leader, and advocate of education, Moore was a race man and had a special concern for youth. He was a contributor to the Merrick-Moore Scholarship Fund for black students. Quoted in A. B. Caldwell’s History of the American Negro, he said: ‘‘Youth must recognize individual responsibility to the race, to the nation and to humanity and prepare themselves to become a working unit in their development.’’ That is how he lived his life.

541

Rose Morgan

See also: Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History; Minority Businesses in Major Cities; Retail Industry Sources Andrews, R. McCants. John Merrick: A Biographical Sketch. Durham: Press of the Seeman Printery, 1920. Caldwell, A. B., ed. History of the American Negro. North Carolina ed. Vol. 4. Atlanta: A. B. Caldwell Publishing, 1921. Harland-Jacobs, Jessica. ‘‘The History of Public Library Service in Durham, 1897– 1997. A New Era.’’ http://www.durhamcountylibrary.org/ncc/dclhist/04newhtm. Richardson, Clement. The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race. Vol. 1. Montgomery, AL: National Publishing, 1919. Weare, Walter B. Black Business in the New South: A Social History of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1973.

Jessie Carney Smith

Rose Morgan (1912– ), Beauty Salon Owner, Cosmetics Entrepreneur A leading cosmetologist and businesswoman, Rose Meta Morgan gained fame as an entrepreneur among black beauty salon operators. In the 1940s, she and her business partner, Olivia Stanford, coowned a Harlem hair salon that was noted for being one of the largest in the nation. Rose Meta House of Beauty was the largest black-owned beauty shop in the United States, and in a 1946 article, Ebony magazine touted it as the ‘‘Biggest Negro Beauty Parlor in the World.’’ Stanford was an expert in scientific treatments of the body and made the business one of the leading pioneers of Swedish massage, ‘‘colonie irrigation,’’ and other alternative health-care approaches in a beauty salon environment, while Morgan was renown for her excellent skills with hair care and design. Her hairstyling talent drew loyal customers from Chicago, Detroit, Washington, and other parts of the country. Promoting the beauty of African American hair and instilling pride in black women about their appearance was one of Morgan’s lifelong goals. She was dedicated to dispelling the myth, held among many African Americans, that African American hair was inherently inferior. She told an interviewer that although the races had different hair textures, she believed that nobody’s hair was racially superior. She emphasized that it was vitally important to make sure that one was properly groomed and attractive, regardless of one’s hair texture. Morgan was born in Shelby, Mississippi, in 1912, the daughter of sharecroppers, and was heavily influenced by her father’s career as a profitable black southern farmer during the time of Jim Crow segregation. Her formative years were heavily influenced by her father’s role model and his gift as a mentor, who instilled Morgan with many enduring business lessons that she practiced throughout her life.

542

Rose Morgan

After her family migrated to Chicago in 1918, Morgan revealed a talent for hairdressing at the early age of eleven. Upon graduating from high school, she attended the Morris School of Beauty. Morgan eagerly entered professional beautician practice and married briefly for one year. A job as the hairstylist for the famed black actress and singer Ethel Waters provided her with the opportunity to move to New York, where she teamed up with Stanford to open the Rose Meta House of Beauty in Harlem. In 1946, Morgan introduced her own line of beauty aids, Rose Meta Cosmetics, one of the first black-owned makeup lines. In 1955, she had achieved enough wealth and recognition to finance a new building that housed the Rose Morgan House of Beauty, another innovation in the beauty culture business with a profitable clientele. Over the years, Morgan trained over 3,000 employees to serve the needs of her stylish clientele. Always the entrepreneur, she produced fashion shows featuring her clients and employees as models, a program that is still imitated by many contemporary black hairstyling salons and beauticians clubs. On Christmas Day of 1955, she married her second husband, worldfamous boxing champion Joe Louis. Over the span of his professional boxing career, Louis had not been careful with his finances, and Morgan tried unsuccessful marketing efforts, such as introducing a men’s signature cologne, to help her husband become more solvent. It was a case of opposite personalities attracting each other, and after three years, the marriage was annulled, although both parties retained mutual respect for each other. The marriage itself was short-lived, but for many years thereafter Morgan would be referred to in the black press and elsewhere as Joe Louis’s second wife, although she had solid accomplishments in her own right. Always looking for a new marketing opportunity, Morgan wrote a column for the New Pittsburgh Courier during the 1960s titled ‘‘The Beautiful Truth: Rose Morgan’s Beauty Tips,’’ which allowed her to dispense advice to young and mature women of color. In a December 12, 1959, article, the paper carried an announcement from attorney Louis Saunders that he and Morgan were engaged to be married, although no date had been set. The couple eventually wed in the early 1960s and initiated a new business venture, the New Jersey Savings and Loan Association. When the couple separated, Morgan abandoned the venture and directed her energies toward becoming one of the founders of the black-owned Freedom National Bank in New York and later became a major shareholder. Morgan’s last business endeavor, Trim-Away Figure Contouring, made its debut in 1972. She retired from beauty culture business in the 1970s, ending a highly successful career, but remained active in community organizations. Morgan was undaunted by the many demands of managing a large business and found time to be active in her community. Besides serving as president of the Interracial Council for Business Opportunity, she held a vice presidential post with the National Council of Negro Women. A life member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), she has also served on the board of trustees for Kilamanjaro Coffee.

543

Cecilia Antonietta Mowatt

Like another black female entrepreneur, Madame C. J. Walker, Morgan was born with formidable business skills and a drive for innovation, which she employed to build a financially successful business in the beauty culture industry. During a period of Jim Crow segregation in the United States, which legally denied blacks employment and business opportunities, both women excelled at being visionary entrepreneurs. Now in retirement, she is justifiably proud of her role as an innovator and mentor. Morgan currently resides in New York City. Her former business partner, Oliver Stanford, went on to start another successful business, Partners for Health and Inner Wheel, in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and died in March 2004 at the age of eighty-nine. See also: Women and Business Sources Edwards, Audrey. ‘‘The Ages of Beauty.’’ Essence 25 (January 1995): 9. Hine, Darlene Clark, ed. Facts on File Encyclopedia of Black Women. Business and Professions. New York: Facts on File, 1996. ‘‘House of Beauty.’’ Ebony 1 (May 1946): 25–29. ‘‘Joe Louis’ Former Spouse Awaits Second Trek to Altar.’’ New Pittsburgh Courier, national ed., December 12, 1959. Mabunda, Mpho, and Shirelle Phelps, eds. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 11. Detroit: Gale Research, 1976. Moore, Mike. ‘‘Rose Morgan: Success in Grand Style.’’ Essence 12 (June 1981): 34– 44. Morgan, Rose. ‘‘The Beautiful Truth: Rose Morgan’s Beauty Tips.’’ New Pittsburgh Courier, national ed., January 27, 1962. ———. ‘‘The Beautiful Truth: Rose Morgan’s Beauty Tips.’’ New Pittsburgh Courier, national ed., May 12, 1962. ‘‘Olivia Stanford, Noted Harlem Beautician and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands Businesswoman, Succumbs.’’ Jet 107 (March 29, 2004): 18. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Notable Black American Women. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992.

Glenda Marie Alvin

Cecilia Antonietta Mowatt (1960– ), Real Estate Executive, International Developer Encapsulated by a wellspring of culture, knowledge, experience, and continuity, Cecilia A. Mowatt is a leading executive, attorney, linguist, and head of a growing business enterprise. With more than fourteen years of professional experience, she has worked with some of the top business industry leaders in the United States and in foreign countries. The scope of her career ascent ranges from law to real estate to consulting and leadership. Mowatt was born to Oswald and Glenda Mowatt in Chicago, Illinois, on September 9, 1960. Her mother immigrated to the United States from

544

Cecilia Antonietta Mowatt

Colombia via Panama and came from Jamaica. She is the firstborn American of her generation and the eldest of five brothers. Mowatt’s expert knowledge base is as diverse as her ethnic background. Her educational quest led her to study sociology, Spanish, business, and law. She began her postsecondary education at Stanford University of Salamanca, Spain, in 1980. She graduated from Stanford University in 1982 with a degree in sociology and Spanish. She then went on to further her studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned both the J.D. and M.B.A degrees in 1986 from the Boalt Hall School of Law and Graduate School of Business. Shortly thereafter, Mowatt made her entrance into the world of work in 1986. She initiated her career path as an attorney for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Branch of Enforcement. In 1987, she repositioned as an attorney for the Branch of Reorganization after being admitted to the Illinois bar and the federal bar. In this position she was an investigator of corporations reorganizing while in Chapter 11. Chicago has been a stagnant base for change for Mowatt. After leaving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, she went on to work with the American Information Technologies Corporation, also known as Ameritech. Working within this corporation, she made several advancements in a short amount of time. In 1988, she began work as a manager of corporate strategy, developing tools to measure the company’s projected strategies. Mowatt was promoted to staff manager of regulatory services in 1989. As staff manager, she played an integral part in the development and maintenance of revenue building products and services and all the while overseeing and facilitating the function and performance of over twenty-four departments. In 1991, she became director of transactions, overseeing and managing real estate investments and procurement of investment properties. Licensed as an Illinois real estate broker, Mowatt, armed with a vision for strategy and in-depth experience, made a favorable career move to McDonald’s Corporation in Oak Brook, Illinois, where many more opportunities provided for her an expanse of professional growth. Employment with McDonald’s spanned from 1994 to 2001. Committed to the company’s outlook for economic growth and investment forecasting, Mowatt said in an interview with the author that she directed business development for U.S. acquisitions and ‘‘directed negotiations and strategies’’ in the disposition of excess properties. Widely publicized in local news, business journals, and magazines, Mowatt’s highly acclaimed executive position as the first international president of GVA Worldwide, LLC, was highlighted as a historical first for the company. GVA Worldwide is a real estate business that specializes in advisory services and sales. Registered in Chicago, it is known as a ‘‘limited liability company.’’ Charged with serving more than thirty-four countries with very diverse types of real estate markets, as president, Mowatt was responsible for marketing and directing the company’s operations in the United States and abroad; she focused on client management, new business

545

Cecilia Antonietta Mowatt

development, and interstate and international services. Noted as a world leader on the move, she served GVA Worldwide for a term of six months and resigned her position as president in July 2002. In September 2002, Mowatt founded Strategies In Site, Inc. (SIS), in a familiar place—her hometown of Chicago. The company’s basis for operation is to provide strategic planning in business development as well as transaction management. Her organization’s objectives include consulting as well as focusing on strategic management advisory services and diversity leadership. As the business world moves toward globalization at home, the work environment, and economy, Mowatt believes that business leaders must have a world perspective; they must have an understanding that reflects the richness of heritage, ethnicity, race, and geographic origin. SIS has a reputable clientele list that includes companies and organizations such as McDonald’s, Cook County, Village of Ford Heights, Army Corps of Engineers, and many more. As an advisory firm, the company’s mission, published in ‘‘Strategies In Site,’’ is ‘‘to act as an outsourced resource to provide companies and municipalities with preeminent advisory services to enable them to optimize their real estate portfolios and customer relationships.’’ In this capacity Mowatt also provides asset management and strategic consulting. SIS is certified by the state of Illinois and both the city of Chicago and Cook County as a woman business enterprise and also as a minority business enterprise. Mowatt is a well-rounded leader. Her passion not only lies in the realm of real estate and business strategies, but it extends to community activism and service. More than often she is generous in sharing her time and experience as a volunteer to a number of councils, committees, and organizations. She is also a board member to several organizations such as Family Focus and the Latin School of Chicago Board of Trustees. One of her goals is to broaden awareness concerning issues of diversity and leadership and workforce inclusion within corporate America. Through the gradual provision of diversity leadership workshops and training within corporate arenas, she hopes to achieve heightened awareness while decompressing loaded statistics and beliefs often characterized by minorities. Mowatt is and continues to be a successful visionary. She has proven to be an indelible figure in the industry of real estate. See also: Women and Business Sources Alleyne, Sonia. ‘‘On the Move.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (May 2002): 60. ———. ‘‘A World Leader.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (June 2002): 74. ‘‘International President, GVA Worldwide’’ (Speaking of People). Ebony 57 (May 2002): 10. Mowatt, Cecilia. ‘‘Diversity in Commercial Real Estate: Should We? Why? Can We? How?’’ CoreNet Global Corporate Real Estate Network. Tools and Resources. http://www2.corenetglobal.org. ———. Strategies In Site, Inc. http://www.strategiesinsite.com. ———. Telephone interview with author. June 2005.

546

Eddie Murphy ‘‘Second Stumble for GVA as President Fails to Perform.’’ Estates Gazette, July 13, 2002.

Dantrea Hampton

Eddie Murphy (1961– ), Actor, Comedian, Producer During the 1980s, Edward Regan Murphy’s image and voice were ubiquitous. After making his television debut on the late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live (1980–1981 season), he starred in his own television specials and appeared on other television specials. Eddie Murphy appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnnie Carson at least five times (January 1, 1982; February 10, 1982; July 30, 1982; June 24, 1983; and May 21, 1987). He has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at least once (June 27, 1996). Murphy has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman at least twice (December 17, 1984 and August 28, 1985) and appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show at least once (November 16, 1989). Murphy has acted in, directed, and produced movies and recorded comedy and musical albums. By the time the decade ended, Murphy, who had attained superstar status as a leading African American male movie star and as one of Hollywood’s biggest box-office successes, was still in his twenties. Paramount Pictures paid Murphy $200,000 to costar in his first film, 48 Hours (1982), and after the film was a huge success at the box office, Paramount signed Murphy to a multipicture, multimillion-dollar contract. In 1983, he then formed Eddie Murphy Productions, the vehicle through which Murphy has produced a number of his films and several television series. Today, Murphy continues to display his acting and comedic talents as he earns approximately $22 million per film. As of 2003, Murphy’s box-office profile includes an average gross of $85.92 million, an average adjusted gross of $115.84 million, an average opening of $17.18 million, and an average adjusted opening of $21.85 million. The power of Murphy’s appeal at the box office has helped convince movie executives to feature more African Americans in prominent film roles and that African Americans are capable of performing roles that were originally intended for white actors and actresses. Murphy was born on April 3, 1961, in Brooklyn, New York; he was the younger son of Charles E. Murphy, a New York City transit policeman and amateur comedian, and Lillian Murphy, a telephone operator. When Murphy was three years old, his parents separated, and when his mother’s illness led to her hospitalization, Murphy and his brother, Charles Jr., lived in a foster home. Their foster mother was harsh, and Murphy has acknowledged that the unpleasantness associated with his foster environment is very likely the reason he became a comedian. Murphy spent an inordinate amount of time watching cartoons and was able to imitate the characters’ voices. When Murphy was eight years old, his father was killed. His mother later married Vernon Lynch, who was a Breyer’s Ice Cream factory foreman

547

Eddie Murphy

and a boxing coach. When Murphy was nine years old, his family moved to Roosevelt, a primarily African American, middle-class town in Long Island, New York. In 1970, the household increased by one when Vernon and Lillian’s son, Vernon Jr., was born. Murphy displayed comedic talent as early as the first grade. His teacher announced that an Eskimo Pie would be given to the student who created the best story; Murphy’s story drew laughter from his classmates, and he won. When Murphy was fifteen years old, he was the host of a talent show at the Roosevelt Youth Center, and his impersonation of Al Green was well received by the audience. Murphy began performing at school functions, and although his parents were unaware, he also delivered his comedy routines at after-hours clubs. Murphy practiced his jokes in front of his classmates and was voted the most popular boy in his class. Since Murphy was more interested in performing than studying, he had to repeat the tenth grade; consequently he went to night school, doubled his coursework, and graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1979. In the yearbook, Murphy stated that he would pursue a career as a comedian. Murphy briefly appeared with two white comedians as the Identical Triplets. He then began appearing at Long Island nightclubs as a stand-up comedian and was soon performing at other New York venues such as the Comic Strip, Catch a Rising Star, East Side Comedy Club, and Improvisation. Murphy’s mother encouraged him to further his education, and he enrolled in Nassau Community College with the intent of majoring in theater; however, he abandoned the world of academe when he learned that the Saturday Night Live (SNL) executives were looking for an African American comedian for the 1980–1981 season. Murphy, persistent in his efforts to gain an audition for the late-night television show, phoned SNL’s talent coordinator as many as three times daily until the coordinator acquiesced. Six auditions later, Murphy was hired as a feature player, although according to Murphy, he spent his inaugural year at SNL as an extra and the token African American. He earned $750 for each show. Since SNL did not have a successful season, all of the cast, except for Murphy and Joe Piscopo, were fired. The producer realized that any doubts that Murphy was too inexperienced to have more than minimal airtime were ill-founded. Murphy’s tenure at SNL was highly successful, and the former feature player became the show’s star. Among his most memorable performances were his impersonations of Muhammad Ali, James Brown, Bill Cosby, and Stevie Wonder as well as his characterizations of an adult Buckwheat, based on the juvenile character from The Little Rascals; Gumpy, based on the cartoon character; Little Richard Simmons, an exaggeration of the characteristics of Richard Simmons and Little Richard; and Mr. Robinson, a transformation of the popular children’s television host into a cynical, urban resident. In addition to Murphy’s popularity as a television performer, he garnered critical acclaim with favorable reviews in the New York Times and other periodicals and was nominated for Emmy Awards for outstanding comedy performance and outstanding comedy writing for SNL.

548

Eddie Murphy

In 1982, two years before Murphy left SNL, he began to capitalize on his star status with his first album, Eddie Murphy, which received a gold record and a Grammy nomination for his live stand-up material. Also in December 1982, Murphy made his film debut in 48 Hours. The movie was a huge success, as it earned $5 million in its first weekend and eventually grossed $80 million. His second film, Trading Places, was released, and it joined 48 Hours on the list of 1983’s top ten grossing films. Also in 1983, Murphy served as the producer of Eddie Murphy Delirious, which was a special that aired on HBO; and he released his second album, Eddie Murphy, Comedian, which earned Murphy his second gold record and first Grammy Award for best comedy album (1984). Although Murphy’s third film, Best Defense (1984), was not a box-office success, people went to the movie theaters in huge numbers to see Murphy’s six additional films during the rest of the decade: Beverly Hills Cop (1984), The Golden Child (1986), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Eddie Murphy Raw (1987), Coming to America (1988), and Harlem Nights (1989). Harlem Nights, which also starred the legendary comedians Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor, marked Murphy’s debut as a producer. Murphy continued to show his versatility as a performer with the release of his first musical album, How Could It Be, in 1985. The album, which he dedicated to his late father, earned Murphy another gold record. The song ‘‘Party All the Time’’ was produced by Rick James and was a hit single. Another song on the album, ‘‘Everything’s Coming Up Roses,’’ was produced by Stevie Wonder. Murphy recorded two more musical albums: So Happy (1989) and Love’s Alright (1992), which featured the song ‘‘Yeah!’’ Proceeds from the release of ‘‘Yeah!’’ as a single were designated for Yeah!— a charitable foundation established by Murphy. Murphy’s nine films of the 1980s and his first film of the 1990s, Another 48 Hours (1990), grossed more than $1 billion. His additional 1990s films were Boomerang (1992), The Distinguished Gentleman (1992), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), The Nutty Professor (1996), Metro (1997), Doctor Dolittle (1998), Holy Man (1998), Life (1999), and Bowfinger (1999), as well as the animated film Mulan (1998), where Murphy’s voice is heard. During the first decade of the twenty-first century, Murphy’s films include Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), Doctor Dolittle 2 (2001), Showtime (2002), The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002), I Spy (2002), Daddy Day Care (2003), The Haunted Mansion (2003), as well as the animated films Shrek (2001) and Shrek 2 (2004), where his voice is heard, Dreamgirls (2006), and he is scheduled for three unnamed films for 2007. Murphy returned to television as a producer. Among his efforts are the films What’s Alan Watching?’’ (1989) and The Kid Who Loved Christmas (1990), as well as the CBS sitcom The Royal Family (1991–1992), which starred Redd Foxx and Della Reese; the show was canceled after Foxx’s death. To date, Murphy’s most well known produced work for television is the animated show The PJs. It was Murphy’s idea to create a cartoon series based on an inner-city apartment building superintendent who gets into disagreements with tenants. The superintendent is named Thurgood Stubbs,

549

Eddie Murphy

and Murphy is the voice of Stubbs. The series originally aired on the Fox channel in 1998 and 1999 before it was moved to the WB network for its third and final season. Murphy served as host on two tribute shows to African American icons who paved the way for him: ‘‘Sammy Davis, Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration’’ (1990) and ‘‘A Party for Richard Pryor’’ (1991). Indeed, Murphy has acknowledged that Pryor, as a comedian, is his idol. Murphy, who has been a presenter at a number of award shows, hosted the 1985 and 1993 MTV Movie Awards. In addition to the aforementioned Grammy and gold records, Murphy’s other honors include the 2005 People’s Choice Award for favorite animated movie star (Shrek 2), 2002 Kids’ Choice Award for favorite voice from an animated movie (Shrek), 2002 MTV Movie Award for best comedic performance (Shrek), 2002 MTV Movie Award for best-on-screen team (with Cameron Diaz and Mike Myers for Shrek), 2002 People’s Choice Award for favorite motion picture star in a comedy, 2001 Annie Award for outstanding individual achievement for voice acting by a male performer (Shrek), 2001 British Academy Award for best supporting actor (Shrek), 2001 MTV Movie Award for best comedic performance (The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps), 1997 Blockbuster Entertainment Award for favorite actor-comedy (The Nutty Professor), 1997 MTV Movie Award for best comedic performance (The Nutty Professor), 1997 MTV Movie Award for best male performance, 1997 National Society of Film Critics’ Saturn Award for best actor (The Nutty Professor), 1993 MTV Movie Award for best comedic performance (Boomerang), 1993 Soul Train Music Awards’ Heritage Award for career achievement, 1992 Showest Convention’s Special Award—star of the decade, 1991 NAACP’s (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Award for lifetime achievement, 1989 People’s Choice Award for favorite comedy motion picture actor, 1987 American Cinematheque Award, 1985 Showest Convention’s star of the year, and 1983 NAACP’s Image Award for entertainer of the year. Murphy received 1984 and 1983 Golden Globes nominations for best actor–musical or comedy for Beverly Hills Cop and Trading Places, respectively, as well as a 1982 New York Film Critics Circle’s best actor nomination for 48 Hours. In 1996, Murphy was the 2,067th celebrity to have a star with his name on it placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Murphy, a father of six (four girls and one son with his wife, model Nicole Mitchell Murphy, whom he married on March 18, 1993, and one son from an earlier relationship), has been a celebrity for decades, and it appears that he plans to continue his multifaceted career as an actor, director, and producer for years to come. Sources Bethel, Kathleen E. ‘‘Eddie Murphy.’’ Notable Black American Men. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. ‘‘Eddie Murphy.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 20. Detroit: Gale Group, 1998. ‘‘Eddie Murphy.’’ International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. Vol. 3. Chicago: St. James Press, 1990–1994.

Linda M. Carter

550

Isaac Myers

Isaac Myers (1835–1891), Shipyard Worker, Labor Union Activist, Union President, Business and Community Leader Isaac Myers was instrumental in galvanizing black workers into labor cooperatives and unions. His belief that blacks and whites should work cooperatively within the same union helped to forge the groundwork for eventual integration. Myers was born on January 13, 1835, in Baltimore, Maryland. He received a rudimentary education in a private day school. At age sixteen he was apprenticed as a caulker in the Baltimore area shipyard. Shipyard caulking was considered a lower-level craft and was a predominantly black occupation. For Myers and others it offered a steady source of work. Within four years he was overseeing the caulking of the largest vessels in the shipyard. Myers married sometime during the 1850s to Emma, whose surname is unknown. She died in 1868. They were the parents of three children. Their eldest son, George A. Myers, born in 1859, a barber by trade, was well known in political circles. Myers married a second time to Sarah E. Deaver. There were no children from this union. Myers left the caulking business in 1860 to become a porter and shipping clerk of a wholesale grocery business. His foresight and leadership ability were manifested when he founded a grocery cooperative in 1864. But the partnership was of short duration, as unresolved differences in store policy prompted his resignation. He returned to the shipyards in 1865. Conditions at the shipyard had changed due to a slump in the shipping trade. Fierce competition developed between veterans, European immigrants, and blacks for caulking jobs. White workers resorted to protests and strikes to force large numbers of blacks out of the trade. With the backing of the police and other government officials, they succeeded in driving over 1,000 black caulkers out of their jobs. This misfortune prompted Myers to propose the formation of a cooperative in 1865 to provide work for the unemployed laborers. The cooperative was supported by a group of prominent black leaders in the Baltimore area. Finances for the enterprise came from selling stock to family and friends and also from loans and collections supplied by local church congregations. The Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company (CMRDDC), a shipyard and railway, opened for business on February 12, 1866. The company commanded a major share of the dock business including the acquisition of lucrative federal contracts. Mostly blacks and later white workers were employed. Myers was recognized for his leadership and was elected one of its first directors. The company thrived successfully until it was discovered that the shipyard was leased. Other disputes over ownership, management, and the payment of dividends forced it into decline and eventual closure in 1888. Myers developed a keen interest in labor union organization. He was president of the Colored Caulkers’ Trade Union Society of Baltimore, one of the first black labor unions. In 1869, along with other black union

551

Isaac Myers

representatives, he addressed the white National Labor Union (NLU) convention in Philadelphia, pleading for equal treatment and acceptance of black workers into the union. After much debate and dissension, the convention rejected his appeal to form a unified organization of black and white members. Instead, the policy adopted recommended separate organizations for blacks that would be affiliated with the NLU. Unable to break through the racial prejudice that denied full membership into the ranks of organized labor, the disappointed Myers considered other options. With strong support from Frederick Douglass, he organized the first national federated union of black workers, the Colored National Labor Union (CNLU). As its first elected president, Myers took an organizing tour in 1879 to recruit members. He continued his appeal for all working groups to unite, with a particular warning to black workers that if unity were not achieved, the outcome would be permanent exclusion from skilled trades and perpetual servitude. Trade unions and cooperatives offered the opportunity to accomplish these goals. Myers and five other black leaders attended the 1870 NLU convention. Once again, the two groups were sharply divided. This time the issue revolved around which political party would receive the union’s support. Myers and his colleagues remained solid in their backing of the Republican Party, but the majority voted in favor of the Labor Reform Party. It was the last time the black delegates attended an NLU convention. Myers, unsuccessful in his drive to unite the two unions, convened a CNLU convention in January 1871. Although some progress was achieved, the union failed to attract the numbers it needed. Myers stepped down as president but continued to be active until the fall of 1871, when the organization was dissolved. Although Myers did not abandon the fight for equal rights, he was no longer directly involved in the labor movement. He was appointed a messenger to the Baltimore collector of customs in 1866. In 1872 he was a special agent in the U.S. Post Office, assigned to supervise mail service in the South. After his retirement from postal service in 1879, he ran a coal yard business in Baltimore. From 1882 to 1887 he was a tax assessor for the U.S. government. He remained active in business, social, religious and political affairs in Baltimore, holding several leadership positions. He served in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion church as superintendent of a school and the Aged Ministers’ Home. He authored a sacred drama titled A Mason’s Digest. Myers died on January 26, 1891, in Baltimore, Maryland. See also: Consumer Cooperatives; Grocery Store Enterprises Sources Fink, Gary M., ed. Biographical Dictionary of American Labor. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984. Foner, Phillip S. ‘‘Myers, Isaac.’’ Dictionary of American Negro Biography. Ed. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982.

552

Woodrow Augustus Myers Jr. Murray, R. Emmett. The Lexicon of Labor. New York: New Press, 1998. Opdycke, Sandra. ‘‘Isaac Myers.’’ American National Biography. Vol. 16. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Walker, Juliet E. K., ed. Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.

Janette Prescod

Woodrow Augustus Myers Jr. (1954– ), Physician, Health-Care Administrator Having obtained both a medical degree and a business degree by age twenty-eight, Woodrow Myers has devoted his life to the advancement of health care. He served as health commissioner for the state of Indiana and for New York City. Entering the corporate sector, he held executive positions with the Associated Group, Ford Motor Company, and WellPoint. As a physician and an advocate for public issues, he has served as a role model for African Americans and others in the health-care profession. Born on February 14, 1954, in Indianapolis, Indiana, Myers has maintained his Hoosier roots. His father, Woodrow Augustus Myers Sr., came from a family with fourteen children and his mother, Charlotte Tyler Myers, from a family of twelve. The son of a landscaper and a public school principal, he chose to study medicine. In 1970, he met his wife Debra Francine Jackson Myers, who became a physician specializing in pulmonary diseases and sleep disorders. They married on June 23, 1973, and raised two children, Kimberly Leilani and Zachary Augustus. Myers knew at the age of eight that he wanted to become a doctor—a career that, in his adult years, he would see even more clearly as a position of influence, respect, and autonomy. He graduated from Shortridge High School in Indianapolis. According to Ron Childs, Myers characterized his college years as a time of learning to build relationships, to understand racism, and to reform his own stereotypes. In 1973, he enrolled in Stanford University, majored in biology, and graduated with honors, receiving a B.S. degree. Both he and his wife completed the program in three years. They then enrolled in Harvard University Medical School. Myers earned his M.D. in 1977 at the age of twenty-three. In 1982, he completed the M.B.A. program at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Myers began his medical career at Stanford University Medical Center as an intern in internal medicine (1977–1978) and then as a resident (1978– 1980). During 1980–1981, he served as a fellow in critical care medicine. Then he took an assistant professorship at San Francisco General Hospital (1982–1984). He would later serve on the Stanford University Board of Trustees. During 1984, he served as a physician health adviser to the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Labor and Human Resources.

553

Woodrow Augustus Myers Jr.

Early in his career, Myers’s talent caught the attention of Indiana Governor Robert Orr, who selected him as health commissioner for the state of Indiana in 1986. Myers also served as secretary of the Indiana Board of Health. In taking on these roles, he achieved several distinctions. He became the first African American appointed to a leadership role on Indiana’s board of health. At age thirty-one, he served as the youngest health commissioner in Indiana’s history at the time. He also stood as the highest-ranking minority official in Governor Orr’s administration. In a 2003 interview with Anthony Schoettle and John Ketzenberger, Myers recalled, ‘‘I considered all Hoosiers my patients.’’ Myers filled the position as Indiana’s health commissioner for five years. He replaced many higher-level staff and spoke out when large health-care organizations engaged in questionable medical and business practices. He employed his own battle with weight to encourage others to fight obesity. He advocated the rights of individual citizens like young Ryan White, a young hemophiliac who had contracted the AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency virus) virus. Myers, along with many others, worked to change state laws so that White could attend public school in Kokomo. Through this and other endeavors, Myers gained a national reputation as an advocate for AIDS victims. He served on the board of the American Foundation for AIDS Research. In July 1987, Eugene Mayberry appointed Myers vice chairman of a thirteen-member panel to serve as President Ronald Reagan’s AIDS Commission. That same year, Myers served as president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers. The president asked the AIDS Commission to advise him on such issues as how to stop the spread of the virus, how to best medically treat AIDS patients, and how to find a cure. As the only public health expert on the panel and as one of only two doctors on the commission who had treated AIDS patients, Myers stood to contribute much to the effort. After wrestling with conflicts and making little progress, Myers, Chairman Mayberry, and senior staff adviser Franklin Cockerill resigned on October 7. Myers would later recall this incident as a time of taking risks to stand for what he believed right. Myers became a contender for such appointments as U.S. surgeon general and director of the Centers for Disease Control. Then a search committee recommended him for the position of health commissioner for New York City. A two-week controversy ensued, led by AIDS groups who feared he might support confidential contact tracing and quarantining people who willfully spread the AIDS virus. Supporters cited Myers’s national reputation, his training, and his personality. Despite the controversy, on January 19, 1990, Mayor David Dinkins appointed Myers as health commissioner for New York City’s 14.3 million people. Myers’s first official speaking engagement took place at the Montefore Medical Center’s annual AIDS symposium, held at Manhattan’s New York Academy of Medicine. He attempted to reach out to the AIDS groups who had opposed him. Bruce Lambert reported in the New York Times that

554

Woodrow Augustus Myers Jr.

Dr. Martin Cherkasky, Academy president, characterized his stance as ‘‘brilliant and compassionate.’’ He advocated for AIDS victims, proposing better housing, drug treatment, medical care, and preventive education. While fulfilling the role of commissioner, he also served as assistant professor of medicine at Cornell Medical College. Myers set three priorities for his tenure as commissioner: child health, drug abuse, and AIDS. He attained $17.6 million in federal funds to combat AIDS. He reorganized the department, replacing most of the top managers. He established programs to address some of New York’s major health problems, such as infant mortality, violence, AIDS, and substance abuse. He reformed the city’s restaurant inspection program and greatly improved efficiency of the lab work in the city’s public health clinics. Meanwhile, he dealt with increasing tension between what he believed in medically and what seemed expedient politically. Confronted with continuing controversy, a major budget crisis, inadequate technology, and family health concerns, Myers resigned the position on May 28, 1991. BECOMES HEALTH-CARE MANAGER While serving as commissioner, he received the Indiana Senator Carolyn Mosby Above and Beyond Award. In August 1991, he returned to Indiana to work for a national health-care management organization in Indianapolis. Through 1995, he served as senior vice president and corporate medical director for the Associated Group, which later became Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. In 1996, Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan, named Myers director of health-care management. The company charged Myers with providing health-care benefit packages for Ford’s employees, retirees, and their dependents. At various times, he also taught in the medical schools of Wayne State University and the University of Michigan. The year 2000 brought a move to Thousand Oaks, California, to work for WellPoint Healthcare Networks, Inc. In 2004, WellPoint merged with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, making it the second largest company of its kind in America. Myers served as executive vice president and chief medical officer and worked to improve the quality of health-care services, insuring high standards of safety. He worked with business executives as well as with doctors and nurses. In 2004, WellPoint introduced a new Physician Quality and Technology Initiative to provide doctors with more efficient and less costly communication with pharmacies. The program seeks to reduce the number of medical errors involving drug interactions. Throughout his career, Myers has published numerous articles related to public health and has fulfilled numerous speaking engagements. For instance, in 2002, he spoke at the Duke Private Sector Conference on Enabling Prospective Health Care. In 2003, he presented a talk for the Leadership Forums sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy.

555

Woodrow Augustus Myers Jr.

A sampling of Myers’s many awards includes the Surgeon General C. Everett Koop U.S. Public Health Service Award (1989), the Indiana Governor Evan Bayh Spirit of the Heartland Award (1990), and the Hoosier Minority Chamber of Commerce Living Legend Award (1992). Stanford University’s Black Community Services Center inducted him into its Multicultural Hall of Fame in 2004. Myers believes in accepting challenges that promote learning. On a Stanford University Graduate School of Business Web site, he recalls that his early days in medicine helped focus his priorities. ‘‘I saw death up close and personal every single day, frequently involving very young people. It teaches you how precious your time really is, and as a result you learn to prioritize and live fully, whether it involves family or career.’’ Sources Boffey, Philip M. ‘‘Leaders of AIDS Panel Quit Amid Feuds and Criticism.’’ New York Times, October 8, 1987. Childs, Ron. ‘‘A Prescription for Success: Woodrow A. Myers Jr. Is Just What the Doctor Ordered’’ (From the Corner Office). Black Enterprise 32 (April 2002): 60. ‘‘Dr. Myers and Dr. Myers: Husband-Wife Physician Team Has Been a Twosome since Their College Days.’’ Ebony 33 (November 1977): 107–112. Hersch, Lisa, and Justin Evans. ‘‘Tips from the Top: Alumni Profiles.’’ Stanford Graduate School of Business. http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/profiles/myers.html. Lambert, Bruce. ‘‘In First Talk as Health Chief, Myers Tries to Calm His Foes.’’ New York Times, January 24, 1990. Schoettle, Anthony, and John Ketzenberger. ‘‘Former State Health Care Chief Maintains Local Roots.’’ Indianapolis Business Journal 24 (December 8–14, 2003): 46.

Marie Garrett

556

N John E. ‘‘Jack’’ Nail (1883–1947), Realtor, Businessman John E. Nail was born in New London, Connecticut, to John Bennett Nail. His mother’s name is unknown. Nail had one sister, who was married to poet and editor James Weldon Johnson. He married Grace Fairfax in 1910. They had no children. Nail was educated in the public schools of New York City and had opportunity to learn about the real estate industry from his father. John Bennett Nail was a businessman, realtor, and cafe, hotel, and billiard hall proprietor. According to records, John Bennett purchased the property on Sixth Avenue to house his business ventures, thus becoming the first black midtown Manhattan property owner. The Nail brothers (John Bennett and Edward) also purchased five apartment houses in Harlem and rented them to blacks to assist in opening up Harlem real estate at a critical time. John Bennett Nail continued in the real estate business and was the first black businessman to receive a credit rating by Dun and Bradstreet. During the early twentieth century, John E. Nail became one of the most respected and knowledgeable realtors in New York City and was an authority on Harlem property. Nail was one of the first black members of the Real Estate Board of New York, the only black member of the Housing Committee of New York, the first president of the Harlem Board of Trade, and vice president of the exclusive and predominantly white Republican Business Men’s Club. He also served as consultant to President Herbert Hoover’s Commission on Housing during the depression. In addition, Nail participated in numerous business and community development activities. Before Nail began his real estate career, he worked in the tavern of his father on Sixth Avenue. Tom Fletcher suggests that Nail was like a father to vaudeville entertainers and performers. As the performers made money, Nail would ask them to count their cash, save it for them in his safe, and disburse their funds to them as needed. Not only did he encourage the performers to save their money, and help those who needed to get to performances when necessary, but he also allowed performers to eat and drink ‘‘on the tab.’’ He was instrumental in helping performers secure their new place when the

John E. ‘‘Jack’’ Nail

Sixth Avenue establishment was sold. Therefore, Nail is credited with organizing the Colored Vaudeville Benevolent Association and is regarded as ‘‘father’’ to the entertainment profession during this period. Nail opened his own real estate office early but accepted employment as a salesman with Philip A. Payton Jr. of the famed Afro-American Realty Company, where he learned more about the real estate profession. This company was formed in Harlem by Payton and a group of other black businessmen to prevent black tenants from being evicted from a number of buildings on West 135th Street. This company was very successful and considered a pioneer real estate company that worked to assist black individuals and businesses with property ownership in Harlem. When financial problems arose at the Afro-American Realty Company, Nail formed a partnership with Henry G. Parker, another Afro-American Realty salesman. In 1907, Nail and Parker Real Estate was born. Nail served as president of the company and Parker served as secretary/treasurer. Nail and Parker Real Estate serviced the Harlem market in buying and selling real estate. They also provided other services. These included appraisals, consultations, rentals, and property management. Nail became an expert on condemnations, and his services were sought by the city of New York as well as by banks and individuals. The Nail and Parker Real Estate firm gradually built its real estate business and became one of the most successful in New York. Nail worked tirelessly encouraging both black individuals and businesses to own property in Harlem. The firm executed many important real estate deals in this regard. For example, Nail and Parker Real Estate handled transactions that included the property of the St. Philip’s Episcopal Church for $1,070,000 and subsequent property acquisitions; the sale for the Equitable Life Assurance Company of thirty-eight private homes for the sum of $375,000; and the sale to hair-care magnate Madame C. J. Walker of the site for her residence at the Irvington-on-the-Hudson for $200,000. Nail and Parker also managed rental properties, such as the apartments of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Rental collections were reported in excess of $1 million annually. The segregated housing market in New York presented many challenges, but Nail and Parker Real Estate are credited with breaking the ‘‘unwritten covenant’’ that prevented blacks from owning or renting property in certain areas designated as white areas of Harlem. The unwritten covenant, which remained in effect until after World War I, was an agreement that mortgage companies and banks not loan money on any property, no matter who owned it, that would be turned over to black tenants. Although Nail and Parker handled numerous rental properties, they also faced challenges from black renters who protested the high Harlem rents and threatened to move out on occasion. But Nail’s influence extended beyond New York City. He traveled to other parts of the country to consult with black businessmen regarding matters of importance. For example, he served as consultant to two companies that merged to form the Bankers Insurance Company, which secured the rights to do business in any state in the nation.

558

James Carroll Napier

The Nail and Parker Real Estate firm operated between 1907 and 1933 when financial pressures from the depression forced the realtors to dissolve their partnership. Nail then formed his own company, John E. Nail Company, Inc., and continued in the real estate business until his death in 1947 at the age of sixty-three. Nail had other interests beyond real estate. He is credited with an organizing role in the development of the Colored Merchants’ Association and other organizations devoted to community development. Sources American National Biography. Vol. 16. Ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Fletcher, Tom. 100 Years of the Negro in Show Business. New York: Da Capo Press, 1984. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. African American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. ‘‘John E. Nail.’’ Crisis 29 (March 1925): 220–221. ‘‘John E. Nail, Headed Harlem Realty Firm.’’ New York Times, March 6, 1947. ‘‘John E. Nail, 63, Headed Harlem Realty Company.’’ New York Herald Tribune, March 6, 1947. Logan, Rayford W., and Michael R. Winston, eds. Dictionary of American Negro Biography. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982. McKay, Claude. Harlem: Negro Metropolis. New York: Dutton, 1940. Osofsky, Gilbert. Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto. New York: Harper and Row, 1966. Spradling, Mary Mace. In Black and White: A Guide to Magazine Articles, Newspaper Articles, and Books Concerning More Than 6,700 Black Individuals and Groups. Supplement. Detroit: Gale, 1985.

Alma E. Dawson

James Carroll Napier (1845–1940), Attorney, Businessman, Community Activist, Political Leader James Carroll Napier was among the first generation of African Americans in the postbellum era’s most influential and successful Tennesseans. His careers as an attorney and businessman made him a powerful force of both social and political change up to the time of his death in 1940. While his vie for the Tennessee General Assembly and the U.S. Congress were among his unsuccessful bids for elected office, Napier continued his work as a community activist and political leader. Elected to the Nashville City Council, he used his voice and spoke successfully about the educational, professional, and employment needs of his constituents. A conservative on matters of racial ideology, Napier did, however, believe in the right of African Americans to exercise self-sufficiency and to secure equality. In keeping with these principles, he used his economic, political, and social influence to call for the establishment of many of Nashville’s most successful African American

559

James Carroll Napier

institutions including the One Cent Savings Bank and Trust Company and Tennessee State University. Napier was born free on June 9, 1845, in Nashville, Tennessee. One of three sons born to William Carroll and Jane E. Napier, the young Napier attended school for free blacks with approximately sixty other black children until disgruntled whites forced the school’s closing in 1856. Although Daniel Wadkins reopened the school, Nashville’s December race riot of 1856 caused the termination of black education in the city until the federal forces occupied Nashville in February 1862. After the school’s closing, young Napier attended school in Ohio. After completing school in Ohio, he entered Howard University Law School in Washington, D.C., where John Mercer Langston (the first African American elected to public office) served as the founding dean. Upon completing his law degree in 1872, Napier returned to the city of his birth to practice law. One year after completing his law degree, Napier and Langston’s daughter, Nettie DeElla, were married in Washington. After their nuptials, the Napiers went back to Nashville, where Napier became one of the city’s most influential African American leaders. Upon his return to Nashville, Napier supplemented his law practice by working for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). While serving as an agent for the IRS, he sought political office and successfully ran for a seat on the Nashville City Council. Two years before Napier’s election to the council, he and J. D. Burns headed the committee on resolutions for the Davidson County Republican Convention. The following year, in 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, visited Nashville. Napier and the city’s African American leaders organized a parade. During Hayes’s visit, as Bobby Lovett notes in The African American History of Nashville, Napier told him ‘‘all we ask is an equal chance in the start and race of life, an opportunity to work and test our capacities, and, when we prove worthy, to have accorded us the recognition and merit due.’’ Elected to office in 1878, one year after Hayes’s visit to the city, Napier served on the Nashville City Council until 1889. Serving for three terms, he was the first African American to preside over the council. While on the council, Napier used his influence to benefit the African American community. He was influential in the hiring of the first African American schoolteachers and the construction of the first modern school buildings for African Americans, and he was responsible for the city’s African American populace gaining the opportunity to have access to secondary education in the public schools. Councilman Napier was also responsible for the hiring of the city’s first black firefighters to the city’s fire department. A lifelong Republican, Napier was an active and loyal member of Tennessee’s Republican Party. Consequently, he accrued numerous political positions. A frequent delegate to the Republican county, state, and national conventions, in 1882 he was elected to the party’s executive committee. As a member of the executive committee, Attorney Napier was a vital component in the decision-making process that facilitated the policies and direction of the party in the ‘‘Volunteer

560

James Carroll Napier

State.’’ Napier also served as chairman and secretary of the state’s Republican Party. Because of Napier’s stature within the Republican Party, Republicans nominated him three times to elective office. Although unsuccessful, in 1882 he was a candidate for the Tennessee General Assembly and the Circuit Court Clerk of Davidson County. In 1898 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Sixth Congressional District. Although consumed with the city’s and Republican affairs, Napier found time to further establish his law practice and to increase his real estate business. According to historian Herbert Clark, Napier’s real estate holdings increased from ‘‘two lots valued at $250.00 each to fifteen parcels with a value of $23,300. At the time of his death in 1940, he owned seventeen pieces of rental property and held jointly three pieces of real estate in which he had two-thirds interest.’’ The assessed value of his real estate holdings was over $43,000. In 1891, Napier met Booker T. Washington, and a close and endearing friendship ensued between them. Both men adhered to conservative racial philosophies. While they both championed conciliation and gradualism in the obtainment of African American civil rights, their concept was tied to Black Nationalism, which identified people of African descent and native to the United States as being both American and Negro. Both of these post– Civil War leaders within the African American community maintained that Negroes were natural-born Americans and therefore should be granted all the rights and privileges due them, as stipulated in America’s governing principles and set forth in its Constitution. Not only did the two men agree on the social accommodation of the Negro, but they also agreed on the Negro’s desire for economic self-sufficiency. However, Napier and his friend parted ways philosophically when it came to the involvement of African Americans in the political arena and educational needs. Notwithstanding the chasm between the two with regard to political activity and educational needs, Napier and Washington remained close friends. Washington’s wife Margaret was a close friend of Nettie Langston Napier, and the Washingtons often spent two or more weeks each summer at the Napiers’ Nolensville Road summer home. Washington visited Nashville several times a year until his death in 1915. SUPPORTS BLACK SELF-SUFFICIENCY A close adherent of Washington’s philosophy regarding the economic self-sufficiency of the African American, Napier kept abreast of the national dialogue and intellectual discourse about African American business development. Following the 1898 Atlanta University Conference promoting African American business development, which was headed by W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, the National Negro Business League (NNBL) was established in 1900. Established to promote business expansion to uplift African Americans, Napier was a major supporter from the beginning

561

James Carroll Napier

and headed the league’s national executive board. Two years later, in 1902, he, Richard Henry Boyd, and others established NNBL’s Nashville chapter. In 1916, Napier served as president of the National Negro Business League, a position he held for the next three years. In 1917, he delivered his inaugural address as president in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1919, Boyd followed him. Adhering to the NNBL’s principles, Napier, Boyd, Preston Taylor, and others conceived the idea of a banking institution for Nashville’s African American community one year after they established an NNBL chapter. Fifteen of the sixteen charter members pledged $100 each. Napier, however, pledged $1,000 and offered the proposed bank space in his office building (Napier Court) at 411 North Cherry (now 4th Avenue, North) near Cedar Street. The bank’s officers included Boyd as president; J. W. Bostic as vice president; and Napier as cashier (manager). Taylor served as chairman of the board of directors, a position he held until his 1931 death. In 1904, on January 16, they opened the One Cent Savings Bank and Trust Company (now Citizens Savings Bank) with $1,600 capital. The day the bank opened, 145 patrons deposited approximately $6,500. Because of the conservative fiscal philosophy of the bank’s administrators, the One Cent Savings Bank and Trust Company survived a number of economic depressions and panics. Today, it is the oldest continuous African American– owned banking institution operating in the United States. Between 1900 and 1911, there were more than forty African American–owned banks in the United States. One year after the One Cent Savings bank opened, on March 31, 1905, the Tennessee General Assembly passed Jim Crow legislation segregating black and whites on city streetcars. This new legislation angered leaders in the African American community, including Napier. Just two years earlier, he corresponded with Booker T. Washington soliciting his support for a protest against the South’s system of racial apartheid. Napier felt the time had come to rally against the nation and its southern region’s treatment of African Americans. Tennessee’s Jim Crow streetcar law provided sufficient opportunity to register their disdain. Ultimately, the new law also provided an opportunity to initiate a new business venture in Nashville, as well as in other cities across the state and the region. Napier and other African American leaders in Nashville called for economic boycott against the city’s streetcar companies. African American protest against the streetcar company began on July 5, 1905. Twenty-six days later members of the NNBL met to discuss the state’s segregation law and the effectiveness of the streetcar boycott. Napier, along with Boyd and Taylor, called for the development of a Negro-owned and -operated streetcar company. On August 28, 1905, in a meeting chaired by the three leaders, the idea of an African American streetcar company bore fruit. The following day, the Union Transportation was established, making it Nashville’s first African American–owned streetcar company. The company’s tenure was short-lived. It ceased operation by midsummer in 1906.

562

James Carroll Napier

Two years after the demise of the Union Transportation Company, Napier was appointed to one of the era’s philanthropic boards, which sought to improve the education of African Americans in the rural areas of the South, an appointment that helped to catapult him into the position of a national leader. Because of his friendship with Washington, Napier was appointed to the board of directors of the Anna T. Jeanes Fund. Jeanes, a Philadelphia Quaker who established the fund, chose Washington and Hollis Burke Frissel, principal of Hampton Institute, to administer the fund and vested them with the authority to appoint members of the board of trustees. Established to improve the education of African Americans in the rural South, the Jeanes Funds operated in twenty-eight counties in Tennessee. In addition to serving on the board of directors, Napier later became a member of the executive committee and vice chairman. Napier’s influence brought him into the consciousness of the nation’s chief executive officers. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt offered him the position of consul of Bahia, Brazil, which he respectfully declined. Two years later, President William H. Taft asked him to serve as minister resident and consul of Liberia, which he refused. While presidents courted Napier to render his service, he was at work trying to secure a state normal school for Tennessee’s African American citizens. When the Tennessee General Assembly authorized a state normal school (a teacher training institution) for its Negro citizenry in 1909, African American leaders in Nashville organized to have the school located in their city. Members of the Negro Board of Trade, of which Napier was president, launched a vigorous campaign in all segments of the city and state. He and others appeared before various legislative sessions. A year later, with their support and the support of Nashville Mayor Hillary E. Howse, the Davidson County Court, and Governor Malcolm Rice Patterson, officials decided to build the state normal school (now Tennessee State University) for African Americans in Nashville. APPOINTED REGISTER OF THE TREASURY Napier was one of five African Americans who had their signatures on U.S. currency (Blanche K. Bruce [1881–1885; 1897–1898]; Judson W. Lyons [1898–1906]; William T. Vernon [1906–1911]; and Azie Taylor Morton [1977–1981]). President William H. Taft appointed Napier as register of the Treasury. He served in that position under U.S. treasurers Lee McClung, Carmi A. Thompson, and John Burke, respectively, from 1911 to 1913. When Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat and native southerner, was elected president of the United States, he ordered department heads to segregate their federal employees. Napier resigned after refusing to abide by the order. He returned to Nashville, practiced law, and resumed his position as cashier of the One Cent Savings Bank and Trust Company and his political and civic activities. In 1918, Napier led some 2,000 protestors to the state capital to present a civil rights petition to Governor Thomas C. Rye. This protest was in response to the lynching of an African American earlier in the year. The

563

National Afro-American League

same year, he and others applied to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) national office for a Nashville chapter of the civil rights organization. The organization’s national headquarters granted Nashville its charter on January 18, 1919. A successful attorney, businessman, politician, community and civil rights activist, and government servant, Napier served on the trustee boards of Fisk University (1915–1940) and Howard University (1911–1940). A member and officer of the Nashville Board of Trade, Napier served as the National Baptist Publishing Board’s attorney. Taken ill three months before his death on April 21, 1940, Napier’s funeral services were held in the chapel at Fisk University. Out of deference to the venerated leader who influenced more than three generations of African American life and politics in Nashville, the National Baptist Publish Board closed for the afternoon. Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College and the city’s public schools closed for the day. Mayor Thomas L. Cummings provided a police escort for his funeral processional. Following his funeral service, Napier’s remains were interred in Greenwood Cemetery. See also: Black Banks: Their Beginning Sources Clark, Herbert. ‘‘James Carroll Napier: National Negro Leader.’’ Tennessee Historical Quarterly 49 (1990): 244–252. Lovett, Bobby L. The African American History of Nashville, Tennessee, 1780–1930. Elites and Dilemmas. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1999. ———. A Black Man’s Dream: The First 100 Years: Richard Henry Boyd and the National Baptist Publishing Board. Jacksonville, FL: Mega Corporation, 1993. Wynn, Linda. ‘‘Union Transportation Company (1905–1907).’’ Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee. Ed. Bobby L. Lovett and Linda T. Wynn. Nashville: Local Conference on African American Culture and History, 1996.

Linda T. Wynn

National Afro-American League Afro-American League Afro-American Council Considered a precursor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other civil rights organizations, the National Afro-American League was established formally in January 1890 during a convention held in Chicago. The association grew out of the confluence of several factors. One factor was the time in history, while another component was an individual, Timothy Thomas Fortune. The end of Reconstruction, in 1877, also marked the end of most political, civil, and economic rights of African Americans. Racism, segregation, lynching, and other antiblack violence increased. The optimism that followed emancipation was replaced with disillusionment. During this era,

564

National Afro-American League

setbacks in attempts to gain political inclusion, financial security, equal education, and civil rights led to local and regional meetings that espoused self-help and racial solidarity. This backdrop was the environment in which Fortune lived and worked. Fortune (1856–1928) was born a slave in Marianna, Florida. His father was elected to the Florida House of Representatives where his moderate politics led to warnings and death threats from masked, white nightriders. As a result, the family fled to Jacksonville, leaving Fortune temporarily in Tallahassee, where he served as a page in the state senate and made friends with politicians, educators, and newspapermen. The early family, school, community, and work environment of Fortune provided the backdrop for his emergence as a leader and voice for social action. Emma Thornbrough states, ‘‘The years of his Florida youth healed to shape Fortune’s attitudes for the rest of his life. From personal experience he remembered the transition from slavery to freedom and the high hopes and shattered dreams which followed the Emancipation.’’ After moving to New York City in 1880, Fortune edited the New York Globe, New York Freeman, and the New York Age. The editorial pages of these publications gave Fortune the opportunity to express and influence thoughts and actions related to contemporary racial issues. In the pages of the Freeman, Fortune was first to suggest the formation of a National Afro-American League. In response to a request from Fortune and several other prominent African Americans, groups interested in furthering the rights of black citizens sent about 135 delegates from twenty-three states and the District of Columbia to the Chicago convention to discuss concerns about the postslavery and postReconstruction plight of African Americans. J. C. Price of North Carolina was chosen as the first president, and Fortune was elected secretary. To the agenda, Fortune added the ingredients of protest and agitation. In a militant speech, he noted seven types of injustices, which he considered justification for the establishment of the National Afro-American League. Herbert Aptheker noted that during his address to the convention Fortune recommended, ‘‘It is time to face the enemy and fight inch by inch for every right he denies us.’’ He also proposed the creation of an Afro-American bank and other separate black businesses, job training, and industrial education to increase economic opportunities for the race. Based on his comments, the representatives voted unanimously to adopt Article II of the league’s constitution. Article II, cited by Aptheker, stated that the objectives of the league were to assist state and local leagues to ‘‘break down the color bars and in obtaining for the Afro-American equal change with others in the avocations of life . . . and in securing the full privileges of citizenship.’’ The delegates agreed to use the print media, churches, public meetings, and the courts to attain their objectives. Despite the initial enthusiasm, only seven states sent representative to the second convention in Knoxville, Tennessee, in July 1891. While some local leagues survived, the national organization failed to meet in 1892. Several factors led to the formal dissolution of the organization in 1893, including,

565

National Alliance of Market Developers

according to Fortune, lack of funds, lack of popular support, and the indifference of black leaders. As discrimination, disenfranchisement, and violence against blacks subsequently worsened, numerous influential African Americans called upon Fortune to resurrect the league. In 1898, in Rochester, New York, an assemblage of leaders selected Bishop Alexander Walters as president of the association. The new organization was named the National Afro-American Council. The objectives of the newly established group were similar to the assertive plans of the National Afro-American League. However, as Booker T. Washington gained influence in the organization, the council began to reflect Washington’s more moderate viewpoint. Like its predecessor, the Afro-American Council was short-lived. It ceased to exist in 1908 after losing support to W.E.B. Du Bois’s Niagara Movement. Ultimately, the National Afro-American League provided a forum where activists could discuss diverse ideologies and techniques, thus supplying the formative seeds from which subsequent grassroots civil rights organizations emanated. Sources Aptheker, Herbert. A Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States. New York: Citadel Press, 1951. Blight, David W. ‘‘T. Thomas Fortune.’’ The Reader’s Companion to American History. Ed. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1991. Fortune, Timothy Thomas. Answers.com. The Reader’s Companion to American History. Ed. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991. http://www.answers.com/topic/fortune-t-thomas. Lowery, Charles D., and John F. Marszalek, eds. Encyclopedia of African-American Civil Rights: From Emancipation to the Present. New York: Greenwood Press, 1992. ———. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Civil Rights: From Emancipation to the Twenty-first Century. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003. Meier, August. Negro Thought in America 1880–1915: Racial Ideologies in the Age of Booker T. Washington. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1963. Thornbrough, Emma Lou. T. Thomas Fortune: Militant Journalist. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972.

Cheryl Jones Hamberg

National Alliance of Market Developers The National Alliance of Market Developers (NAMD) was established as the National Association of Market Developers in 1953 at historically black Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State University (Tennessee A&I University) initially to enhance professional development personnel targeted to the African American demographic. The conceptualization of special market operations to the African American community is largely attributed to this brainchild founded by H. Naylor Fitzhugh and Moss Kendrix at the national level, with substantial assistance from Nashville

566

National Alliance of Market Developers

local black professionals William Crump, William V. Harper, and Joseph Albright, respectively. Fitzhugh was one of the first black M.B.A. graduates from Harvard University’s Business School in 1933. He eventually provided significant credibility to Howard University’s School of Business through establishing a marketing department and its small business center, and he was a pioneer researcher and author on marketing approaches and strategies to the black community. Kendrix founded and turned into a respectable and profitable business marketing firm the Moss Kendrix Organization. Crump was the director of the Bureau of Public Relations, Tennessee A&I University. Harper was the coordinator of Industrial Relations, Tennessee A&I University, and Albright was the president of Albright Associates, Nashville, Tennessee. Steeped in the tradition of black organizations doing for themselves, largely as a result of America’s gaping disparagement as a result of Jim Crow segregation, NAMD from the outset represented a who’s who of black America in the fields of marketing, management, advertising, and sales. Brief analyses of the Third Annual Marketing Clinic, cosponsored by NAMD and Tennessee A&I University and held April 5–7, 1956, provides substantial data to validate the aforementioned assertion. ‘‘Negro Market Programs in 1956,’’ ‘‘Application of Public Relations Techniques in the Development of Special Markets,’’ ‘‘Application of Advertising Techniques in the Development of Special Markets,’’ ‘‘Application of Sales and Sales Promotion Techniques in the Development of Special Markets,’’ and ‘‘Negro Market Operations in a Period of Transition’’ represent sessions convened and engaged topics. The programmatic structure was facilitated, however, through leading business scholars, industry practitioners, and representatives from many of the nation’s leading corporations. A partial list of the conference delegates speaks to the magnitude of NAMD’s organizational scope and to the interconnectedness of Historically Black Colleges and Universities’ (HBCUs) preintegration potency grown out of necessity. Raymon Scruggs, chairman, department of marketing, Rutgers University; Wylie Whisonant, American Tobacco Company; Wendell P. Alston, Esso Standard Oil Company; Lou Olszyk, director of public relations, Curtis Gand Company; C. A. Rawles, president, Golden Circle Insurance Company; Charles P. Noonan, sales manager, Chrysler Division; Thomas Shropshine, Phillip Morris Company; Leo Piernas of Remington Rand Company; William F. Nabors, Coca-Cola Bottling Company; W. Beverly Carter, publisher, Pittsburgh Courier; John H. Sengstacke, publisher/editor, Chicago Defender; J.R.E. Lee Jr., business manager, Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University; J. H. Johns, comptroller, Central State College; and Vivian Henderson, chair, Department of Business and Commerce, Fisk University—all led steering committees and case studies and contributed substantially to the historic think tank initiative. Continuing with momentum, the Fourth Annual Convention of NAMD convened again at Tennessee A&I University in 1957, adopting ‘‘1957 Inventory of the Negro Market’’ as its theme. As the joint and

567

National Alliance of Market Developers

simultaneously convened Marketing Clinic aptly states in its mission, cited in the Brochure of 4th Annual Marketing Clinic: ‘‘The clinic will provide an opportunity for participants to hear and consult with individuals whose national reputation marks them as persons who are or have been successful workers in market programs directed towards the negro [sic] community.’’ Hence, added to the previous years’ illustrious panelists and facilitators were esteemed representatives from Southern University, Baton Rouge; Johnson Publishing Company, Chicago; and the Universal Life Insurance Company of Memphis. By its fifth year of existence, NAMD had solidified itself as the preeminent professional organization representing the interests of African Americans in marketing, public relations, advertisement, sales, management, and respective networking and education components associated with maximizing collective efforts designed to sustain such daunting tasks as outlined in the organization’s initial undertaking. Through the years, NAMD has evolved into an organization that cultivates various angles of the diverse African American experience in such a way whereby communities made up of African Americans and public and private institutions accordingly benefit from organizational-driven networking, educational forums, professional development, and proliferation in the national consciousness. To carry out this mission, NAMD has developed a Five Point Plan that guides its activities. The plan is designed to (1) serve as a resource conglomerate for African Americans through development of a communications database composed of consumer-friendly information; (2) provide educational leadership for African American students pursuing careers in the respective fields through scholarships and mentoring; (3) establish collaborative efforts with other national and international entities whose objectives are aligned with their own through strategic planning; (4) lend support to the African American community through professional expertise via training and exposure; and (5) increase exposure through public affairs at the national level. Implementation is predicated on conceptualization of a plan. Toward this end, upon close inspection of NAMD’s historical legacy, it is no surprise to see that its 53rd Annual Conference, held April 21–24, 2005, in Cleveland, Ohio, conceptually mirrors the 3rd and 4th Annual Conferences at Tennessee A&I University in 1956 and 1957, respectively, because the depth of the initial vision had no ceiling and was based on principles that were not bound by time or space but instead were based on the conditions faced by a minority group in America historically underserved, underfinanced, and generally ignored except where a profit could be gained from their group penetration. ‘‘Technology and Marketing’’ was the 2005 theme, and workshops consisted of ‘‘Profitable Data: Dial Black Consumers Who Drive the Technology Market,’’ ‘‘Advance Your Marketing Campaigns Through Technology: Web Advertising, E-Mail, Telephone Campaigns and ECommerce,’’ ‘‘Successful P.R. Strategies over the Net: News Press, Branding, E-Newsletters, Business Media and Crisis Management,’’ ‘‘Digital Lifestyles: Satellite Radio, A/V Entertainment and Cell Phone Applications,’’ and

568

National Association of Black Accountants

‘‘Technology and Health: Electronic Medical Records and Hippa Compliance.’’ Under the able leadership of executive director Clyde C. Allen, NAMD is holding up its founders’ mission with remarkable proficiency. From similar stock that produced founder H. Naylor Fitzhugh, Allen is recognized as a pioneer African American marketer from his stint as director of public relations/event marketer for House of Seagram, where he developed and implemented successful promotions and marketing initiatives bolstering the company’s brand. His ability and professional clout have enabled Allen to incorporate his talents into the broader matrix of NAMD through such power contacts as NASA, n2active, Black Enterprise, Jamila White & Associates, and Nielsen Media Research. Through Allen and Partners, Inc., a marketing services firm specializing in market research, public relations, and event planning and management, Urban Consumer Market Report is produced under the auspices of NAMD as well. Thus, research suggests that those who are knowledgeable about the consistency and quality of a product may be the best advertisers for that product—they simply tell someone about it. See also: Advertising and Marketing Sources Allen, Clyde C. Telephone Interview with author, July 13, 2005. Brochure of 3rd Annual Marketing Clinic. Cosponsored by the National Association of Market Developers and Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State University, Nashville, TN, April 5–7, 1956. Tennessee State University Archives and Special Collections. Brochure of 4th Annual Marketing Clinic. Cosponsored by the National Association of Market Developers and Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State University, Nashville, TN, March 17–19, 1957. Tennessee State University Archives and Special Collections. ‘‘H. Naylor Fitzhugh: Bridging Education, Leadership and Community.’’ Harvard Business School Working Knowledge Newsletter. http://hbswk.hbs.edu/pubitem.jhtm? id¼2810&sid¼-1&t¼special_reports_aasu2002. National Alliance of Market Developers. http://www.namdntl.org. Terranova Pictures. http://www.terranovapictures.com/c_allen.htm. Williams, David. ‘‘Alliance Names Jones Entrepreneur of the Year.’’ Commercial Appeal, April 2, 2005.

Uzoma O. Miller

National Association of Black Accountants In New York City in 1969 nine black accountants established the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) to provide an agency to address the low number of blacks in the field, which has been labeled ‘‘the whitest profession.’’ Hammond estimated in her study of black certified accountants that in 1930 only 0.03 percent of certified public accountants,

569

National Association of Black Accountants

the highest professional ranking, were black. This figure was 0.1 percent in 1960, rising to between 0.75 percent and 0.99 percent in 1997. This is in strong contrast with the 1997 numbers of lawyers (2.7 %) and doctors (4.2 %). Hence, at the time of the organization’s founding there was a great need to expand representation in the field and to increase opportunities for advancement. Since its founding, NABA has made tremendous strides to accomplish its objectives. For the first years of the effort progress was visible as barriers dropped. For example, the number of blacks employed by sixty of the nation’s largest accounting firms rose from 197 in 1969 to 700 in 1970. However, increases fell off as the civil rights pushed weakened in the wake of increasing public loss of interest and such events as the Bakke decision in 1978. Since the 1980s growth in the highest ranges of the profession has been almost nonexistent, and the numbers currently remain about at the level of the late 1980s. NABA helped in the initial push for greater representation and remains very active in striving to help blacks enter and thrive in the field. NABA initiatives encourage professionalism and instill a sense of leadership accountability. Tangible measures include such activities as executive leadership institutes, high school programs, and networking alliances. For example, in ‘‘Lifting as We Climb,’’ Norman Jenkins describes among the NABA programs how persons with upwards of fifteen years of experience in the field and who manage large staffs are eligible for the Executive Leadership Development Institute facilitated by Harvard Business School professors, and he also describes the Management Leadership Development Institute partnered with Boston University. NABA also fosters interest among persons seeking to enter the field of accounting. It has chapters at many institutions of higher education and also reaches into high school. The Business Journal-Milwaukee presented such a program in a 2001 article. The Messmer Accounting Club at Messmer High School in Milwaukee conducts field trips that include accounting firms and engagements with business world speakers, who share techniques and strategies to make the students aware of the profession and prepare them for potential obstacles along the way. Club members are further assisted by working directly with an accountant once a week. Programs addressing fiscal management, mathematics, and minority youth literacy are also central features of NABA campaigns to increase black participation in the field. From a dismal number of 136 black CPAs in the mid-1960s, NABA’s activities have bolstered the number to over 5,000 today. NABA has over 50 national chapters, over 125 student chapters, and over 60 accounting firms owned by minorities. While strides have been made, NABA’s work is far from done. Sources ‘‘Accounting Careers Awareness Program—Ohio Changes the Face of Business for Ohio’s Students.’’ Catalyst (September–October 2003): 49.

570

National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters Engels, Nick. ‘‘Accounting for Diversity.’’ Business Journal-Milwaukee 18 (May 25, 2001): 21. Grumet, Louis. ‘‘Opening the Door of Equal Opportunity.’’ CPA Journal 73 (September 2003): 7. Hammond, Theresa A. A White Collar Profession: African American Certified Public Accountant Since 1921. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002. Jenkins, Norman. ‘‘Lifting As We Climb.’’ The Practical Accountant 37 (August 2004): 48. Ola. Akande, Benjamin. ‘‘Number 35: Making a Difference.’’ Executive Speeches 18 (February–March 2004): 25. ‘‘On the Move.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (December 2004): 86.

Uzoma O. Miller

National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters The establishment of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) represents a vital organ of television and radio policy advocacy, advertisement campaigns, station proprietorship, and regulation of industry standards at the federal level. NABOB was born in 1976 of the fruits from the then-existing thirty blacks who owned broadcast mediums in the United States. Considering the undeniable correlation between black entertainment and American popular culture generally, NABOB’s existence is indispensable. Because of the historical disparity of control over how black and black-influenced arts have been transmitted to the public at large, it is important to note how and why the work of encouraging more black ownership and devising methods to sustain effective business strategies, relevant to longevity, have grounded the organization’s work. On this accord, NABOB has striven to primarily increase the numbers of black-owned telecommunications operations and to enhance ways for financial procurement and profitability in the market. William Barlow identifies the development of black radio as occurring in three distinctive eras: blackface, from the 1920s to 1941; black appeal, from 1942 to 1969; and black control, from 1970 to the present. The blackface period is marked by comedic interpretations of black life over the airwaves carried out by mostly Caucasian entertainers were heard on major broadcasts, but the most celebrated program dealing with black life as Amos ’n’ Andy, written and performed by white men. In addition to comedy, popular musical idioms blues and ragtime received airplay during this era, but, again, mostly Caucasian artists received favorable airtime. During the period of black appeal many black disk jockeys were able to carve out inches by featuring ‘‘race’’ records. In addition, black-oriented information and news programs were important. Most often these programs were restricted to the less desirable time slots like late night and early morning. Furthermore, despite the growth in New York, Chicago, Memphis,

571

National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters

and Atlanta of black appeal radio formatting, when viewed in context to the national population of blacks, ownership issues left much to be desired. Hence, in 1970 there were merely thirty black-owned broadcasts facilities. The number expanded to 220 in 2005, but it still represents not even 2 percent of the overall number of broadcast entities in the nation, making NABOB’s presence and subsequent contributions a requisite for black broadcasters’ survival. One sure way of ensuring perishing in the world of broadcasting, and to lessen the feasibility of survival, is to diminish the necessity of advertising. Citing the correlation of consumption of fast food by blacks and dollars spent by McDonald’s Corporation with black-owned broadcast stations, Nation’s Restaurant News reported in 1988 of NABOB’s protest of inconsistencies in advertisement dollars spent by the megacompany with black stations. The conclusion was that a greater balance should be explored by McDonald’s considering the demographic composed of blacks that consume their goods. Another financial matter explored by NABOB officials has been that of an increased value attributed to changing tax laws associated with minority tax certificates, wherein companies are handsomely rewarded for selling broadcast property to minorities. According to James Winston, NABOB executive director and general counsel in 1989, minority tax certificates significantly motivate potential venture capitalists to invest in minority buyers. The early 1990s produced a continuum of advocacy measures by NABOB officials to create situations whereby minority broadcast owners could benefit equally from government policy involvement. In 1991, in conjunction with the American Hispanic Owned Radio Association (AHORA), NABOB was heavily critical of the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) refusal to approve proportional allotments for entrants into an AM radio format that minimizes interference. Though a legitimate issue, many NABOB officials questioned liquidating of FCC energy this way instead of focusing on broader dynamics of inclusiveness at the ownership level. According to Lucia Cobo, attacks were launched within congressional hearings as well by Edward Markey, House subcommittee chairman of telecommunications, who stated how ‘‘diversity of ownership seems not to be of any importance to them at all.’’ The remaining 1990s and subsequent 2000s propelled NABOB work to a point of extreme importance because of the tides of change within the industry. Conglomerates have overtaken small-scale stations as a result of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which overturned a prior limit of forty owned stations throughout the nation at one time. As a result of increased deregulation, black broadcasters certainly felt the pinch at the central nerve of their livelihoods-turned-liabilities, money. Conglomerates by virtue of resources were now able to offer advertisement in bulk rates with extensive range and of monopolistic proportions. Four massive companies—namely, Clear Channel, Cumulus Broadcasting, Citadel Communication Corporation, and Infinity Broadcasting—in effect cornered the market. When analyzed further, black broadcasters like Judith Aidoo succinctly identify how black entrepreneurship was undercut, local broadcasting became

572

National Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs

limited, and the democratic process was fundamentally eradicated by deregulation. Since more black-controlled stations succumbed, so went much of personalized and local communication on germane topics in respective communities. Ushered in instead, argued NABOB executives, was oversaturation of disconnected national syndication and impersonal and unengaged coverage. Clearly the mission is still pertinent, and the organizational work of NABOB remains vital to the black community. See also: Advertising and Marketing Sources Barlo, William. ‘‘Radio.’’ Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Vol. 4. Ed. Cornel West, David Lionel Smith, and Jack Salzman. New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan, 1996. Carlino, Bill. ‘‘Black Broadcasters Take on McDonald’s: File Protest over Lack of Advertising Dollars.’’ Nation’s Restaurant News 22 (October 24, 1988): 3. Cobo, Lucia. ‘‘AM Rescue Plan Riles Minority Broadcasters.’’ Broadcasting 121 (October 7, 1991): 46. Dawkins, Walter, and Mathew S. Scott. ‘‘Battle for the Airwaves! Mega-Broadcasters are Squeezing Independent Black Radio Stations into Extinction: How Will They Survive the War and What Does It Mean for You?’’ Black Enterprise 33 (May 2003): 64. ‘‘The Latest Buying and Selling Tool: Minority Tax Certificates.’’ Broadcasting 116 (February 13, 1989): 66. Rathbun, Elizabeth. ‘‘Leading the Way to Diversity.’’ Broadcasting and Cable 130 (July 31, 2000): 60. Stern, Christopher. ‘‘Minorities’ Prime Focus Is Primetime.’’ Variety 376 (September 20, 1999): 2.

Uzoma O. Miller

National Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs Founded by Marilyn French-Hubbard in 1978 in Detroit, Michigan, the National Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs (NABWE) was established to provide networking opportunities wherein system and control formulas to help minimize the risks associated with starting a business were fostered. As a 5,000-member resource chain of international and national enterprising women, NABWE has maintained a prominent role in the advocacy of women and minority inroads to greater financial security and entrepreneurial sustenance. Listed in 1995 as a leading networking organization representing black businesses by the New York Times, its dynamism is a natural outflow of leadership from founder and president French-Hubbard. Internationally recognized for her advocacy of the underserved and for implementing programs designed to further integrate women and persons of color into America’s corporate world, French-Hubbard has used her social pulpit to offer a human gospel, inspiring many to elevate above their conditions and to make the most of entrepreneurial endeavors. The Detroit

573

National Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs

Self-employment Project, a filter program designed to help recipients of public assistance move toward financial independence and company ownership, is an example of French-Hubbard’s vision and how vicariously it illuminates through NABWE activities. Consistent with her ideals and NABWE objectives, French-Hubbard has also contributed substantially to literature on black women empowerment. Sisters Are Cashing in: How Every Woman Can Make Her Financial Dreams Come True, by French-Hubbard, was published in 2002, examining wealthbuilding tactics for black women and how to counter debt-bound vices such as emotional, spiritual, and mental factors associated with overspending. Specializing in corporate coaching, leadership, marketing, and organizational accountability, French-Hubbard’s consistent bottom has focused on the crucial role businesses play in community development and the conscious articulation of viewing the company as an intricate link in the chain of human performance and growth. These talents have served the Detroit community well since French-Hubbard is currently the vice president for community and corporate partnerships for the Henry Ford Health Systems. Being one of only four women trained to operate and own Chrysler dealerships and sustaining a flourishing consulting agency on business development, French-Hubbard amassed sufficient insight to found and lead NABWE into the twenty-first century. After falling into subtle dormancy beginning in the late 1990s, NABWE bounced back in 2004 and continued its quest of holding corporate America more accountable by encouraging its solicitation of more black female entrepreneurs for sound advice. At its 2004 Minority Business Month Leadership Luncheon Award & Workshop Event, over 300 participants through consensus acknowledged that mentoring and technology are the factors of the most significance in the modern era for business development. FrenchHubbard expressed that quality should be rewarded regardless of race or gender and, according to the Detroit Free Press, that ‘‘more organizations [needed] to make a commitment to doing business with people who buy their services.’’ At the leadership luncheon, NABWE pushed health, wealth, and opportunities as operational models for entrepreneurial longevity. Balance within the context of one’s health, wealth creation as a process for generational durability, and exploration of strategies affording vendor opportunities with major corporations were all highlighted as Janice Howard, chief executive officer and founder of Act-1 Group, received the organization’s prestigious honor. Budding black female entrepreneurs could place tremendous stock in Howard’s speech because according to Black Enterprise, cited in the Detroit Free Press, in 2003 her personnel service was the third most profitable black-owned business in the country, grossing more than $500 million. With such impressive credentials, Howard exemplified through actions that relative to the previous twenty-five years black women were not afraid to take calculated risks and embark on entrepreneurial journeys.

574

National Association of Investment Companies

Further credence to NABWE and its influence on community productivity appears through the work of Marlo Jenkins, managing director of TechTown, the research and technology park at Wayne State University. By lending help to many smaller businesses in Detroit, TechTown necessarily interacts with many minority businesses. A member of NABWE, Jenkins’s background and professional work prior to being named director in November 2004 are remarkably similar to those of NABWE founder and president FrenchHubbard. Jenkins’s forte, too, was shaped in the community-oriented vein, with a marketing and strategic planning emphasis. While founding and running Jazzdigital Marketing, an interactive media provider, from 1999 to 2003, Jenkins also worked within Detroit’s automobile industry as a research and market developer with Ford Motor Company. Ultimately, her community-driven approach to incorporating technology in marketing strategies makes her an excellent fit for TechTown and magnifies the purity of the NABWE vision, scope, and substance. NABWE has served well to aid women who are starting a business and to venture into the corporate world as well. See also: Women and Business Sources Chilargi, Francesca. ‘‘TechTown Names a New Managing Director.’’ South End Newspaper, December 15, 2004. http://www.southend.wayne.edu. Detroit News Staff. ‘‘Oakland People in the News.’’ Detroit News, April 15, 2003. http://www.detnews.com. Finneren, Kate. ‘‘Hubbard to Speak at Morning Graduation.’’ Central Michigan Life, April 30, 2004. http://www.cm-life.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/04/30/4091be 2b8149c. Gopwani, Jewel. ‘‘Female Minorities in Business: Getting Assistance Key to Progress.’’ Detroit Free Press, October 5, 2004. http://www.freep.com/money/business/ women5e_20041005.htm. Hubbard, Marilyn French. Sisters Are Cashing In: How Every Woman Can Make Her Financial Dreams Come True. New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 2002. Livengood, Chad. ‘‘Granholm Fills Trustee Void: Hubbard, Kottamasu Join Board.’’ Central Michigan Life, January 28, 2005. http://www.cm-life.com/vnews/display.v/ ART/2005/01/28/41f9d140e62c5. ‘‘Marilyn French-Hubbard, Author of ‘Sisters Are Cashing In: How Every Woman Can Make Her Financial Dreams Come True,’ to Speak at WIC of Detroit Annual Matrix Dinner, May 11.’’ April 24, 2005. Women in Communications of Detroit. http://www.womcom.koz.com/womcom/wicofdetroit.

Uzoma O. Miller

National Association of Investment Companies Founded in 1971 under the name ‘‘minority enterprise business investment companies’’ to work hand-in-hand with President Richard Nixon’s minority enterprise small business investment companies (MESBICs) program,

575

National Association of Investment Companies

National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) members have grown to invest more than $2.5 billion in over 20,000 businesses representing minorities. With the goal of creating a wider marketplace for growth, equitable returns, and an expanded tax base for minority businesses, this industry association incorporates its professional collectivism to generate significant returns for prospective shareholders and investors. To accomplish association objectives, NAIC has focused its efforts on enhancing member portfolios, promoting the education of managers, entrepreneurs, and makers of policy, recruitment and training for member and partner management talent, and furthering initiatives designed to make more accessible capital for minority businesses. Nixon’s MESBIC program changed names to ‘‘specialized small business investment companies (SSBICs),’’ and it retained a lock on the majority of NAIC matters until the early 1990s when the organization sought less dependence on federal funding exclusively. In accordance with this agenda, NAIC expanded to tap into more lucrative public and private sectors for capital and began to initiate partner affiliations that raised the bar for investment potential to minority-centered and -driven businesses. Fairview Capital in 1994 and The Marathon Club in 2002 represent two such initiatives—both especially needed considering the elimination of SSBICs by Congress in 1996. To its credit, the industry has benefited immensely from research and data collection that ultimately has had a profound impact on policy decisions and protocol networks for successful strategies to secure venture capital. Through recession-felt times resulting from burnout and backlash as a result of Internet-driven markets of the 1990s, a 2003 report by NAIC prescribed the following methods to maximize potential access to venture capital from potential investors: (1) put together a management team with a proven record demonstrating its ability to execute business plans; (2) never lose sight of the economic bottom line that drives company revenue; and (3) provide elementary clarity in the business plan describing the product, size of the market, specific sectors of the market to be penetrated, competitive companies in the same field, resources needed to actualize company goals, and how proposed funds will specifically be used. According to representatives, these priceless lessons are critical in securing investment capital and have many times eluded minority businesses in their pursuits. Another factor cited as a contributor toward crippling most minority businesses is the absence of a second wind financially after initial social capital investments from family and friends, and possibly a small business loan, evaporate. One program NAIC was instrumental in helping launch to help remedy this problem is the Minority Angel Investor Network (MAIN) in Pennsylvania in 2004. In compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission, an angel investor is defined as an individual (or individual and spouse) with a net worth exceeding $1 million or a single income over two years of $200,000 (or $300,000 combined). MAIN is identified in the Philadelphia Inquirer as the only exclusive conglomerate of angel investors

576

National Association of Minority Contractors

whose sole purpose is to ‘‘focus on investing in high-growth minority-owned enterprises.’’ NAIC president Robert L. Greene places a heavy premium on angel investing because of the cyclical nature of securing further support from banks and high-level venture capitalists. Moreover, he notes that most minority small business portfolios lose ground at this phase of the investment process because their momentum is lost due to insufficient funds to sustain company objectives. NAIC has proven to be a needed asset in the investment industry because of its consistent efforts to dispel and debunk myths that psychologically hinder minority business investments as well. A report released in the early 2000s issued by the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Missouri, one of the nation’s entrepreneurship primary supporters, detailed that venture capital ascribed to minority businesses from the early 1990s through 2002 mostly derived from public pension funds, that high-technology industries were not the central thrust of their businesses, and that minority enterprise venture capital investment returns were favorably high in the context of majority start-up operations. The significance of such a report is most vital because of the widely held mind-set by many investors that minority businesses represent extreme risks and offer little promise regarding turning a profit. Information and knowledge are powerful weapons that NAIC firms used to arm themselves as they managed over $4.5 billion of capital in 2005. Sources Jones, Ayana. ‘‘ ‘Angels’ Help Firms Fly High.’’ Philadelphia Tribune, August 31, 2004. ‘‘Kauffman Foundation Report Reveals That Minority-Owned VCs Broadcast Over Broadband: Public Pensions Rise as a Source of Capital for Minority VC Funds.’’ National Association of Investment Companies. http://www.naicvc.com. Lewis, Latif. ‘‘Back to Basics: It’s the ABCs of Entrepreneurship That Attract Venture Capital.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (February 2003): 42. Reynolds, Rhonda. ‘‘Under Fire: First 8(a) Set Asides, Now Small Business Investment Companies Are Being Attacked.’’ Black Enterprise 26 (November 1995): 35.

Uzoma O. Miller

National Association of Minority Contractors Established in 1969 as a nonprofit trade organization to represent the interests of black Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanic Americans who felt the sting from being excluded from construction industry benefits and perks, the National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC) has emerged as a true ‘‘Builder of Bridges’’ and ‘‘Crosser of Barriers,’’ as its organizational motto espouses. Since its founding, the organization has proven most effective primarily in the areas of training, networking, and advocating policy implementation of legal and financial matters pertinent to minority contractors and developing mechanisms

577

National Association of Minority Contractors

wherein said contractors’ professional standards and sociopolitical sophistication are augmented. To carry out organizational objectives, NAMC has focused its energy on providing information to its constituents through seminars and educational courses, briefing of legislative and legal matters, and insider developments taking place within the industry. Specific training initiatives include active roles with U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the Department of Transportation. These initiatives have played major roles in work acquisition for women as well. With funding secured through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NAMC since the mid-1980s has successfully trained women and minorities in hazardous waste management, underground storage tanks, asbestos reduction, and leadbased paint protection. From appropriate training, more qualified numbers of minorities have directly benefited because their new skill levels offer broader access to environmental sectors. ‘‘Inclusion’’ has been the rallying cry for NAMC through its 60,000 members dispersed throughout over twenty chapters. The Wisconsin chapter in 2003 recruited the services of 2004 Democratic presidential primary candidate Reverend Al Sharpton to boldly articulate illusions surrounding affirmative action in the construction business. As the keynote speaker for the 2003 national convention in Milwaukee, Sharpton addressed how minority contractors can increase international commerce, manage profitability more efficiently, comprehend emerging labor dynamics for the new millennium, and expand corporate partnerships on issues of diversity. Other efforts to enhance inclusiveness by the organization continued in 2005 with mentor-prote´ge´ teams and the Turner Contractors Program. For example, NAMC uses mentor-prote´ge´ teams in Portland, Oregon, as a means of linking newcomers to the profession to learn from previous and existing key authority figures. The idea here is to provide ample samplings of successes and failures derived from programs soliciting minorities and women and engage participants in ongoing dialogue to adapt to their own careers. Similarly, training on bid opportunities and honing professional pedigree is instilled through Turner Contractors Program and Contracting College, held in Washington, D.C. on Howard University’s campus. Though not a part of Howard’s curriculum, Turner Construction Company is one of the largest commercial construction companies in the United States. Furthermore, this program allows prospective minority contractors the opportunity to learn from the brightest and most well seasoned industry professionals on the do’s and don’ts of the field. Tangible fruit from NAMC can be seen in such efforts as the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC), an $800 million meeting and convention center at the peak of technological sophistication, whose director, James E. Rooney, received the 2002 NAMC Executive Director’s Outstanding Leadership Award. Rooney’s track record for recruiting qualified minority and women contractors has been impeccable. In addressing contract needs for projects like the BCEC, Rooney is adamant on the point

578

National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs

that work in Boston should be erected from the hands of ‘‘all’’ Bostonians. In addition, the trickle-down impact from Rooney’s accomplishments is the fact, too, that he established a New England chapter of NAMC to carry on much of the work he initiated for years to come. Sources Berk, Michele, and Keith T. Reed. ‘‘Jolivet Lands New Post.’’ Baltimore Business Journal 19 (June 15, 2001): 3. Johnson-Elie, Tannette. ‘‘Minority Contractors Preaching Inclusion: Group Trying to Raise the Profile of Its Wisconsin Members.’’ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 24, 2003. http://www.jsonline.com. Margolies, Dan. ‘‘Loss of DBE Status Spells End for Mabin.’’ Kansas City Business Journal 17 (April 30, 1999): 3. National Association of Minority Contractors. http://www.namcline.org.

Uzoma O. Miller

National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs Out of depression-plagued conditions in 1935 emerged the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs (NANBPWC) as a professional organization devoted to safeguarding the interests and activities of black women immersed in business and professional careers. In addition, the commitment to help younger generations of black businesswomen and the promotion of universal goodwill were initial organizational goals as well. Answering the call by Ollie Chin Porter, existing New York City local president of a Business and Professional Women’s Club, Pearl Flippen, representing Atlantic City’s club, Emma Odessa Young and Effie Diton, representing New York City’s club, and Bertha Perry Rhodes, Josephine B. Keene, and Adelaide Flemming, representing Philadelphia’s club, convened in July of 1935 as the national founders. Considering the racial, economic, and gender dynamics plaguing American society at the time, it is astonishing to note that the founders were college graduate professionals representing entrepreneurial and managerial sectors of society. From its ambitious origins, NANBPWC has maintained a viable and important place in the lives of the black community at the local, state, federal, and international levels. In 1988 under guidance from sixteenth national president Jacquelyn Gates, a financial source was created to provide technical assistance to black female entrepreneurs. The Economic Development Corporation was established as a specific component to help fledgling businesses anchor themselves and establish proper footing in their respective market. Accordingly, low interest loans and seminars were offered via the Small Business Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to afford necessary franchising, managerial, contract obtainment, and small business development skills.

579

National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs

The national structure of NANBPW lends itself to systematically challenging energies through subsidiary youth development. For example, the Charlotte Young Adult Club of NANBPW is designed for young black female professionals, ages eighteen to thirty, who have demonstrated a commitment to utilizing their professional resources for the immediate relief and betterment of their local community. Consistent with the national aim of promoting and protecting the interests of black women professionals, the Charlotte Young Adult Club provides hands-on economic development experience in health care, education, and employment opportunities. Community organization and project management serve as methodological models for participants. They are nurtured by local senior club affiliates, who are seasoned in respective fields of expertise and have the personal and professional means to open doors of success for youth they mentor. NANBPWC’s credo of service and positive community impact are recognized through its annual bestowal of the National Sojourner Truth Meritorious Service Award, the highest and most prestigious award granted by the organization. Established in 1948, the award was appropriately named for the symbolic and literal substance embodied by the nineteenthcentury black heroine of women’s equality, abolition, and prison reform. The 2005 recipient was April Gray, U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory administrative specialist. What ultimately is being recognized in the case of Gray is her accountability in using personal resources for the greater good. As a twenty-five-year tutor and mentor in Brookhaven Laboratory’s High School Cooperative Program, Gray successfully demonstrated efficiency and enthusiasm while introducing local students to formalities of business and scientific areas of expertise. From paid opportunities the students many times continued their practical learning and entered the workforce with a substantial advantage relative to their peers. After sixty years, NANBPWC has grown into an international operation with over 200 chapters in the United States, Cameroon, Ghana, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Panama. The most substantial global impact has manifest through cultural and educational exchange, technical infrastructure development, and financial aid to upgrade the volume of medicine in local clinics. Its members consist of consultants, educators, Fortune 500 executives, investment bankers, legal professionals, government professionals, administrators, and entrepreneurs. Besides workshops and other networking benefits, NANBPWC also provides a national $1,000 scholarship for a high school senior who plans to go to college in a professional or business field. The eighteenth national president, economist, educator, and commentator Julianne Malveaux established a $1,000 scholarship for black female college sophomores and juniors majoring in journalism and/or economics. Additionally, the Coleman Family Scholarships and the G. Hill Scholarship respectfully exist at regional levels. See also: Women and Business

580

National Black Chamber of Commerce Sources ‘‘Brookhaven Lab’s April Gray Honored by the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs.’’ Brookhaven National Lab. http:// www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display.asp?prID¼05-55. ‘‘The Charlotte, NC Club of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc.’’ Social Step. http://www.socialstep.com/giving back/give7.asp. King, Sharon R. ‘‘Women’s Work: Taking Care of New Business.’’ Black Enterprise 19 (August 1988): 27. National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs. http:// www.nanbpwc.org. ‘‘The National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc. Youth Department Tree Planting Ceremony at the Kentucky Center for AfricanAmerican Heritage.’’ Kentucky Center for African-American Heritage. July 2002. http://www.kcaah.com.

Uzoma O. Miller

National Black Chamber of Commerce In 1983, the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) was founded. In 1993 it officially incorporated in Washington, D.C. as an advocacy group intended to foster educational tactics to increase spending power within black-owned businesses throughout the United States, which in 2005 encompassed approximately 1 million establishments. NBCC is deliberately neutral on matters of religion and political leaning and operates under notfor-profit status. It is principally interested in developing and nurturing ways to help $800 billion in black spending to turn over within black businesses and to influence the tourism industry, wherein local black chambers can benefit directly from an estimated $25 billion annual expenditure by black people. In spite of such figures spent in the tourist industry, NBCC identifies, that in relative terms, percentages of black businesses that get a piece of the economic pie are malnourished, receiving virtual crumbs, if anything at all. To curb disparities in spending, NBCC sets out to broaden developments of black businesses by way of international connections and facilitating access to funds from consultation with member affiliates and partners on ways of securing reciprocal relationships wherein cash flow is a constant; to maintain forums and programs geared at providing leadership to carry out said initiatives; to constantly acquaint the mass public on black business proliferation and the inherent usefulness and advantages to society at large from support thereof; and to extend specialized assistance for local chamber programming needs. In June 2004, a mission to Ghana to establish international trade links was undertaken and contributed in a major way to the launching of http://www.nationalbcctravel.org as its official travel conduit to assist its constituent base with high-frequency travel needs. In addition, of

581

National Black Chamber of Commerce

the nearly 200 local black chamber affiliates, five are located in Ghana, Jamaica, Colombia, Brazil, and the Bahamas. At the local level within territorial U.S. boarders, the gains attributed to NBCC drives are no less apparent. Consider the case of Nathaniel Harris, proprietor of the local framing business Woodcuts, of the Greater Nashville Black Chamber of Commerce (GNBCC), who realizes an annual 10 percent gain from the organization’s publicity campaigns aimed at tourists and students on historic Jefferson Street’s college-laden district in close proximity to Fisk University, Tennessee State University, and Meherry Medical College. In terms of educating the public on industry concerns, NBCC has remained at the cutting edge. Greater clarity has been brought to laypersons and businesspeople alike from such court cases as NBCC v. US West Inc., a $50 million class-action suit filed in Denver, Colorado, in 1996. Essentially, the case argued against sole-source vending, where large corporations who in the past bought goods from suppliers across the spectrum now reverted to the practice of buying exclusively from ‘‘primary’’ contractors. Seldom were the interests of minorities represented. Then president and CEO Herman Malone further identified disparity issues concerning business procurement for black-owned businesses and institutional racism marked by code words like ‘‘small business’’ to signify a black establishment. Ever mindful of pitfalls associated with reverse discrimination and accusations leveled at set-back programs for minority enterprise, NBCC has rebuked such notions with careful crafting of lobbying efforts, seeking information responsiveness instead of blindfolded handouts. In 2000, Kermit Thomas was NBCC’s primary lobbyist on banking concerns, and he challenged mainstream America’s inclination to market depreciative liabilities to blacks in a way that limited potential for black wealth building and increased accumulation of pejorative goods. Thomas primed his efforts on emphasizing study and preparation for the issues he sought to champion or challenge, and black business’s ability to speak the language required engaging corporate America in meaningful dialogue aimed at closing the divide in appropriation of funds. In its attempts to integrate more systemically black businesses into the cloth of American capitalism, Aflac, Lord Abbett, Exxon Mobil, Altria, Bell South, General Motors, Daimler Chrysler, Verizon, Wells Fargo, Caribbean-Online.net, and the U.S. Census Bureau have solidified partnerships with NBCC to help accelerate the pace. See also: Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade in the 1920s and 1930s Sources Ankeny, Robert. ‘‘Black Chamber of Commerce Begins to Look for Leaders.’’ Crain’s Detroit Business 17 (March 19, 2001): 42. Jackson, Lee Anna. ‘‘Entrepreneurs Unite.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (November 2001): 56. ‘‘Lobbyist Seeks Investments, Not Handouts.’’ American Banker 165 (October 6, 2000): 1. National Black Chamber of Commerce. http://www.nationalbcc.org.

582

National Black Farmers Association Rundles, Jeff. ‘‘Is It Institutional Discrimination? The National Black Chamber of Commerce Takes Action in Court against US West.’’ Colorado Business Magazine 24 (November 1997): SS4(2).

Uzoma O. Miller

National Black Farmers Association In the spring of 1995, as a result of mounting frustration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) apparent discrimination on racial grounds concerning disbursement of loans to farmers, Virginia poultry farmer John Boyd Jr. began galvanizing efforts for massive protests on behalf of a dying breed of black farmers in the United States. Initially his efforts consisted of making phone calls of inquiry to USDA officials using his name alone; but after adopting the name National Black Farmers Association (NBFA), his calls and appeals started to be returned and at least acknowledged. Boyd quickly picked up steam from kindred black farmers whose complaints and concerns mirrored and oftentimes exceeded his own, arguing undue process regarding bank foreclosures and subsequent auctioning of land. After unearthing what was identified as years-old backlogs on discrimination and muscling by the USDA of black landowners, NBFA set out to bring attention to such grievances through high-profile, direct action. Through its ten-year history, NBFA has successfully provided leadership and activism that led to the largest class-action suit in the nation’s history and remained at the forefront of struggle with the intent of salvaging a future for the endangered constituency represented by the organization. ‘‘We Have Our Mule, Now We’re Looking for Our 40 Acres’’ was the slogan adopted by sixty black farmers led by Boyd who trekked to Washington, D.C. on December 12, 1996, to the White House in support of raising the stakes and of having their pleas heard at the highest level of governance in the land. Their monumental work from 1996 to 1998 produced results and concrete outcomes, igniting intervention activity through presidential roundtables, agricultural secretarial treatise, and federal senatorial advocacy. Indeed, sessions with President Bill Clinton resulted in the establishment of a federal advisory committee on civil rights designed to essentially keep the USDA intricately posted on legislation changes regarding the $500 million operating budget for small farmers. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman vowed to clean up the mess created by USDA’s catastrophic malice by transforming the engrained traditional practices of what he called ‘‘the last plantation.’’ Considerable campaigning from Virginia senator Charles Robb also proved valuable in addressing the copious retribution claims made by black farmers. The analogy of life being a marathon and not a sprint aptly fits the NBFA movement because the obstacles faced and red tape applied for black farmers

583

National Black Farmers Association

to receive their respective share of USDA’s $2.3 billion settlement for classaction discrimination has meandered at a snail’s pace. A 1999 report produced by NBFA and the Environmental Working Group claims that the administration of George Bush was in violation of obstructing justice. Accordingly, they provided evidence from Mississippi and Alabama to show how stifling policy steeped in bureaucratic loopholes hindered 19,000 out of 19,269 Mississippi late-filing applicants and 14,268 out of 14,562 in Alabama. Regardless of the settlement from six years prior, evidence produced suggests that most claims were simply being ignored, and black and other minority farmers’ issues remained dormant at the federal level. Despite apparent setbacks, NBFA efforts never waned, and the plight perforated international arenas as well. The United Nations was the natural body to appeal to, and unanimous support from leading civil rights organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Urban League, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) championed the cause. According to Akwasi Evans in the New York Daily Challenge, SCLC’s Joseph Lowery emphatically charged that ‘‘you do not deserve to lose 13 million acres of land in half a century just because you are black.’’ International ties for NBFA did not stop with just appeals. Program implementation with foreign nations to help black farmers with direct ties and contractual work has been sought, too. Of historical consequence is the export deal brokered by NAACP’s Kweisi Mfume with the Cuban government in 2003. Having been devastated by an over forty-year embargo preventing trade with the United States, this represents a tremendous upside for Cuba. As sanctions have been slightly loosened in recent years, the current policy limits all transactions to cash-and-carry only. Nevertheless, NBFA began selling corn, wheat, rice, soybeans, and chicken through coastal outposts directly to Cuba. The benefit of such a program stems from the fact that NBFA was able to negotiate a more equitable agreement from cutting out expensive middlemen. Cited corporate diminishment of black farm–produced goods includes erroneous claims of impurities and the subsequent taxation on the open market. The historical implications must be considered as consistent practices by the Fidel Castro–led Cuban government, who has deliberately supported Third World infrastructures and likened the scenario of ostracized black farmers in America in similar fashion. John Boyd has remained relentless in his work on behalf of NBFA up to the moment. In an interview with Lou Dobbs, Boyd made it clear of his outrage at Mexican president Vicente Fox’s disparaging remarks about black farmers in the United States where it was implied that illegal immigrant Mexican workers were better suited due to black loathing and inadequate production. He was further alarmed at the ‘‘out clause’’ for President Fox articulated by the Reverend Jesse Jackson. Despite the differences, Boyd’s position principally centered on turning conflict into resolution. Thus, he began pushing for Jackson’s assistance and Fox’s openness to forging partnerships where NBFA could secure contracts with the Mexican government

584

National Black MBA Association

modeled after the ones established in Cuba. Currently, arrangements for Boyd’s travel to Mexico are in negotiation, and the NBFA claims 66,000 members throughout the United States. See also: Blacks in Agriculture Sources Danois, Ericka Blount. ‘‘Black Soil.’’ Baltimore City Paper, April 16, 2003. http:// www.citypaper.com. Dobbs, Lou, and John Boyd. ‘‘Interview with John Boyd.’’ Lou Dobbs Tonight. Transcript. May 20, 2005. NBFA. http://www.blackfarmers.org/press/cnn05-05-20. Evans, Akwasi. ‘‘Black Farmers Take Land Dispute to U.N.’’ New York Daily Challenge, March 25, 1998. http://www.challengegroup.com. Hocker, Cliff. ‘‘NAACP Brokers Export Deal: Black Farmers to Sell Goods to Cuban Government.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (March 2003): 21. ‘‘John W. Boyd, Jr.’’ African-American Publications. http://www.africanpubs.com/ Apps/bios/0301boydjohn.asp. Radelat, Ana. ‘‘Blacks Shut Out of Farm Settlement, Group Says.’’ Clarion-Ledger, July 20, 2004. http://clarionledger.com.

Uzoma O. Miller

National Black MBA Association Established by University of Chicago black graduate students in the M.B.A. program in 1970 to propel blacks toward completion of the terminal M.B.A., to facilitate greater entry into the ranks of corporate America, and to sustain an operable network for its members, the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) has become a virtual human database for approximately 100,000 black M.B.A.s in the United States, with over 6,000 dues-paying members. The association’s network has proven particularly beneficial linking qualified black M.B.A.s with recruitment representatives from the likes of General Electric, General Mills, Goodyear, Pepsi, Ford, J. P. Morgan, IBM, and hundreds of other leading corporations. NBMBAA’s annual career fair has consistently attracted upward of 500 business schools and employers. The professional organization includes representatives from educational, financial, information technology, legal, real estate, and nonprofit sectors of the business world, to name but a few examples. To compliment NBMBA career fairs are the endless initiatives designed to help black M.B.A.s stay employed and advance within the corporate ranks driven by production-based competitiveness. One such initiative is the Wall Street Project, cosponsored with the Reverend Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/ PUSH coalition, designed to connect with professional sports teams in New York. Accordingly, the New York Nicks, Yankees, Giants, and Jets have affiliations with NBMBAA members whose services and goods in some way appeal to team administrators or members. Another initiative revealing considerable promise has been the Self-Assessment Executive Coaching.

585

National Black MBA Association

The organization hires coaches to critique member managerial efficiency and help them devise blueprints for elevation within their respective fields. Additionally, this three-month program follows up with nurturing sessions periodically with participants through direct counseling, if so desired. This is a significant point to bear in mind because, from most accounts, this is where many black M.B.A.s lose ground in the ladder-climbing phase of their careers, from not having mentorship practices instilled to cultivate their continuing development. Inherent organizational growing pains occurred in the early 1990s as many members sought to analyze the group’s evolution relative to its initial principles. The primary concern articulated was how they could remain central in black M.B.A.s’ postgraduate school experiences in the real world. The statistics are staggering when you consider that although blacks in 1994 made up 12 percent of the population, they only made up 6 percent of managers and high-ranking corporate officials and executives. It should be made clear, however, that despite such dismal data, NBMBAA remained extremely important because it reflected a continuum of ideals that needed to be updated with more modern tactics and programs. Having analyzed the problems, NBMBAA leadership transformed to be more national and global in scope and more think-tank oriented and political in its methodologies. Perhaps former director of marketing Charles E. Walton said it best when he rallied for black networthing, a term that focuses on economic bottom lines instead of networking, which oftentimes turns into merely socializing frivolously. Despite adversity faced in its efforts to achieve networking opportunities with business professionals, establishing partnerships with leading corporations, and developing competent community-based programs for managerial fortitude, NBMBAA remains a needed pipeline for resources regarding minority youth, professionals, and students and access to grants, scholarships, interns, and employment retention. Scholarships given include Leadership of Tomorrow Scholarships for high school seniors, the National Undergraduate Scholarship, and the National Doctoral Fellowship. The H. Naylor Fitzhugh Award is bestowed as the group’s highest award, named in recognition of the first black graduate of Harvard University School of Business. Considering the fact that blacks in 2005 comprised still considerably less than 10 percent of all M.B.A.s produced every year, NBMBAA initiatives are in critical demand. In September 2004, Barbara L. Thomas was named president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the organization and immediately set out to increase membership triplefold and to move into a more visual space of accessibility with corporate partnership. Sources Baskerville, Dawn M. ‘‘Meeting the Changing Needs of Black MBAs.’’ Black Enterprise 24 (October 1993): 120–124. Hlotyak, Elizabeth. ‘‘African-American Business Group Builds Relationships.’’ Westchester County Business Journal 40 (April 9, 2001): 2. McCann, Grace. ‘‘The US Road to Business Success.’’ Independent, October 18, 2001.

586

National Black United Fund Scott, Jonathan. ‘‘Black Business Professionals Form Support Network.’’ Memphis Business Journal 17 (May 29, 1995): 8–9. Tita, Bob. ‘‘People: Black MBA Group’s CEO Focuses on Mentoring.’’ Crain’s Chicago Business 27 (May 10, 2004): 8.

Uzoma O. Miller

National Black United Fund Out of social conditions from civil rights and other social movements of the 1960s was born the National Black United Fund (NBUF) in the state of Delaware in 1972. Spearheading this effort was Walter Bremond, leader of Cummings Engine Foundation, and the Brotherhood Crusade founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1968. This latter group represents the philosophical godparent of NBUF, as Bremond served as the first executive director until his death in 1982, and the mission of developing and implementing strategic fund-raising methods to secure adequate funding within black communities throughout America was adopted and expanded by NBUF officials. The founding board of directors included James Josephs, chairman; Reverends Negail Riley and Leon Howard Sullivan; Dorothy Height; Leroy Jones (aka Amiri Baraka), and Quincy Jones. Earland Jaggers and Dana Alston followed Bremond’s executive leadership through intermediate turmoilplagued years until 1987, when current president/chief executive officer William T. Merritt assumed executive leadership duties and began anchoring the organization. From the outset, NBUF was primarily concerned with maximizing black dollars and devising ways to keep them in the black community through charitable donations made to black affiliates in the business of development from within, instead of begging others to solve black problems. ‘‘The Helping Hand That Is Yours’’ and ‘‘Self-Help Is Best Help’’ appropriately became their organizational charges. NBUF impacted a watershed activity by breaking up the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) program that afforded United Way an exclusive stronghold on federal programs that allowed payroll deductions from federal employees in the late 1970s. Through considerable litigation, it was proven that such a monopoly was not only in violation of antitrust laws but significantly impeded black organizations committed to development of their communities, socioeconomic political advocacy, and cooperative economics. In 1980, NBUF was granted access into the CFC program and incorporated this model as a beneficial tactic to secure charitable funding. Board leadership throughout the years has come from the likes of Henry ‘‘Hank’’ Aaron, Lerone Bennett, Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr., Julian Bond, Don King, and Charles Rangel. NBUF success has led to the establishment of local NBUFs and independent affiliates that currently include Phoenix, Kansas City (Missouri), Atlanta, Detroit, East Orange (New Jersey), Newark, New York, Portland,

587

National Business League

Philadelphia, Houston, Chicago, Cleveland Heights, Columbus (Ohio), Norfolk, Baltimore, Memphis, Denver, Boston, and Birmingham. Each local branch complies with national appeals by providing grants and other forms of funding to nonprofit black organizations ranging from cultural, legal, health, and artistic fields. The John Coltrane Cultural Society, the Black Women’s Health Project, Kid’s Voting, Kid’s Church, Stop Police Brutality, and Pennies from Heaven represent some of the projects supported by NBUF, who prides itself on picking up some of the much-needed slack from federal budget cuts that oftentimes devastate good-intentioned efforts from inner-city programs. Independence has its consequences, however, and despite their historical funding of projects and programs in the black community through block grants, they also have created instances where funds are earmarked for a particular cause and are managed by organizational certified public accountants (CPAs). African-Americans for Justice against Texaco, the Million Woman March, Sisters Remember Malcolm, and International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal from the Pennsylvania affiliate have garnered considerable scrutiny in recent years because of the heavy political overtures implicit in supporting controversial causes. Sources National Black United Fund. http://www.nbuf.org. ‘‘Philly Power Structure Targets Mumia Fundraising: Political Persecution of the Black United Fund.’’ Revolutionary Worker, no. 1010 (June 13, 1999): 1–3. Reid-Merritt, Patricia. ‘‘National Black United Fund.’’ Encyclopedia of Black Studies. Ed. Molefi K. Asante and Ama Mazama. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2005.

Uzoma O. Miller

National Business League. See National Negro Business League

National Negro Business League Formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1900 the National Negro Business League (NNBL) is still active over 100 years later as the National Business League. The idea for the organization, according to Louis R. Harlan in Booker T. Washington: The Making of a Black Leader, originated at an Atlanta University meeting in 1899 on the theme ‘‘The Negro in Business.’’ At that meeting, one of many scholarly conferences organized at Atlanta by W.E.B. Du Bois, the Harvard-trained sociologist called for the ‘‘organization in every town and hamlet where the colored people dwell of Negro Business Men’s Leagues and the gradual federation for these of state and national

588

National Negro Business League

organizations.’’ Denied finances for the cost of mailing information to businessmen throughout the United States, Du Bois was unable to follow through on the formation of an organization. Booker T. Washington, founding principal of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, took advantage of this monetary lack and requested that Du Bois give him the list of African American businessmen he had compiled, and Du Bois compiled. When Du Bois’s friends and supporters accused Washington of stealing Du Bois’s idea, Washington did not directly respond. Instead, he said that he got the idea for the NNBL as a result of visiting African American businessmen all over the country. These men and women were unallied, often working in isolation with very little capital. White banks often would allow them no loans. A league, Washington contended, would help men and women in business to work together for the good of all. Although Washington openly stated that the group would have no political agenda, in reality, he knew that such a group would consolidate and strengthen his leadership of the Tuskegee political machine and augment his ability to deliver votes and gain patronage from the Republican Party. An astute politician, Washington knew that the collective voice of many of the nation’s wealthiest African Americans would be beneficial in many areas of American life. Several of the wealthiest donors to Tuskegee urged Washington to steer African Americans away from politics and toward commerce. Washington believe that success in business would prove to white Americans that blacks were useful, productive citizens who should have full participation in the society. Washington’s first step in organizing the business league was a mass mailing to African American men and women in business throughout the nation. Washington included a copy of his ‘‘call’’ to the entrepreneurs in his Autobiography, the Story of My Life and Work published in 1901. In part the call stated: ‘‘After careful consideration and consultation with prominent colored people throughout the country, it has been decided to organize what will be known as the National Negro Business League. The need of an organization that will bring the colored people who are engaged in business together for consultation and to secure information and inspiration from each other, has long been felt. Out of this national organization it is expected will grow local business leagues that will tend to improve the Negro as a business factor.’’ Although Washington invited ‘‘every individual engaged in business’’ to join the league, he explained that he also wanted them to organize local leagues and then send ‘‘one or more delegates to represent them’’ at the first conference. He stressed that it was important that ‘‘every line of business that any Negro man or woman is engaged in be represented’’ because this would be additional proof to the world of the progress African Americans had ‘‘made in business lines since our freedom.’’ Washington emphasized that the new organization was not ‘‘in opposition to any other now in existence, but is expected to do a distinct work that no other organization in existence can do as well.’’

589

National Negro Business League

The 300 delegates at the first meeting, held in Boston in 1900, elected Washington as their president. He continued to hold that leadership position until his death in 1915. In an article titled ‘‘Booker T. Washington and the National Negro Business League,’’ Louis R. Harlan explained that Washington was ‘‘more of a businessman than he seemed to be.’’ Harlan wrote that Washington saw the NNBL as an instrument for a ‘‘new emancipation, the achievement of economic independence.’’ Consistent with Washington’s policy of racial conciliation, the NNBL rarely spoke out on political matters but instead was supposed to be a showcase for African American achievement. In the preface to his 1907 book The Negro in Business, Washington wrote that his publishers wanted him to write about the ‘‘undoubted business awakening among the Negro people of the United States.’’ He explained that the book was neither a statistical study nor a history but rather a collection of brief Announcement for the Na- accounts of some successful businessmen with the hope that their tional Negro Business League’s achievements would encourage an ‘‘increasing number of our young suggestions for celebrating men’’ to take advantage of business opportunities. Book chapters the fiftieth anniversary of the emancipation of blacks in the include titles such as ‘‘The Negro in Agriculture,’’ ‘‘The Negro as a United States, the celebration Financier and Capitalist,’’ ‘‘The Negro Banker,’’ and ‘‘The Negro to occur in 1913. Source: Undertaker.’’ Other chapters focused on individual businessmen or Monroe N. Work, Negro Year companies and the NNBL. A perusal of NNBL annual meeting Book and Annual Encyclopedia programs and press coverage of these events document that Washof the Negro, 1912. Tuskegee, ington’s book represents much of the standard program procedures AL: Tuskegee Institute, 1912, for the NNBL annual meeting. Mostly men but also some women p. 219. would give testimonials about their business success. Washington was especially desirous that members recount rags-to-riches stories. During the discussion periods after presentation, Washington himself would question some business leaders and draw them out so that others could see the scope of their accomplishments. Some sessions provided practical aid for business leaders. The NNBL members attempted to promote African American enterprise and urged their communities to patronize the businesses of members of their own race. NNBL membership rose each year under Washington’s leadership. When the delegates met in Boston fifteen years after its founding, 3,000 delegates attended, and there were 600 local leagues, about half of which were actually chartered by the NNBL, and thousands of members in thirtysix states and West Africa (Tables 31 through 34). Membership claims ranged anywhere from 5,000 to 45,000. In addition to those providing products and services, the NNBL affiliated itself with Washington supporters who were in various professions such as lawyers and medical doctors as well as with existing organizations of publishers, bankers, and insurance brokers. Always concerned about his image and that of his race, Washington did not want saloon keepers and others involved in businesses he thought were less than respectable to be openly acknowledged during the NNBL annual meetings. Although Washington stated that he welcomed women

590

Table 31. Chartered Local Negro Business Leagues: Southern Address Anniston Bessemer Birmingham Decatur Mobile Montgomery Opelika Selma Sheffield Demopolis Ensley Florence Huntsville Talladega Tuscaloosa Tuscumbia Tuskegee Uniontown Little Rock Washington Apopka Lake City Jacksonville Pensacola Albany Americus Dawson Fort Valley Athens Atlanta Augusta Brunswick Columbus Cuthbert Macon Rome Thomasville Valdosta West Point Bowling Green Covington Danville

Name of President Alabama Thomas J. Jackson W. B. Driver G. F. Oliver H. Roger Williams, M.D. J. H. Fagain C. D. Menafee R. B. Hudson E. H. Fields J. B. Jeffries C. E. Thompson, M.D. L. J. Green D. S. Brandon S. N. Dickerson B. H. Barnes D. W. Davis, M.D. Booker T. Washington Arkansas W. M. Alexander District of Columbia Daniel Freeman Florida D. M. Giddians B. J. Jones C. S. Simkins Charles V. Smith, M.D. Georgia Joseph H. Lee H. J. Wilson, M.D. B. W. Cooper Lee O’Neal Rev. A. B. Murden J. W. Madison, M.D. H. C. Young Allen L. Simmons E. J. Turner, M.D. S. D. Roseborough John Phillips S. M. Davis, M.D. Hammond Daniels W. M. Jones W. D. Datcher, M.D. Kentucky J. R. Vass Walter Jones John W. Bates

Address Frankfort Owensboro Paris Lawrenceburg Georgetown Hopkinsville Lexington Louisville Winchester Madisonville

Name of President T. K. Robb R. B. Bell, M.D. J. W. Mebane, M.D. J. K. Stovall Manilus Neal E. G. Lamb W. H. Ballard, M.D. T. F. Parks Rev. H. D. Coleraire P. R. Cabell Jr.

Alexandria Baton Rouge Crowley Lake Charles Mansfield Natchitoches New Orleans Patterson Shreveport

Louisiana S. E. Henderson Henry J. Allen J. W. Clark E. B. Foreman J. F. Henderson T. Taylor, M.D. A. D. DeJoie F. P. Jackson D. A. Smith, M.D.

Annapolis Baltimore Cambridge Cumberland Salisbury St. Denis

Maryland George Adams Harry T. Pratt Cyrus St. Clair H.W.B. Bates John F. Stewart Cornelius Fitzgerald

Greenwood Indianola Jackson Meridian Michigan City Mound Bayou Natchez Okolona Pass Christian

Mississippi Silas Ransom J. E. Walker, M.D. S. D. Redmond J. M. Nimocks J. T. Harris Charles Banks Prof. Owens C. W. Gilliam J. W. Randolph

Asheville Charlotte Durham Elizabeth City Fayetteville Greensboro Raleigh Rocky Mount Salisbury Statesville

North Carolina E. W. Pearson J. T. Sanders W. G. Person G. H. Cardwell, D.D. Douglass Williston, D.D. George H. Mitchell Capt. James E. Hamlin T. W. Thurston W. H. Goler, D.D. F. F. Chambers (continued)

Table 31. (continued) Address

Tarboro Wadesboro Greenville Hamlet Hertford Kinston Lexington Newbern Washington Wilmington Wilson Windsor Winton

Name of President North Carolina (cont.) Y. D. Garrett C. B. Reid W. P. Norcotte W. H. Thomas W. B. Sharp J. L. Borden H. H. Hayes Isaac H. Smith W. G. Sanders Thomas A. Smith S. H. Vick C. H. Lewter C. S. Brown

Ardmore Boley Coweta Eufaula Guthrie Hennessey McAlester Muskogee Oklahoma City Okmulgee Wagoner Wewoka Rentiesville

Oklahoma S. M. Dillard W. A. Kennedy J. W. Simmons John R. McBeth H. W. Conard, M.D. George Douglas (Sec.) E. E. McDaniel L. F. Fue J. L. Jeter J. H. Stephens S. A. Bell E. D. Brown F. P. Bronson

Bristol Brownsville Greenville Jackson Chattanooga Clarksville Columbia Nashville Nashville (No. 2) Johnson City Knoxville Martin Memphis Shelbyville Springfield

Tennessee Robert E. Clay John Bond W. T. Clem A. C. Cain G. W. Franklin Robert T. Burt, M.D. C. O. Hunter R. H. Boyd A. N. Johnson C. H. Longley Prof. C. W. Cansler R. Greef Thomas H. Hayes W. H. Goslin I. S. Cunningham

Address

Austin Dallas Denison Elderville Fort Worth Galveston Houston Marlin Navasota Palestine Paris San Antonio Sherman Temple Texarkana Waxahachie Oakwood Alexandria Blackstone Charlottesville Clifton Forge Exmore Fredericksburg Gordensville Hampton Lynchburg Newport News Norfolk Petersburg Richmond Roanoke Suffolk Townsend Waynesboro Bluefield Clarksburg Huntington Keystone Montgomery Morgantown Wheeling Sabraton

Name of President Texas L. C. Anderson H. W. Scott P. Williams N. E. Willams R. C. Houston W. H. Noble J. M. Frierson Prof. J. W. Washington F. L. Woodard A. H. Vincen H. F. Graham J. T. Walton Elmer J. Williams Robert Wells G. W. Jamerson, M.D. C. S. Diggs Rev. J. W. Carter Virginia Magnus L. Robinson H. L. Jackson G. P. Inge E. T. Conner, M.D. H. C. Chandler Joseph Walker Westley Frye W. E. Atkins, M.D. A. N. Lushington, M.D. J. Thomas Newsome E. J. Puryear J. M. Wilkerson R. E. Jones, M.D. A. F. Brooks W. H. Crocker Arthur Banks O. J. Simms West Virginia E. Cherry D. H. Kyle B. F. White M. T. Whittico P. H. Shepard P. C. Blue Prof. J. W. Hughes Alonzo J. Payne

Source: Monroe N. Work, Negro Year Book and Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1913 (Tuskegee, AL: Tuskegee Institute, 1913), 223–229.

National Negro Business League Table 32. Chartered Local Negro Business Leagues: West

Table 33. Chartered Local Negro Business Leagues: Northeast

Address

Address

Name of President California

Los Angeles Oakland Riverside Pasadena Sacramento

Frederick M. Roberts W. F. Jackson Frank H. Johnson L. G. Robbinson Colorado

Colorado Springs Denver

Thomas Wallice J.H.P. Westbrook Nebraska

Omaha

G. Wade Obee

Source: Monroe N. Work, Negro Year Book and Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1913 (Tuskegee, AL: Tuskegee Institute, 1913).

Hartford Waterbury Wilmington Boston Cambridge Atlantic City East Orange Jersey City Newark Paterson Red Bank

Name of President Connecticut C. W. Curtis W. F. Miller Delaware Samuel G. Elbert, M.D. Massachusetts Phillip J. Alston Mrs. Thomas H. Cox New Jersey George H. Emory A. A. Hill J.C.H. Christmas Elisha Weaver S. G. Walker William E. Rock New York Miss I. L. Moorman William J. Brown John M. Royall Pennsylvania N. T. Velar William O. Jones A. B. Jackson, M.D. Rhode Island D. B. Allen Frederick Gray

into the organization, for example, he seemed Brooklyn New Rochelle to be reluctant to allow African American hair New York City product entrepreneur Madame C. J. Walker to share her success story even though she gener- East Pittsburg ously supported Tuskegee and the NNBL. Ercildoun According to Walker’s biographer, A’Lelia Philadelphia Bundles, Walker got so frustrated by Washington’s refusal to allow her to speak that she Newport Providence stood up at the 1912 NNBL meeting in Chicago Source: Monroe N. Work, Negro Year Book and and claimed the floor uninvited. She told the story of her rise to success and talked about her Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1913 (Tuskegee, wealth and her philanthropic endeavors. Wa- AL: Tuskegee Institute, 1913). shington did not openly acknowledge her even then but included her as a speaker in subsequent NNBL conferences. After Washington’s death in 1915, the next principal of Tuskegee, Robert Russa Moton, became NNBL leader. John H. Burrows in his book The Necessity of Myth: A History of the National Negro Business League, 1900–1945 shows how Tuskegee leaders continued to hold the reins of control of the organization until 1945 and that it was actually based in Tuskegee until 1923. Not all of the NNBL records are available, but there is a microfilm publication, the first part of which includes records from the Tuskegee archives including organizational files, minutes of the national conventions, and copies of NNBL publications. NNBL president’s office correspondence from 1958 to 1968 is available on microfilm from materials in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division. Continuing beyond its centennial celebration, the National Business League adheres to its mission of encouraging African American business leaders and encouraging youths to become entrepreneurs. A review of the organization’s contemporary goals and objectives demonstrate that the

593

National Negro Business League Table 34. Chartered Local Negro Business Leagues: Midwest Address

Name of President Illinois

Cairo Chicago Evanston Springfield Decatur

C. P. Williams George C. Hall, M.D. W. F. Garnett, M.D. Edward M. Williams Indiana

Evansville Marion Indianapolis Muncie

L. H. Stewart Dillard Artis C.M.C. Willis Chas. A. Martin, M.D. Kansas

Coffeyville Emporia Hill City Kansas City Newton Salina Topeka Wichita

Foster Williams C. E. Terry J. W. Glenn

league has remained very close to those developed in 1900. The league still helps African Americans develop new businesses, creates and maintains an active youth development program, and works to increase the numbers of black businesses, with employees and revenues exceeding $1 million. It also serves as a clearinghouse of business information, provides mechanisms for the formation of coalitions to protect African American business interests, advocates alliances between businesses, encourages African Americans to buy from members of their race, and promotes the continued existence and viability of historically black colleges and universities.

Sources Booker T. Washington Papers. Manuscript Division. Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Bundles, A’Lelia. On Her Own Ground: The Life and J. M. Meredith Times of Madam C. J. Walker. New York: Washington Square Press, 2001. G. D. Olden Burrows, John H. The Necessity of Myth: A History of R. B. McWilliams the National Negro Business League, 1900–1945. Missouri Auburn, AL: Hickory Hill Press, 1988. Bolton T. S. Williams Harlan, Louis R. ‘‘Booker T. Washington and the Kansas City F. J. Weaver National Negro Business League.’’ Booker T. WashLeland Washington Burns ington in Perspective. Ed. Raymond W. Smock. St. Louis P. W. Moseley Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1988. Ohio ———. Booker T. Washington: The Making of a Black Cincinnati William M. Porter Leader, 1865–1901. New York: Oxford University Greenfield E. D. Patterson Press, 1972. Springfield T. W. Burton, M.D. ———. Booker T. Washington: The Wizard of TusColumbus Robert F. Jones (Sec.) kegee, 1901–1915. New York: Oxford University Source: Monroe N. Work, Negro Year Book and Press, 1983. Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1913 (Tuskegee, Harlan, Louis R., and Raymond W. Smock, eds. The AL: Tuskegee Institute, 1913). Booker T. Washington Papers. 14 vols. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972–1989. National Business League. http://www.nationalbusinessleague.com. National Negro Business League Records. Booker T. Washington Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Records of the National Negro Business League. Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America, 1995. Microfilm. Washington, Booker T. The Negro in Business. 1907. Reprint, New York: AMS Press, 1971. ———. The Story of My Life and Work. Atlanta, GA: J. L. Nichols & Co., 1901. ———. Up From Slavery: With Related Documents. 1901. Reprint, Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin, 2003.

Debra Newman Ham

594

O Berry O’Kelly (1862–1931), Merchant, Educator, Philanthropist, Civic Leader During Reconstruction and into a third of the twentieth century, Berry O’Kelly was regarded as one of the most influential African American leaders in Wake County, North Carolina, as well as in the state, the South, and the nation. He rose from poverty and at an early age entered partnership with a local merchant and soon became sole owner of the general store. Later he added to his wealth by becoming a real estate owner. He was also an important educator, especially in the training of blacks in rural schools. O’Kelly was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on May 19, 1862. Although slavery was still in effect, we do not know whether he was slave or free. While he was an infant, his mother, Frances O’Kelly, died, and his father, whose name we do not know, died sometime while he was growing up. When he became an orphan, he went to live with his maternal aunt, who raised him. Berry credits his aunt with shaping his career. He attended school in Chapel Hill and in Method, a village then about three miles from Raleigh. He was also trained at St. Augustine’s and Shaw universities, both black colleges located in Raleigh. At some point while growing up, Berry worked for a Raleigh family for $5 a month, with all of the money going to his aunt. For a brief period, he worked as a ‘‘water toter’’ for a railroad company for fifty cents a day but returned to the job that he had with the Raleigh family and to the salary that he had left. As he grew older, his rate of pay remained the same, but he could keep what he earned. Sometime later, he earned $12 a month. He saved a little each month until he had $100. When he was twentytwo, O’Kelly became a sales clerk in a wholesale merchandise store in Method owned by C. H. Woods. On invitation from Woods, O’Kelly bought half interest in the business by using all of his savings and paying $100 down and the balance on credit. The business became known as Wood and O’Kelly until Wood left and sold out to O’Kelly, and the business was

Berry O’Kelly

renamed Berry O’Kelly Store. He added two railroad warehouses to hold his merchandise. O’Kelly was now one of the leading merchants in Wake County, where both Method and Raleigh were located. Through his progressive ideas and foresight, he built O’Kelly’s into a successful enterprise and built his community into the leading black section of Wake County. The community grew to become known as the town of Method. Although O’Kelly’s funds were limited, his approach to success was through honest business practices. He gave his customers, who were both white and black, what they wanted so that they would trade with him. As result, his business prospered. At times he shipped carloads of items to his clients. He became a recognized man of considerable wealth. O’Kelly owned 1,000 acres of farmland, considerable property in downtown Raleigh, and stock in banks and other financial enterprises. Early in the Great Depression, however, O’Kelly, like many other business leaders and people of means, suffered considerable loss; he especially lost valuable property in Raleigh and Wake County. Even so, when he died his estate was valued at $157,855, a considerable sum for a black man in rural North Carolina. BECOMES EDUCATIONAL LEADER In addition to his business ventures, O’Kelly was a successful educator. It has been said that his greatest Berry O’Kelly. Source: Fisk University Franklin contribution to his race and community was in the field of rural education for blacks. He taught in Library’s Special Collections. nearby Franklin, North Carolina, for seventeen years, in Granville County for one year, and for thirty-two years in Franklinton. In 1910 O’Kelly founded Berry O’Kelly School, located in Method in a Reconstruction-era village that former slave Jesse Mason started in 1869. Under his direction, in 1914 three black rural schools in the area were consolidated and located also in Method and named in his honor, the Berry O’Kelly Training School for Negroes. It was the largest black high school in North Carolina, exceeding others especially in agricultural instruction. In 1919, it had become one of the first three accredited schools in the state. The school closed in 1966, although an agricultural building erected in the school complex in 1926 survives. Also in the field of education, he chaired the School Committee of the Berry O’Kelly Training School for Negroes and made liberal financial

596

Berry O’Kelly

contributions to the school. He was also a trustee of Kitrell College, a black Methodist school located near Raleigh. In October 1890, O’Kelly was appointed postmaster for the town of Method; he held that post for twenty-five years. He became president of Acme Realty Company and a shoe company, chaired a life insurance company, and became local board chairman and vice president of the Durham branch of Mechanics and Farmers Bank of Durham—a black financial institution. He received a number of appointments from various governors of North Carolina. He chaired the North Carolina Negro State Fair and was a member of the executive committee of the State Interracial Committee. O’Kelly was elected delegate to various national bodies and was a founding member and a life member of the National Negro Business League. He was a member of the Masons and Odd Fellows and sat on the executive committee of both organizations. O’Kelly led a full life and associated with well-known men of that time, including educators Booker T. Washington and Robert R. Moton and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, who also had an interest in educating rural blacks. A religious man, O’Kelly was a member of the St. James African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Method. In the 1890s, O’Kelly married Channie Ligon. After she died around 1901, he remarried and had one daughter, Beryl O’Kelly, both of whom survived him. O’Kelly lived to be nearly seventy years old. Following an illness of several weeks, he died at St. Agnes Hospital in Raleigh. A historical marker stands in front of his burial place in St. James AME Church on Method Road in Raleigh. His is the only grave there. O’Kelly’s influence is seen in his ability to save and invest wisely and to cater to his client’s needs and in the shrewd businesses practices that he employed and his progressive ideas in merchandising. He also rose to social prominence and lived as a man of culture and refinement. Sources ‘‘Berry O’Kelly Grave, Wake County, North Carolina.’’ http://www.interment.net/ data/us/nc/wake/okelly/berry/htm. Carroll, Grady Lee Ernest, Sr. ‘‘They Lived in Raleigh: Some Leading Personalities from 1892 to 1992, with Introduction and Appendices.’’ Vol. 2. Typescript. North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. ‘‘Negro Leader of County Dies Here.’’ (Raleigh) News and Observer, March 15, 1931. Nichols, J. L., and William H. Crogman. Progress of a Race; or The Remarkable Advancement of the American Negro. Rev. and enl. ed. Naperville, IL: J. L. Nichols, 1925. Paths toward Freedom. Raleigh: Center for Urban Affairs, North Carolina State University, 1976. Richardson, Clement, ed. The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race. Vol. 1. Montgomery, AL: National Publishing Co., 1919. ‘‘Soul of America.’’ http://www/soulofamerica.com/cityfldr/raleigh.1/html.

Jessie Carney Smith

597

Hazel R. O’Leary

Hazel R. O’Leary (1937– ), Attorney, Business Executive, Government Official, Energy Expert, College President The accomplishments of Hazel R. O’Leary as an attorney, business executive, consultant, government official, U.S. secretary of energy, and her latest challenge of Fisk University president are legion. Her skillful leadership in both private and public sectors of the energy industry catapulted her to national and international renown in 1992 when she was appointed as secretary of energy, the first African American and the first woman to have ever held the cabinet post. Her tenure as secretary helped to reshape American policies regarding the expedient and responsible use of energy around the world. When she ended her tenure five years later, she returned to the corporate sector, where her vast experience and invaluable expertise continues to be widely sought. In July 2004, O’Leary, at sixty-seven, assumed the presidency of her alma mater Fisk University, again stunning onlookers with her willingness to accept what may be her greatest challenge yet. O’Leary was born in Newport News, Virginia, on May 17, 1937. After the divorce of her biological parents, both of whom were physicians, her father remarried. She and her older sister, Edna Reid McCollum, were reared by their father, Russell E. Reid and stepmother, Hazel Pallerman Reid. Although born and reared in the segregated South, the foundation for her nurturing was laid upon the concept of inclusivity rather than exclusivity. While protecting their children from the snares of racial segregation, the Reids also imbued them with the sense of being of service to others. Her grandmothers, both of whom were community activists, set the examples, lessons that she would take with her into her professional life. Attempting to protect their children from the harsh racial environment, they drove them to their activities and provided them the opportunity to spend the summers away at a camp in Massachusetts. Recognizing her talents and instilling her with the self-confidence that she could achieve and accomplish any goal she set for herself, O’Leary’s parents sent their daughters to live with an aunt in Essex County, New Jersey, where they attended the desegregated Arts High School. Upon being graduated from high school, O’Leary entered Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. After her four-year matriculation at Fisk, where she majored in history, she was graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1959 (later in 1987, she was inducted into the university’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa). Between graduating from Fisk and receiving her J.D. degree from Rutgers University Law School in 1966, she married Dr. Carl Rollins, and they became the parents of one son, Carl G. Rollins, now a practicing attorney in Washington, D.C. After receiving her law degree and passing the New Jersey bar (she also holds bar association membership in the District of Columbia), she held a

598

Hazel R. O’Leary

variety of positions in law and public service. In 1967, she became assistant prosecutor in Essex County, New Jersey. Later, she served as assistant attorney general and as a member of Essex County’s school board. After being divorced from Rollins, she moved to Washington, D.C. and became a partner in the accounting firm of Coopers and Lybrand. A presidential appointee for the Federal Energy Administration (FEA) under Presidents Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter, O’Leary served as director of the Office of Consumer Affairs/Special Impact from 1974 to 1976, where she became an outspoken advocate for the underprivileged. From 1976 to 1977, she served as general counsel for the Community Services Administration; and from May until October 1977, she was the assistant administrator for FEA’s conservation and environment, which became a part of the newly created Department of Energy (DOE). When the Department of Energy was created, she became the chief administrator of the Economic Regulatory Administration, where she served from 1978 to 1980. Under both presidential administrations, O’Leary’s responsibilities included regulating the petroleum, natural gas, and electric industries and the supervision of more than 2,000 lawyers, accountants, and engineers. FOUNDS INTERNATIONAL CONSULTING FIRM In 1980, she married John Francis O’Leary (1926–1987), who served as DOE’s first deputy energy secretary under President Carter. Hazel O’Leary departed from DOE when the couple established O’Leary & Associates, Incorporated, with her as vice president and general counsel, a position she held from 1981 to 1989. Specializing in the preparation of expert testimony, project financing, and the development of independent power plants, an international consulting firm, it was located in Washington, D.C. Focusing on international economics and energy, it lobbied the Congress and state lawmaking bodies on issues involving the energy industry. In less than a decade, the couple had attracted an impressive list of foreign clientele who needed assistance in adjusting to America’s dramatic shifts in energy policy. APPOINTED U.S. SECRETARY OF ENERGY John F. O’Leary died after a bout with cancer on December 19, 1987, in Philadelphia. Two years after his death, O’Leary closed the firm and joined the Minnesota Northern State Power Company, where she served as executive vice president for environmental and public affairs until 1993. Her dynamic leadership and vast experience, in both the private and public sectors of the energy industry, captured the attention of President-elect William Jefferson Clinton. In December 1992, he announced his intention to nominate her as secretary of energy. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 21, 1993, and sworn into office the following day, O’Leary became the seventh U.S. secretary of energy. As the first African American and the first female secretary of energy, O’Leary headed the Department of Energy with 120,000 employees and an

599

Hazel R. O’Leary

annual budget of almost $21 billion. Within the first year of her administration, Secretary O’Leary disclosed information detailing governmentsponsored radiation experiments on humans, who during the 1940s through the early 1970s were given radioactive isotopes, usually without their permission, to ascertain the effects of radiation on the body. In an article in Ebony, Richette Haywood notes O’Leary’s response to a CNN journalist. When placed on the spot by the journalist’s hard-hitting question ‘‘Should the United States government compensate the hundreds of unwitting victims it deliberately exposed to plutonium and other radioactive substances during the Cold War?’’ Secretary O’Leary resolutely answered, ‘‘Yes.’’ Her courageous admittance, again despite her detractors, not only wrought the entire industry with controversy but also engendered lasting changes in the way the national and international public viewed the agency’s agenda under her headship. In addition to directing her department to investigate the nature and extent of the experiments, O’Leary also requested that the agency report on their medical and ethical responsibility and locate the research subjects or their families. She also utilized the discontent to publicly appeal to both the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government to win compensation for those persons who were harmed by the government’s use of them in the radioactive tests. The first energy executive to hold the cabinet post of energy secretary, O’Leary influenced the debate on every major national security and economic initiative during the first term of the Clinton administration. In the face of strong criticism from the military-industrial establishment, Secretary O’Leary expanded the channel of communication on testing within DOE, the national laboratory system, and the national security community. Her tireless effort provided the technical basis for President Clinton’s decision to end nuclear testing in the Untied States, a decision that led to the agreement on the language of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty signed by 126 nations in September 1996. Because of her resoluteness to lift the shroud of concealment from government-sponsored radiation experiments on humans, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) named O’Leary ‘‘Person of the Week.’’ The recipient of the Averell Harriman Award, Mirabella magazine also named her as 1 of 100 fearless women in the United States for her conviction to end nuclear testing and to secure nuclear materials across the globe. Secretary O’Leary ended her tenure with the Department of Energy after the end of the first Clinton administration. Her resignation was effective on January 20, 1997. Despite harsh Republican congressional attacks against her for the expenses of her vast travel, O’Leary’s four-year headship led the department to accept additional responsibilities and helped to change its corporate culture. Praised for her fiscal management, revamping contracting systems and budget cutting that saved billions of dollars, O’Leary’s contentious international trade missions to India, China, Pakistan, South Africa, and Latin America promoted international trade agreements that brought billions of dollars to American corporations.

600

Hazel R. O’Leary

A persuasive orator with magnetic charm, O’Leary used numerous platforms to gallantly expose the use of human subjects in radioactivity tests and spoke out against shortsighted energy policies. She prompted the department’s cleaning up hundreds of waste sites at former nuclear weapon facilities nationally, worked to increase the diversity of the nation’s energy supplies, improved energy efficiency, and advanced the development of renewable energy sources. By the time of her departure, the department (in partnership with the industry) had won numerous research and development awards and was recognized for outstanding achievements in science by its national laboratories and scientists. In 1997, she returned to O’Leary & Associates, Inc., as president and continued the energy, trade, and consulting efforts she and her late husband had begun in the 1980s, where she remained until 2001. A year later, O’Leary returned to the firm and served until 2004. From 2000 to 2001, O’Leary occupied the presidency and chief operating officer post of Blaylock and Partners LP, a top-ranked African American investment firm based in New York. In addition to directing the day-to-day operations of the firm’s Fortune 1,000 clients, O’Leary was responsible for reworking the company’s strategic vision, ensuring that it came to fruition. With her assistance, Blaylock and Partners became one of the nation’s top-ranked minority firms in 2001. ELECTED PRESIDENT OF FISK UNIVERSITY After leaving Blaylock in 2002 to return to O’Leary & Associates, one may have thought that O’Leary was through with fighting major battles. That was until July 12, 2004, when chairman of the Fisk Board of Trustees, Reynaldo P. Glover, announced that she had accepted the presidency of Fisk University. As the fourteenth president of the 139-year-old historically black liberal arts college, O’Leary has accepted another big challenge. Although rich in history, the school has virtually faced major financial challenges since its inception. Even so, she seems determined to accomplish more than ensuring the university’s administrative and financial stability. Already, President O’Leary has revealed plans to revive Fisk’s Race Relations Institute, strengthen faculty development, expand course offerings, and increase the institution’s presence in the community. Not only is O’Leary determined to improve Fisk’s standing in the criteria used to evaluate postsecondary institutions, but she has also envisioned the daunting feat of catapulting the university to both national and international renown. O’Leary is no stranger to the mission and challenges faced by the historically black college community. While she was secretary of energy, O’Leary played a central role in increasing DOE’s funding of programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by 173 percent, from $21.6 million to $59 million. A committed supporter of minority participation in the environmental community, her efforts led to the creation of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity. She forged partnerships

601

E. Stanley O’Neal

between HBCUs and private industries. Additionally, under O’Leary’s leadership, DOE also funded the upgrading of school math and science departments. In 1997, she was even among three finalists to replace outgoing Spelman president Dr. Johnetta B. Cole. O’Leary serves on the board of directors of the UAL Corporation, the parent company of United Airlines, Scottish Re, Ltd., which is a financial services and reinsurance company, and AlChemix. She previously served on the board of ICF Kaiser International, Inc., an international engineering, construction, and consulting company, and the AES Company, a global power producer. President O’Leary also serves on the boards of the World Wildlife Fund, Morehouse College, and the Arms Control Association. An attorney by training, a businesswoman with practical understanding, a visionary government leader, and university president, her colleagues regard her as approachable, fair, and skilled at consensus building and at inspiring great loyalty. Nevertheless, she is also viewed as a perfectionist with high standards for herself and her staff. Dedicated to practical solutions and sustainable development, her bold leadership and prudent risk taking have led to action and positive change in each challenge she has professionally undertaken. See also: Women and Business Sources Cass, Michael. ‘‘About Hazel O’Leary.’’ Tennessean, July 14, 2004. Elliott, Joan C. ‘‘Hazel O’Leary.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book II. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996. Haywood, Richette L. ‘‘Secretary O’Leary: Bright, Charming, Tough.’’ Ebony 50 (February 1995): 94. Hazel O’Leary Biography. Office of the President, Fisk University. Healey, Jan. ‘‘Hazel R. O’Leary: A Profile.’’ Congressional Quarterly 23 (January 1993): 177. ‘‘More Exposure to Radiation Minus Consent Revealed.’’ Tennessean, June 28, 1994. ‘‘O’Leary Resigns Department of Energy Post.’’ Daily News Bulletin, November 14, 1996. Roach, Ronald. ‘‘Hazel O’Leary Generated Energy for HBCUs.’’ Black Issues in Higher Education 13 (January 9, 1997): 27. Rosens, Isaac. ‘‘Hazel O’Leary.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994. Spicer, C. M. ‘‘Fallout from Government-Sponsored Radiation Research.’’ Kennedy Institute Ethics Journal (June 4, 1994): 147–154.

Linda T. Wynn

E. Stanley O’Neal (1951– ), Businessman, Corporate Executive Earnest Stanley O’Neal has risen from corn and cotton picker in the fields of rural Alabama to decision maker at Merrill Lynch and Wall Street. He has held numerous leadership positions, and like any forceful, decisive, and

602

E. Stanley O’Neal

successful leader, he has his champions and his detractors. Whatever the attitude held by others, he remained confident and rose in the ranks of Merrill Lynch from the managing director of investment banking to chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), and president. He has managed to withstand the challenging times (lawsuits, workforce reductions, losses) and turn the company around and become one of the top African American executives; at the time of his naming (chairman, CEO, president), he was only the third African American executive to lead a major U.S. services firm. In 2000, Black Enterprise named him ‘‘Corporate Executive of the Year,’’ and in 2002, Fortune magazine described him as the most powerful African American executive. O’Neal, the grandson of a slave and the oldest of four children, was born on October 7, 1951, in Roanoke, Alabama, because the hospitals in Wedowee, Alabama, where his family farmed, refused to admit or treat African Americans. He grew up in Wedowee, with a population of 750 and few if any possibilities for African Americans, on a farm. His mother was a domestic; during this time, he helped harvest crops and sold newspapers. He says his father informed him that he (O’Neal) was not cut out to be a farmer. He attended the one-room ‘‘separate but equal’’ school, for grades one through six, founded by his grandfather. The family moved to Atlanta when O’Neal was twelve years of age. His father worked on the General Motors (GM) assembly line in Doraville, Georgia. O’Neal was fortunate to have a family that was very supportive of his endeavors, instilled in him a strong sense of self and good morals, and provided him with love and a sense of belonging. In Atlanta, he attended West Fulton High School and became one of the first African Americans to matriculate. He initially had dreams of becoming a writer, but with practical advice from his father, he decided to pursue a subject that would guarantee him a successful career. Following high school, he attended General Motors Institute (which became Kettering University) on a co-op program in which he alternated between studying engineering and industrial administration and working on the assembly line at the General Motors Plant in Doraville. He graduated from the General Motors Institute with a B.S. degree in 1974 in industrial administration. Following graduation, O’Neal worked as a supervisor at the Doraville General Motors Plant. He received a no-strings-attached General Motors Scholarship and entered Harvard Business School, one of the few African Americans in his class. In 1978, he earned, with distinction, an M.B.A. from Harvard University in finance. Upon graduation, he began work at General Motors and held a variety of financial assignments, including the company’s New York and Madrid offices. He became general assistant treasurer, which gave him the responsibility for General Motors’ mergers and acquisitions and U.S. financing activities. While at GM, he realized investment bankers were earning five times more than he. Since his work at General Motors in finance entailed mergers and acquisitions, he was confident his knowledge of corporate finance was equal to any investment banker’s. In 1986, he joined the investment banking division of

603

E. Stanley O’Neal

Merrill Lynch, one of the world’s leading financial management and advisory companies. He has served in many facets of the firm and held a variety of management jobs within the company. The many levels of service and his meteoric rise validate his assessment of his abilities when he decided to change from GM to Merrill Lynch. This rise has been credited to his strategic planning, vision, ability to conquer challenges, work with and inspire people, and dedication to excellence. In 1997, he became executive vice president, cohead of the Corporate and Institutional Client Group (now the Global Market and Investment Group), one of the company’s four core business groups. It provides investment banking, securities trading, and other financial services to corporations, governments, and institutions worldwide. From 1998 to 2000, O’Neal served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Merrill Lynch, responsible for worldwide financial and risk management. In 2000, he was named president of the U.S. Private Client Group, which provides wealth management services to individuals and businesses in the United States. In this capacity, he oversaw approximately 16,000 brokers and had the distinction of being the first nonbroker to head the firm’s brokerage business. O’Neal became president and chief operating officer of the corporation and a member of the board of directors in 2001. During the same period, he became a member of the Executive Management Committee. Because of the September 11, 2001, bombing at the World Trade Center, the company, which was located in the World Financial Center across the street, was forced out of its headquarters. However, under the leadership of O’Neal, the company continued its operations in various disparate locations, and he became the first Wall Street executive to move back into his office. In 2002, he became president and chief operating officer of the firm, and in 2003, he became its chairman, chief executive officer, and president. His tenure at Merrill Lynch has required him to respond in a way that demonstrates his excellence, vision, and attention to accountability in many crucial situations, including cost-cutting measures, stock market recommendation scandal (Enron), lawsuits, and a fluctuating stock market. In addition to Merrill Lynch, O’Neal serves as a director of the General Motors Corporation; on the boards of New York City Partnership, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Lincoln Center Theater, Executives of the New York Stock Exchange, Ronald McDonald House, and NASDAQ Stock Exchange; trustee of the National Urban League; member of the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy; and member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, formed to oversee the redevelopment following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack. Among his awards are Corporate Executive of the Year, Black Enterprise, 2000; Achievement Award, Executive Leadership Council, 2002; and Distinguished Leadership Award, Fairfield University, 2003. O’Neal is married to Nancy Garvey, an economist, and is the father of a son and a daughter.

604

100 Black Men of America Sources Hughes, Alan. ‘‘Stepping Up: Stanley O’Neal to Take the Helm at Troubled Merrill Lynch—Newsmakers.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (October 2002): 35. http://www .findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_3_33/ai_92203212. ‘‘A Long Road of Learning: Merrill Lynch’s Stan O’Neal.’’ Bulletin, June 2001. http:// www.alumni.hbs.edu/bulletin/2001/june/profile.html. ‘‘Stanley O’Neal.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 38. Ed. Ashyia Henderson. Detroit: Gale Group, 2003.

Helen R. Houston

100 Black Men of America In 1963 100 Black Men of America, Inc., was conceptualized in New York City by black males interested in implementing programs designed to improve standards of living in the black community. Initially a loosely configured conglomerate encouraged by Nathanial Goldston III, Livingston Wingate, David Dinkins, Andrew Hatcher, Jackie Robinson, Robert Mangum, and Dr. William Hayling, the group was committed to accessing vital financial and human resources to accomplish their goals. Hayling established an adjoining chapter in New Jersey in 1974; by 1983 a full-scale movement to charter a national operation was under way; and in 1986 the national organization was formally incorporated. From its creation, the organization’s operational blueprint centered on youth development, with specific attention placed on nurturing the growth and development of increasingly disillusioned young black males who oftentimes were lost in apathetic traps of aloofness toward their unique condition in American society. In its understanding and implementation of collective work and responsibility, 100 Black Men of America has proven to be most effective. Financial resources from its combined members largely stem from entrepreneurship, high-ranking governmental work, and numerous other areas encompassing private and public sectors simultaneously. But it is the determination to responsibly serve as role models for younger black males and to consciously instill ethical tools of economic prosperity and education that has separated 100 Black Men as ‘‘doers’’ instead of ‘‘talkers.’’ Leading by example, the organization’s exemplary record of outcome-based initiatives followed the path of Thomas W. Dortch Jr., national president in 1994, who outlined the concept of ‘‘Four for the Future,’’ denoting an aggressive strategy focused on mentoring, education, health and wellness, and economic development as necessary survival tools for the black community. It can be argued that mentoring to middle and high school students has been 100 Black Men’s stronghold and, by sustaining direct, one-on-one interaction with youth, has provided the most lasting impact. From a business perspective, the organization’s work appropriately incorporates such programs as a finance academy and a youth entrepreneurship program.

605

100 Black Men of America

In affiliation with Carnegie Mellon University Center for University Outreach, the Western Pennsylvania chapter successfully linked students from its mentor program into a Web builders’ project, wherein they acquired skills to run an e-commerce tee-shirt business in the second year of the program. Such skill acquisition and its applicable outcomes speak favorably to the relevance of 100 Black Men and how business, education, and service correlate into formidable ingredients toward qualitative productiveness for years to come. Concerning the matter of ingredients, one can also look to examples from restaurant chains, where the organization’s influence has been prominent. A Miami-based Burger King was lauded in 1999 for its community-based inclusion programs and commitment to inclusiveness and subsequently was awarded 100 Black Men’s Corporation of the Year Award. Additional restaurant links hit even closer to home in the form of Leroy Walker Jr. Walker was the national vice president in 1998 and former local president in Jackson, Mississippi. His leadership shined through proprietorship of ten McDonald’s chains in the Jackson area, where he deliberately connected his work with 100 Black Men through various capacities including chamber of commerce chairperson. Emerging from the 100 Black Men and McDonald’s union was an annual scholarship contest for local secondary and high school students on the life of Martin Luther King Jr., a summer program for youth chess players, and priceless interaction with intercity teenagers sorely in need of guidance and nurturing. Walker’s actions cannot be overstated. His employees viewed him as a mentor, teacher, and ultimate role model. Academic achievement was of greater interest than overloading work hours for his staff. This example was noticed by Jackson school board superintendent Jane Sargent, who remarked in Nations Restaurant News that ‘‘he keeps pushing students toward achievement in their academic affairs.’’ Moreover, Walker kept a careful eye on employee report cards. His actions were consistent with 100 Black Men’s objectives of instilling educational modules that foster self-worth and develop an entrepreneurial spirit. Entrepreneurial zeal and multifaceted productivity through the organization’s connections constitute no isolated occurrence. Despite its structure as a service organization, in Southern Florida in 2000 the development industry was significantly impacted when the group put up a $100,000 million bond to secure completion of a project moving Wittnauer International, a 118-year-old manufacturer of Swiss-movement timepieces, to Ft. Lauderdale. What is significant here is that Tyson Jones, Lauderhill City commissioner, Elijah Wooten, Lauderhill’s economic development director, and Charles Watkins, Wittnauer president, all are members of 100 Black Men and used their collective influence to initiate plans. More important, though, is how such actions coincide with the best of what the organization stands for, without compromising principles. Commenting on 100 Black Men’s role in this campaign, Broward County’s chapter president Andre Williams was quick to accentuate the point that they were equally interested in economic

606

Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America

viability and procuring more minorities and black-owned business expansion, as well as their more identifiable role as mentors and role models for black youth. For the past forty years 100 Black Men of America has established a considerable body of work, influencing lives within the black community, particularly those of young men. From its New York beginnings, the organization has evolved into 103 chapters throughout the world. Though the majority of its chapters operate in the United States, expansion since 1997 has crossed into Birmingham and London, England; Nassau, Bahamas; Kingston, Jamaica; Goree Island, Senegal; and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Composed of upward of 10,000 members, the organization also has approximately 100,000 young people annually who actively participate and excel within their well-documented and successful mentor program. So successful was this program that Miracles of Mentoring: The Joy of Investing in the Future was written by existing president Thomas W. Dortch Jr. and the 100 Black Men of America, Inc., in 2000. Sources Bender, J. P., and Marianne V. Schackles. ‘‘Service Group Pushes for Wittnauer Relocation.’’ South Florida Business Journal 21 (September 15, 2000): 13. Hamstra, Mark. ‘‘LTM Enterprises: Seeking to Set an Example for America’s Youth.’’ Nations Restaurant News 50, January 1998. ‘‘Let’s Appreciate Our Strengths.’’ Business Review 28 (October 1, 2001). McGeary, Jennifer. ‘‘Diversity Award.’’ Restaurants and Institutions 109 (July 15, 1999): 20. 100 Black Men of America, Inc. http://www.100blackmen.org.

Uzoma O. Miller

Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America Opportunities Industrialization Centers (OIC) of America is a nonprofit organization established to enable the economically disadvantaged to become self-sufficient, valuable members of the workforce and more fulfilled members of society. Through affiliated programs in thirty states and the District of Columbia, OIC prepares individuals for the workplace with quality life skills, fundamental education, job skills training, and employment readiness services. The organization’s international division, OIC International (OICI), works in developing countries or emerging markets in several African nations, Poland, and the Philippines, to teach appropriate, marketable skills that enable disadvantaged young men and women to become self-reliant, economically productive, and capable of improving the quality of life for themselves and their families. OIC was founded in 1964 by Reverend Leon Howard Sullivan, a dynamic Philadelphia Baptist minister, community servant, and soldier for justice, equal rights, and equal employment opportunities for the impoverished,

607

Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America

vulnerable, and victimized people of the world. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Sullivan initiated a successful ‘‘Selective Patronage’’ operation in Philadelphia to boycott companies that failed to offer employment opportunities to black men and women. With the assistance of over 400 black ministers and their congregations, Sullivan was successful in opening employment opportunity doors that had previously been closed to the city’s black citizens. Hundreds of good jobs that had been blocked to blacks, such as secretarial and stenographic jobs, sheet metal and machinist positions, chemical-laboratory jobs, teletype, and manufacturing jobs, all became possibilities for blacks. As job opportunities began to open up due to the success of these initiatives, it became apparent that there was a new dilemma. Thousands were unemployed; thousands of jobs were vacant, and blacks were unprepared to do the work required of the positions. A program was needed to bring jobs and the unemployed together, and the unemployed needed the skills to be employable. As a response to this crisis, Sullivan founded the Opportunities Industrialization Center to give blacks jobreadiness skills. OIC was started in an abandoned jailhouse in a North Philadelphia ghetto. The dilapidated building was renovated using the nickels, dimes, and quarters of the people of the community and an anonymous grant. Industry gave its support by contributing equipment, machinery, and technical assistance. OIC provided employment training and retraining for those who lacked the necessary work skills to break down economic barriers. From its struggling beginnings in an old jailhouse, OIC expanded with garnered support from major corporations, the government, and even the president of the United States. As the growth continued and the national press coverage increased, groups in other cities desired to replicate the successful OIC program for their communities. Sullivan’s concept was that an Opportunities Industrialization Center had to grow out of a community’s own initiative, leadership, and desires. It took about eighteen months for a community to develop an OIC program. A network of OIC programs soon existed in communities in major cities across the country, reflecting the aim of OIC to enable people to gain self-confidence through mastering new work skills and to help themselves to a better life. The concept spread so quickly that it became necessary to establish an OIC National Institute to provide local centers with continual technical assistance. Support for the institute came from top government officials from the Department of Labor, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the Office of Economic Opportunity, and the Economic Development Administration of the Department of Commerce as well as from Republican and Democratic members of Congress. The institute, however, only worked with OICs receiving federal funds. Of the seventy-some cities where OICs were developing in 1968, forty-five were receiving no federal assistance. This was intentional, as Sullivan’s belief was that, to be effective, OICs had to be created by the people, not government run. All OICs, thus, were started without federal assistance. After they had developed to a

608

Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America

desirable point, requests could be made for federal funds to undergird their operation. BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY BECOME INVOLVED As the organization continued to grow nationwide, it became critical to involve business and industry on a national scale. Sullivan’s national prominence gave him the posturing to be able to establish a National Industrial Advisory Council in 1968 consisting of twenty-five of the country’s most influential industrial leaders. The council was chaired by Gereald Phillippe, chairman of the board of General Electric Company. Soon after formulating, all the members of the OIC National Industrial Advisory Council signed and sent a letter to 300 business leaders in approximately seventy-five cities where OICs were developing. The letter conveyed the advisory council’s support for OIC and stressed the benefits for other companies to embrace the program’s efforts. Positive reactions received from the letter strengthened the organization’s relationship with industry. While many companies were initially skeptical about hiring an underprivileged person from OIC who may have had limited formal school education and perhaps had a past police record, the word soon spread in business circles about the competence and professionalism of an OIC-trained individual. The tremendous success of OIC nationally led to the establishment, in 1969, of OIC International, which was created to establish lasting institutions, primarily in developing countries, that would provide informal skills training appropriate to the needs of each particular country. Local OIC offices in several African nations, Poland, and the Philippines have helped thousands to become expert farmers, successful business owners, skilled workers, and prominent members of their communities. Since its inception, the international division of OIC (OICI) has built the largest community-based, job-skills training network in the world, establishing forty-six independent, indigenously managed and operated institutions in eighteen countries in Africa, Asia, eastern Europe, and Central America. The organization has assisted over 60,000 disadvantaged youth and adults—approximately half of whom are women—to earn their own livelihood by providing vocational training, food security programs, business development services, microfinance services, postwar rehabilitation services, sustainability development services, empowerment for women, and farmer programs. The training in skills areas is strengthened by guidance and support provided in job placement, agricultural settlement, and the establishment or upgrading of microenterprises, including credit access. The mission of Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America remains true to the vision of Sullivan and continues to be a leader in providing quality education, training, employment, health care, and housing services to economically disadvantaged people of all races and backgrounds, enabling them to become self-sufficient and more fulfilled members of the American society (Tables 35 through 38).

609

Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America Table 35. Civilian Labor Force and Participation Rates, 1980–2003 Race, Hispanic Origin

1980

Total

Civilian Labor Force (millions) 1990 2000 2002

2003

1980

Participation Rate (percent) 1990 2000 2002

2003

106.9

125.8

142.6

144.9

146.5

63.8

66.5

67.1

66.6

66.2

White Male Female

93.6 54.5 39.1

107.4 59.6 47.8

118.5 64.5 54.1

120.2 65.3 54.8

120.5 65.5 55.0

64.1 78.2 51.2

66.9 77.1 57.4

67.3 75.5 59.5

66.8 74.8 59.3

66.5 74.2 59.2

Black Male Female

10.9 5.6 5.3

13.7 6.8 6.9

16.4 7.7 8.7

16.6 7.8 8.8

16.5 7.7 8.8

61.0 70.3 53.1

64.0 71.0 58.3

65.8 69.2 63.1

64.8 68.4 61.8

64.3 67.3 61.9

Asian Male Female Hispanic/ Latino Male Female

(n.a.) (n.a.) (n.a.) 6.1

(n.a.) (n.a.) (n.a.) 10.7

6.3 3.4 2.9 16.7

6.6 3.6 3.0 17.9

6.1 3.3 2.8 18.8

(n.a.) (n.a.) (n.a.) 64.0

(n.a.) (n.a.) (n.a.) 67.4

67.2 76.1 59.2 69.7

67.2 75.9 59.1 69.1

66.4 75.6 58.3 68.3

3.8 2.3

6.5 4.2

9.9 6.8

10.6 7.3

11.3 7.5

81.4 47.4

81.4 53.1

81.5 57.5

80.2 57.6

80.1 55.9

Source: Published in U.S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004–2005, 124th ed. (Washington, DC: GPO, October 2004), 372.

Table 36. Displaced Workers by Selected Characteristics, 2002 Reason for Job Loss Plant or Company Slack/ Position Not in Closed Down Insufficient or Shift Total Employed Unemployed Labor Force or Moved Work Abolished Employment Status

Race

White 3,351 Black 474 Hispanic origin1 335 1

64.7 57.7 55.0

20.8 22.3 31.0

14.5 20.0 14.0

46.9 49.2 50.1

24.7 29.5 33.9

28.4 21.3 16.0

Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

Source: Published in U.S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004–2005, 124th ed. (Washington DC: GPO, October 2004), 384.

A man of God, a man of immense courage, Sullivan devoted his life to uplifting others. He passed away on April 24, 2001, but his vision continues through OIC centers around the world. See also: Economic Boycotts and Protests Sources Opportunities Industrialization Centers. http://www.oicinternational.org. Sullivan, Leon H. Build Brother Build. Philadelphia: Macrae Smith Co., 1969. Walker, Juliet E. K., ed. Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.

Millicent Gray Lownes-Jackson

610

Table 37. Employed Civilians by Occupation, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin, 2003 Occupation Total Management, professional, and related occupations Management, business, and financial operations occupations Management occupations3 Chief executives General and operations managers Marketing and sales managers Administrative services managers Computer and information systems managers Financial managers Human resources managers Industrial production managers Purchasing managers Transportation, storage, and distribution managers Farm, ranch, and other agricultural managers Farmers and ranchers Construction managers Education administrators Engineering managers Food service managers Lodging managers Medical and health services managers Property, real estate, and community association managers Social and community service managers Business and financial operations occupations Wholesale and retail buyers, except farm products Purchasing agents, except wholesale, retail, and farm products Claims adjusters, appraisers, examiners, and investigators Compliance officers, except agriculture, construction, health and safety, and transportation

Total Employed (1,000)

Female

137,736

46.8

10.7

4.2

12.6

47,929

50.5

8.2

5.4

6.1

19,934 14,468 1,617 702 888 81

42.1 37.1 23.5 28.2 39.7 34.6

6.9 5.9 3.2 6.0 4.0 11.1

4.2 3.7 3.1 2.8 3.3 5.0

5.9 5.8 3.3 7.6 5.6 4.0

347 1,041 263 276 169

30.5 52.7 68.6 17.3 39.1

4.4 6.9 7.4 3.3 5.1

8.3 3.4 1.0 3.0 2.8

3.8 6.1 6.6 6.1 6.0

225

15.9

5.9

2.4

8.0

206 825 680 748 77 875 160

18.2 24.7 5.9 65.2 10.4 41.0 59.1

1.0 0.6 3.6 12.2 1.3 7.1 7.4

0.9 0.7 1.5 2.4 8.5 10.8 8.1

6.2 2.1 6.2 4.4 0.2 10.1 6.0

480

70.9

11.3

1.7

4.6

540

50.2

5.0

2.8

9.6

307

64.5

11.0

2.9

7.1

5,465

55.4

9.3

5.6

6.2

213

48.0

4.2

6.9

7.3

235

52.6

7.7

2.3

7.5

284

63.4

12.2

3.2

6.1

126

47.7

13.4

2.3

Percent of Total Asian1 Black1

Hispanic2

9.6 (continued)

Table 37. (continued) Occupation Cost estimators Human resources, training and labor relations specialists Management analysis Accountants and auditors Appraisers and assessors of real estate Personal financial advisors Insurance underwriters Loan counselors and officers Tax examiners, collectors, and revenue agents Tax preparers Professional and related occupations Computer and mathematical occupations3 Computer scientists and systems analysts Computer programmers Computer software engineers Computer support specialists Network and computer systems administrators Network systems data communications analysts Operations research analysts Architecture and engineering occupations3 Architects, except naval Aerospace engineers Chemical engineers Civil engineers Computer hardware engineers Electrical and electronics engineers Industrial engineers, including health and safety Mechanical engineers Drafters Engineering technicians, except drafters Surveying and mapping technicians Life, physical, and social science occupations3 Biological scientists Medical scientist

612

Total Employed (1,000)

Female

Percent of Total Asian1 Black1

Hispanic2

100

14.6

3.3

1.2

5.7

687 547 1,639

70.8 42.9 58.6

11.1 7.0 9.6

3.5 5.6 8.8

8.7 3.3 5.6

119 315 101 417

30.8 28.3 73.2 59.8

4.2 4.8 9.8 9.9

1.0 5.5 5.7 3.9

5.6 4.6 6.8 8.2

74 91

61.6 68.6

18.9 9.3

6.2 3.4

6.9 8.6

27,995

56.4

9.1

6.3

6.2

3,122

28.8

8.1

12.9

5.5

722 563 758 330

30.4 28.1 24.4 37.4

9.7 7.1 6.1 11.7

10.8 11.5 22.7 5.9

5.4 5.1 4.8 6.8 9.2

176

21.7

8.1

5.9

359 95

23.6 50.6

7.3 7.8

9.0 11.0

5.7 5.8

2,727 180 82 75 278 99 363

14.1 22.1 11.0 14.9 8.7 10.4 7.1

4.4 0.3 0.8 3.1 4.6 5.8 4.4

8.7 6.3 9.5 8.9 11.7 18.9 13.6

5.2 6.2 4.2 4.5 5.3 1.9 2.4

180 285 224

19.2 5.5 21.7

3.6 2.2 5.6

8.9 8.3 3.7

4.3 3.7 8.6

419

21.8

10.3

4.9

8.4

75

16.9

2.0

0.9

2.3

1,375 112 101

43.0 46.1 50.5

6.3 5.1 4.8

10.3 13.3 21.0

5.9 2.3 4.9

Table 37. (continued) Occupation

Total Employed (1,000)

Female

Percent of Total Black1 Asian1

Hispanic2

Chemists and materials scientists Environmental scientists Market and survey researchers Psychologists Chemical technicians

140 85 124 185 86

36.4 29.8 56.6 65.8 28.8

5.9 3.1 7.7 4.0 14.8

19.8 1.0 7.0 2.3 8.9

6.4 3.2 5.5 5.9 7.7

Community and social occupations3 Counselors Social workers Miscellaneous community and social service specialists Clergy Religious workers, all other

2,184 640 673

60.6 67.0 79.5

18.7 21.5 19.7

3.2 2.6 4.0

8.4 9.7 9.2

307 410 96

68.8 13.9 55.6

26.2 10.2 7.5

1.7 4.7 2.3

10.6 4.6 5.1

Legal occupations Lawyers Paralegals and legal assistants Miscellaneous legal support workers

1,508 952 286

46.2 27.6 84.2

6.0 3.6 10.7

2.4 2.8 1.8

6.0 4.0 9.4

211

76.1

8.1

2.0

11.0

7,768 1,121

73.8 44.9

9.8 5.0

3.3 10.5

7.1 4.5

665

97.8

13.9

2.3

8.4

2,557 1,124 370 662 194 932

81.7 55.2 82.4 67.5 84.4 91.6

10.4 8.5 8.3 8.7 5.6 14.8

1.9 1.7 0.5 3.9 2.7 2.0

5.9 6.1 4.9 7.6 5.0 15.2

2,663 212 793 133

47.6 50.0 55.7 31.8

6.4 2.2 5.0 9.0

4.6 3.6 6.6 4.0

7.7 5.1 8.7 8.0

215

38.2

6.9

1.6

5.5

179

34.6

13.8

3.5

8.0

80 128 163 190

44.4 66.5 53.8 54.5

5.9 7.5 2.4 5.0

2.4 3.7 3.1 2.4

6.3 4.1 5.1 1.7

79

68.8

2.6

16.4

Education, training and library occupations3 Postsecondary teachers Preschool and kindergarten teachers Elementary and middle school teachers Secondary school teachers Special education teachers Other teachers and instructors Librarians Teacher assistants Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media occupations3 Artists and related workers Designers Producers and directors Athletes, coaches, umpires, and related workers Musicians, singers, and related workers News analysts, reporters, and correspondents Public relations specialists Editors Writers and authors Miscellaneous media and communication workers

37.6 (continued)

613

Table 37. (continued) Occupation Broadcast and sound engineering technicians and radio operators Photographers

Total Employed (1,000)

Female

Percent of Total Asian1 Black1

Hispanic2

94 146

8.1 38.6

12.5 4.7

0.9 6.0

8.9 8.2

6,648

73.7

10.1

7.4

4.9

188 85 232 819 2,449 77 182 94 93

23.7 91.1 51.5 29.9 92.1 87.3 69.8 54.4 94.5

4.7 13.1 5.4 5.0 9.9 6.5 2.6 18.7 5.1

8.7 9.0 9.7 16.1 7.0 3.7 9.3 5.4 1.2

5.6 5.6 2.8 4.7 3.9 6.2 4.1 2.2 1.6

294 126

75.2 98.9

12.3 0.6

10.6 1.4

5.9 2.0

268

69.1

11.6

4.1

6.4

121

32.0

7.1

1.3

7.7

388

81.6

16.8

4.0

8.1

531

94.8

22.3

3.6

6.6

107

92.6

13.4

4.4

14.1

Service occupations Healthcare support occupations3 Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides Massage therapists Dental assistants

22,086 2,926

57.2 89.4

15.4 25.2

4.2 3.9

18.9 12.5

1,811 108 251

89.6 82.1 95.0

34.4 2.3 7.8

4.2 3.8 5.5

12.0 4.2 14.7

Protective service occupations3 First-line supervisors/managers of police and detectives Fire fighters Bailiffs, correctional officers, and jailers Detectives and criminal investigators

2,727

20.7

18.7

1.5

10.1

127 258

20.9 3.6

11.7 8.2

0.2 0.4

3.8 6.2

371

26.2

25.8

0.5

9.4

112

23.6

11.7

0.9

8.2

Healthcare practitioner and technical occupations3 Dentists Dietitians and nutritionists Pharmacists Physicians and surgeons Registered nurses Occupational therapists Physical therapists Respiratory therapists Speech-language pathologists Clinical laboratory technologist and technicians Dental hygienists Diagnostic related technologists and technicians Emergency medical technicians and paramedics Health diagnosing and treating practitioner support technicians Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses Medical records and health information technicians

614

Table 37. (continued) Occupation Police and sheriffs patrol officers Security guards and gamin surveillance officers Food preparation and serving related occupations Chefs and head cooks First-line supervisors/managers of food preparation and serving workers Cooks Food preparation workers Bartenders Counter attendants, cafeteria, food concession, and coffee shop Waiters and waitresses Food servers, nonrestaurant Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers Dishwashers Hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations First-line supervisors/managers of housekeeping and janitorial workers First-line supervisors/managers of landscaping, lawn service and groundskeeping workers Janitors and building cleaners Maids and housekeeping cleaners Pest control workers Grounds maintenance workers Personal care and service occupations3 First-line supervisors/managers of gaming workers First-line supervisors/managers of personal service workers Nonfarm animal caretakers Gaming services workers Barbers Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists

Total Employed (1,000)

Female

Percent of Total Asian1 Black1

Hispanic2

612

12.4

13.2

1.2

11.0

781

21.1

28.4

2.9

12.7

7,254 281

56.6 20.1

11.6 12.1

5.6 14.1

19.9 19.9

667 1,814 612 349

56.3 42.1 57.3 57.7

16.1 17.1 11.8 2.5

3.2 6.5 7.9 2.3

13.4 27.2 28.3 7.7

349 1,842 180

66.7 74.3 66.3

11.0 6.9 18.3

4.8 4.6 7.6

14.1 12.6 18.8

374 294

46.6 23.9

9.7 9.7

5.6 4.8

31.2 37.3

230

86.8

3.6

2.8

11.0

4,947

41.0

15.0

2.7

31.2

166

46.0

24.0

4.0

21.8

223 1,973 1,370 81 1,135

5.5 32.7 88.4 6.1 6.9

5.4 16.7 18.1 5.0 9.3

1.7 2.8 4.1 0.8 1.1

17.6 25.8 38.7 7.4 37.1

4,232

78.4

13.7

5.4

13.0

131

40.6

5.8

1.3

6.4

162 114 85 95

71.5 68.9 50.7 17.7

6.0 3.9 10.2 40.7

10.3 0.3 15.9 2.3

7.5 11.6 13.8 12.2

718

93.7

12.3

3.7

11.6 (continued)

615

Table 37. (continued) Occupation Miscellaneous personal appearance workers Baggage porters, bellhops, and concierges Transportation attendants Child care workers Personal and home care aides Recreation and fitness workers Sales and office occupations Sales and related occupations3 First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers First-line supervisors/managers of non-retail sales workers Cashiers Counter and rental clerks Parts salespersons Retail salespersons Advertising sales agents Insurance sales agents Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents Travel agents Sales representatives, services, all other Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing Models, demonstrators, and product promoters Real estate brokers and sales agents Telemarketers Door-to-door sales workers, news and street vendors, and related workers Sales and related workers, all other Office and administrative support occupations3 First-line supervisors/managers of office and administrative support workers Bill and account collectors Billing and posting clerks and machine operators Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks Payroll and timekeeping clerks

616

Total Employed (1,000)

Female

Percent of Total Asian1 Black1

Hispanic2

174

82.2

3.7

43.4

6.6

85 120 1,284 512 299

20.3 77.6 95.1 88.4 69.6

21.6 11.0 15.1 20.8 10.6

9.6 5.6 2.4 3.7 4.2

20.7 7.8 17.2 14.8 8.8

35,496 15,960

63.8 49.0

10.9 8.9

3.7 4.1

10.8 10.4

3,389

41.8

7.0

5.0

9.3

1,388 2,903 206 137 3,113 192 552

27.5 76.4 58.9 14.1 50.4 59.7 44.3

6.9 15.9 11.0 2.7 9.7 5.1 5.9

3.7 5.0 3.0 4.0 4.1 2.9 2.1

9.6 15.0 11.4 10.3 11.8 6.0 5.2

389 88

32.0 83.4

7.1 3.7

5.1 5.8

7.8 9.6

485

39.4

8.2

3.9

5.8

1,399

25.6

3.7

2.5

7.1

73 850 187

87.2 57.2 63.2

5.3 5.2 19.9

1.3 3.3 1.3

15.1 6.7 16.0

297 264

66.8 45.4

8.1 6.9

2.9 3.8

11.8 9.3

19,536

75.9

12.6

3.3

11.1

1,623 225

70.3 69.8

9.8 21.3

2.7 2.8

9.6 14.0

454

90.5

13.3

3.7

13.0

1,545 170

92.3 92.3

7.3 10.6

3.4 4.2

7.1 11.6

Table 37. (continued) Occupation Tellers Court, municipal, and license clerks Customer service representatives Eligibility interviewers, government programs File clerks Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks Interviews, except eligibility and loan Library assistants, clerical Loan interviewers and clerks Order clerks Receptionists and information clerks Reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks Couriers and messengers Dispatchers Postal service clerks Postal service mail carriers Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators Production, planning, and expediting clerks Shipping, receiving, and traffic clerks Stock clerks and order fillers Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, record keeping Secretaries and administrative assistants Computer operators Data entry keyers Word processors and typists Insurance claims and policy processing clerks Mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service Office clerks, general Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations3 Graders and sorters, agricultural products Logging workers

Total Employed (1,000)

Female

Percent of Total Black1 Asian1

Hispanic2

397 89 1,747

88.9 83.6 69.3

8.4 15.1 18.1

6.6 2.7 2.6

12.2 5.9 12.6

78 399 113 141 116 204 108

76.2 82.5 70.9 80.9 83.6 84.0 72.1

19.7 13.2 12.4 15.3 6.6 11.5 12.1

4.3 4.2 1.7 1.4 6.2 3.5 4.6

17.0 11.2 17.8 12.3 5.2 11.1 14.9

1,376

93.2

9.4

2.6

13.4

179 244 249 189 323

67.8 17.9 52.8 44.7 34.6

17.8 15.4 14.3 23.7 15.3

7.3 1.3 1.2 7.2 4.8

14.9 13.1 8.7 9.8 5.4

112

46.7

27.7

11.6

14.1

275 557 1,360

54.1 28.9 37.6

6.1 11.8 14.6

2.4 3.2 3.5

9.0 21.5 15.9

78

46.3

17.4

3.4

13.8

3,632 191 581 362

96.6 48.2 80.3 93.6

9.2 18.1 17.8 16.7

2.2 3.9 4.5 5.6

8.0 8.3 10.9 10.8

265

85.5

15.2

2.0

11.7

147 885

53.6 84.1

24.5 14.8

3.7 4.8

10.5 13.1

14,205

4.7

7.2

1.6

21.3

1,050

22.0

4.7

1.8

40.3

73 79

68.0 2.2

9.8 10.2

8.4 —

43.8 12.3 (continued)

617

Table 37. (continued) Occupation Construction and extraction occupations3 First-line supervisors/managers of construction trades and extraction workers Brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons Carpenters Carpet, floor, and tile installers and finishers Cement masons, concrete finishers, and terrazzo workers Construction laborers Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators Drywall installers, ceiling tile installers, and tapers Electricians Painters, construction, and maintenance Pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters Roofers Sheet metal workers Helpers, construction trades Construction and building inspectors Highway maintenance workers Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations3 First-line supervisors/managers of mechanics, installers, and repairers Computer, automated teller and office machine repairers Radio and telecommunications equipment installer and repairers Aircraft mechanics and service technicians Automotive body and related repairers Automotive service technicians and mechanics Bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists

618

Total Employed (1,000)

Female

8,114

2.8

7.1

1.0

23.7

897

2.5

4.1

0.5

12.6

218 1,595

0.9 1.6

11.3 5.8

1.0 0.8

33.6 24.5

271

2.6

5.1

0.4

32.6

120 1,151

2.5 3.0

8.2 9.9

0.3 1.0

38.4 35.0

376

1.5

7.8

0.1

11.7

205 774

2.0 2.1

5.1 7.0

0.2 1.5

46.8 10.8

660

6.7

7.3

1.8

33.0

595 233 147 114

1.0 1.3 4.6 3.7

7.1 7.0 6.5 8.6

1.2 1.6 1.8 1.5

14.2 33.4 12.5 37.0

95 79

9.8 4.1

9.0 13.1

3.1 —

9.8 15.5

5,041

4.2

7.8

2.5

13.4

340

8.2

8.6

0.8

10.0

296

12.0

9.2

4.3

8.8

251

13.9

13.3

2.9

122.8

128

2.6

6.0

6.3

11.4

203

2.4

4.0

5.0

23.8

884

1.3

6.9

3.4

16.5

339

0.8

6.6

1.4

11.6

Percent of Total Black1 Asian1

Hispanic2

Table 37. (continued) Occupation Heavy vehicle and mobile equipment service technicians and mechanics Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers Industrial and refractory machinery mechanics Maintenance and repair workers, general Millwrights Electrical power-line installers and repairers Telecommunications line installers and repairers Production, transportation, and material occupations Production occupations3 First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers Electrical, electronics, and electromechanical assemblers Bakers Butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers Food batchmakers Cutting, punching, and press machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic Grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic Machinists Tools and die makers Welding, soldering, and brazing workers Job printers Printing machine operators Laundry and dry-cleaning workers Pressers, textile, garment, and related materials Sewing machine operators

Total Employed (1,000)

Female

Percent of Total Black1 Asian1

Hispanic2

200

0.9

5.3

0.2

10.7

350

0.7

5.9

1.9

15.4

460

2.3

7.5

2.0

10.1

309 73

2.7 3.7

7.2 2.1

1.6 —

14.8 1.8

111

0.9

6.1

1.1

8.7

138

6.6

17.2

0.3

10.5

18,020 9,700

23.7 31.0

13.9 12.4

3.9 5.3

19.0 20.0

939

20.1

10.1

4.1

11.5

240 183

59.6 48.5

9.9 14.2

20.5 6.5

19.4 28.0

311 111

26.6 39.7

12.7 7.9

4.1 1.6

41.5 34.2

152

26.5

8.8

1.0

15.1

79 454 88

17.0 4.8 4.1

13.4 7.1 2.1

1.7 4.9 —

18.7 12.9 3.6

528 83 191 193

6.9 20.2 18.0 59.6

10.6 15.3 6.0 21.3

1.7 5.7 4.0 4.9

18.1 14.5 12.3 29.9

81 341

74.9 78.6

17.9 14.2

6.1 13.9

46.4 38.5 (continued)

619

Table 37. (continued) Occupation Tailors, dressmakers, and sewers Stationary engineers and boiler operators Crushing, grinding, polishing, mixing, and blending workers Cutting workers Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers Medical, dental, and ophthalmic laboratory technicians Packaging and filling machine operators and tenders Painting workers Photographic process workers and processing machine operators Helpers—production workers Transportation and material moving occupations3 Supervisors, transportation and material moving workers Aircraft pilots and flight engineers Bus drivers Driver/sales workers and truck drivers Taxi drivers and chauffeurs Parking lot attendants Service station attendants Dredge, excavating, and loading machine operators Industrial truck and tractor operators Cleaners of vehicles and equipment Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand Packers and packagers, hand

Total Employed (1,000)

Female

Percent of Total Asian1 Black1

Hispanic2

118

71.0

9.9

22.3

21.4

113

2.1

9.2

2.6

9.7

107 95

10.1 21.2

14.7 9.7

0.7 4.3

19.8 32.7

692

39.7

14.4

4.7

14.0

100

49.4

10.8

7.4

14.3

294 177

56.5 15.4

16.6 7.0

4.6 3.8

37.3 25.3

76 89

59.9 35.2

14.4 9.9

3.7 5.2

10.4 31.7

8,320

15.3

15.6

2.4

17.9

216 116 558

16.3 3.4 48.4

13.2 0.7 28.8

4.6 1.5 1.5

16.3 4.3 10.1

3,214 286 74 96

4.6 13.8 9.8 15.7

12.8 28.1 19.0 7.6

1.6 7.3 5.9 6.1

15.0 16.5 23.7 12.1

88

1.6

3.6

—

11.3

534

8.6

19.8

1.2

28.7

326

14.1

18.6

2.1

29.8

1,748 419

18.3 61.1

16.3 12.1

2.5 6.1

18.1 39.8

— ¼ Represents or rounds to zero. 1 For persons in this race group only. 2 Persons of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity may be of any race. 3 Includes other occupations, not shown separately. Source: Published in U.S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004–2005, 124th ed. (Washington, DC: GPO, October 2004), 385–388.

620

Table 38. Employment Status of the Civilian Population, by Race, 1970–2003 Civilian Labor Force

Not in Labor Force Unemployed Percent of Number Labor Force

Civilian Noninstitutional Population

Total

Percent of Population

Employed

Employment/Population Ratio

White 1970 1980 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003

122,174 146,122 160,625 166,914 176,220 178,111 179,783 181,292

73,566 93,600 107,447 111,950 118,545 119,399 120,150 120,546

60.2 64.1 66.9 67.1 67.3 67.0 66.8 66.5

70,217 87,715 102,261 106,490 114,424 114,430 114,013 114,235

57.2 60.0 63.7 63.8 64.9 64.2 63.4 63.0

3,339 5,884 5,186 5,459 4,121 4,969 6,137 6,311

Black 1973 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003

14,917 17,824 19,664 21,477 26,246 24,902 25,138 25,578 25,686

8,976 10,865 12,364 13,740 14,817 16,397 16,421 16,565 16,526

60.2 61.0 62.9 64.0 63.7 65.8 65.3 64.8 64.3

8,128 9,313 10,501 12,175 13,279 15,156 15,006 14,872 14,739

54.5 52.2 53.4 56.7 57.1 60.9 59.7 58.1 57.4

846 1,553 1,864 1,565 1,538 1,241 1,416 1,693 1,787

Year, Race

Number

Percent of Population

4.5 6.3 4.8 4.9 3.5 4.2 5.1 5.2

48,618 52,523 53,178 54,965 57,675 58,713 59,633 60,746

39.8 35.9 33.1 32.9 32.7 33.0 33.2 33.5

9.4 14.3 15.1 11.4 10.4 7.6 8.6 10.2 10.8

5,941 6,959 7,299 7,737 8,429 8,505 8,717 9,013 9,161

39.8 39.0 37.1 36.0 36.3 34.2 34.7 35.2 35.7 (continued)

621

622 Table 38. (continued) Civilian Labor Force

Year, Race Asian 2000 2001 2002 2003 Hispanic 1980 1985 1986 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003

Not in Labor Force Unemployed Percent of Number Labor Force

Civilian Noninstitutional Population

Total

Percent of Population

Employed

Employment/Population Ratio

9,330 9,626 9,833 9,220

6,270 6,469 6,604 6,122

67.2 67.2 67.2 66.4

6,043 6,180 6,215 5,756

64.8 64.2 63.2 62.4

227 288 389 366

9,598 11,915 12,344 15,904 18,629 23,938 24,942 25,963 27,551

6,146 7,698 8,076 10,720 12,267 16,689 17,328 17,943 18,813

64.0 64.6 65.4 67.4 65.8 69.7 69.5 69.1 68.3

5,527 6,888 7,219 9,845 11,127 15,735 16,190 16,590 17,352

57.6 57.8 58.5 61.9 59.7 65.7 64.9 63.9 63.1

620 811 857 876 1,140 954 1,138 1,353 1,441

Number

Percent of Population

3.6 4.5 5.9 6.0

3,060 3,158 3,229 3,098

32.8 32.8 32.8 33.6

10.1 10.5 10.6 8.2 9.3 5.7 6.6 7.5 7.7

3,451 4,217 4,268 5,184 6,362 7,249 7,614 8,020 8,738

36.0 35.4 34.6 32.6 34.2 30.3 30.5 30.9 31.7

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 2307; and Employment and Earnings, monthly, January 2004 issue. Published in U.S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004–2005, 124th ed. (Washington, DC: GPO, October 2004), 372.

Clarence Otis Jr.

Clarence Otis Jr. (1956– ), Restaurant Executive Clarence Otis, lawyer and businessman for more than twenty-years, has built a successful career as a restaurant executive at Darden Restaurants. Although Otis’s career began as an attorney specializing in securities litigation, perhaps the years he spent as waiter working his way through law school led to his interest in the restaurant industry. Nevertheless, he is the highest-ranking African American in Darden’s history to head a major division and later become chief executive officer (CEO). Born on April 11, 1956, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Otis is a 1977 graduate of Williams College, with a Bachelors of Arts degree, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He also graduated in 1980 from Stanford University Law School. In 1981, Otis was admitted to the New York State bar. Otis began his career as an associate with the New York law firm Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine and then later at another New York law firm, Gordon, Hurwitz, Butowsky, Witzen, Shalov & Wein, specializing in securities litigation. In 1987, he moved into investment banking. From 1987 to 1990 Otis was the vice president for the public finance department of the First Boston Corporation, a publicly owned investment banking firm. From 1991 to 1995, Otis was managing director and manager of Public Finance with Chemical Securities, Inc., in New York, now J. P. Morgan Securities, Inc. He left a career in investment banking for one in corporate America. In June 1995, he joined Darden Restaurants as vice president and first ever treasurer and was promoted to senior vice president, Investor Relations, and treasurer two years later. At Darden, Otis is responsible for determining the mix of debt and equity the company will have, the length of the debt, and the kinds of securities the company should hold. In March 2002, he became executive vice president of Darden as well as president of the Smokey Bones BBQ & Sports Bar Restaurants Division. Darden Restaurants is a division that spun off from General Mills in 1995. Darden Restaurants, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is the world’s largest casual dining company with 1,271 restaurants. Darden, operating under Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, and Seasons 52 brands, is located in forty-nine states across the United States and Canada. Great Expectations, Darden Restaurants’ 2003 annual report, indicates that Darden employs more than 140,000 workers and has an annual sales revenue of over $4.6 billion. Smokey Bones accounted for $174 million of Darden’s revenue in 2004. Under Otis’s leadership, Smokey Bones has grown from thirty restaurants to approximately eighty restaurants. Modest in his self-appraisal of the business world, Otis told T. Holmes in Black Enterprise, ‘‘One thing you learn in the business world is that there is a certain amount of seasoning that’s required before you have the depth and breath of experience that you need to be a senior leader in a major company.’’ Hard work and successful business

623

Anthony Overton

strategies have paid off for Otis. In December 2004, Otis succeeded Joe Lee as CEO of Darden Restaurants, making him the seventh African American to lead a Fortune 500 company. In January 2004, Otis was appointed to the board of directors of VF Corporation. The corporation is the world’s largest apparel company and leader in jeanswear, intimate apparel, playwear, workwear, and daypacks. Commenting on the appointment, Mackey J. McDonald cited his exceptionally diverse background and his experience in finance law and operations. Cited in Holmes, McDonald said, ‘‘His experience in fostering innovation within his division and creating strong brand equity with consumers will dovetail perfectly with our own strengths and challenges.’’ Otis contributes his success to his approach to management, which is to build and maintain a strong leadership team. According to Carl Brooks, president of the executive Leadership Council, Otis has displayed excellent leadership in all of the positions he has held. Darden Restaurants is now the world’s largest casual dining restaurant, second only to McDonald’s Corporation. In addition to serving on VF Corporation board of directors, Otis was elected an alumni trustee from 1999 to 2004 at Williams College. In 1999 he was elected chair of the YMCA of Central Florida and also a board member for Enterprise Florida. See also: Food Service Industry Sources ‘‘Darden Pins Success on Red Lobster Comeback.’’ Clarion-Ledger, February 6, 2005. Holmes, T. ‘‘Clarence Otis Named CEO of Darden Restaurants.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (November 2004): 28. King, S. R. ‘‘Treasure of the Seas.’’ Black Enterprise 26 (October 1995): 22. Scott, M. ‘‘VF Names Directors.’’ WWD: Women’s Wear Daily (January 2004): 9. ‘‘VF Elects Clarence Otis, Jr. to Board.’’ January 5, 2004. http://www.businesswire.com. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Annie Malessia Payton

Anthony Overton (1865–1946), Entrepreneur, Bank Founder, Cosmetics Manufacturer, Newspaper Publisher, Insurance Company Founder Anthony Overton defied the odds for African Americans and became a wealthy and successful entrepreneur during the first quarter of the twentieth century. His enterprise business empire, primarily established in Chicago, included the Overton Hygienic Manufacturing Company, the Douglass National Bank, the Chicago Bee, the Great Northern Realty Company, and the Victory Life Insurance Company. Born a slave on March 21, 1865, in Monroe, Louisiana, Overton was the son of Anthony and Martha Deberry Overton. After slavery ended, he attended local public schools and pursued his college education at Washburn College in Topeka, Kansas, and later the University of Kansas. He

624

Anthony Overton

graduated from the university in 1888 with the LL.B. degree. In that year, Overton married Clara M. Gregg and had four children. He passed the Kansas state bar and practiced law in Topeka for a while. He also served as a judge in the municipal court in Shawnee County, Kansas. He was elected treasurer of Kingfisher County in 1892. Overton’s first business came when he purchased a general store in Oklahoma City. In 1898, he founded the Overton Hygienic Manufacturing Company in Kansas City and at first developed and sold only one product— Hygienic Pet Baking Powder. He expanded his line to include flavor extracts and toiletries and soon realized the potential for success in cosmetics for African American women. He peddle his products to expand his market, met some success, but filed for bankruptcy after the 1902 flood in Kansas City destroyed the manufacturing district. His financial condition remained an inhouse secret. Recovery was practically immediate, and Overton concentrated on manufacturing high-quality products and those that would enhance the black race; consequently, skin bleaches, then popular in some areas, degraded the race and remained outside the scope of his business. Then he added a sales force to handle his products. He expanded his business to include markets in Egypt, Liberia, Japan, and other countries and also responded to the African American market in the South and Midwest. From there he reached the Atlantic Coast. Chicago had become a business center for African Americans; it followed that Overton would seek entry into that market as well, a purpose that would be served better if he moved his company there. In 1911, Overton relocated to Chicago and used the network of railroads to distribute his products elsewhere. He had patented his products under the High Brown trade name and expanded his line to include shoe polish and hair preparations. The move proved financially rewarding, and the next year, 1912, Overton’s line included 52 items; an all-black sales force of 5 and 400 houseto-house agents marketed his products. So successful was his staff that by 1915, 32 full-time employees were on force, and 62 products were available. He added to the economic uplift of his race by employing more blacks; for example, in 1927 there may have been over 150 black women employees in his home and branch offices, promoting the 250 products that he had by that time. As hair-care magnates Annie Turbo Malone flourished in St. Louis and Chicago and Madam C. J. Walker in Indianapolis, Overton’s business held its own. DIVERSIFIES BUSINESS INTERESTS Overton diversified his business interests. In 1916 he founded the variety magazine Half-Century; it addressed the interests of chiefly black conservative, educated, middle-class southern black women. Emphasis was on racial pride, independence, and self-help and included the views of this highly opinionated entrepreneur. Overton promoted the National Association for

625

Anthony Overton

the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) but criticized W.E.B. Du Bois and others whom he called elitist. He also used the monthly and sometimes bimonthly magazine to advertise his High Brown line of cosmetics. He expanded his empire further. In Half-Century Overton had already cited the need for a bank, and in 1922 he opened the Douglass National Bank, serving as its first president. As the Great Depression took its toll on financial institutions, the bank officially closed in 1932. He entered a new business in 1923 when he founded the Victory Life Insurance Company to provide more jobs for blacks and at the same time to increase his own financial strength. The firm was well received and by 1925 had opened offices in Texas, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, the District of Columbia, and elsewhere. Two years later it expanded into New York City, then Indiana and Virginia. A series of unethical practices on Overton’s part led to the company’s suspension in New York and New Jersey; he was ousted, and the company was reorganized on April 5, 1933, as the Victory Mutual Life Insurance Company. At some point in the mid-1920s he founded the Great Northern Real Estate Company. A shrewd and enterprising businessman, in 1922–1923 Overton built the Overton Hygienic/Douglass National Bank Building and moved his businesses into that facility. He leased space to Chicago’s black professionals, housing, for example, the Theatre Owners Booking Association—an organization that managed black entertainment. His failed bank and insurance company caused him to look cautiously at his continuing enterprises; he moved Overton Hygienic from the Douglass bank building to the Chicago Bee building that had been erected in 1929. It housed the newspaper as well as apartments. Overton had, in fact, founded the Chicago Bee, and he continued to operate the newspaper and the manufacturing company there until the early 1940s, when the newspaper failed. Although Overton had served well Chicago’s African American community and profited from them, he did so under continuous rivalry with banker and real estate developer Jesse Binga, who, in 1921, had opened the first black bank to operate under Illinois’ charter. As the end of his life approached, Overton lived relatively well and in financial comfort from the assets that he was able to retain. He died on July 3, 1946. Active in the Chicago community, Overton was a board member of the Chicago Urban League. He was a member of the YMCA, the Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Elks, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Sigma Pi Phi (the Boule´), and the Appomattox Club. In 1927, he became the first person in the field of business to receive the Spingarn Medal; he was similarly recognized the next year when he received the Harmon Foundation Award. While Overton prospered from his highly diverse financial enterprise, he also provided numerous jobs for the black community in Chicago and elsewhere. For a third of the twentieth century, he was one of Chicago’s leading black businessmen and contributed significantly to the development of the South Side.

626

Anthony Overton

See also: Black Banks: Their Beginning; Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History; Black Press: Newspapers in Major Cities; Retail Industry Sources Adams, Russell L. Great Negroes Past and Present. Chicago: Afro-Am Publishing Co., 1969. ‘‘Anthony Overton.’’ Journal of Negro History 32 (July 1947): 394–396. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Who’s Who in Colored America. 6th ed. Brooklyn, NY: Thomas Yenser, 1944.

Jessie Carney Smith

627

P P. Diddy. See Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs

Harry H. Pace (1884–1943), Record Company Founder, Insurance Executive, Publisher, Lawyer Harry Herbert Pace was one of the most influential African Americans during the first half of the twentieth century. In 1921, Pace, who was W. C. Handy’s former partner in a sheet music company, created the first African American–owned and –operated recording company. Pace’s Black Swan label has been hailed as ‘‘the record label of the Harlem Renaissance.’’ Black Swan launched the careers of Fletcher Henderson, one of the 1920s and 1930s most prominent bandleaders; Alberta Hunter, a blues singer; Trixie Smith, a blues singer; William Grant Still, the ‘‘Dean of African-American Composers’’; and Ethel Waters, a blues and jazz singer as well as actress. Pace’s record company was the first to record ‘‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’’ the Black National Anthem. His business acumen was not limited to the recording industry. Pace was associated with two of the most important African American insurance companies of his day. He was an officer of Standard Life Insurance Company, which was the first African American insurance company where the selling of ordinary life insurance was its only purpose, the first legal reserve company run by and for African Americans in Georgia, and the third African American insurance company that achieved legal reserve status. Pace became the president of Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company, which was the largest African American business in Chicago and the North. Pace was also an attorney with the firm of Bibb, Tyree, and Pace; an employee of Solvent Savings Bank and Trust, one of the early twentieth century’s fastest-growing African American banks; and the business editor of the Moon Illustrated Weekly, which was edited by W.E.B. Du Bois and one of the earliest African American illustrated weekly

Harry H. Pace

magazines and a forerunner of the Crisis, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s (NAACP) magazine. In addition, Pace was a co-owner of a printing shop with Du Bois and Edward Simon and an educator at Haines Normal and Industrial Institute in Augusta, Georgia, and Lincoln University, in Jefferson City, Missouri. Pace was born on January 6, 1884, in Covington, Georgia, to Nancy Francis Pace and Charles Pace, a blacksmith who died during his son’s infancy. Pace attended public school in Covington and decided at an early age that he wanted to be a lawyer. During Pace’s matriculation at Atlanta University, he was employed at the university’s print shop until he discovered that white union workers were paid more for doing the same work than African American employees. Refusing to tolerate the salary inequity, Pace quit and worked menial jobs on campus. Among the highlights of Pace’s undergraduate years were being taught by Du Bois; editing the student newspaper; and graduating, at the age of nineteen, as valedictorian of Atlanta University’s class of 1903. After graduation, Pace was briefly employed as a foreman and manager in an Atlanta printing shop that was established by four prominent African Americans including Alonzo Franklin Herndon, a prosperous barber who later became the founder of Atlanta Mutual Life. When the owners closed the printing shop, Pace accepted a teaching position at Haines Institute in 1904 with the goal of saving money for law school. However, he left Haines in 1905 in order to join Du Bois and Simon in Memphis, where the three men purchased a printing shop. Their most noteworthy accomplishment was the 1905–1906 publication of the Moon Illustrated Weekly. When the printing venture failed in 1906, Pace taught Latin and Greek at Lincoln University. One year later, he returned to Memphis in order to work at Solvent Savings Bank, which was the city’s first African American bank since the closing of Freedman’s Savings and Trust. Four years after Pace’s arrival, Solvent’s assets grew from $50,000 to $600,000. While employed at the bank, Pace, who was a popular soloist at community concerts and church events as well as a lyricist, met composer, musician, and bandleader W. C. Handy. Pace and Handy began collaborating as songwriters in 1907, and that same year, their ‘‘In the Cotton Fields of Dixie’’ was published by a Cincinnati company. They formed a sheet music company, Pace and Handy Music Company—Publishers. The company’s ‘‘Memphis Blues’’ (1912), which was formerly known as ‘‘Mr. Crump’’ (1908), was one of the earliest blues compositions published in the United States and was a huge hit. ‘‘Jogo Blues’’ (1913), ‘‘The Girl You Never Met’’ (1913), and ‘‘St. Louis Blues’’ (1914), which would later become a phenomenal success, were published during this period. In 1912, Pace terminated his employment at Solvent after Robert Reed Church Sr., the bank’s wealthy founder and president, died, and Robert Church Jr. resigned. Du Bois, who was the founder and the first editor of the Crisis, asked Pace to become the business manager or traveling represen-

630

Harry H. Pace

tative for the monthly magazine. Instead of working with his former professor again, Pace returned to Atlanta after Heman Edward Perry, the owner and president of Standard Life Insurance Company, offered him a job as the company’s secretary-treasurer. Under Perry and Pace’s leadership, Standard Life thrived. Pace was also active in the community. In 1914, the Atlanta school board eliminated the eighth grade in African American schools in order to have more money for white schools. When the board decided two years later to eliminate the seventh grade in African American schools, Pace and other prominent blacks, including John Hope and Benjamin Davis Sr., persuaded the board to change its mind. Fearing future problems with the school board, concerned citizens founded the Atlanta branch of the NAACP with Pace as the chapter’s president and Walter White as its secretary. White worked at Standard Life during his undergraduate days as an Atlanta University student. He remained with the company for three years after his graduation until 1918, when he became the assistant secretary at the NAACP’s New York headquarters. White later became the NAACP’s executive secretary and a Harlem Renaissance writer. Pace married Ethlynde Bibb in June 1917, and the couple eventually became the parents of two children. While Pace was on his honeymoon, he discovered that Perry and other Standard Life personnel were scheming against him. However, their plans for Pace’s dismissal were thwarted when state examiners discovered that Standard Life lacked approximately $60,000 that the company was legally required to hold in reserve. Pace’s suggestion that Standard Life offer its policyholders a type of insurance that required less reserves saved the company, and he remained at Standard Life for three years. In 1920, Pace resigned from the insurance company, relocated to New York at the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance, and purchased a townhouse on Harlem’s Strivers’ Row. Pace, who convinced Handy to move to New York in 1917 in order to market Pace and Handy Music Company— Publishers’ songs, joined the company’s New York operation. Pace was president; Charles Handy (W. C.’s brother) was vice president, and W. C. was secretary-treasurer. In W. C. Handy’s autobiography Father of the Blues (1941), he writes that Pace’s actions on behalf of the company included installing a new system, increasing the firm’s financial contacts, and establishing lines of credit with five leading southern African American banks. Although the lyrics to ‘‘St. Louis Blues’’ were published earlier, the song remained unrecorded until Pace hired a female singer who recorded it for Victor Records. ‘‘St. Louis Blues’’ became an immediate success and one of the most popular songs in the annals of songwriting. Although the company grew rapidly and relocated to larger quarters, Pace resigned in 1921 because he did not approve of some of Handy’s business tactics, and he disapproved of white-owned record companies buying songs from Pace and Handy Music and recording them to suit a white consumer public.

631

Harry H. Pace

ESTABLISHES BLACK SWAN PHONOGRAPH COMPANY In 1921, when Pace was thirty-seven years old, he founded the Pace Phonograph Corporation Incorporated. Du Bois was one of the prominent members of the company’s board of directors. Pace hired two of his former colleagues at Pace and Handy Music: William Grant Still was appointed musical director, and Fletcher Henderson was named recording manager. Also in 1921, Pace established the Black Swan label in honor of soprano Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield (1817–1876), a former slave who performed in America as well as England and was known as ‘‘the Black Swan.’’ In 1923, Pace Phonograph was renamed the Black Swan Phonograph Company. Advertising for the record company emphasized that a Black Swan record was ‘‘The Only Genuine Colored Record—Others Are Only Passing for Colored.’’ Pace’s company recorded a diversity of musical styles such as ballads, blues, classical music, dance tunes, jazz, operatic arias, and spirituals. Among Black Swan’s roster of talent were C. Carroll Clark, a concert baritone; Florence Cole-Talbert, an operatic soprano; Katie Crippen, a vaudeville singer; J. Henry Creamer, a lyricist; the Four Harmony Kings, the group that appeared in Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake’s Broadway hit Shuffle Along; Arthur Gaines, a concert tenor; Antoinette Garnes, a concert performer; Kemper Harreld, a violinist; and J. Turner Layton, singer, pianist, and composer. The company’s first recording was ‘‘At Dawning,’’ backed with ‘‘Thank God for a Garden’’ (1921) by Revella Hughes, a concert soprano and pianist. Ethel Waters’s first record for Black Swan, ‘‘Down Home Blues,’’ backed with ‘‘Oh Daddy’’ (1921), was the company’s bestselling record. In 1922 Pace purchased the Olympic Disc Record Corporation, a record company and pressing plant in Long Island, New York. Black Swan’s success was fleeting. With the advent of radio broadcasting in 1922–1923, Pace’s company and the rest of the recording industry were adversely affected as fewer records were purchased once people began listening to music on radio. A number of white record companies attempted to block Pace’s progress. For example, when he tried to purchase a record-pressing plant prior to his acquisition of Olympic, a white record company bought the facility in order to stifle Black Swan’s production. Pace issued the last Black Swan records during the summer of 1923, and he sold the company to Paramount Records in 1924. In the 1990s, Black Swan records were reissued as compact discs. OTHER PURSUITS Pace returned to the insurance industry in 1925 when he and several other African American businessmen founded the Northeastern Life Insurance Company in Newark, New Jersey. In 1929, Pace spearheaded Northeastern’s merger with Supreme Life and Casualty of Columbus, Ohio, and Liberty Life Insurance Company of Chicago. Consequently, the merged companies became Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company, with Pace as

632

Harry H. Pace

its president and chief executive officer. The company survived despite obstacles such as the Great Depression, the devaluation of its real estate holdings in 1933, and a court battle to use liens as admitted assets, a high lapse rate, and a large turnover of agents. Pace, who according to John Ingham and Lynne Feldman, may have been the African American insurance industry’s most important spokesperson during the 1920s and 1930s, wrote insurance-related articles that appeared in various publications, and his most influential article was ‘‘The Business of Insurance among Negroes,’’ which was published in the September 1926 issue of the Crisis. Pace met John H. Johnson in 1936, and Pace offered the recent high school graduate a part-time job at Supreme Liberty Life in order to help Johnson pay his college tuition. Johnson later worked full-time at the insurance company until Negro Digest, his first publication and a precursor to his most successful periodical, Ebony, became profitable. In the 1930s, Pace attended the Chicago Law School. After he received his degree, he joined the law firm of Bibb, Tyree, and Pace. He continued to be active in various organizations such as the National Negro Insurance Association, where he served as president from 1928 to 1929, statistician from 1929 to 1930, and general counsel from 1934 to 1938. Pace was president of the Citizens Civic and Economic Welfare Council of Chicago. He was also a member of the NAACP’s national board of directors and, as previously mentioned, the first president of the organization’s Atlanta chapter; a member of the Urban League’s local board; the organizer of the Elks’ first lodge in Memphis; and the grand treasurer of the Odd Fellows. In 1933, Pace was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Daniel Roper to an advisory committee on African American activities, and in 1935, he was named assistant counsel to the Illinois Commerce Commission. Also in 1935, Pace became the first African American male to be elected to membership of the Diocesan Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Chicago Diocese. He died in Chicago on July 6, 1943. Although Pace was one of the most prominent African Americans of his era, Pace’s contributions on behalf of his race’s social, artistic, educational, and economic improvement are generally unheralded in contemporary society. Sources Handy, D. Antoinette. ‘‘Harry H. Pace.’’ Notable Black American Men. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. Handy, W. C. Father of the Blues: An Autobiography. New York: Macmillan, 1941. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. ‘‘Harry Herbert Pace.’’ African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Suisman, David. ‘‘Co-workers in the Kingdom of Culture: Black Swan Records and the Political Economy of African American Music.’’ Journal of American History 90 (2004): 1295–1324. Thygesen, Helge, Mark Berresford, and Russ Shor. Black Swan: The Record Label of the Harlem Renaissance. Nottingham, England: VJM Publications, 1996.

Linda M. Carter

633

Henry Green Parks Jr.

Henry Green Parks Jr. (1916–1989), Entrepreneur, Business Executive Henry Green Parks Jr. is known as an African American entrepreneur—a sausage manufacturer who founded the Parks Sausage Company. The sausage company is remembered by many for its radio commercial of a young boy crying for Parks sausage, a trademark that is attributed to the company’s founder. In addition to his commercial endeavors, he supported community projects. Owing to his contributions and others like him in Baltimore, Maryland, Arena Playhouse, the nation’s oldest black theater company founded in 1953 by African Americans, was established to offer quality theater to the community. Parks was born on September 29, 1916, to Henry and Gainelle Williams in Athens, Georgia. The family moved to Dayton, Ohio, where Parks attended public school and later Ohio State University. He graduate with the B.S. degree in 1939 and completed some graduate work in marketing. Following graduation, he began work in sales for Pabst Brewing Company and became a national sales representative. In this capacity, he was to target the ethnic market and trained his own salesmen; he was one of the leading salesmen. In 1942, he left Pabst to become a partner in W. B. Graham and Associates, a New York City public relations firm. While working in the firm, he explored a number of enterprises before hitting upon the one for which he is best known. One of these early attempts entailed working in theatrical bookings in New York City. However, most of his efforts took place in Baltimore, Maryland. One of his failed attempts was to market Joe Louis Punch, a beverage named for the heavyweight champion. Parks left W. B. Graham in 1949 and bought into Crayton’s Southern Sausage Company of Cleveland, Ohio. He tried to sell the idea of producing a sausage that would appeal to a southern taste. When no one saw the possibilities and he became familiar with the industry, he sold his interest in Crayton’s. He went into debt, and using what he had learned and old southern recipes, especially an old one from Virginia, he founded Parks Sausage Company in 1951. With 2 employees (the number eventually grew to 240) in an abandoned dairy plant in Baltimore, Maryland, Parks began the production of sausage, scrapple, and other pork products. Initially, he encountered a great deal of prejudice; it required confidence, perseverance, and struggle to make the business a success. He was joined in his business efforts by Raymond Haysbert, a prominent Baltimore businessman who became president of the company in 1974. As the company grew, they began distributing fresh sausage to stores daily. As a part of the quality control, Parks placed production dates on his products (he was one of the first to do this); the products were monitored, and items with expired dates were regularly removed from the shelves. He insisted on federal

634

Henry Green Parks Jr.

inspection in a time when it was not required. He registered several trademarks, but the most successful one was a radio commercial for Parks Sausage that had a little boy cry in a plaintive voice, ‘‘More Parks Sausage, Mom’’; because of public complaints, it was changed to ‘‘More Parks Sausage, Mom, please.’’ The company grew to the point where it not only had the funds to advertise on the radio but also could provide support for activities; it sponsored the World Series in 1955. In 1969, Parks Sausage Company, the largest blackowned business in Baltimore, had the distinction of being the first blackowned publicly traded company. It continued to thrive, distributing sausage all along the East Coast. However, it began to suffer setbacks and losses. In 1977, Parks and Haysbert sold the company to a conglomerate; each man received in excess of a million dollars. However, he remained on the board until 1980. The company continued to thrive, but by the 1990s, it began to experience financial difficulties due to advancements in technology and production and to a more health-conscious nation. However, it was still profiting from the name recognition and the memory of the radio commercial. After several unsuccessful attempts at revitalizing the company, parts of it had to be sold. One of these revitalization efforts was made in 1996 by professional footballers Franco Harris, Hall of Fame fullback and former chief executive of Super Bakery, and Lydell Mitchell, his former teammate at Pennsylvania State University. They had plans to develop new brands and new flavors. In spite of their valiant efforts to reinvent and revitalize the company, by 1998, they were forced to put the company up for sale. Even though the company was sold, it is still possible to purchase the sausage in Baltimore. Parks served on boards of directors other than that of the Parks Sausage Company. Other boards on which he served were Magnavox, First Penn Corporation, Warner Lambert Company, and W. R. Grace Company. Additionally, he was a trustee of Goucher College of Baltimore, treasurer for the Maryland Democratic State Central Committee, and president of the Baltimore City Board of Fire Commissioners. He was recognized by the United Negro College Fund for leadership, and Temple University awarded him an honorary degree. He suffered from complications of Parkinson’s disease and died in Towson, Maryland, on April 14, 1989, at the age of seventy-two. See also: Food Service Industry; Retail Industry Sources African American Almanac 1966. ‘‘Colors of Innovation—African American Innovation.’’ http://inventions.about.com/library/inventors. ‘‘Henry Green Parks, Jr.’’ The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1999.

Helen R. Houston

635

Richard Dean Parsons

Richard Dean Parsons (1948– ), Corporate Executive, Lawyer Richard Parsons, one of America’s top executives and top African American chief executive officers (CEOs), is credited with rescuing Dime Savings Bank of New York (Dimecorp). He heads Time Warner’s business units, which include Time Inc., Time Warner Book Group, Warner Brothers Entertainment, New Line Cinema, Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., Home Box Office (HBO), Time Warner Cable, and America Online, Inc. (AOL). Additionally, he has worked as a lawyer and with political entities. Unlike many executives, his rise to power has not been through the ranks. Much of his success has been attributed to his business acumen, vision, work ethic, diplomacy, networking skills, attention to diversity, and his being a man of his word. Many have recognized his management philosophy—which involves the people (emphasis on human resources) and their ideas at all levels (he creates a dialogue among employees and employer), believing that people must work together for the success of the whole—as a major strength in his ability to rescue stressed companies. Another characteristic of his leadership style that has been noted as a contributor to his success is his ability to be both strong willed and sensitive simultaneously. Parsons was born on April 4, 1948, to Isabelle Parsons and Lorenzo Locklair in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Queens, New York. Growing up, he was both a scholar and an athlete. He skipped two grades and graduated from high school at the age of sixteen. In 1964, at age sixteen, he matriculated at the University of Hawaii at Manoa as a history major. He won a walk-on scholarship to play for the Rainbow Warriors basketball team. While at the university, he met and married a classmate, Laura Bush. In 1968, he left the university six hours short of the degree. Encouraged by his wife, he entered Union University of the University of Albany Law School and graduated first in his class of more than 100 students while working part-time as a janitor and as an aide in the State Assembly. In 1971, while still in his twenties, he took the New York state bar exam; of the 3,600 law school graduates who took the examination, he received the highest score. Following graduation, he became an aide on the legal staff of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, for whose family Parsons’s grandfather had been a groundskeeper on their estate in Pocantico Hills (‘‘Next’’). When Rockefeller became vice president in 1974, he asked Parsons to come to Washington, D.C.; he became senior White House aide under President Gerald Ford. Following Ford’s presidency, Parsons was asked by former Assistant Attorney General Harold R. Tyler, who became a partner at Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, to join the New York firm. While working with the firm, Parsons’s clients included Happy Rockefeller, the widow of Nelson; Estee Lauder, the cosmetics magnate; and Dime Savings Bank of New York. Two years after joining the firm, Parsons became a partner (1979). In 1988,

636

Richard Dean Parsons

he passed up the opportunity to become the first African American to head a major law firm to become the president and later the chief operating officer of the Dime Savings Bank. With this move, he became the first African American to manage a major lending institution. He restructured the bank’s operations, management, and workforce and brought it back from almost certain demise. The company was further strengthened when he directed a merger with Anchor Savings Bank and created Dime Bancorp in 1995 with assets worth $20 billion. This became the largest thrift operation on the East Coast and the fourth largest in the nation. In 1991, following the Time Inc. merger with Warner Communications, he was asked to join the board; as a result of his tenure on the board, individuals became more knowledgeable about him and his business acumen. Thus, in 1994, when the need arose for a new president of Time Warner Inc., the chairman of the company, Gerald M. Levin, asked him to assume the position; he left a financially healthy Dime Bancorp to respond to this new challenge. Parsons has been called in to rescue and troubleshoot for companies who find themselves in dire straits, suffering financial setbacks, and Time Warner was no exception in this case. Time Warner merged with America Online in 2000 to form AOL Time Warner, and in 2001, chairman Gerald M. Levin retired and recommended to the board of directors that Parsons be his successor. When made, this appointment met with skepticism and doubt, controversy, and groups in the wings ready to take over—so much so that the stock value fell. In 2002, AOL Time Warner Entertainment Group was divided into separate business entities (AOL and Time Warner). This move provided for some restructuring and rethinking and ultimately a gross profit of $2.1 billion for AOL Time Warner. In January 2003, Parsons’s title was expanded to include chairman. By 2005, the number of naysayers had been reduced, and there are those who see Parsons’s accomplishments as triumph. The business has stabilized, and it has had some major box-office hits like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Although AOL has struggled since the company’s merger, Parsons is now moving forward to make AOL a major player in the online world. As Time Warner and Parsons continued to face some uncertainty, Parsons cut debt, settled big lawsuits against the company, and is beginning a $5 billion stock buyback. Parsons contributes his skills, intelligence, and energy to public and private interests. He is cochair of President George W. Bush’s bipartisan Social Security Commission and chair of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corp. for business development and job creation in Harlem. He sits on the boards of Philip Morris Co., New York Zoological Society, American Television & Communications Inc., Citigroup, Lincoln Center, Howard University, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Parsons made it possible for the Hawaii subsidiary (Oceanic Cable) of Time Warner to wire up 175 Hawaii schools and Hawaii libraries for cable. Parsons received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Hawaii in 2003.

637

Robert Paschal and James Paschal

Parsons, who seems to excel in every new venture, has credited his wife with being truly the impetus behind his moves and successes. His wife, Laura Ann Bush, is a graduate of the University of Hawaii. They are the parents of three children. Sources Cole, Yoji. ‘‘Dick Parsons: The Calm That Hit the Time Warner Storm.’’ Diversityinc 3 (December 2004–January 2005): 52–60. ‘‘Next AOL Chief is UH Alum.’’ http://starbulletin.com/2001/12/06/business/story1 .html. Nugent, Tom. ‘‘Media Magician Dick Parsons.’’ Malamalama. http://www.hawaii. edu/malamalama/2003/07/Parsons.html. ‘‘Richard Dean Parsons.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 33. Ed. Ashyia Henderson. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Roberts, Johnnie L. ‘‘Crunch Time.’’ Newsweek (August 22, 2005): 40–41.

Helen R. Houston

Robert Paschal (1909–1997) and James Paschal (1922– ), Restaurant and Entertainment Entrepreneurs Business moguls Robert and James Paschal gained international prominence in Atlanta, Georgia, as the founders of one of the most successful restaurant and entertainment conglomerates owned by African Americans in the United States. The brothers, owners of the original Paschal’s restaurant, worked together for fifty years until Robert’s death in 1997 at the age of eighty-eight. Centering their business on three enterprises, the brothers first focused on creating an elite eatery far removed from the small sandwich shop opened in 1947 with only two employees. In the 1960s they added a jazz club, La Carrousel Lounge, and a hotel. Both President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore honored the work of Robert and James Paschal as exceptional businessmen and leaders in the community in the year of Robert’s death. President Clinton wrote on March 4, 1997: ‘‘Your steadfast devotion serves as an example of caring and leadership to which we can all aspire.’’ Robert, born in 1909, and James, born in 1922, are two of seven children (five boys and two girls) of Henry and Lettie Demmons Paschal from McDuffie County, near Thomson, Georgia. The family lived deep in rural Georgia where sharecropping was the major source of income. Henry Paschal, however, found work as a waiter and bellboy at the Knox hotel. This work foreshadowed the occupational direction of his future famous offsprings who started to work for the future business as teenagers shaping the roles each would assume in their business together. JAMES PASCHAL, AN ENTREPRENEUR The sale of the original complex in 1996 and the death of his brother ironically increased the business deals of James Paschal and expanded his

638

Robert Paschal and James Paschal

business further in the worldwide market. In Paschal’s interview with the author in 2004, he said, ‘‘I will continue to venture out in additional business opportunities. Whatever comes along, I will embark on it.’’ At the age of eighty-two, Paschal’s forward thinking continues to propel the Paschal name worldwide. Paschal’s Concessions, Inc. (food and beverages at airports) introduces international travelers around the nation to southern cuisine and southern hospitality, the trademark of the Paschal name. As of May 1, 2003, eighteen restaurants, mostly composed of airport concessions, operate under the Paschal name. In this respect, people from around the world eat the same kind of food and enjoy the same kind of service associated with the original Paschal restaurant. At Atlanta’s HartfieldJackson airport, in addition to the three Paschal concessions already operating under the name Paschal’s Concessions, a new Paschal restaurant offering a full meal table service for 175 to 200 people opened in September 2004. Paschal targeted December 2004 for the opening of an entertainment spot, with one of the areas accommodating 300 to 400 people, on the same street (Northside Drive) as his new Paschal restaurant that opened in 2001. Paschal began at age ten demonstrating a proclivity for business and developing a vision for success. He started a shoe shine business, established a newspaper route, and learned to save and manage money to be able to pursue bigger dreams. His entrepreneurship separated him from most of his fellow classmates, themselves destined to become farmers after finishing McDuffie County Training School. At James’s Place, Paschal tripled his chances for success by providing a place where customers not only bought light groceries but also entertained themselves with game machines and dance at night. The soon-to-be-popular spot opened across from the high school when Paschal was just sixteen years old. His business, but not his dream, of being an entrepreneur would be placed on hold until after he served in World War II in Oklahoma. Afterward, his job in the Pullman Company as a porter took him to many places outside of the South where he could observe with a business eye big hotels and fine dining. When asked in an interview with the author if he could have ever imagined that a small sandwich shop in 1947 would lead to a world-class, internationally known business today, Paschal did not hesitate to answer. He and his brother envisioned success from the beginning, based on their optimism borne of their intention to work extremely hard, ‘‘to reach out to whatever we could accomplish. We had a feeling that if we were able to do a good job and to create a good relationship with people and to communicate that would help us to escalate our intentions to grow.’’ ROBERT PASCHAL’S LEGACY Leaving formal education behind, Robert Paschal went to Atlanta at the age of fifteen, when James was only two years old. Working at various jobs first as a restaurant bellboy and later as a chef, Robert eventually managed a

639

Robert Paschal and James Paschal

soda fountain for Jacobs’ drugstores, remaining there some twenty-one years before joining his brother in the business. Notably, Robert was an intimate and trustworthy friend and partner to his brother, espousing the same philosophy of hospitality, caring, and hard work to achieve their common goals. According to James Paschal, his brother was very energetic, working with him long hours seven days a week. ‘‘My brother felt that if we did a good job,’’ he said, ‘‘and offered excellent service to the people, we would go far. From a segregated community, we created a good operation by getting to know our customers and what service they would like to have in the community. These values made us competitive to other businesses.’’ Although working collaboratively with his brother on general business matters, Robert aspired to cooking the best chicken in Atlanta, which he avowed he could do for as many hours as the restaurant was opened. At nine, he apprenticed cooking in his mother’s kitchen. And until he retired, he donned the chef’s uniform, refusing to leave the kitchen even after the two became multimillionaires. As head chef and kitchen manager, the backbone of the business created a legacy, a secret recipe for fried chicken, which sealed the success of the restaurant. When asked to reveal the ingredients that kept the chicken succulent on the inside yet nongreasy and crusty on the outside, he would admit only to using a certain oil and mix. Because James Paschal promised his brother that he would take the secret recipe to his grave, no cookbook publishers have yet been able to tempt him to reveal his brother’s recipe. However, the fried-chicken mix is now packaged and on sale in major supermarkets and available at Paschal’s offices. OTHER PASCHALS IN THE BUSINESS Corliss Paschal Nordmann and Thadeus, children of Robert Paschal, and Curtis O. Paschal, the only son of James Paschal are the direct heirs of the Paschal fortune. Nevertheless, only Curtis’s name has been linked consistently with the business. A former marine and described as a marine at heart, Curtis, since his early twenties, has been involved with the daily operations of the business. Living at one time at the Paschal Motor Hotel, Curtis worked as head accountant for Paschal’s Concessions, Inc., operated a limousine service under the name Southern Carriages Limousine Service, and substituted for personnel when needed. Helping out in La Carrousel on Memorial Day 1987 nearly cost him his life when a customer, angry about the removal of his hat by Curtis, fired a bullet into Curtis’s chest. Only thirty and, according to his father, very strong, Curtis survived. Many other family members helped out in the business from time to time, including oldest brother, Gilmore, retired octogenarian and New York chauffeur. James Paschal and Robert Paschal valued family. To James Paschal, having family on the premises helped relieve the stress of the long hours on the job.

640

Paschal’s Family Business

Over 1,000 plaques commemorate the entrepreneurship and service to the community of the Paschal brothers, including the ‘‘Preservation of Black Heritage’’ award (March 1984) and the Trailblazer Award (April 2003) for pioneers in minority business enterprises. This award also honors those in the Atlanta community who through exemplary civic leadership have helped the minority community at large. Providing business careers for hundreds, dedicating themselves to a life of caring service to the Georgia community, and working quietly, informally, and effectively in the civil rights movement, the Paschal brothers belong in African American history. Clearly, their story equals the stories of many others who helped change the business and sociopolitical landscape of the United States. However, as related by his biographer, Mae Amstar Kendall, December 19, 2004, only with a lot of persuasion by her, his wife Phyllis, and even Andrew Young did he consent to gather his documents and memories for a biography. Other than larges slices of humility, the Paschal formula for success is simple. As stated by James Paschal in an October 2004 interview with the author, ‘‘We got great gratification from serving people. Extending courtesy doesn’t cost anything. Sunshine in your voice really pays off and being a little different. I am happy still to meet so many people.’’ On all accounts, the Paschal brothers’ story is a personal story, a part of African American history, and a convincing story of the American dream. See also: Food Service Industry Sources Clinton, William Jefferson. ‘‘Letter to James and Robert Paschal.’’ March 4, 1997. Hesser, Fran, and Gayle White. ‘‘Paschal’s Son in Critical Condition after Shooting at Restaurant Lounge.’’ Atlanta Constitution, May 13, 1987. Kendall, Mae Amstar. Telephone interview with author, October 3, 2004. ———. Telephone interview with author, December 19, 2004. Paschal, James. Interview with author, October 3, 2004. ‘‘Paschal’s Honored for Heritage.’’ Sun, February 9, 1984. Suggs, Ernie. ‘‘Paschal’s Passing: Activists Lament History Losing a Bit of Civil Rights History.’’ Atlanta Journal Constitution, July 27, 2003. Towns, Hollis R. ‘‘Robert Paschal, ‘Backbone’ of Restaurant.’’ Atlanta Journal Constitution, February 1997. ‘‘2003 Business League CEO Luncheon Honors Former Gov. Roy Barnes, Others.’’ Atlanta Daily World, April 17, 2003.

Rosa Bobia

Paschal’s Family Business Two years after World War II, brothers Robert and James Paschal, seeking business opportunities in a large urban context, opened Paschal’s Sandwich Shop in the heart of the black business district within sight of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. This eating establishment at 837 West Hunter

641

Paschal’s Family Business

Street would over time defy its humble beginnings and develop into a national and international institution. The proverb ‘‘Where there is a will, there is a way’’ aptly describes the attitude of the budding entrepreneurs’ foray into economic empowerment. In 1947 the brothers’ $5,000 investment limited them to the purchase of a space devoid of a kitchen. However, Robert Paschal, the cook and older of the brothers, prepared the food at home and by taxi delivered it to the shop. The focus of their cuisine, a fifty-two-cents fried chicken sandwich whose secret recipe Robert jealously guarded, and their business acumen soon provided the capital for the purchase of a house. After converting the house into a thirty-seat luncheonette, the brothers’ business continued to grow. Their recipe of ingenuity, hard work, excellent service to their customers, and hospitality ensured the brothers’ success in the business during the early years. James Paschal talked of their formula for success in gaining a prominent place in the community. He told the author in an interview in October 2004: ‘‘We created a good operation by getting to know our customers and inquiring of them the service that they required of us in the community. We had a feeling that if we were able to create good relations with people and the community that it would help us to escalate our intentions to grow.’’ Feeding ordinary students (the location is near Atlanta University Center) and elite clientele, the brothers after twelve successful years again expanded their business, in 1959, in several ways. Their first move was to expand the restaurant into a larger facility. Second, they moved to a new location across the street. As their clientele grew, the restaurant took on another role: It became a place of sociopolitical importance as the civil rights movement evolved and flourished. Paschal’s elite clientele, which included notable Atlanta luminaries Martin Luther King Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, Julian Bond, and Jesse Hill Jr., defined the restaurant’s intimate connection to the civil rights movement. At ‘‘Little City Hall,’’ the sobriquet given by one of the brothers of the restaurant, Atlanta’s leaders and others plotted strategies, planned major historic marches (march on Washington in 1963, Selma, Alabama; march on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965), and prepared for major events: Atlanta sit-ins, voter registration drives, Mississippi Freedom summer. The Paschal brothers’ beneficent gestures earned the restaurant the name ‘‘the civil rights kitchen.’’ By staying open all night, the Paschal brothers provided a safe environment for relatives arriving late in the morning hours to aid the numerous high school and college students jailed for their activities, as well as bond money and free meals. OPENS LA CAROUSEL LOUNGE In 1960, the restaurant added Paschal’s La Carousel, a lounge and nightspot to satisfy customers who wanted a drink before their meal and jazz music afterward. The club drew famous entertainers—Aretha Franklin,

642

Paschal’s Family Business

Ramsey Lewis, Dizzie Gillespie—and as a result an integrated and famous crowd: Gayle Sayers and Muhammad Ali joined the majority white clientele, by some estimates 60 to 65 percent, who, like actress Jayne Mansfield, came to hear jazz at the best club for jazz in Atlanta. The brothers broke the law by admitting white customers during the era of segregation. Although their business and liquor licenses limited their clientele to ‘‘colored only,’’ it was never the brothers’ intention to limit their clients in spite of the times and risks. The white and black mingling promoted open communication, social interaction, and perhaps the breaking down of some stereotypes. Finally, in 1967, Paschals added a six-story, 125-room motel, after the purchase of several homes behind the restaurant. The first black-owned and -operated motor lodge in Atlanta with 140 employees was the beginning of a multimillion-dollar operation. Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy had an office and slept there during his political campaign. Those young people who gathered at the restaurant during the 1960s still gathered twenty years later, many as councilmen, as legislators, as congressmen, as heads of corporations, and as members of the political establishment, making collective decisions with their white counterparts. Ernie Suggs quotes civil rights activist C. T. Vivian who said, ‘‘My first memories of Atlanta are wrapped around Paschal’s. . . . I realized that as I was moving about to understand the politics of Atlanta, I had to understand Paschal’s.’’ At Hartsfield airport in Atlanta (now Hartsfield-Jackson), Paschal opened two restaurants, adding both to their million-dollar sales volume and to the number of employees. In the late 1990s, after almost fifty years of continued successful operation, two major events separated the brothers and their original business. In 1996, Clark Atlanta University purchased the restaurant, lounge, and motor lodge for $3 million. Retaining the Paschal name, the Paschal Center at Clark Atlanta University became a dormitory-hotel complex. One year later, on a sadder note, in 1997, Robert Paschal died at his home in Atlanta at the age of eighty-eight. As the new century approached, James Paschal opted for new business deals instead of rest and relaxation. In 2000, Paschal partnered with multimillionaire of construction and real estate magnate, Herman Jerome Russell to plan a new restaurant. And in 2002, the two septuagenarians, with James one year shy of being an octogenarian, opened a new Paschal’s (with valet parking) at Castleberry Hill, within walking distance of the original restaurant. The $6 million structure, including its loft and banquet rooms, accommodates approximately 200 patrons of the middle and upper class and holds its own among the restaurants of other prominently known blacks: Justin of Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs, singer Gladys Knight, Sylvia P. Wood, and boxer Evander Holyfield. The Russell and Paschal partnership brings the restaurant into the $200 million Russell enterprise of retail shops, an extended-stay hotel, and mixed-income apartments praised for revitalizing and keeping needed businesses in the black community. With high ceilings, commodious dining area, an elegant atmosphere, and sumptuous eating, the

643

Paschal’s Family Business

restaurant attracts buppies, yuppies, politicians, corporate types, and the celebrated, slightly reminiscent of former times. Also in 2002, Paschal’s Foods, Inc., opened a new Paschal product to the global market. From their Web site or select supermarkets, customers may now purchase (for a little more that $2), Paschal’s World Famous Chicken Batter Mix. When Clark Atlanta University bought the original restaurant in 1996, James Paschal released the property and power to make decisions on it in the future. However, the public retained the right to act on Paschal’s behalf when the university decided in 2003 to close the hotel and demolish the original Paschal restaurant, although it had become a historic civil rights landmark. The decision, covered by the national media, outraged Paschal alumni around the country, who organized to save the restaurant from demolition. Finally, in December 2003 Congress granted $100,000 for the development of plans to save the restaurant because of the persistent efforts of state and local leaders. In June 2004, the plans were announced. Tracy Gates, whose Busy Bee Cafe´ opened in 1947, also would become the proprietor of Busy Bee at Historic Paschal’s by the end of 2004. Appropriately, the name of two black restaurants opened in the same year will live on. Meanwhile, the Paschal business continues to expand. Franchise offers, falling on deaf ears in the 1970s, have found their time in the new century, with the surviving Paschal expressing the desire to see Paschal’s restaurants all over the country. In fact, the dream is becoming a reality. Paschal and its joint venture partners have succeeded in providing the food made famous on Hunter Street (renamed Martin Luther King Drive) in eighteen airports around the country. Instead of going to the golf course or taking trips around the world, or simply resting on his laurels, octogenarian James Paschal goes to work, greets customers, and reflects on the progress that he and his civic-minded brother have made: They built a business from a simple place and space, the Sandwich Shop, to the Paschal conglomerate with the potential of reaching millions. See also: Food Service Industry; Retail Industry Sources Albazeez, Najim. ‘‘Paschals: Very Long Lasting, Still Alive Local Landmark.’’ Atlanta Voice 20 (December 21, 1985). Alexander, James, Jr. ‘‘Chicken and Politics on the Menu.’’ Atlanta JournalConstitution, November 16, 1985. ‘‘Atlanta Eatery That Served as Civil Rights–Era Meeting Place Faces Closure.’’ Jet 103 (August 11, 2003): 12. Cooper, Chris, et al. ‘‘Paschal’s Restaurant: Rich Blacks Hold the Key.’’ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 29, 2003. Gentry, Mae. ‘‘Paschal’s New Restaurant Savors History.’’ Atlanta JournalConstitution, July 17, 2002. Herowitz, Etan. ‘‘2nd Bid Made for Paschal’s; Brothers’ Plan Would Include History.’’ http://www/paschals.com/news061702htm.

644

Frederick Douglas Patterson Jones, Andrea. ‘‘Efforts Afoot to Save Paschal’s.’’ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 25, 2003. ‘‘Landmark Atlanta Eastern Readies $6M Comeback.’’ National Restaurant News 35 (September 17, 2001): 106. Mason, Herman Skip, Jr. Going Against the Wind: A Pictorial History of African Americans in Atlanta. Atlanta, GA: Longstreet Press, 1992. McLaughlin, Elliot C. ‘‘Old Paschals’ Restaurant Is Saved.’’ Atlanta Daily World, June 16, 2004. Morris, Eugene. ‘‘Paschal’s: In City’s Crucial Times, Food to Savor.’’ Atlanta JournalConstitution, December 10, 1987. ‘‘Museum.’’ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 20, 2004. Paschal, James. Interview with author, October 2004. ‘‘Paschal’s Honored for Heritage.’’ Sun, February 9, 1984. Patureau, Alan. ‘‘A Place to Deal and Eat.’’ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 31, 1987. Suggs, Ernie. ‘‘Paschals Passing; Activists Lament Losing a Bit of Civil Rights History.’’ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 27, 2003. Taylor, Ron. ‘‘Paschals’: Hunter Street Institution Is the Home of Fried Chicken, Empty Plates, Decent Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement.’’ Atlanta Journal, April 30, 1976. Towns, Hollis. ‘‘Restaurant Co-owner Dies at 87.’’ Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 1997. Turner, Rene´e D. ‘‘Cuisine de la Soul.’’ Emerge (June 1993): 40–49. Vargas, Elizabeth. ‘‘Heroic Diner Set to Close; Hosted Many Civil Rights Activists.’’ ABC News, July 26, 2003.

Rosa Bobia

Frederick Douglas Patterson (1871–1932), Automobile Designer and Dealer The first black American to manufacture cars, between 1915 and 1919 Frederick Douglas Patterson built the Greenfield-Patterson automobile, the first of which was a two-door coupe manufactured in 1915. There are claims that he may have built his first car around 1902. Until the automobile business slowed, estimates of the company’s total output ranged from 30 to 150 cars. The company produced a roadster and a big four-door touring car. When the car business slowed, Patterson turned to trucks, school bus bodies, hearses, and moving vans, which proved to be a profitable venture until 1939, when the business closed. Patterson was born in Greenfield, Ohio, in 1871, to Charles ‘‘Rich’’ Patterson and Josephine Qutz Patterson, the second of four children. Charles Patterson was born a slave on a West Virginia plantation and learned blacksmithing early on; the skill proved useful throughout his lifetime. He escaped slavery and settled in Greenfield, Ohio, in 1865. He worked at the Dines and Simpson Carriage and Coach Makers Company

645

Frederick Douglas Patterson

and established a reputation as a fine blacksmith, expanding the skill he had developed while a slave. Within a few years he was promoted to foreman. In 1873, he entered a partnership with J. P. Lowe, a local white man; together they created a carriage building company that was known for expert craftsmanship and high quality. He assumed sole ownership when Lowe died ten years later. By 1900, C. R. Patterson Company produced twenty-eight different horse-drawn vehicles, including the most popular wagons of the era, such as buggies, backboards, phaetons, and surreys, the most popular being the doctor’s buggy. There were almost fifty employees who manufactured annually about 500 horse-drawn wagons and buggies. By the time Frederick was born, the family was already successful. C. R. Patterson ensured that his sons would have a fine education. Young Frederick was the first black to graduate from the local high school. He enrolled at Ohio State University and was the first black to play on its football team. He left three years later without receiving his degree and for two years taught school in Kentucky. His interest, however, lay in the family’s carriage business, and he returned home to pursue that interest. Soon afterward his father died, which meant that he and other relatives would continue the prosperous business. As Frederick Patterson led the company, he traveled with his sales manager in search of new business and observed the ‘‘funny-looking horseless carriages,’’ or cars, that he saw occasionally and was so impressed that he persuaded his board to take on a bold, new venture and build their own. He wanted a vehicle that was competitive with others, easy to drive, and comfortable. In the process of retooling to manufacture automobiles, Patterson produced wagons and advertised for farm repairs. Soon, PattersonGreenfield manufactured an awkward-looking two-door coupe that rolled off line on September 23, 1915. It ran on a forty-horsepower Continental engine and could reach a speed of fifty miles per hour. Patterson led the company into the automobile age of the early twentieth century, developing touring cars and roasters priced at $850; some claimed that they were mechanically superior to Henry Ford’s ‘‘Tin Lizzie’’ Model T. Among the special features of the two models were cantilever spring, left-hand drive, full floating rear axle, demountable rims, center control, electric starting and lighting system, oneman movable top, and ventilating windshield. The company was unable to mass-produce cars and thus could not compete with the emerging automakers in Detroit. Meanwhile, the market for custom-body vehicles seemed promising. Patterson replaced his product with buses, hearses, moving vans, and trucks that could be used to haul ice and other goods. The company created bodies for trucks and Ohio school buses. It also manufactured bodies for the Cincinnati municipal system. A small contract with Ford Motor Company further enabled the company to sustain operations. Patterson’s buses and trucks were created of wood framing and metal skins mounted on existing Ford, Dodge, and Chevrolet chassis. Around 1930 Patterson Company shifted to an all-steel body. Successful for a time, the Patterson buses were Cincinnati’s first; some vehicles, however,

646

Charles V. Payne

were shipped as far away as Haiti. The company was also one of the first to produce two-wheeled trailers. In the 1930s the Great Depression took its toll on the company’s business; insufficient operating funds led the company to relocate in Gallipolis. The firm then became known as the Gallis Body Company and operated for about a year. Continuing financial difficulties and the lack of experienced workers to serve the firm led to its closure in 1939. Frederick Patterson had a vision that resulted in a new business venture for African Americans during more than a third of the twentieth century. Although the automobiles that he led his company to design and manufacture were short-lived, he captured another market that proved profitable for nearly twenty additional years. He is known for his contribution to the automobile and transportation industry. Sources Hartshorn, William Newton. An Era of Progress and Promise. Boston: Priscilla Publishing, 1910. Larrie, Reginald. ‘‘Forgotten Faces: Black Automakers among Early Trailblazers.’’ African-Americans on Wheels 2 (Winter 1996): 10–11. ‘‘The Patterson Car.’’ C. R. Patterson & Son, Carriage Company. Greene Countrie Towne Festival Program, January 26, 2004. http://www.greenfield-ohio.com/ patterson_automobile.htm. Reasons, George. They Had a Dream. Vol. 2. New York: New American Library, 1971. Walker, Juliet E. K. ‘‘Automobile, Patterson-Greenfield.’’ Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Ed. Juliet E. K. Walker. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. ———. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998.

Frederick D. Smith

Charles V. Payne (19??– ), Investment Research Company Executive, Entrepreneur Charles V. Payne is the founder, chief executive officer (CEO), and chief analyst of Wall Street Strategies Corporation. Since 1991, Payne’s company has pinpointed and provided market guidance and investment opportunities to institutional money managers, retail brokers, and a diversity of individual investors. Payne is a regular in the media where he has been a guest and a regular contributor on both radio and television networks, covering the stock market. His market opinions are routinely sought after by various organizations of prestige. Payne stated that he became interested in the market at age fourteen and taught himself to read the Wall Street Journal. His first investment at age seventeen was in a mutual fund. One year later he purchased his first stock.

647

Philip A. Payton Jr.

Now as the founder and chief executive officer of his own company, Payne assists other brokers and individuals with investments. Payne served in the U.S. Air Force from 1980 to 1985. He began his career in 1985 at the firm of E. F. Hutton, where he worked in the analytical assets management department. In 1989, he obtained a position with a small research firm where he first saw a niche for independent and timely equity advice. In 1991, with less than $10,000 in start-up capital, Payne started Wall Street Strategies, a New York–based independent stock market research company. Wall Street Strategies is probably the only black firm with national visibility in the stock-picking business. Wall Street Strategies provides technical analysis of the stock market to institutional investors, stockbrokers, portfolio and pension fund managers, and individual investors. This company also provides historic chart patterns, industry trends, and growth rates to over 5,000 subscribers at more than 250 brokerage firms in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Payne uses three critical measures to select winning stocks. His first criterion involves the total examination of the company’s makeup. The company should be able to introduce new ideas and methods, have product delivery, cut costs, and increase market interests. Payne’s second criterion is a technical examination and interpretation of the company’s historic trading patterns. This criterion would show the supply and demand of a stock. His third criterion is identified as behavioral analysis. Payne defined behavioral analysis as what we think the rest of world would do. His company’s strategy is to buy stocks of little interest to Wall Street during that period of time. However, after that stock has moved in a significant direction, it will attract the Wall Street population. Other company ventures for Payne include offering client moneymanagement services. The company is also one of the few firms in existence to advise investors on when to sell stocks. Payne’s outstanding reputation and his valued opinions have identified him as a leader in the stock market arena. Sources Brown, Ann. ‘‘A Share of the Profits.’’ Black Enterprise 27 (October 1, 1997): 32–34. Chapelle, Tony. ‘‘Wealthiest African American Growing Via Stock Market.’’ Network Journal 8 (March 31, 2001): 14. ‘‘Charles Payne: President; Wall Street Strategies.’’ Network Journal 5 (June 30, 1998): S14. Lewis, Nicole. ‘‘Analysis Equals Performance.’’ Black Enterprise (May 2004): 38.

Sharon D. Brooks

Philip A. Payton Jr. (1876–1917), Real Estate Broker Often called the ‘‘Godfather of Harlem,’’ real estate broker Philip A. Payton Jr., founder of the Afro-American Realty Company, is credited with playing a major role in facilitating the development of Harlem as an African

648

Philip A. Payton Jr.

American community. In the first decade of the twentieth century, his efforts to purchase and lease buildings for occupancy by African Americans in the well-to-do, predominantly white Upper Manhattan neighborhood are believed to have been a factor in Harlem’s eventual transition to the ‘‘Black Capital of America’’ by the 1920s. The eldest son born to Philip and Annie Ryans Payton, Payton Jr. grew up in Westfield, Massachusetts, where his father owned a barbershop and his mother operated a hairdressing business. Payton attended school in Westfield except for his junior year of high school during which he attended Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina (at that time, some African American colleges provided both secondary and college-level academic programs). After returning to Westfield for his senior year, Payton dropped out of high school (much to his father’s disappointment) due to a football injury. To support himself Payton initially followed in his father’s footsteps and worked as a barber. In 1899, he moved to New York City and eventually found work as a porter in a real estate office. Through this work he decided to start his own real estate business in 1900 with a partner. The firm of Brown & Payton struggled during its first year of operation, and eventually Brown withdrew from the business. Payton then relocated the business from West 32nd Street to a Lower Manhattan location at Nassau and Beekman Streets. Having married in 1900, Payton and his wife Maggie continued to struggle. Payton’s fortunes gradually changed as he gained contracts to manage houses. With this modest success he opened a second office on 134th Street in Harlem and was able to begin purchasing buildings. Payton credited the idea for the Afro-American Realty Company with his attendance at the 1902 meeting of the National Negro Business League (NNBL). Founded by Booker T. Washington in 1900, the NNBL’s goal was to promote the development of African American business through sharing information and building relationships that could lead to mutual support. NNBL chapters sent delegates to the national convention at which, under Washington’s watchful eye, speakers presented their strategies for succeeding. Because Washington was the most powerful African American of the time with ties to white philanthropists, the NNBL was also an opportunity for African American entrepreneurs to come to his notice. Payton eventually became an officer of the NNBL. Soon after 1900 Harlem, the community in the northern section of the island of Manhattan, became the focus of a real estate boom. Developed as a wealthy, predominantly white residential community, by the 1880s many of its blocks were lined with single-family brownstone townhouses occupied by the families of merchants with businesses located in Lower Manhattan. The announcement in 1900 of the northern extension of the Lenox Avenue subway to 145th Street triggered a real estate boom, with developers building apartment houses near the line. By 1904 when the line opened, the number of buildings constructed far outstripped the demand of white New Yorkers for the housing.

649

Philip A. Payton Jr.

AFRO-AMERICAN REALTY COMPANY INCORPORATED During this period Manhattan’s African American community was spread out in midtown Manhattan in an area that went approximately from 23rd Street to the numbered 60s Streets. Following a race riot in the area in 1900 and displacement of an African American settlement due to the construction of Penn Station at 34th Street, there was interest in seeking other quarters. Payton recognized the opportunity of bringing white Harlem property owners with vacant housing together with African Americans seeking housing. In 1903 he formed a partnership with nine African American businessmen to acquire five-year leases on Harlem property owned by whites, with the plan to rent the properties to African Americans. In 1904 the business was incorporated as the Afro-American Realty Company. Authorized to issue 50,000 shares of stock at $10 per share, the company’s prospectus, according to Gilbert Osofsky, indicated that it would ‘‘buy, sell, rent, lease, and sublease, all kinds of buildings, houses . . . lots, and other . . . real estate in the City of New York.’’ There was substantial resistance to the movement of African Americans into Harlem from white property owners. Payton indicated that the Hudson Realty Company was an entity formed by white residents with the specific purpose of blocking the movement of African Americans into Harlem by purchasing buildings occupied by African Americans and evicting them and replacing them with white tenants. But African American demand for housing, particularly the new housing of Harlem, continued unabated. Payton’s Afro-American Realty Company received contracts to manage buildings and also purchased buildings, and African Americans became residents of these buildings. To raise additional capital, Payton advertised regularly in the black press with promises of profits of 10 percent. Although the realty company’s board of directors recommended a conservative policy, Payton continued to lease buildings and to purchase others using high-interest financing. Dissatisfaction with Payton’s aggressive management style culminated in a 1906 lawsuit filed by forty-three disgruntled stockholders represented by Wilford Smith, a former director. The suit filed in the name of stockholder Charles Crowder claimed that the realty company had issued a fraudulent prospectus that exaggerated the amount of property owned and failed to disclose that much of this property was mortgaged. At a 1907 trial, the realty company was found guilty of misrepresentation. Crowder and other stockholders recovered their initial investments plus damages and legal costs. The Afro-American Realty Company never recovered from the negative publicity associated with the lawsuit. The first and only dividend was declared in June 1907, but new investors were hesitant to subscribe. The company’s major acquisitions were followed by the recession of 1907–1908, which dramatically reduced the demand for housing in Harlem. By this point the only officers remaining with the company were Fred Moore, publisher of the New York Age, and Payton, whose request to Booker T.

650

Philip A. Payton Jr.

Washington for assistance was refused. In 1908 the company ceased to do business. At its height it leased or purchased approximately twenty-five houses, most in Harlem, from 119th to 147th Streets. White realtors and lenders took over these properties, but the African American tenants remained. Payton continued working in the real estate field, and his reputation did not seem tainted by the lawsuit or the demise of the Afro-American Realty Company. He formed Philip A. Payton Jr. Company and continued to own and manage buildings in Harlem, identifiable by signs containing his ‘‘PAP’’ logo. Two weeks before his death of liver cancer in August 1917, the New York Age contained a half-page advertisement for buildings on West 141st and 142nd Streets. The name of each building drew on references to African American history, such as ‘‘Attucks Court,’’ ‘‘Douglass Court,’’ and ‘‘Washington Court,’’ and under the banner headline appeared Payton’s optimistic vision: ‘‘The World’s Finest Housing Proposition: Catering Exclusively to Refined Colored Tenants.’’ Although the Afro-American Realty Company was a short-lived venture, the time and the location of its operation and the vision of Philip Payton enabled the company to play an important role in providing African Americans with access to quality housing in a New York community from which they were previously restricted. Other realtors such as John Royall, John E. ‘‘Jack’’ Nail, and Henry Parker would build on the foundation laid by Payton and the Afro-American Realty Company. Their efforts and the continuing demand for housing sparked by the 1910s Great Migration of African Americans to the North would create in New York for the first time a large, cohesive African American community, from which the 1920s cultural movement that became known as the Harlem Renaissance was able to grow. Sources Anderson, Jervis. Harlem: The Great Black Way 1900–1950. London: Orbis Publishing, 1982. Cruse, Harold. The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual. New York: William Morrow, 1967. Davis, George A., and Fred O. Donaldson. Blacks in the United States: A Geographic Perspective. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1975. Gray, Christopher. ‘‘ ‘Father of Harlem’ Called It Home.’’ New York Times, June 16, 1991. Harlan, Louis R. Booker T. Washington: The Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901–1915. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. Johnson, James Weldon. Black Manhattan. New York: Knopf, 1930. Lewis, David Levering. When Harlem Was in Vogue. New York: Random House, 1982. ‘‘Local Realty Men Doing Big Business.’’ New York Age, December 6, 1912. O’Donnell, Edward T. ‘‘A Neighborhood of Their Own.’’ New York Times, June 6, 2004. Osofsky, Gilbert. Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto: Negro New York, 1890–1930. New York: Harper and Row, 1966. ‘‘Payton Buried at Westfield.’’ New York Age, September 6, 1917.

651

Heman Edward Perry Washington, Booker T. The Negro in Business. Boston: Hertel, Jenkins and Co., 1907. Watkins-Owens, Irma. Blood Relations: Caribbean Immigrants and the Harlem Community, 1900–1930. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996. Westfield (Massachusetts) Directory. Westfield, MA: R. S. Dillon and Co., 1887. ‘‘The World’s Finest Housing Proposition.’’ New York Age, August 16, 1917.

Kevin McGruder

Heman Edward Perry (1873–1929), Insurance Company Founder, Bank Founder, Entrepreneur As African Americans aimed to increase the economic efficiency of their race during the early twentieth century, a number of financial institutions and businesses enterprises were established. Among these was the Standard Life Insurance Company in Atlanta. Founded by Heman Edward Perry in 1908, Standard Life was Georgia’s first black-owned legal reserve company. Perry also founded and managed Citizens Trust Bank and subsidiaries of Standard Life—under the umbrella Service Corporation. He was a man who had big dreams for his race and a broad vision for success. So prominent and successful was Perry in his business ventures that he was often called the ‘‘Commercial Booker T. Washington,’’ who was prominent in the field of higher education for blacks. Born in Houston, Texas, on March 5, 1873, Perry was the second child in a family of nine children born to John and Lucy Compton Perry. The family lived outside Houston while John Perry was a drayman and grocer in the city; he also dabbled in other enterprises. Although the father was uneducated, he was an advocate for the education of his children. In particular, he supplemented young Heman’s education with practical experiences in business; for example, the son went with him when be bought and sold cotton and when he attended trials in the courthouse. He also clerked in his father’s grocery store and then assisted his father in his farm business and helped him peddle groceries from door to door during harvest season. Doubtless, these experiences would have a positive effect on Heman’s life later on. With only a seventh-grade education, Perry left school and worked in Houston for a cotton firm, becoming an expert cotton sampler and classer. Before leaving that business, he moonlighted as a life insurance solicitor for white insurance companies and sold policies to blacks in Houston. For a brief time he went to Cincinnati and became an attendant in a Turkish bath. When his father died, however, Perry returned to Houston. By now insurance work had aroused his curiosity more. Perry moved to New York City, where for twelve years he worked as a solicitor for large, white insurance companies such as Equitable, Manhattan Life, Fidelity

652

Heman Edward Perry

Mutual, and the Mutual Reserve. Based on his early work experiences, he considered himself well versed in the cotton industry and thought that he could earn a fortune as a cotton trader and as an investor in the stocks. His investment in the stock market left him penniless. In 1908, after pawning his jewelry, he set out for Atlanta, where he arrived still penniless. He held a small job in the cotton industry and later moved to a warehouse. By now he remembered his experiences with the insurance industry in New York and decided that he could help his people by selling them high-value insurance polices. Within the year he called together a group of well-to-do black businessmen and told them his plan to organize a life insurance company for blacks. To their astonishment, he would need $100,000, he told them. Within a few days he organized a corporation headed by prominent black contractor Henry A. Rucker, opened offices in the Rucker Building, and received a state charter that required him to raise $100,000 within two years. To meet the company’s financial requirement, for two years Perry traveled the country and met with wealthy and influential blacks to whom he told his story. He persuaded them to buy stock in his company. He also promoted racial pride among those who had suffered from their experiences with white insurance companies who sold policies to blacks at a higher rate than they did to whites. Among the influential black leaders who endorsed his plan was educator Booker T. Washington. By the end of 1910, Perry had been unsuccessful in reaching his goal; rather than returning all money to the subscribers as the law required, Perry, who had taken no salary or reimbursement for expenses, returned only about $60 of the $70,000 raised. Perry spent two additional years trying to raise the $100,000 needed, and then he would apply for a charter. This time he had the backing of influential Atlantan Alonzo Franklin Herndon and a number of Herndon’s associates at Atlanta Life Insurance Company. Through sale of Perry’s stock, investments from Herndon and others, and a bank loan, Perry reached his goal of $100,000. On March 22, 1913, he opened for business Standard Life Insurance Company, the first black-owned insurance firm founded for the sole purpose of selling ordinary life insurance. Two other blackowned companies—Mississippi Life and North Carolina Mutual—had already received legal reserve status; thus, Standard Life was the third black firm to reach this level. Standard’s board of directors included prominent blacks, such as wealthy entrepreneur Robert Reed Church Sr. of Memphis, Henry Allen Boyd of Nashville’s National Baptist Publishing House, educator Nathan B. Young, and Morehouse College president John Hope. In addition to the officers, Perry set up an advisory board composed of leading black financiers, educators, and religious teachers from all over the country. The company grew impressively and by 1923 had increased its capital stock and assets, had in force $6 million in ordinary life insurance, held cash income of over $1 million, and paid dividends of 12 percent on its stock.

653

Heman Edward Perry

ESTABLISHES INTEGRATED BUSINESS EMPIRE A man with high regard for success and money, Perry was not content with owning only one business enterprise. He borrowed $100,000 in capital stock from his insurance company, and in 1917 he launched a complex of enterprises under the title the Service Company, or a chain of laundries and dry cleaning establishments. First there was a small laundry located in Augusta, and by 1919 he had established a branch of the laundry in Atlanta. The next year, however, Perry looked toward greater expansion, and by 1922 the Service Company continued to include laundries but also included real estate ventures, Service Engineering and Construction Company, a Service Farm Bureau, and the Service Foundation. As well, it included the failing Gate City Drug Company that Perry took over and Service Printing Company that did work for his insurance company and for churches and colleges in the Southeast. The Service Farm Bureau aided black farmers during the agricultural depression of the 1920s caused by the boll weevil. His philanthropic enterprise, the Service Foundation, gave substantially to the YMCA, black colleges such as Fisk University and Meharry Medical College, and other educational and organizational enterprises. His Service Engineering and Construction Company set off a building boom on Atlanta’s west side, as Perry built some 500 new homes for blacks near the Auburn Avenue district and Atlanta University. Clearly, this was the beginning of a housing revolution for black Atlantans. The mammoth enterprise included land purchases and the erection of bungalow-style homes and other structures. Then Perry sold a portion of his land to the city for the erection of Booker T. Washington High School, the city’s first black public high school. He continued his business success when he received a contract to build Howard Junior High School, also for blacks. There were as many as eleven firms in Perry’s empire between 1917 and 1925, valued at some $11 million. Perry’s vision for a black bank was demonstrated as early as 1918, when he began stock sales for that purpose. With $250,000 in capital, in June of that year he opened the Citizens Trust—a full-service bank for blacks located on ‘‘Sweet’’ Auburn Avenue, as that historic street was affectionately called. The bank also held massive deposits from Standard Life. The bank assisted blacks by making farm and business loans, handling estates, and offering other services. There was a woman’s department as well. Citizens Trust financed his empire and became the nation’s largest black-owned bank. As 1924 drew to a close, Perry’s empire operated at risk. His various ‘‘creative’’ financial schemes began to drain Standard Life, and rather than stop the erosion of funds, Perry moved into even more dangerous and risky activities. Service Realty absorbed much of Standard Life’s resources and as illegal real estate loans were made, the whole problem was exacerbated. Standard Life increased its capital stock, the Service Company was given half-ownership of the insurance company, and Citizens Trust loaned money to the Service Company to make various real estate purchases. This strained the bank considerably—to the

654

Heman Edward Perry

extent that Perry borrowed money from the Southeastern Trust Company to support the bank. The lending company held the Service Company in trust. But the financial difficulties continued, as did Perry’s risky, expensive, and possibly corrupt operations. Continuing his business despite the enterprise’s impending financial crisis, Perry bought out Mississippi Life Insurance, established in Indianola, Mississippi, but now based in Memphis and headed by black entrepreneur Joseph E. Walker. It was the nation’s first black, old-line, legal reserve enterprise. Rather than merge Mississippi Life with Standard Life as Perry and Mississippi Life’s officials had agreed, in 1924 Perry sold Mississippi Life to Southern Insurance Company, a white-owned firm in Nashville. This angered many blacks who, according to John Ingham and Lynne Feldman, called his maneuver ‘‘an act of racial and financial treason.’’ His empire was now tottering. Clearly Perry’s loans and the security that he put up to make the loans possible especially jeopardized Standard Life’s future. Those who came to the aid of Perry and the insurance company included John Hope and National Negro Business League head Robert Russa Moton, who by now had replaced Booker T. Washington as Tuskegee’s president. Although the men arranged support from John D. Rockefeller and Trevor Arnett, the condition was that Perry would have to leave the business. When he refused and defaulted on the loan from Southeast Trust, in January 1925 the company foreclosed on the loan. On January 15 of that year, Southern Life had control of Standard Life and now, in fact, controlled two of the nation’s oldest black-owned legal reserve insurance companies. By 1927, Southern Life transferred what was left of Standard Life to National Benefit Life Insurance Company, which would close later on. Indeed, Perry’s business maneuverings and the loss of black companies to whites so incensed black Atlantans that they shunned him and shamed him into leaving the city. But not all of his Atlanta empire was lost. Citizens Trust prospered, continued under black control, and later became Citizens Trust Bank. It also survived the stock market crash of 1929. Perry was no longer affiliated with the bank, and the new leaders ran a successful operation. The bank continues to operate in Atlanta. Black entrepreneurs in Atlanta also bought several of Perry’s enterprises, including the printing company and the drugstores. Sometime later Perry was seen in Kansas City, where apparently he sought to rebuild his career but was unsuccessful in starting another insurance business. A bachelor throughout his life, when he was just fifty-five years old, Perry died on January 4, 1929, of heart failure while visiting a friend in Pittsburgh. In evaluating Perry’s contributions as a business leader, Juliet Walker, in The History of Black Business in America, wrote that he ‘‘was recognized as an eccentric financial genius, able to conceptualize one business plan after another.’’ But he had shortcomings: He was impatient, disregarded routines, shunned drudgery that details often required, and kept his eyes on one

655

Charles E. Phillips Jr.

prize—making money. Ingham and Feldman concluded that he was a ‘‘tragically flawed giant of African-American enterprise.’’ He gave no display of success as could be judged by dress, by place of residence, or even then, by his mode of transportation. In fact, Perry dressed shabbily, refused to purchase an automobile, and purchased a home equal to his status only in 1924. Despite his shortcomings and failures, Perry enhanced the economic life for black Atlantans and demonstrated that blacks could be successful in managing and controlling megaempires. See also: Black Banks: Their Beginning Sources Gibson, John William. Progress of a Race. Rev. and enl. by James L. Nichols and William H. Crogman. Naperville, IL: J. L. Nichols, 1925. ‘‘Heman Edward Perry (1873–1929).’’ Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha .utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/PP/fpexj.html. Henderson, Alexa Benson. Atlanta Life Insurance Company: Guardian of Black Economic Dignity. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1990. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Richardson, Clement. The National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race. Vol. 1. Montgomery, AL: National Publishing Co., 1919. Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998.

Frederick D. Smith

Charles E. Phillips Jr. (1960– ), Technology Industry Executive Technology executive Charles E. ‘‘Chuck’’ Phillips Jr. is one of the most high profile African Americans in that industry. He is copresident of Oracle Corporation and shares the post with Safra Catz, and both report to a chief executive officer (CEO). He is experienced in the industry and previously worked in the technology group for Morgan Stanley, located in New York. Phillips began formal training in the field of technology while he was a student in the U.S. Air Force Academy, receiving his B.S. degree in computer science. He became a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. Later he graduated from Hampton University with an M.B.A. and still later he received his J.D. degree from the New York Law School. After receiving his law degree, he passed the bar examination in Washington, D.C. and in Georgia. In 1994, Phillips joined Morgan Stanley as software industry analyst in its technology group. As an analyst, he used the name ‘‘Chuck’’ and maintained his own toll-free line: 800-MRCHUCK. In 2003, he moved to Silicon Valley’s Oracle Corporation, joining its executive ranks. The investment community, in its tremendous respect for Phillips, thought that he would

656

Charles E. Phillips Jr.

make an enormous contribution to Oracle and would help to bring credibility to that firm. Oracle’s CEO Larry Ellison saw the move as beneficial both to the company and to its clients. The firm develops and sells database technology for huge operations—for example, to Visa International and to the governments of major cities such as New York City. The software that it sells helps run major operations. For these reasons, Oracle is often recognized as a major foe of Microsoft Corporation. On the other hand, Oracle and Sun Microsystems were tightly allied several years ago; both Linux operating system (an open-source, free operating system) and Intel are important to Oracle’s business strategy. Over half of Oracle’s revue comes from outside the United States; thus, the firm has placed much of its staff near these operations. Phillips came aboard just before Oracle made a hostile $6.3 billion bid to take over rival PeopleSoft Inc. In 2002, while Phillips was still employed by Morgan Stanley, he noted in a report that there were only three viable players in the global technology market—namely, SAP, PeopleSoft, and Oracle—and that these three would handle the world’s back office business processes for the global market for quite some time. After lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department filed suit against Oracle for its hostile bid to take over PeopleSoft, Oracle’s team, including Phillips, took another position. They agreed that these three vendors do meet the needs of large enterprise, but this did not mean that the market was highly competitive, dynamic, and rapidly changing. The $10.3 billion merger with PeopleSoft took place in 2004, when PeopleSoft accepted a $26.50 per share buyout. The takeover became one of the most publicized and hostile takeovers for that year. Phillips serves on the boards of his employer Oracle as well as Viacom Corporation, New York Law School, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Black Enterprise magazine recognized Phillips while he was at Morgan Stanley, naming him one of the top fifty black professionals on Wall Street. Black Enterprise honored him again in February 2005, naming him one of the ‘‘75 Most Powerful African Americans in Corporate America.’’ A Democrat, he attended the 2004 Democratic National Convention as a delegate from New York. Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry named him as one of 204 executives who supported his economic policies. He also became a confidante of vice presidential candidate John Edwards. Phillips maintains residences in Silicon Valley as well as in New York. In the rapidly changing technology industry, Phillips has positioned himself for a rapid move forward. His work with Oracle, a firm that serves large corporations, may be just the vehicle that he needs to remain highly visible in the industry. He told Black Enterprise in 2005 the secret of his success: He has always believed in ‘‘having a passion’’ for what he does, being ‘‘technically prepared all the time,’’ and he has ‘‘a willingness to take risks,’’ whether in business or in the military. Sources ‘‘Charles E. Phillips Jr.’’ Oracle Executive Biographies. Oracle Corporation, 1999–2005. http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pressroom/html/pressportal/exec/cphillips.html.

657

Joseph Alphonso Pierce Gilbert, Alorie. ‘‘Analyst Adjusts to Life on the Other Side.’’ News.com, July 11, 2003. Gilbert, Alorie, and Jeff Pelline. ‘‘Oracle Exec’s Words Come Back to Haunt Him.’’ CNET News.com, February 27, 1004. Meeks, Kenneth. ‘‘The Most Powerful African Americans in Corporate America.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (February 2005): 105–142. ‘‘Oracle Moves into Microsoft’s Area of Expertise.’’ Money, August 4, 2004.

Frederick D. Smith

Joseph Alphonso Pierce (1902–1969), Mathematician, Educator, College President Much of the early history of African American businesses is preserved in the work of Joseph Alphonso Pierce, who in 1947 published his major work Negro Business and Business Education. The work was the first in forty years to study then-current trends in business education and business developments among African Americans. Pierce was known also as an effective teacher of mathematics and one who was committed to the concept that blacks could develop good mathematical skills. Pierce was born in Waycross, Georgia, on August 10, 1902, the son of William Arthur Pierce, a Methodist minister, and Fannie L. McGraw Pierce. He became an orphan at an early age, leaving his maternal uncle, Joseph McGraw, also of Waycross, to raise him. He graduated from Atlanta University in 1925 with the A.B. degree in social science. He received his M.S. degree in mathematics in 1930 and a Ph.D. degree in 1938, both from the University of Michigan. In college Pierce played varsity football and later began his career as assistant coach and instructor in the Department of Mathematics at Texas College, Tyler, Texas, where he taught from 1925 to 1927. He spent two years, 1927 to 1929, as chairman of the Department of Mathematics at Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta. He returned to Texas as professor of mathematics at Wiley College in Marshall (1930–1938). Then Pierce returned to Atlanta University (1938–1948), where he was professor of mathematics and statistics and chair of the Department of Mathematics. In 1938 he continued to teach while supervising a project for the National Youth Administration in Georgia. While at Atlanta, from 1944 to 1946, he was research director of a massive study of African American businesses and business opportunities cosponsored by the National Urban League and Atlanta University. Twenty black colleges and universities in the South supported the project. He published the results of his study in 1947 as Negro Business and Business Education. Later he was cited as an insightful leader who saw a need for educational and business communities to work together to create jobs and

658

Joseph Alphonso Pierce

expand wealth in the black community. Both the racial climate and the attitude of whites toward blacks in the 1940 were hostile; thus, Pierce was convinced that blacks should advance their own interests by establishing small business communities designed to serve their own needs. He saw that blacks had the ability to gain the theoretical and practical skills that they needed and believed that principles of business education were vital to the success of the businesses that were established. His study Negro Business and Business Education contained the principles that he advanced for successful black businesses; the results were timely half a century later. In 1948 Pierce moved to Texas State College for Negroes, later to become Texas Southern University in Houston, where he was professor of mathematics (1948–1954); head of the Mathematics Department (1948–1957); and chair of the Division of Natural Physical Sciences (1950). In 1948 as well, segregated education denied blacks access to graduate programs in mainstream institutions. As Texas Southern was authorized to grant graduate degrees to serve the black population, it also needed an administrator to head the graduate program. Pierce was hired as dean of graduate studies in 1950 and continued to teach mathematics until 1963. His duties were expanded in 1957 when he was named director of the summer school. When the Manned Spacecraft Center was established in Houston in 1963, Pierce and the school’s dean of technology B. A. Turner were released from their duties for eighteen months to help the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recruit minority engineers. Although in poor health and contemplating retirement, in 1966 he was appointed interim president and soon became the school’s third president. He served the post for one year. His appointment came during the racial unrest of that period and during the student’s involvement in sit-in demonstrations to desegregate the city’s public facilities. Violent confrontation with the Houston police took place on campus in spring 1967, precipitating Pierce’s resignation. His expertise in mathematics led to his appointment in 1967–1968 as consultant to NASA. He was a member of Sigma Xi and Beta Kappa Chi honor societies. His memberships included the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the American Statistical Association, the National Institute of Science (which he served as president in 1947–1948), the Texas State Teachers Association, the American Teachers Association, and the National Education Association. He belonged to the YMCA, the Houston Chamber of Commerce, the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity (the Boule´). He was listed in several biographical directories including Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the Southwest, American Men of Science, Leaders in American Science, and Who’s Who in American Education. In addition to his major study on business and business education that he published in 1947, Pierce’s writings included Introductory College Mathematics and Applications (with Ralph A. Edmondson, 1937), The Atlanta Negro: A Collection on the Negro Population of Atlanta, Georgia (1940), and articles.

659

Winston Pittman Sr.

Pierce died in San Antonio in 1969; his wife, Juanita George Pierce, whom he married in 1933, and their only child, Joseph A. Pierce Jr., survived him. Sources Atlanta University Bulletin, December 1966, 28. ———. December 1969, 23. ‘‘Joseph A. Pierce.’’ Mathematicians of the African Diaspora. http://www.math .buffalo/edu/mad/PEEPS/Pierce_josepha.html. Pierce, Joseph A. Negro in Business and Business Education: Their Present and Prospective Development. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1947. ‘‘Texas Southern University.’’ Handbook of Texas Online. http://www.tsha.utexas .edu/handbook/online/articles/view/TT/kct27.html. Troup, Cornelius V. Distinguished Negro Georgians. Dallas, TX: Royal Publishing Co., 1962.

Jessie Carney Smith

Winston Pittman Sr. (1951?– ), Automobile Dealer Winston Pittman Sr. is chief executive officer (CEO) and owner of Pittman Enterprises in Louisville, Kentucky. He began his career in the automobile industry by becoming a salesperson and, later as an automobile dealer, by opening Cardinal Dodge. Through shrew business practices, he developed his company into a thriving one and opened Pittman Enterprises. He studied the purchasing power and automobile interest of the black community. He ventured into areas where other black automobile dealers feared to tread, such as opening businesses in small towns. He developed a formula for success that he was able to achieve. By stocking his inventory with domestic as well as import cars, providing a high-powered sales force, and developing multigenerational managers within his family, he became one of the leading automobile dealers in black America. According to Jeffrey McKinney for Black Enterprise, Pittman’s start came through a Chrysler advertisement that he read many years ago: ‘‘Become a salesman and make $100,000 a year.’’ In 1975 he left United Parcel Service as a hub manager and moved to Capital Dodge in Jackson, Mississippi, becoming an automobile salesperson. Pittman developed his expertise in selling cars during his first year as a salesman, and he saw this as a grand opportunity to become a dealer. In 1988 he founded Cardinal Dodge. He established Pittman Enterprises, began selling Lexus and Toyota cars, and developed the business into one of the nation’s most successful automobile dealerships. Through his clever strategy of assembling diverse offerings and a dynamic sales team, his dealerships have reached their maximum in sales. He took a calculated risk and added imports to his inventory. His collection of franchises includes luxury car imports such as Lexus, Mercedes Benz, and BMW.

660

Myrtle Stephens Potter

In 2001, Pittman Enterprises grossed sales of $154.3 million at its six franchises, based on 8,052 units of cars and trucks sold. This was a 71.3 percent gain from sales of $90.3 million, based on 5,840 total units sold in 2000. In that year as well, the Chatham Parkway Lexus in Savannah, Georgia, became a $7 million store. Pittman was able to make successful forays with imports by moving his business into small towns. Part of his success involves his strategy to take a gamble when others decide they will not. By focusing on smaller markets, he was able to own strong import nameplates at lower acquisition costs. He continues to build for the next generation of family through his business endeavors. His wife Alma, sons Winston Jr. and Jabari, and daughter Misty are all automobile dealers and a part of Pittman Enterprises. Pittman began preparing his children early on to become a part of his business. He is proud of their accomplishments in sales and continues to establish the second generation of successful family members and spouses. Always ready for new challenges, Pittman continues to move into new automobile ventures. He has also worked to expand the pool of minority automobile import dealers. He knows, too, that African Americans alone spend as much as $60 billion annually on domestic and import cars and trucks. He is successful in selling high-end models that bring from $28,000 to $128,000, and of course he attracts upscale clients. His knowledge of entrepreneurship has produced benefits: He has become one of Lexus’s best black-owned dealerships. In 1998, Black Enterprise magazine listed his company at number 46 on its top 100 automobile dealerships. Sources McKinney, Jeffrey. ‘‘BE Auto Dealer of the Year: Steering toward Profits.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (June 2002): 176–182. Washington, Frank S. ‘‘Lexus Boots Its Black-Owned Dealership Ranks.’’ Ward’s Dealer Business, July 1, 2002. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

LaVerne L. McLaughlin

Myrtle Stephens Potter (1958– ), Pharmaceutical Executive Myrtle Stephens Potter is a pharmaceutical executive who has risen through the ranks of business by hard work and dedication. She transformed Merck into a household name during her tenure there and served as the first African American president of a pharmaceutical company with Bristol-Myers Squibb. Now she is applying her business acumen as chief operating officer (COO) of the second largest biotechnology company in the world, Genentech. She is known by all who work with her as an exceptional leader and worker. She is a mentor to women in the workplace and an encourager of all. Potter was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on September 28, 1958. She was one of six children born to Allene Baker Stephens and Albert Stephens.

661

Myrtle Stephens Potter

Her father was a military veteran, and her mother was a social worker. According to Robin Madell in Pharmaceutical Executive, Potter said that they were a family of ‘‘modest means,’’ which taught them all ‘‘what it meant to give to one another, to be thinking about things outside ourselves.’’ Potter’s father was a generous man who taught his children to be generous also. Potter’s mother was a strong role model for her children, especially at a time when most African American women were not successful in the business world. She instilled in her children the knowledge that they could do anything, as she did. She worked hard at her social work job, served on the Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women, and even found time to make clothes for her children. Most of their children did go on to be successful business executives. Potter was a good student. She earned high grades in high school and received honors such as being named Girls’ State Governor of New Mexico. She wanted to enter college early but did not want to attend the local college. She hoped to attend the University of Chicago, which had the number one law school in the nation. This was out of the financial reach of her family, but her father made a deal with the sixteen-year-old Potter. If she took and excelled at upper-level classes at the local college during her first semester, he would mortgage their house and send her to the University of Chicago. She succeeded, and during her time in Chicago, she worked parttime as a laboratory assistant at the University of Chicago Hospital. This combined with her experience as an intern in sales and marketing with IBM led to her interest in the business side of medicine. In 1980, she graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and began working as a sales representative for Procter & Gamble. Early in her career she realized that while she was respected in her position, men in the workplace were unsure about how to deal with her. She was a woman and an African American. Often, she found her male coworkers would wait until the women left a meeting to have serious conversations. It was not uncommon for women to be asked if they planned to marry or have children. In an interview with Pharmaceutical Executive, Potter discussed this candidly and said, ‘‘I viewed it as, ‘This is me. Over time, you will come to know and respect me for who I am.’ ’’ During this time at the beginning of her career, Potter turned down opportunities for advancement and instead made lateral moves, believing this was the best way to gain essential experience. She applied for a lowlevel position at Genentech as a sales representative, where her application was denied. Instead, in 1982 she went to Merck and entered a management training program it offered. She rose quickly through the ranks at Merck to become vice president of the Northeast Business Group in Merck’s Human Health Division. During her time at Merck she was given responsibility for marketing Prilosec and Plendil. She had six months to turn these two drugs around. Within eight weeks she had accomplished this. Prilosec ended up becoming the most used acid reflux medication in the world. For this success, she received Merck’s Chairman’s Award.

662

Myrtle Stephens Potter

In 1996, after fourteen years with Merck, Potter decided to move to BristolMyers Squibb in New Jersey. She became their vice president of Strategy and Economics. She said of their culture, ‘‘There’s a high level of camaraderie, a very strong emphasis on teamwork, a very strong intent to see everybody succeed. . . . It’s really a very special place,’’ she told Madell for Pharmaceutical Executive. Potter quickly succeeded in this type of environment and within a year had unanimous support among executives for her new method of drug development incorporating marketing and sales into development. She was promptly promoted to senior vice president, where she made Plavix and Glucophage bestsellers. While she was extremely satisfied with Bristol-Myers Squibb, when she was offered a position at Genentech in 2000, she accepted. She was given $11 million in stock options, an interest-free $2.2 million loan, and a salary of $1.8 million to become the chief operating officer and executive vice president of operations of the second largest biotechnology company in the world. Under Potter’s leadership, Genentech has created and marketed one of the most successful cancer treatments being used today. Avastin, a genetically engineered drug made to treat colon cancer, is one of Genentech’s most popular drugs on the market today. Potter is widely expected to eventually become the chief executive officer of Genentech. Potter is always quick to give credit for her successes in the business world to her colleagues. She values diversity in the workplace. According to Potter in Pharmaceutical Executive, ‘‘There is already one Myrtle. I don’t need five more Myrtles to reinforce me. I need people who can look at a problem in a way that I might not have viewed it and yet can still come together to work toward a common vision and be committed to a common purpose.’’ Potter also likes to encourage people on her team. She still remembers what it was like to be praised by a supervisor, and she tries to bring that kind of encouragement to her staff. Often, Potter serves as a mentor to women in the workplace. She values those who have mentored her and tries to pass those lessons on to other women. She ‘‘creates unique opportunities for them to stretch their horizons,’’ says Bristol-Myers Squibb colleague Kirsten Detrick, cited by Madell in Pharmaceutical Executive. Potter knows the impact that mentoring, even in small ways, can have on a person’s life. ‘‘Because there are so few women in executive positions in general, it’s not unusual that a woman might find herself in a situation where there isn’t anyone she knows well enough to help coach her through it,’’ she continued. People have said of Potter that she is not always an easy person to work for because she pushes people. She encourages her employees to broaden their horizons. In addition to being an extremely successful business executive, Potter is also a wife and mother. According to the same source, colleagues say Potter maintains a ‘‘positive . . . work-life balance.’’ She has two teenage children: a daughter and a son with developmental disabilities. She is known to take calls at work from her children and even miss work to attend their school or sporting events. In Potter’s life, it is clear to all who know her that her family comes first. Potter knows that a company can encourage its

663

Ernesta G. Procope

employees to take time off to spend with their families, but until they see someone in an executive office doing it, they will not do so. She sewed costumes for her children’s school plays and sewed patches on her daughter’s Girl Scout uniform. She was there to help her son when he was diagnosed with developmental disabilities. While her husband is an executive with Provident Mutual, he is also committed to creating a positive family life for their children. Potter admits that she has ‘‘incredible physical stamina’’; she wakes up very early and goes to bed late at night. She also confesses that she multitasks to make time for everything. ‘‘Some people like things nicely laid out, but I work in a more fluid fashion. It is a constant state of reprioritizing,’’ she said in Pharmaceutical Executive. With her family and business life, it is difficult to believe that Potter has time for anything else, but she devotes one night a month to dinner with friends. She also found time to serve on the board of trustees of the Delaware Valley Boys and Girls Club and as a member of the University of Michigan Business School industry faculty. She currently serves on the California Healthcare Board of Directors and on the Healthcare Business Women’s Association advisory board. She was named Woman of the Year by Healthcare Business Associates in 2000 and ranked number 18 in Fortune’s listing of America’s Most Powerful Black Executives. Potter is a rare executive, according to many who know her. She is not only a talented leader but a talented businessperson. See also: Women and Business Sources Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 40. Detroit: Gale Group, 2004. Daniels, Cora, and Martha Sutro. ‘‘The Most Powerful Black Executives in America.’’ Fortune 146 (July 22, 2002): 60–72. Madell, Robin. ‘‘Uniting People and Products.’’ Pharmaceutical Executive 20 (April 2000): 48. Taylor, Chris. ‘‘Myrtle Potter.’’ Time 160 (December 2, 2002): 67. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Allison L. Sharp

Ernesta G. Procope (c. 1930– ), Entrepreneur, Insurance Company Executive Ernesta Gertrude Foster Bowman Procope, founder, president, and chief executive officer (CEO) of E. G. Bowman Company, Incorporated, has been called ‘‘The First Lady of Wall Street.’’ She has opened doors and fought for equality in the business world for women, African Americans, and the small business. E. G. Bowman is the largest minority-owned and woman-owned insurance brokerage firm in the nation and the first African American– owned business to be located on Wall Street. It has handled the business of

664

Ernesta G. Procope

Fortune 500 companies, churches (the leading broker for independent churches), colleges, and other agencies. She is also the founder and president of Bowman Specialty Services, LLP, loss-control and safety engineering division. Her business grew from a store front in Bedford-Stuyvesant to Wall Street; it remains viable as a result of her recognizing and responding to the needs of businesses and individuals at all levels and her straightforward style. Procope was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York, to West Indian immigrants, Clarence and Elvira Lord Foster. She studied music at an early age and proved to be a child prodigy; at the age of thirteen, she performed in concert with eight other students at Carnegie Hall. She graduated from the New York High School of Music and Art and entered Brooklyn College. However, before she could complete the program, she dropped out and married Albin Bowman (1953), a real estate broker. Insurance companies were reluctant to cover dwellings in poor or perceived poor African American neighborhoods, and he was looking for a way to handle the property insurance on his holdings. Believing that to meet this need he should handle the insuring himself, he encouraged Procope to attend the Pohs Institute of Insurance and Real Estate. In 1950, she received her broker’s license and began to handle their insurance needs; by the time of his death in 1952, she was proficient. She restructured the business to offer personal lines coverage and life insurance and began marketing to the community; Procope formed E. G. Bowman in 1953. The company offered homeowners and automobile insurance to African American families in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, a community ignored by larger firms. In 1954, she wed John Procope, former publisher of the New York Amsterdam News; he left this position in 1982 to work exclusively and full-time with E. G. Bowman. In the face of riots and disturbances in the thrust for civil rights in 1960s, insurers canceled ninety of the agency’s homeowners clients in one day; insurers were reluctant to write business in the area; and insurers began ‘‘redlining’’ African American neighborhoods, denying insurance coverage. Procope confronted this issue head-on, and when her first attempts failed, she appealed the situation to New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. He launched hearings that eventually resulted in the development of the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) legislation (making insurance available to all New York state property owners); twenty-six states have adopted similar versions of the law. She became involved with the BedfordStuyvesant Restoration Corporation, a community development program started by Robert F. Kennedy. By the end of the decade, commercial insurance accounts began to be the focus but continuing to provide coverage to minority individuals and institutions; one of the first was the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. The company added loss-control services to compete for commercial business; honed the plans to better promote the company; and began to diversify. The initial payoff of these efforts was PepsiCo, the company’s first major commercial account.

665

Ernesta G. Procope

In 1979, E. G. Bowman and Company made history when it relocated from Bedford-Stuyvesant to 97 Wall Street, the heart of New York City’s financial district. With this move, it became the first African American business located on Wall Street. Procope became the broker for the New York City Housing Authority and the insurance broker for the U.S. portion of the Alaskan Pipeline, which went through five states and connected to the Alaska Pipeline in Calgary, Canada. By the end of the 1970s, E. G. Bowman had twenty-five Fortune 500 accounts. Even though the company continues to thrive, it has not been without its hurdles arising from genderism, racism, resentment, and sheer human error. In 1982, a New York City agency cited Bowman for supposedly mishandling some of the city’s insurance fund, but in 1984, the city admitted its mistake and cleared the company’s name. Procope has withstood the controversy surrounding her tenure as chairman of Adelphi University’s board. In the 1990s, the Procopes diversified their business interests by establishing Bond, Procope Capital Management, an investment advisory firm. INTRODUCES SPECIALTY SERVICES E. G. Bowman continues to be innovative and to respond to the needs of clients. In 2000, Bowman Specialty Services, LLP, was incorporated. It provides engineering and safety services, with an insurance prevention focus, to a number of major accounts. Because of the services provided, the New York Dormitory Authority has asked Bowman to help in the development of a loss-control program for the state’s public universities. Bowman has also introduced a Crisis Management Program that shows organizations how to create a detailed response for all types of crises (fires, earthquakes, medical emergencies, tornadoes, chemical spills, and terrorist attacks). It addresses such features as evacuation plan, assessment of organization vulnerabilities, and defining companies’ needs. It has been noted that September 11 showed the need for a crisis management plan. Currently, the company has a range of major accounts including IBM, Avon Products, Philip Morris Companies, General Motors, Pfizer, and Time Warner. Procope serves on the boards of several organizations and corporations. Among these are the Chubb Corporation; Columbia Gas System, Inc.; South Street Seaport Museum; and trustee of Cornell University and Adelphi University. She has been recognized with numerous awards and honors: Honorary Doctor of Law from Howard University, Adelphi University, and Marymount College; Doctor of Humane Letters from Morgan State University; Woman of the Year, Tuesday magazine, 1972; Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneurial Excellence, 1992; U.S. Small Business Administration, Small Business Person of the Year, 1993; National Association of Insurance Women, Helen Garvin Outstanding Achiever Award, 1955; Minority Business Enterprise Legal Defense and Reeducation Fund, Parren J. Mitchell Award, 1996; Heritage Award, Executive Leadership Council & Foundation, 1997; and the Trumpet Award, Turner Broadcasting System,

666

Barbara Gardner Proctor

2002. In 1972, First Lady Patricia Nixon presented her with the Woman of the Year award at the White House; President Gerald Ford appointed her a special ambassador to the Gambia; and in 2003, a tribute to Ernesta G. Procope was read into the Congressional Record by the Honorable Edolphus Towns of New York in the House of Representatives. She was inducted into the African American Business Hall of Fame in 2003. See also: Women and Business Sources ‘‘E. G. Bowman Celebrates 50 Years of Success.’’ Looksmart. http://www.findarticles .com/p/articles/mi_qa3615/is_200310/ai_n9343634/print. ‘‘Ernesta Procope.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 23. Ed. David G. Oblender and Shirelle Phelps. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. ‘‘Women Shaping the World: Speakers.’’ http://www.essence.com/essence/summit/ bio_e_procope.html.

Helen R. Houston

Barbara Gardner Proctor (1933– ), Advertising Executive, Entrepreneur As a pioneer and innovator, Barbara Gardner Proctor founded the first advertising firm of national and international proportions owned by an African American woman in the United States in 1970. Through the years, her company Proctor & Gardner Advertising blossomed into the nation’s second most lucrative black-owned advertising firm, following only Burrell Communications run by Thomas J. Burrell. In the early 1980s, the company expanded under the umbrella Proctor Communications Network to include public relations, event management, and production services simultaneously with the already thriving traditional advertising campaigns secured from Jewel Foods, Alberto-Culver, Blacklight Fellowship, BET Direct, the National Black MBA Association, Sears & Roebuck, and Kraft Foods. Proctor’s reputation and legacy has been built on the premise that integrity comes first in the attempt to target advertisements, to the extent that she has vehemently refused to be co-opted for the sake of a dollar bill and has stayed clear of tobacco and alcohol campaigns. Proctor’s impulse to embark on an entrepreneurial quest as a thirty-sevenyear-old divorced black woman was risky but significantly induced by her refusal to participate in a television campaign produced by North Advertising Agency of Chicago targeting housewives, particularly African American, where she served as copy supervisor from 1969 to 1970. She questioned the tactics employed in the advertisement and protested its degrading components. Subsequently she was fired. Such integrity stemmed from her upbringing in Black Mountain, North Carolina, where holistic values were instilled by her grandmother and mother. Furthermore, such integrity was nurtured at the small liberal arts and private historically black Talladega College, in Talladega, Alabama, where she earned a dual B.A. degree in

667

Barbara Gardner Proctor

1954 in English education and psychology and social sciences. The wellrounded skills base served her well as she started her career as a writer and editor. From 1958 to 1961, she served as a contributing jazz editor and critic, Downbeat; 1961 to 1964, international writing director, Vee-Jay Records International; 1965 to 1968, copy writer, Post-Keys-Gardner Advertising; and 1968 to 1969, copy writer, Gene Taylor Associates. In 1969 she landed with North Advertising Agency, where life-altering experiences awaited her. When it came time to step out on her own, Proctor’s formal training and life lessons equally would make up the formula for the success of her company. The first evidence of understanding psychology and its importance in the branding of a company was the brilliance with which she named it. Her choice of name was twofold. On one hand, it is reminiscent of the name Procter & Gamble, one of the world’s most recognizable marketing agencies of over ‘‘300 brands you know and trust.’’ Accordingly, many people assume that Proctor & Gardner is a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble, a calculated misinterpretation that certainly does not hurt. Second, she deliberately added her former married name to the business to psychologically imply that a male figure was in some way regulating the behind-the-scenes operations. Clever indeed, the reality is that the depth of the company was conceptualized, engineered, and directed from the multifaceted ingenuity of her alone, both Barbara Gardner and Barbara Proctor in one. It is quite ironic that such planned implementation was understood by Proctor, who used her smarts to work through awesome obstacles of gender and race politics that would have stifled the endeavors of less endurable individuals. Proctor’s entrance onto the landscape of entrepreneurship was further enhanced by what was in 1970 the first service loan granted by the Small Business Association in the amount of $80,000. After initial years of inevitable setbacks, Proctor & Gardner would ultimately level off and be credited by Chicago’s Jewel Food Stores as being solely responsible for making its generic foods campaign of 1978 a massive success. Proctor’s ability to portray that generic did not translate into ‘‘bad’’ or ‘‘poor quality’’ was its most astute attribute because she was sensitive to the need for working-class black families to feel that what they consumed may be cheap in price but not cheap in value or quality. Accordingly, she was recognized by former president Ronald Reagan in 1984 as a national light of entrepreneurial spirit and cited by United Airlines Magazine for being a courageous trailblazer in the advertisement business. The business and academic worlds have taken note of Proctor’s many innovative concepts, as is witnessed by the inclusion of her work in such publications as Contemporary Advertising, Advertising, and SuperSellers. Additionally, her profile in the Blue Book of London, Business Today, International Who’s Who in Community Service, National Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, Millionaires, Women in Business, and Notable Black American Women indicates how important her contributions have been to the business world, to African Americans, and to the women’s equality movement. She has

668

‘‘Puffy’’

served on numerous boards including the Economic Club, United Way, MidCity National Bank, Illinois Bell Telephone Company, Council of Chicago Better Business Bureau, Northwestern Hospital, Louisville Courier-Journal, Bingham Companies, DuSable Museum of Black History, and Handicapped Organized Women. As a heavy power broker and architect of tasteful and integrity marketing, Proctor’s model serves notice not only to the African American business community and the women’s business community but to anyone in the business of high-quality advertising. She has defied the odds and left a roadmap for success that does not prescribe chasing the bandwagon of the moment at the expense of quality standards. See also: Advertising Agencies; Advertising and Marketing; Women and Business Sources Mack, Thura R. ‘‘Barbara Gardner Proctor.’’ Notable Black American Women. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. PINiNET Corporation. http://www.pininet.com/pcnNetwork2.html. Stavro, Barry. ‘‘The Best Collateral.’’ Forbes 132 (November 21, 1983): 124. 20th Century American Leaders Database. http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/ leaders/730/. Washington, Robin. ‘‘Proctor & Gardner’s Founder Helps Write the Book on Ads.’’ Bay State Banner, February 10, 1994.

Uzoma O. Miller

‘‘Puff Daddy.’’ See Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs

‘‘Puffy.’’ See Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs

669

R Franklin Delano Raines (1949– ), Company Executive, Political Financial Adviser, Investment Banker, Consultant Franklin Delano Raines became the first African American chief executive officer (CEO) for a Fortune 500 corporation in 1999. From his modest beginnings, he used hard work and leadership to propel him through Harvard University, its law school, the White House, and eventually chief executive officer. He graduated from Harvard University magna cum laude with a B.A. in government studies and, while still at the university, worked as Daniel Moynihan’s intern in the summer of 1969 in the Nixon White House. After he graduated Harvard Law School in 1976, he joined the White House domestic policy staff in 1977. His major career has been with Fannie Mae, a federally established company that works with lenders to provide lowincome home mortgages for families with low to middle incomes. It is now a for-profit with publicly owned and traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange and a Fortune 500 company. As a recipient of welfare himself in his youth and watching his father build their family home, helping minorities succeed has been the driving force behind his career decisions. Raines was born in Seattle, Washington, on January 14, 1949, to Ida and Delno Raines. He was the fourth of six children—five brothers, a sister, and a cousin who the family took in when his mother died. By the time he was eight, he was working to help support his family, who received welfare. His mother cleaned offices for Boeing, and his father was a mechanic with the company until bouts with depression hindered him from keeping many jobs. He recovered enough to work as a green bean crop picker and Seattle city worker, but the family continued to struggle financially. Raines helped his father pick beans from early in the morning until late afternoon. His father managed to save money through these jobs to build the family a house, using scraps from an abandoned building. It took him five years to complete, working mainly at night and on weekends. An important lesson Raines

Franklin Delano Raines

learned from his childhood was that no matter what, family must work together. Raines’s class in school was a blend of ethnicities and cultures that lived in harmony, and Raines was encouraged by his teachers to live up to his potential. His parents knew that school was important for a life beyond what they had given their children, so Raines excelled in high school as a member of the student council, debate team, and captain of the football team. His parents also believed in the power of government, which might explain his initials—FDR—although it is through an assumption and clerical error at the hospital that gave him his middle name, Delano. He was to be named after his father, Delno T. Raines, and his grandfather, Frank Delno Raines. Harvard University awarded him a scholarship based on need, and his parents paid monthly installments on the reduced tuition. He was also a member of the Young Republicans and Young Democrats, which would later help him in his bipartisan political stint as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under President Bill Clinton. From Harvard, he went to Oxford, England, as a Rhodes Scholar. His education continued when he returned to Harvard Law School, and he graduated with a J.D. in 1976, joining a private practice in Seattle. Later he was recruited to the Carter administration, serving as an associate director on the White House domestic policy staff from 1977 to 1979. Raines’s financial career started when he joined Lazard, Freres & Co., a Wall Street investment banking firm, in 1979. He became general partner in 1985, placing him on the map as one of the first African Americans to make partner in a private Wall Street firm. While at Lazard, Freres, he was responsible for helping city and state governments get financially stable by investing wisely and reducing costs. Among the cities he helped were Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, and Washington, D.C., and among the states he helped were Iowa and Texas. He worked closely with several African American mayors from these cities and taught them how to manage their financial stresses. This meant spending five days out of the week traveling and not spending time with his two young daughters. In 1991, Raines was offered a position as vice chairman with the Federal National Mortgage Association, now known as Fannie Mae, which was just a short commute from his home near Washington, D.C. While at Fannie Mae, he remodeled and transformed the way loans were managed and devised a way to reduce the costs of mortgages by $1,000. His goal was to give more families, especially minorities, a chance to own their first home. Fannie Mae does this by working with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and local lenders. It was while working at Fannie Mae that Raines developed the Desk Top Home Counselor program that helped families get their finances in order. In 1993, Al Gore, another Harvard alumnus, got Raines to help with the economic transition between the Bush and Clinton administrations. Raines was honored when Boeing asked him to be on their board of directors in 1995, citing his mother’s long record of employment there. In 1996, Clinton named him to be the replacement

672

Franklin Delano Raines

director of the OMB. This appointment required Raines to balance the government’s budget by 2002. However, he wanted increased spending in education and welfare, which he thought was important for Americans to succeed. He did manage to negotiate a bipartisan plan for balancing the budget in 1997 that passed in the House and Senate. In 1999, Raines was selected to head Fannie Mae by its current CEO, James Johnson, spending nine months under his tutelage. While there was speculation during the time about whom the first African American corporate executive would be, Raines was not the first choice of some. A. Barry Rand of Avis Rent a Car and Lloyd Ware of Maytag Corp. were two names that came to mind more easily than Raines’s. When he took the position as chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae, he became the first African American CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation even though Clifton Wharton had become CEO of the powerful TIAA-CREF in 1987. He paved the way for Raines and other African Americans in executive positions. Raines quickly set to work on his goal of families owning their own home, as he did when first with Fannie Mae eight years earlier. The amount of money home owners had to pay for insurance was decreased, saving them $16 million a year. A big supporter of technology, he paved the way for Fannie Mae to do business on the Internet. Minorities are a big presence in the company, including women, who made up 42 percent of the management workforce in 2000. In early 2004, Fannie Mae came under investigation by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight for violating accounting rules and overstating earnings. With pressure from Fannie Mae’s board, in December 2004, Raines retired from his position as CEO after trying to defend his company’s accounting practices. Currently Raines is an informal adviser for Revolution LLC, a holding company based in the District of Columbia that was launched in April 2005 by Steve Case, former chairman of American Online. Raines sees himself as a role model for young blacks because he knows they look up to him and are watching what he is doing. Raines and his wife Wendy have made financial contributions to several good causes including an endowment for African American studies at Harvard and backing for a center for the disadvantaged youth of Seattle. Raines knows where he came from and wants to try to give back to the many mentors, teachers, and friends who helped him become the hardworking individual he is today. Raines lives with his wife in Washington, D.C. They have three daughters, Laura, Andrea, and Sarah. Sources Ball, Karen. ‘‘Middle Man.’’ New Republic, December 15, 1997. Farmer, Paula. ‘‘Franklin D. Raines.’’ Black Collegian 29 (1999): 90–91. Harris, Hamil R. ‘‘Franklin Reigns.’’ Black Enterprise 29 (August 1998): 104–107. Johnson, Anne Janette. ‘‘Franklin Delano Raines.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 14. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. Jones, Joyce, and Carolyn M. Brown. ‘‘Franklin Raines Steps Down from Fannie Mae.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (2005): 23.

673

Real Estate Industry ‘‘Raines, Franklin D.’’ Current Biography Yearbook. Vol. 61. New York: H. W. Wilson, 2000. Raines, Franklin D. ‘‘Racial Equality in America.’’ Vital Speeches of the Day, April 15, 2002. Stevenson, Richard W. ‘‘A Homecoming at Fannie Mae.’’ New York Times, May 17, 1998. Tumulty, Karen. ‘‘Cutting Edge.’’ Time 149 (February 10, 1997). Whitaker, Charles. ‘‘Franklin Raines: First Black Head of a Fortune 500 Corporation—Fannie Mae.’’ Ebony 35 (April 2001): 56.

Melissa D. Johnson

Real Estate Industry African Americans have participated in some aspect of the real estate industry—the industry focusing on the development and ownership of land and buildings—from the beginning of their presence in North America. As the country made its transition from an agrarian society to one of towns and cities, African Americans were full participants in this transition. The urbanization of America was accompanied by the professionalization and specialization of the real estate industry. This transition provided career opportunities for African Americans as well as positioned them to attain the economic independence that was sought by early Americans. COLONIAL PERIOD The development and ownership of land and buildings is a fundamental element of American culture. Beginning with the cultivation of farmland during the colonial period in the 1600s, in America landownership has been regarded as an essential element of economic independence. In the colonial period the economic independence of the small farmer was admired and considered a requirement for voting and other aspects of participation in the political life of the country. This element of English culture was adopted by early settlers of African descent as well. The status of the first substantial group of people of African descent to arrive in the English colonies, a group of twenty Africans who arrived in Jamestown in the colony of Virginia, in 1619 is ambiguous. It is not known whether they were treated as indentured servants, as many European migrants were, or whether they were treated as slaves for life. Whatever the status of these early Africans in America, in Jamestown and other colonies, some eventually gained their freedom. In the New Netherlands town of New Amsterdam some slaves of African descent were given ‘‘half-freedom’’ in which they lived independently and were given farmland to cultivate for their own purposes, with the requirement to make annual contributions of goods to maintain their half-free status. With farm ownership they were able to demonstrate a level aspect of economic

674

Real Estate Industry

independence that approximated settlers of European descent. By the late 1600s, opportunities for African slaves to become free were curtailed as African slavery in North America developed into an institution fully supported by specific laws. During the same period property ownership by African Americans was also curtailed and in some colonies prohibited by law. EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD In colonies where freedom and property ownership remained possible for African Americans, in addition to farmland, people of African descent also worked as skilled tradesmen and owned land and buildings associated with their crafts. These ranged from workshops of carpenters, blacksmiths, bricklayers, stonecutters, and coopers. Following the Revolutionary War, in the first three decades of the 1800s many northern states enacted manumission laws abolishing slavery. But other limitations for African Americans persisted in these states. Property ownership became a qualification for African American voting in some states, and therefore ownership of real estate continued to be important and in many cases served as a barrier to political participation for African Americans. In larger cities African American enclaves developed in which some of the property was owned by the residents. Black church buildings of the African Methodist Episcopal and African Methodist Episcopal Zion denominations as well as black congregations within the Baptist, Episcopal, and Presbyterian denominations provided an ownership presence in many cities. In New York City, Seneca Village, a settlement that was established in 1825 in a portion of the area that is now Central Park, included two churches and a school. It was a community primarily of African Americans and Irish Americans and was destroyed in the 1850s to make way for the development of Central Park. RECONSTRUCTION AND ITS AFTERMATH The concerns for landownership by newly freed slaves following the end of the Civil War demonstrated the continuing importance of landownership for citizenship. In January 1865, Union General William T. Sherman issued Field Order 15, ordering that land confiscated from Confederate loyalists in the Sea Islands of Georgia and South Carolina be distributed to newly freed slaves in forty-acre plots. People of African descent in the South viewed this act with great optimism, believing that it was the beginning of their full participation as economically independent citizens. Six months later when the policy was reversed and the African American settlers were required to return already cultivated land to former Confederate owners (and sign labor contracts to work for these people), there was a sense of betrayal among African Americans. In the years following the Civil War, some African Americans in the South were eventually able to gain ownership of their own farms, but many were consigned to working as sharecroppers or as low-paid wage laborers on

675

Real Estate Industry

the farms of white landowners. In the latter years of the nineteenth century, there was a major movement among African Americans, particularly in the South and West, to form their own towns, both as a way of experiencing economic independence and to escape racial violence. During this period towns such as Nicodemus, Kansas (1879), Mound Bayou, Mississippi (1887), and Langston, Oklahoma (1891) were formed. Although not usually characterized as such, these black towns illustrated the African American presence in real estate development, including construction, in addition to property ownership. During this period as well, the South experienced dramatic movement of blacks and whites from farms to cities, and northern cities experienced population increases. The movement to the city brought about opportunities for African Americans to participate more fully in aspects of real estate development and construction as well as real estate finance. In some cities such as Cleveland, Ohio, African Americans formed companies to construct and sell single-family homes to other African Americans. Fraternal organizations established by African Americans expanded from providing death benefits to providing other forms of insurance and became significant actors in the real estate industry. By the early 1900s the Grand United Fountain of True Reformers, based in Richmond, Virginia, owned twenty-seven buildings and three farms and leased twenty-three other buildings. Fraternal organizations also formed black banks and therefore were able to provide African Americans with financing for real estate purchases. The Reformer Building and Loan Association had as its mission to encourage ‘‘industry, frugality, home building and savings’’ among its members. TWENTIETH-CENTURY URBANIZATION In the twentieth century African American migration to the cities continued, with the movement to northern cities that began in the 1890s continuing and growing in the first decades of the century. During these years, cities such as Chicago, New York, and Detroit experienced dramatic increases far beyond nineteenth-century African American migration numbers. As African Americans moved to various cities, residential segregation customs dictated the neighborhoods to which they would have access. African Americans in the real estate industry both opened new areas and solidified the African American presence in some existing areas. In New York City, the Afro-American Realty Company, formed by Philip A. Payton Jr., was credited with opening the northern Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem to large numbers of African Americans during the period of its existence from 1904 to 1908. Black insurance companies, such as North Carolina Mutual, Golden State in California, and Atlanta Life, the successors to the fraternal organizations, were important participants in real estate finance and investment, investing premium receipts in real estate through loans and through investments in property.

676

Real Estate Industry

African Americans also participated in the real estate industry through design. Architect Vertner W. Tandy Sr., the first African American architect licensed in the state of New York, in partnership with George W. Foster Jr., designed homes from African American businesswoman Madam C. J. Walker as well as St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Harlem and in Irvington, New York, in the 1910s. Beginning in the 1920s and continuing through the 1960s, architect Paul Revere Williams designed homes for Hollywood stars such as Lon Chaney as well as commercial buildings such as the Arrowhead Springs (California) Hotel and the Los Angeles International Airport Theme Building. In the twentieth century the real estate industry nationally professionalized. In 1908 white real estate brokers who focused on selling or renting properties formed a national professional organization, the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges, later renamed the National Association of Realtors (NAR). They also trademarked the word realtor in 1949, making it illegal for real estate brokers who were not members of the organization to use the term. Segregation customs had led to the exclusion of African Americans from local real estate organizations and therefore from the national organization. Inclusion in this organization was more than a professional courtesy since the realtors had access to essential information on properties that were for sale, the lifeblood of the real estate profession. In 1947 African American real estate brokers formed the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) and coined the term realtists to refer to member brokers. While African Americans were later able to become members of the National Association of Realtors, some preferred to remain members in NAREB only. In 1992 the U.S. Supreme Court, in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of predominantly African American brokers in Atlanta, ruled that licensed brokers would not need to be members of the NAR to have access to the organization’s Multiple Listing Service, the computerized database of properties for sale. The ruling applied to brokers in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. AFRICAN AMERICANS AS URBAN LEADERS The entry of African Americans as mayors of big cities that began with the election of Carl Stokes in Cleveland and Richard Hatcher in Gary, Indiana, in 1967 influenced African Americans in the real estate industry. The riots of the 1960s that had preceded these electoral successes resulted in white flight from most northern cities. Model Cities, the successor to the federal government’s program of urban renewal (known as ‘‘Negro Removal’’ by many African Americans because of its demolition of African American neighborhoods), created some opportunities for African American developers, construction companies, and property managers. But the presence of African Americans in the real estate industry remained primarily in brokerage. Lack of capital continued to limit the presence of African Americans as developers and contractors.

677

Real Estate Industry

The second generation of African American mayors, Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. in Atlanta (1973) and Richard Arrington in Birmingham (1979), was able to bring about significant changes by requiring African American participation in city contracts ranging from municipal bond financing to major construction jobs. During this period some existing African American firms were able to expand. In Atlanta, H. J. Russell & Company, founded by Herman Jerome Russell in 1952, expanded to undertake the construction of downtown skyscrapers and airport projects and grew to provide a full range of construction, real estate development, and property management services. Complementing the growth of for-profit real estate developers and property managers during this period was the growth of the nonprofit community development corporations (CDCs). In an industry dating to the late 1960s, these community-based organizations, typically funded through a combination of foundation and government funds, focused on reviving areas devastated by the unrest and the economic decline of the 1960s and 1970s that had led to the abandonment of large swaths of many urban areas. Beginning with organizations such as Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation in Brooklyn, New York, these organizations provided an alternative track for African American involvement in the real estate industry. With activities ranging from renovating and selling single-family homes, constructing new homes, renovating multifamily apartment buildings, developing shopping centers, and in some cases providing business development and social services, community development corporations played an important role in the revitalization of African American communities. Today African Americans can be found in all areas of the real estate industry, which includes real estate brokerage, appraising, construction, real estate development, architectural design, property management, and real estate investment. African Americans also play an important role in real estate lending through their presence within majority-owned banks and through African American–owned banks. The family home remains the primary financial asset of most African Americans; therefore, real estate continues to play a central financial and symbolic role in the lives of all African Americans. See also: Blacks in Agriculture Sources Berndt, Harry Edward. New Rulers in the Ghetto: The Community Development Corporation and Urban Poverty. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1977. Crockett, Norman L. The Black Towns. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas, 1979. Du Bois, W.E.B., ed. Economic Cooperation among Negro Americans. Atlanta, GA: Atlanta University Press, 1907. Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution 1863–1877. New York: Harper and Row, 1988. Gray, Christopher. ‘‘The Grand Mansion of an Early Black Entrepreneur.’’ New York Times, April 24, 1994.

678

Antonio ‘‘L. A.’’ Reid Harris, Leslie. In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626– 1863. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. Holmes, Tamara. ‘‘Herman J. Russell Passes Torch.’’ Black Enterprise 34 (January 2004): 19. Hudson, Karen E. The Will and the Way: Paul R. Williams, Architect. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1994. Jordan, Winthrop. White over Black: American Attitudes toward the Negro 1550–1812. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1968. Kusmer, Kenneth. A Ghetto Takes Shape: Black Cleveland 1870–1930. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1976. Lesly, Elizabeth. ‘‘Break for Black Realtors?’’ Black Enterprise 22 (June 1992): 48. ‘‘NAREB History.’’ http://www.nareb.com. ‘‘NAR’s Beginnings and Key Events.’’ http://www.realtor.org/LibWeb.nsf/pages/ fg002. Osofsky, Gilbert. Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto: Negro New York, 1890–1930. New York: Harper and Row, 1966. Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998. Weare, Walter B. Black Business in the New South: A Social History of the North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company. 1973. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993.

Kevin McGruder

Antonio ‘‘L. A.’’ Reid (1956?– ), Recording Company Executive, Musician, Songwriter, Music Producer Antonio ‘‘L. A.’’ Reid is one of today’s foremost African American businessmen whose influence on American popular music has been strong since the early 1980s. Reid was president of Arista Records from 2000 to 2004 and is current president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Island Def Jam Records. He developed many top acts, including Outkast, Usher, Whitney Houston, and others. He is responsible for singing a deal between Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs and Arista. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, a town with a developed music scene, Antonio ‘‘L. A.’’ Reid rose from singer and drummer in the funk sextet, the Deele, to songwriter and producer for many of hip-hop and popular music’s hottest artists to become one of today’s most influential recording industry chairmen and CEOs with a visionary talent for discovering successful acts. Reid ranks among a handful of African American music executives who hold complete autonomy for signing, promotion, and distribution. During his career, Reid is credited with developing numerous chart-topping artists including Outkast, Pink, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, TLC, Usher, Avril Lavigne, and others. The first act he ever signed was Damian Dame, and his second signing was Jermaine Jackson. It was during the process of recording Jackson that TLC was signed. Two TLC members had sung rap backup on Jackson’s album.

679

Antonio ‘‘L. A.’’ Reid

Later, Sean Diddy Combs brought his Bad Boy label to Arista because of Reid. Reid’s brother discovered Usher at a talent show. After he joined Arista, Reid sold 50 percent of his LaFace label to BMG for $100 million. Most of Arista’s best-known artists came from LaFace. In February 2004, when Arista’s parent company, German BMG merged with Japanese giant Sony, legendary producer Clive Davis was brought back from retirement to the helm of Arista. Reid claims his firing was due to his inability to accept BMG’s president Rolf Schmidt-Holtz’s views about the business. Reid left Arista to become chairman of Universal Music Group’s Island Def Jam Records in February 2004. At Island Def Jam, he has a three-year $10 million contract to oversee operations of two companies and many joint ventures. Reid is one of four children of Emma Reid. His mother helped him buy his first instruments. In his youth, he recalls waiting for the bus and staring at the King Records building knowing James Brown was inside. At Hughes High School he joined several bands. Pittsburgh Pirates player Dave Parker put up the money for Reid’s band to record several songs, and at age eighteen, Reid’s songs were playing on local Ohio radio stations. The initials ‘‘L. A.’’ do not stand for anything. This was just a nickname given to him as a teenage musician. In the early 1980s he joined his friend Kenneth ‘‘Babyface’’ Edmonds in the rhythm and blues/funk group, the Deele, led by Darnell Bristol. The Deele signed with Midnight Star’s Solar label and recorded several hits. Probably the best remembered Deele songs are ‘‘Two Occasions’’ and ‘‘Bodytalk.’’ The Deele recorded ‘‘Street Beat’’ in 1983, ‘‘Material Thangz’’ in 1985, and ‘‘Eyes of a Stranger’’ in 1987. Reid and Babyface began a songwriting and producing collaboration that has continued for over a decade. They moved to Los Angeles in 1985 to be closer to the music scene. HELPS ESTABLISH RECORD LABEL In 1989, Babyface and Reid founded the LaFace Record label, which signed a distribution deal with Arista Records. LaFace signed two of the biggest acts of the 1990s, Toni Braxton and TLC. Braxton’s 1993 self-titled album won the Best New Artist Grammy Award, and Reid, Babyface, and Daniel Lanois shared the Grammy for Producer of the Year for 1993. Reid won two additional Grammys later in his career. In 1989, Reid married recording star Perri McKissack (Pebbles) and wrote and produced many of her hits. Pebbles had discovered the female group TLC at an Atlanta nightclub and signed them to her Pebbitone production company with LaFace as their Recording Company. Reid has one child, Antonio Jr. with Pebbles. As TLC moved up in the music business, they began to feel stifled by the contractual control Pebbles maintained over them and began moving toward LaFace for artistic direction. Even though Pebbles had called Reid ‘‘the most talented guy I know,’’ she and Reid were experiencing estrangement, and the conflicts with TLC intensified. In spite

680

Antonio ‘‘L. A.’’ Reid

of back-to-back hits, TLC filed for bankruptcy in 1995, due to a breach of contract suit from Pebbles, the notoriety that resulted from band member Lisa Lopes’s setting fire to her boyfriend Atlanta Falcon’s Andre Rison’s house, and cost overruns from managers and videos. A settlement was reached to free TLC from previous contracts, and in 1995, Reid and Pebbles divorced. Babyface said in an interview that he wrote his hit single ‘‘Whip Appeal’’ after overhearing Pebbles talk about her husband. In 2000, Reid married Atlanta schoolteacher Erica Holton in 2000 at a lavish ceremony in Capri. Reid’s children are Antonio Jr. (with Pebbles), Ashley, Aaron, and Arianna. Babyface and Reid collaborated on some of the greatest hits of the 1990s, for example, Whitney Houston’s ‘‘I’m Your Baby Tonight’’ and various Bobby Brown and Paula Abdul hits. Reid continued to write and produce innovative acts throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Some notable hits from this time are Toni Braxton’s ‘‘Unbreak My Heart,’’ Outkast’s ‘‘Atliens,’’ and Usher’s ‘‘My Way.’’ Reid signed his contract to head Arista under a difficult climate. The revered former chair, Clive Davis had been forced out after founding Arista and working there for a quarter of a century. Reid signed Whitney Houston to a $1 million recording deal that did not prove profitable, and record sales were soft for most record companies. Arista became more cost conscious when the merger with Sony took place, and the top Arista executive decided to bring Davis back. Reid resigned and quickly found a new spot as Chairman of Island Def Jam Records. There he has a roster of talented artists to manage including Bon Jovi, Patti Labelle, Ludacris, JaRule, and DMX. In interviews, Reid has stated that he sees himself facing a clean slate with an exciting new roster of artists—a challenge he accepts gladly. He also states that he has no regrets about signing Whitney Houston. He sees her as one of the jewels in Arista’s crown. He regrets leaving his artists, many of whom he has known since they were very young, but he leaves them in the capable hands of Clive Davis. Reid has been a powerful force in the recording industry for decades, but his name has never become a household name like Babyface or Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. This is by choice. In an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer, Reid admitted that he has always been ‘‘kind of been the guy behind the guy.’’ By remaining open to fresh ideas and not limiting himself to one genre of music, and winning the trust and respect of his artists, Reid has positioned himself to be a major player in the music scene for years to come. Reid was able to sign the legendary Shawn (‘‘Jay-Z’’) Carter as president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings. Carter became CEO of Def Jam in 2005 bringing his phenomenally successful Roc-A-Fella label with him. For the purchase price of $10 million, Def Jam acquired Roc-A-Fella. In early 2005, the Def Jam label appeared in the news because of a criminal investigation carried out against Irv ‘‘Gotti’’ Lorenzo and his brother Christopher, head of the label formerly known as Murder, Inc. and now called The Inc. Def Jam is a subsidiary of Universal Music, and The Inc.

681

Retail Industry

label is partly owned by Def Jam. The criminal investigation accused the Lorenzo brothers of laundering drug profits from their childhood friend, Kenneth ‘‘Supreme’’ McGriff, one of New York’s reputed drug kingpins. In December of 2005, a Brooklyn jury acquitted both brothers of all charges of money laundering. Reid is a phenomenal businessman who attended Harvard Business School but learned the music executive business on his own through vision, attention to detail, thorough involvement with promoting his artists, and a sense of music trends that is rarely matched. He has survived relatively ‘‘behind the scenes’’ for decades in a business that is known for its cutthroat deals that often make players into the status of ‘‘has-beens.’’ With the recent signings of rapper NAS and teenage rapper J-Kwon Reid has shown the hiphop world he is here to stay. Sources Alexander, George. ‘‘Clive Davis Is Out, ‘L. A.’ Reid Is in At Arista.’’ Black Enterprise 30 (July 2000): 21. ‘‘Antonio Reid Fired for Strong Views.’’ January 21, 2004. http://www.grabow.biz/ HighBudget&SpecialEvents/Babyface.htm/. Bogdanov, Vladimir, Chris Woodstra, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine, eds. All Music Guide. San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2001. Grabow and Associates, Inc. ‘‘Kenneth (Babyface) Edmonds.’’ http://www.grabow .biz/HighBudget&SpecialEvents/Babyface.htm/. ‘‘It’s Official: Jay-Z to head up Def Jam.’’ Daily Hip Hop News. http://www.sohh .com/thewire/read/. . ./. ‘‘L. A. Reid: The Man behind LaFace.’’ Cincinnati Enquirer, October 17, 1999. Mitchell, Gail. ‘‘Antonio ‘L. A.’ Reid.’’ Billboard, December 11, 1999. Murray, Sonia. ‘‘Reid: Starting Over with Amazing Rosters.’’ Atlanta JournalConstitution, February 13, 2004. ‘‘Rap Mogul Surrenders in Drug Money Investigation.’’ January 26, 2005. http:// www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/01/26/rap.investigation.ap/index.html. Spruell, Sakina, P., and Sonja Brown Stokely. ‘‘The New King of Pop.’’ Black Enterprise 31 (December 2000): 94. Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. New York: Billboard Publications, 1996. York, Jennifer M., ed. ‘‘Antonio L. A. Reid.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 28. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001.

Elizabeth Sandidge Evans

Retail Industry African Americans are a vibrant force in the American economy and have entered countless fields in business. The earliest African American businessmen were in the retail industry, and opportunities for African Americans in retail are expanding progressively. Retail is a $2.5 billion business that employs one in five Americans. Today’s college-educated blacks can

682

Retail Industry

advance in this field at a pace at which their grandfathers only dreamed. The success of several groundbreaking black businessmen changed the mind-sets of the financial community, so now traditional lenders are willing to lend venture capital in historically large amounts. There is still a disparity in lending practices, but the gap is narrowing. Following in the footsteps of pioneer businessmen, young entrepreneurs have invested recording industry profits in fashion retailing, advertising, and other business fields. For the first time in history African Americans are being chosen for pinnacle positions in multibillion-dollar retail giants like Kmart. African American buying power is increasing every year. In 2005 African American earned income reached a record of over $631 billion, and this is expected to swell to over $900 billion by 2008. This level of buying power equals the entire economy of many developing countries and is approximately equal to the earnings of the entire American retail industry as recently as 1979. Between 1990 and 2000, the population of African Americans grew at six times the rate of non-Hispanic whites. African American women are often the head of household and make the majority of retail purchases. Retail was an area that was open to free blacks even before the Civil War. The major types of retail business at the time were in the food, dry goods, and fancy goods businesses. Most black retailers of this era had a black customer base, but some of the more successful catered to the white community. In rural areas, black retailers journeyed to their clients, going from farm to farm, but in the cities, they opened shops. After the Civil War, black retailers slowly built up capital. The number of black retail merchants enlarged from over 6,000 in 1890 to over 17,000 in 1940. From 1990 to 1930, the black community experienced three decades of economic evolution, but the Great Depression that hit the country in 1929 was a devastating blow. In an effort to combine economic clout, many black leaders promoted Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work campaigns— economic boycotts that forced many white-owned stores to hire more blacks. In another facet of the Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work campaign, black leaders urged blacks to patronize black-owned businesses. By 1938 a slow economic recovery was taking place for African Americans in northern cities. The number of black employees in black retail stores increased over 14 percent in the 1930s, but their salaries decreased by 33 percent. In World War II, business improved for black retailers. The chief types of retail outlets were groceries, confectionaries, and drugstores. In 1944, the median annual retail sales in twelve major American cities were close to $4 million. Scores of African American servicemen saved the income they made from their military duty and opened businesses. Most of these businesses were small one-man retail or service businesses. Often African Americans founded businesses because they were unable to find employment. The previous decade of the Great Depression had left African Americans with very narrow job opportunities. After World War II a historical precedent existed. For the first time in American history, a large

683

Retail Industry

number of African American men had access to savings that they could use as the venture capital needed to start a business. Black corporate America has seen distinct phases. Phase one began in the early twentieth century when the first million-dollar black-owned businesses were started. Phase two began in the mid-twentieth century when multimillion-dollar corporations were founded, and during the third wave after World War II, these corporations grew in size and number of employees. In the 1960s, due in large part to the civil rights movement, opportunities for blacks in retail increased radically. Blacks began to be named into the higher-level management positions in chain stores. By the late 1960s, blacks were in most positions in stores, often because store owners realized this would bring in black customers. Even though some blacks were in higher-level positions, true justness in management of large retail outlets did not exist. Most blacks in retail in the 1960s were blue-collar or lowerwage workers, and a finite ‘‘glass ceiling’’ existed that most blacks could not rise above. This ceiling was still so omnipresent by the 1990s that President George Bush appointed a Federal Glass Ceiling Commission whose findings supported the fears of blacks that they were not being fairly promoted to high-level corporate jobs. MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESSES EMERGE Many innovative black businessmen founded retail businesses that grew into million-dollar and multimillion-dollar operations. One of the original examples was S. B. Fuller, the founder of Fuller Products, a line of cleaning and beauty products. Initially, Fuller sold his products door to door in Chicago. World War II helped Fuller’s business grow, and he was able to gain an investment interest in several white-owned companies. By 1960 Fuller had an annual gross of $10 million. Fuller Products were sold to large numbers of white southerners who did not know that the company was owned by a black man. Once Fuller’s identity became known, white southerners boycotted the company, and Fuller was eventually driven out of business. Another businessman who managed to overcome limited access to capital was Reginald F. Lewis, who bought McCalls Patterns in 1984. Much of the capital he used was from a $500,000 Minority Enterprises Small Business Investment Companies loan and a $500,000 unsecured loan from Morgan Bank. Later, Lewis performed a leveraged buyout of TLC Beatrice International, a white-owned company. Civil rights legislation made it somewhat easier for blacks to succeed in business at this time, but racism was still a stumbling block in business deals. When Lewis presented his first offer to buy McCalls Patterns, he did not present himself as the buyer, due to racial stereotyping that he had been encountering. Only by presenting himself as the representative of a consortium of investors was he able to succeed. The retailing of automobiles is a very significant sector of black business. In the mid-1980s, more than half of Black Enterprise magazine’s top 100

684

Retail Industry

black businesses were car dealers. Black car dealers have been operating since the early twentieth century. One of the first was Homer Roberts of Kansas City. In 1919, he started selling cars from the curb, and by the 1920s he had the greatest number of retail sales in the area and was named entrepreneur of the year for the region. The entre´e of blacks into automobile dealerships of the Big Three automakers—Ford, General Motors (GM), and Chrysler—was a hard-fought battle. The first GM dealership was not awarded to a black man until 1967. The trailblazing dealer was Albert W. Johnson. The son of a prominent physician, Johnson started his career as a hospital administrator, but he developed a love of selling cars. At first, he received a small fee for every paying customer he brought into a dealership in Kirkwood, Illinois. After moonlighting as a car salesman, he had saved enough money to leave hospital work and tried to get a job as a salesman in a showroom. He was denied work in a showroom because of his race, but he kept pursuing the idea of a black dealership. Civil rights leaders had been sending letters to GM, urging them to open a black dealership, and Johnson was finally offered a dealership in Chicago. After a short time there he realized he had been given a failing business. He was having severe business problems until he received help for an unlikely ally—his closest competitor John Watson, who owned a nearby dealership. With the urging of Watson, four area dealers met weekly with Johnson to go over business practices. After this, the business became profitable, and he bought additional dealerships. He became known as the Cadillac King of Tinley Park. In 1974, Time magazine named him one of the top ten car dealers in America. One of Johnson’s friends and competitors in the Chicago area was Richard D. Gidron, who started as a Cadillac salesman at the age of twenty and became the number one Cadillac salesman in the country by 1967. For the next four years, he kept this record. He was successful in selling to a diverse customer base and credits his success to an emphasis on total service to his customers. In 1972, Gidron was able to acquire a GM dealership in the Bronx. He was able to survive labor disputes and the national energy crisis of the 1970s and was able to profitably enlarge his business during the 1980s. He eventually bought a Ford dealership and has contributed to his Bronx community, serving as president of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce and other community service. President Ronald Reagan bestowed Gidron with a citation for his community work. The fashion and beauty industries are another evolving field for African Americans. Churchgoing blacks have brought back the idea of a dressy Sunday outfit. Examples of hip urban fashions featuring young designers are shown at the Kulture Shop in West Philadelphia, a store owned by husband and wife Fatin Dantzler and Aja Graydon, members of the musical group Kindred. The couple hopes to improve the community by having positive social events for young people at the store. Another up-and-coming fashion and beauty boutique owner is Lisa Price, founder of Carol’s Daughter, a shop featuring apparel and beauty products for black women.

685

Retail Industry

The fashion industry has been conquered on a huge scale by Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs. When he first presented his designs, he was given little respect by fashion industry insiders, but as his menswear line sold in record numbers, respect grew. In 2004, he was named Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Recently, big retail chains have completely embraced urban wear. Federated Department Stores Inc. sells over $75 million in Sean John wear a year. A line of Sean Jean for women reached the market in 2005. Other urban labels include FUBU, Phat Farm, Rocawear, Ecko, and Enyce. Many white-owned companies have started buying these urban designs companies. Liz Claiborne, Inc., bought Enyce, and Kellwood Corporation bought Phat Farm for $140 million. Streetwear has crossed over to be the choice for white teens. Now that young black entrepreneurs have proved the profitability of their styles, venture capital for new enterprises will be forthcoming from traditional lenders. Retailers are beginning to recognize and cater to the African American consumer. African Americans have a significant history in the retail grocery business both as consumers and as store owners. Studies show that blacks spend more on groceries in proportion to other segments of the population, make more trips to the grocery, make more meals from scratch, and are more brand loyal than other groups. Historically, several large grocery chains have had African American owners such as James Bruce Llewellyn of Fedco Foods and James Hunt Jr., co-owner in the 1960s of Central City Foods. Today, in the convenience store arena of the retail grocery business, one of the largest 7-Eleven franchises is black-owned Convenience Corporation of America, which operates stores in eleven states. African Americans have progressed in corporate America but are still not in top spots in equitable numbers. Today, there are six African American chief executive officers (CEOs) of Fortune 500 companies, and only eight blacks have ever served in this capacity. One of these CEOs is Aylwin Lewis of Kmart. In late 2004, Kmart merged with Sears, creating the third largest U.S. retailer after Wal-Mart and Home Depot. After the retirement of Kmart CEO Julian Day, African American Aylwin Lewis was named CEO. Lewis is drawing upon his years of experience in fast food and branding to bring Kmart to profitability. Kmart is emerging from bankruptcy and doing well, much to the credit of Lewis’s team-building and branding experience. At Wal-Mart, David E. Jackson is one of four senior vice presidents who manage a division within the retail behemoth. Retail remains an open field for African Americans. Organizations like the nonprofit Black Retail Action Group mentor young people to develop the skills needed to succeed in this field. With success from CEOs like Aylwin Lewis, the glass ceiling will continue to be chipped away. More African Americans will be appointed as buyers, managers, and CEOs in recognition of the importance of the African American consumer and the acumen of the African American businessman.

686

Sylvia Rhone

See also: Catering Industry; Corporation of Caterers; Food Service Industry; Kid/Teenpreneurs: Business Leaders in the Making; Paschal’s Family Business; Roadside and Street Vending Sources Agins, Teri. ‘‘Style & Substance: Mainstreaming Hip-Hop; Combs’s Sean John Sets Move into Women’s High Fashion with Big Stake in Zac Posen.’’ Wall Street Journal, April 20, 2004. Alleyne, Sonia. ‘‘Kmart Makes Branding Pro Its New Chief.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (December 1, 2004): 33. ‘‘Black Owned Company Becomes Second Largest 7-Eleven Licensee.’’ New Pittsburgh Courier, January 24, 1996. Dingle, Derek T. ‘‘B.E. 100s 31st Annual Report on Black Business; Reinvention Through Innovation.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (June 1, 2003): 94. Feinberg, Richard. ‘‘The Retail Industry.’’ Black Collegian (February 1997): 104. Marketresearch.com. ‘‘The U.S. African-American Market.’’ July 14, 2005. http:www.marketresearch.com/product. Smikle, Ken. ‘‘Study Shows Blacks Sweeten Bottom Line for Grocers.’’ New Pittsburgh Courier, December 6, 2000. Target Market News: The Black Consumer Market Authority. ‘‘New Buying Power Report Reveals Surge by Black Households for Consumer Electronics.’’ June 28, 2005. Wadlington, Cheryl Ann. ‘‘The Black Beauty and Fashion Market; Look Who’s Sitting at the Table Now!’’ Network Journal 12 (March 1, 2005): 13. Walker, Juliet E. K. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998. Williams, Jacquine. ‘‘Hot and Cool Kulture Sets Up Shop in Philly.’’ Philadelphia Tribune, January 18, 2005.

Elizabeth Sandidge Evans

Sylvia Rhone (1952– ), Record Company Executive Sylvia Rhone was appointed president of Motown Records and executive vice president of Universal Records in the fall of 2004. This position is a pinnacle in her star-studded career. Rhone has had a remarkable journey up the ladder of the music business. She has distinguished herself in the recording industry as an outstanding executive, marketer, visionary, and dealmaker. In 1974 when Rhone came to work at Buddha Records, she started her trailblazing climb toward the music industry’s glass ceiling. Her progress has been awesome. Rhone’s understanding of the artists, their music, and the music business has contributed immensely to the success of her journey to the top of this multibillion-dollar industry. Rhone started her career in 1974 at Buddha Records in an entry-level position. After several promotional moves, she landed a position as Northeast Regional Promotion Manager/Special Markets with Elektra by 1980. She was steadily promoted to positions of increasing responsibilities. In 1986, she was

687

Sylvia Rhone

named president/general manager of Atlantic’s Black Music Operations, and by 1988, some fourteen years after entering the music business as a secretary, Rhone became senior vice president/general manager of Atlantic Records. Her ability to see and make the deal, to communicate well with the artists and appreciate their music was largely responsible for the impressive group of artists she was able to collect under her management during that period. When Atlantic Records was recognized by the music industry as the Number One Black Music Division in 1986, it was due in no small part to Rhone’s leadership. In 1990 Rhone became the first African American woman to head a major record company when she was appointed chief executive officer (CEO)/president of Atlantic’s EastWest Records America operations. In 1991, when EastWest operations were combined with Taco records, she was promoted to chairman/CEO of the combined group, Atco/EastWest and EastWest Records America. Rhone was appointed as chairman/CEO of Elektra Entertainment Group (EEG) in 1994. With this appointment she made history as the first African American and the first woman in the history of the music industry to be appointed to such a position. As CEO of Elektra Entertainment Group, Rhone successfully guided the merger of four music labels under EEG management and set the stage for EEG’s many years of dominating the music charts. She is credited with leading the company into a decade of financial recovery. In less than two years, she increased EEG’s sales by over $300 million. For over ten years she served as EEG’s chairman and CEO, overseeing and in some cases directly involving herself in launching the careers of new artists and managing the careers of established stars. Early in 2004 when the purchase of EEG by an investor group was finalized, Rhone’s position was eliminated in the subsequent restructuring process. Rhone made her exit and began the negotiations for her next career move. In October 2004, Universal Records announced the appointment of Rhone as president of Motown Records and executive vice president (VP) of Universal Records. Rhone heads the company, and in her VP role, she will be involved in a variety of musical projects. She will focus on developing and building the Motown roster, which already includes a diverse group of industry newcomers and established platinum stars. Rhone brings her own formula for success to this position—over thirty years experience in the music industry, proven managerial skills, exceptional vision, and passion for the music. Rhone was born on March 11, 1952, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Marie Christmas Rhone and James Rhone. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in economics degree in 1974. She has received many awards and honors during her career. In 2004, she received the prestigious Turner Trumpet Award. In 1996, she was awarded an honorary degree as Doctor of Humane Letters from Adelphi University; she was named Alumni Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania; she received the Black Alumni of Pratt’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the 1996 Studio Museum

688

Linda Johnson Rice

Corporate Award. In 1995, she received the National Association of Market Developers award, the Herbert H. Wright Award, and the National Council of Negro Women’s Urban Network Executive of the Year Award. In 1993, she received the Soul of America Music Excellence Award from Sony Records, and in 1992, she received the Boy Scouts of America’s Whitney M. Young Service Award. She has been inducted into the National Association of Black Female Executives in Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. Rhone serves on the boards of directors for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Studio Museum of Harlem, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Jazz at the Lincoln Center, and the R&B Foundation. She remains active in the community and is known to take leadership roles in the entertainment community’s activities, such as her effort to organize the entertainment industry to raise funds needed by the National Council of Churches’ Burned Churches Fund, a fund for rebuilding burned churches. See also: Women and Business Sources Board of Directors, Penn Alumni 2004–2005. http://www.alumni.upenn.edu/penn alumni/board.html. Don, Jeffrey. ‘‘Sylvia Rhone Leads Elektra’s Turnaround (Elektra Entertainment Group Chairwoman).’’ November 9, 1996. http://www.highbeam.com/library/ doc0.asp?docid¼18899248&refid¼ink_tpd_mag&s. ‘‘Sylvia Rhone Appointed President of Motown Records and Executive Vice President, Universal Records.’’ October 1, 2004. http://new.umusic.com/News.aspx? Newsld¼230. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Alicia Henry

Linda Johnson Rice (1958– ), Publisher, Business Executive Linda Johnson Rice represents the new generation of African American executives, highly educated and trained by parents who have founded and built thriving businesses. She is president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Johnson Publishing Company, a family-owned enterprise located in Chicago, Illinois, with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Detroit, and London. Rice is one of the few women holding such a position and one of the few women to inherit control of a family publishing empire. Her mother, Eunice W. Johnson, is secretary-treasurer of the company and producer-director of the Ebony Fashion Fair. Her father, John H. Johnson, is founder (1941), publisher, and chairman of Johnson Publishing Company. In her role at the nation’s number one African American publishing company, Rice is in charge of Ebony and Jet magazines, Fashion Fair

689

Linda Johnson Rice

Cosmetics, Supreme Beauty Products (items for hair care), the Johnson Company Book Division, and the Ebony Fashion Fair, a traveling fashion show that raises money for scholarships and charitable causes across the United States. She is responsible for the corporation’s domestic and international business operations. Rice’s desire to become a part of the publishing business was noted as early as age six when she began visiting the company, asking questions, and even offering advice. She has worked in the business at many levels; even though she is destined to inherit the business, she has never taken the work for granted. Even though she had the practical experience to head the business, from an apprenticeship vantage point, she formally studied both journalism and business to be sure she had the credentials to support her expertise. Under her leadership, there have been changes in layout and design and a broader use of technologies, and new initiatives have been introduced, all of which have led to continued growth for the company. Rice was born on March 22, 1958, in Chicago, Illinois, and was adopted by John H. Johnson and Eunice W. Johnson when she was three. Her parents, publishers, were busy building the company that had been established by John H. Johnson in 1942 with an investment of $500, gained by mortgaging his mother’s furniture and the publication of Negro Digest, a literary magazine. Her mother was the fashion editor and director of the traveling Ebony Fashion Fair. The family also adopted a son (John Jr.) who died in 1981 at age twenty-five. He was the victim of sickle cell anemia. However, his interest was not in the business, whereas she was interested and often visited the office after school, sat in on meetings, and was inquisitive about the business. She also frequently traveled with her mother to the fashion houses in France and Italy to shop for the Ebony Fashion Fair and often helped make selections. She made these shopping trips from the age of six through her college years. Thus, she was groomed for the business from an early age but not forced to become a part of the company. She enrolled in the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and earned a degree in journalism in 1980. While a student at the university, she spent her summers interning at low-level jobs at the Johnson Publishing Company. When Rice graduated, at age twenty-three, she took her first unaccompanied fashion trip and selected clothes for the Ebony Fashion Fair. Her demonstrated talent in this area led to her being named vice president and fashion coordinator for Ebony. She later became vice president and assistant to the publisher. During the period following college, she worked closely with her father; she was in on all important meetings; and she viewed all incoming mail and his responses. The more she learned about the business, the more she found she wanted to know. She began taking courses at night at the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Not only did this give Rice a theoretical grounding in business, but it also added credibility and validity to her as a major force in the business world.

690

Linda Johnson Rice

HEADS JOHNSON PUBLISHING COMPANY Immediately following the awarding of her business administration degree (M.B.A.) in 1987, Rice’s father promoted her to president and chief operating officer of Johnson Publishing Company. In 2002, she became the president and chief executive officer. Her apprenticeship, hard work, and study have not gone unrewarded. Since she became a part of the leadership team, Ebony has taken on a slicker appearance; articles address more issues that are of paramount importance to the survival of African Americans; and there are more graphics. She has revolutionized the company in the ways in which it utilizes technology. She has made several moves to increase and expand their business base. One of these is the joint venture project with Conrad and Associates; this is the first joint venture entered into by the company. The project, called the EBONY/JET Guide to Black Excellence, is a project designed to educate young African Americans about leaders they can look up to. It is designed to provide children with positive role models to aid in their understanding of the values and perseverance necessary to be successful in today’s world. She has increased domestic and international sales and launched Fashion Fair Cosmetics, the number one selling makeup and skin care product line for women of color in the world. Her initiatives have resulted in increased productivity in both the cosmetics and the publishing sectors of the business. Rice serves on the board of directors of companies like Bausch & Lomb Incorporated; Kimberly-Clark Corporation; MoneyGram International, Inc.; Omnicom Group Inc.; the Magazine Publishers Association; advisory board of Viad Corp.; The Dial Corporation; The Continental Bank of Illinois; Quaker Oats Co.; the Women’s Board of The Art Institute of Chicago; the advisory board of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center; Estee Lauder; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; and the board of trustees for the Museum of Contemporary Art and University of Southern California. She has been tapped to be one of the nineteen members named to the Founding Council of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Recognitions and awards include: From Whence We Came Award, Allstate Insurance Co.; Phenomenal Woman Award; Trumpet Tower of Power Award; Crain’s Chicago Business Under 40 Award; Alumni Merit Award from the University of Southern California; and the Alumni of the Year Award from Kellogg Graduate School at Northwestern University, Black Management Association. Additionally, she has been recognized by her hometown: one of Chicago’s 100 Most Powerful Women and one of the Top 10 Women in Media by the Chicago Sun-Times. Working Woman Magazine included Rice and Johnson Publishing Company among the Top 500 Women-Owned Businesses. Rice was appointed to participate in President Bill Clinton’s Economic Summit and to serve as a member of the U.S. Presidential Delegation to the Inauguration of His Excellency Nelson Mandela, president of South Africa.

691

Norman Blann Rice

In 1984, Johnson married S. Andre Rice, a stockbroker for Goldman Sachs at the time of their meeting. They had a daughter, Alexa Christina, who seems to have the same enthusiasm and interest in the business as her mother demonstrated in her youth. In 1994, the couple divorced; however, they are friends and share the custody of their daughter. She is an avid horsewoman, and her daughter shares this love with her. In 2004, she married Melvin Farr, president of Triple M Acceptance Corporation and owner of Mel Farr Automotive Group—the nation’s largest automobile dealership. Rice continues to strengthen, expand, and make changes in this family-owned business, yet manages to retain the old principles and values. See also: Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources ‘‘18th Annual BMA Conference.’’ Kellogg School of Management. http://www .kellogg.northwestern.edu/BMAConference/ljrice.htm. ‘‘Jetsetter.’’ USC NEWS. http://www.usc.edu/dept/pubrel/trojan_family/winter02/ jetsetter.html. ‘‘Linda Johnson Rice.’’ Business Leader Profiles for Students. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. ‘‘Linda Johnson Rice.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 41. Detroit: Gale Group, 2004.

Helen R. Houston

Norman Blann Rice (1943– ), Banking Executive, Mayor Born in Denver, Colorado, in the 1940s, Norman Blann Rice was the youngest son of Otha Patrick and Irene Rice, a railroad porter and maid, respectively, and became the first African American mayor of the city of Seattle and the first African American to win the mayoral post with such a small black population (10 percent at the time) in 1989. He went on to secure reelection in 1993 by winning in a landslide race. Rice grew through a parental divorce and attended the University of Colorado at Boulder for two years before increased disillusionment due to Jim Crow eating and housing accommodations prompted his abandonment of formal schooling in 1963. As fate would have it, he migrated to Seattle, Washington, in 1969 after nearly six years of odd-and-in jobs had run their course and embarked upon a practical work career that would help define the characteristics that would lead to his inevitable rise to the city’s benchmark position decades later. In association with the University of Washington’s (UW) Economic Opportunity Program, Rice returned to school, where he earned his B.A. degree in communications (1972) and M.A. degree in public administration (1974), both from UW. Armored with life and professional training, Rice’s pedigree proved to be the perfect match for public service, which, not coincidentally, was run in the most businesslike fashion from the virtual onset.

692

Norman Blann Rice

Before finishing undergraduate studies, Rice was exposed to the television world, and while earning his master’s, he worked in substantial leadership roles as well. From 1971 to 1972 he served as the news assistant and editor for KOMO TV News; as the Seattle Urban League’s assistant director and monitor of the media action project from 1972 to 1974; and as the executive assistant and director of government services for Puget Sound Council of Governments from 1974 to 1975. Rice’s formal entrance into the corporate world of executive banking commenced with his being brought onboard with Rainer National Bank as its manager of corporate contributions and social policy coordination from 1976 to 1978. As a proven and effective manager, with far-ranging skills amassed through business practicality, Rice was now ready for simultaneous duty as Seattle city council member from 1978 to 1990. From 1983 to 1989, he was body president before his historic mayoral election in 1990. Economic viability for Seattle’s lower-income demographic was an immediate objective of the Rice administration, as evidenced by his comments regarding strategies designed to improve the skill level of the underserved through public and private enterprise initiatives made at a gathering of seven local officials in 1993. He was adamant about the correlation between poverty reduction and increased literacy, whereby economic opportunity for individual citizens positively impacted the overall economy for the city. Another business-related venture that had a positive impact on Seattle’s economy under the Rice administration was its strategic location as a gobetween, facilitating goods and services for Asian trade. Accordingly, in 1994 he marketed the city as ‘‘the most reliable and economical gateway between Asia, America and Europe for people and products.’’ In addition to hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, Rice was equally confident promoting to Europe as he was the Pacific Rim. The marketing appeal he utilized to bolster the case to the European Union was Seattle’s ability to be an effective way station where businessmen could conduct their craft while en route to Asia from Europe. Rice’s business sensibilities would continue to serve his mayoral functions in meaningful ways. In 1995, while presiding as president of the Conference of Mayors, Rice reiterated the need for greater community involvement and bottom-up relationship building among local, state, and federal agencies. In fact, the critical point he made was that too often governmental officials dictate policy without significant allocation of funds to sustain prescribed programs. In similar fashion, in 1997 Rice was a vocal advocate of welfare reform policy. Along with Philadelphia mayor Ed Rendell and former New York City mayor David Dinkins, Rice articulated the upside to such policy. He focused his attention on the social responsibility of businesses to provide training where job creation was a viable option for all citizens. Upon leaving office, Rice returned to his roots in the banking industry in 1997. He accepted an offer to become executive vice president of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle (FHLBS). He rose to the post of president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the same institution in 1999 and held it

693

Norman Blann Rice

until March 2005. One of Rice’s most pending objectives was to navigate FHLBS through an intricate overhaul, including conceptualizing, planning, and implementing new corporate branding. Through brand rallies, good-asgold awards, and brand-driven hiring, Rice significantly improved company morale to such a degree that Washington CEO Magazine deemed FHLBS as one of the best companies in Washington state to work for in 2003. The necessity of such endeavors centered on the fact that for the first time in the bank’s existence competitive limitations had forced excessive isolation and, more important, hindered the economic bottom line considerably. Equally impressive in the Rice business portfolio are his writings. In an American Banker article published in 1999, one encounters Rice’s propensity for humanity again. In championing the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989, Rice pushes the mantle on the issue of affordable housing. Summarized through good banking policy, nonbureaucratic programming, public disclosure of financial institutions, and utility of flexibility, he presents a well-balanced argument for the support of the Affordable Housing Program (AHP). In this same vein, one finds Rice expound on five business principles that govern smart social investment in the world of nonprofits in a 2001 Puget Sound Business Journal article. Consistent with rising trends associated with stiffened guidelines for funding, greater accountability of lender returns, and documentation of financial relevancy aligned with respective program outcomes, Rice expressed strategies to assist nonprofit organizations’ quest for dollars. Through exclusive mission commitment, a holistic conceptualization of the said mission, contemporary research on respective demographics, and humility, their tasks could be greater facilitated. Perhaps the last criterion of humbleness is Rice’s enduring quality because competency clearly is not an issue. On the contrary, his technical skills have been augmented by the sense of purpose that shapes his every move. Rice married Constance Williams on February 15, 1975; they had one son, Mian. He is a past member of the American Association of Public Administration; the National Academy of Television Arts & Science; Sigma Delta Chi; and the Municipal League of Seattle and King City. He served on the board of directors of Allied Arts and Planned Parenthood and was a member of the Human Service Committee, both in Seattle, 1978. Additionally, Rice is a lifetime member of the NAACP. Such credentials and service to greater Seattle earned him the Outstanding Public Citizen Award from the National Association of Social Workers in 1991. Sources Anason, Dean. ‘‘In Brief: Seattle FHLB Names Interim Chief Executive.’’ American Banker 170 (February 16, 2005): 3. ‘‘Briefcase.’’ Puget Sound Business Journal 21 (July 14, 2000): 38. Collins, Brian. ‘‘Seattle FHL Bank’s CEO to Step Down in March.’’ Mortgage News 9 (March 2005): 18. Dimas, Joe. ‘‘Three Big City Leaders Have Something to Say About Welfare.’’ Nation’s City Weekly 20 (April 14, 1997): 8.

694

Roadside and Street Vending Johnson, Annette Janette. ‘‘Norman Rice.’’ Contemporary Black Biography: Profiles from the International Black Community. Vol 8. New York: Gale Research, 1995. Marinucci, Joseph, Louise Simmons, Norman Rice, Ken Bacchus, Maryann Mahaffey, Shelia Jackson Lee, and Woodrow Stanley. ‘‘Local Officials Talk about Making Poverty Reduction a Top Priority at Home.’’ Nation’s City Weekly 16 (September 13, 1993): 7. ‘‘Rebranding? It’s Easy. Getting It to Stick Is Hard.’’ ABA Bank Marketing 36 (October 2004): 3. Rice, Norman Blann. ‘‘Comment: One Legacy of S&L Crisis: Affordable Housing.’’ American Banker 164 (August 9, 1999): 8. ———. ‘‘Five Principles Govern Smart Social Investing.’’ Puget Sound Business Journal 22 (May 25, 2001): 35. ———. ‘‘The New Role of Lenders in CD.’’ National Mortgage News 24 (September 27, 1999): 4. ———. ‘‘Open Forum: A Secondary Market Evolves.’’ National Mortgage News 25 (January 22, 2001): 4. Ryder, Julianne Ryan. ‘‘Budget Battle Ignores Local Stakeholders: Intergovernmental Panel Agrees Cities Need a Role in the Debate.’’ Nation’s City Weekly 18 (December 11, 1995): 20. Schafer, David. ‘‘Seattle Mayor Norman Rice Interview.’’ Europe 333 (February 1994): 25. Smith, Frederick D., Jr. ‘‘Norman Blann Rice.’’ Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, Supplement. Ed. Jack Salzman, Greg Robinson, and Thaddeus Russell. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 2001.

Uzoma O. Miller

Roadside and Street Vending This most basic form of sales involves direct, person-to-person contact where products are presented to and examined or sampled by the customer before purchasing takes place. African Americans continued this centuriesold marketplace tradition found in their native African and other cultures throughout the world and have modified it for use in both rural and urban contexts. Both roadside and street vending can fall under the broad category of ‘‘informal economic activity,’’ yet both have also been legitimized and formalized in certain contexts. ROADSIDE STANDS In the largely agricultural setting of the South during and after slavery, African Americans were involved in the sale of surplus food and agricultural products, on behalf of either the plantation owners or themselves. If their farms, gardens, or orchards were a considerable distance from a city or small town, there was always the risk of spoilage or other damage to the produce during transport as well as competition from other vendors.

695

Roadside and Street Vending

A creative alternative to these potential problems was to identify a suitable roadside location that would be convenient to both the sellers and customers. In that way, the sellers could make adequate supplies available and have easier access to additional resources once the existing items were sold. From the consumer viewpoint, if the sellers had good produce and were consistently available at the same location, they would be encouraged to become repeat customers. African Americans in various rural locations built successful business and service enterprises from beginnings as ‘‘roadside stands.’’ In the Providence community outside of Nashville, Tennessee, for example, Henry C. Maxwell was a successful farmer who owned considerable acreage. While many other farmers in the area (whites as well as blacks) sold any surplus food and other produce wholesale, Maxwell decided that he would develop a retail operation and began doing so in the 1940s. After going out to sell produce by wagon with some success, he established a roadside stand so customers could come directly to him and minimize the amount of time and travel away from his farm and other landholdings. By the end of the 1950s the Maxwell ‘‘fruit stand’’ had evolved to a fullservice market with faithful customers from the African American and white communities. His four sons and daughter all assisted with the family business during their formative years, and three sons (Henry C. Jr., Grover, and Thomas) continued to expand upon the business foundation created by their father by owning and operating additional locations that became known as Maxwell Brothers Produce, including one in the Farmers Market in downtown Nashville. Bruce, the other son, was called to the ministry and became pastor of the community’s Lake Providence Baptist Church, while their sister Peggy became a banker and financial executive with Nashville’s Citizens Savings Bank, one of the nation’s oldest financial institutions continuously owned and operated by African Americans. Some of the Maxwell landholdings were converted over time from agricultural to residential and commercial properties and became lucrative as the city of Nashville expanded, with the Providence community changing from a country to a suburban area. These developments continued to create additional revenue streams for the family and its descendants well into the twenty-first century. Oliver Washington III built six greenhouses in Mobile, Alabama, to start his floriculture business in 1978. He lost everything after Hurricane Frederic hit the Mobile area on September 12, 1979, but got a disaster loan from the Small Business Administration (SBA) and was back in business by the spring of 1980. Oliver Washington Jr. was the first African American to become a licensed nurseryman in the state of Alabama, and Oliver III continued by getting degrees in horticulture from Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M) and the University of Florida. By that time his family had purchased the land where they had operated the roadside stand for the past twenty years and established the Shore Acres Plant Farm. By 1979, Oliver III had built six greenhouses to support the business but lost everything when Hurricane Frederic hit the Mobile area on September

696

Roadside and Street Vending

12 of that year. With a disaster loan from the Small Business Administration (SBA), he was able to rebuild and resume business by the spring of 1980. The family now owns nearly six acres of greenhouses, along with twelve acres of open fields used to grow perennials. The Washington family business had extended to the fourth generation by 2004, with Oliver Washington IV assisting in the operation and following in his father’s footsteps by also earning a degree in horticulture from Alabama A&M. Oliver IV attributes the success and longevity of Shore Acres Plant Farm to a loyal customer base developed over many years and population growth, which has brought new housing and customers to the area. In addition to family success stories such as the Maxwells and Washingtons, the New North Florida Cooperative was established in 1995 by fifteen African American farmers to market greens and other vegetables collectively. The farmers had operated independent roadside stands and sold to individual customers or local restaurants within days of harvesting to avoid spoilage, with varying degrees of success. By coming together, the cooperative had the resources to sell a range of produce to the Jackson County School District, increasing their incomes and benefiting their community. CITY STREET VENDORS AND VENDING In the urban setting, street vending has long been an entrepreneurial practice of persons selling not just food and agricultural products but newspapers and magazines, clothing, jewelry, music and media items, toys, and various miscellaneous items and services unavailable through traditional and/or legitimate outlets. Particularly in large cities, vendors rely on the ‘‘foot traffic’’ of workers, residents, tourists, and other persons passing by their locations along streets and at intersections. Research on street vending has identified four major categories related to this activity: legal and formal, as in licensed newsstands and food vendors; legal and informal, as in persons with licenses to sell T-shirts and souvenirs in areas frequented by tourists; illegal and informal, as in street sales of stolen or illegal products and services by persons needing immediate cash to address personal needs and problems; and illegal and formal, as in systematic organized criminal activity. While many cities have moved from the informal ‘‘peddler’s license’’ to systems of formal registration and regulation of street vendors (particularly those seeking to establish or maintain a consistent location), some have used these approaches to severely restrict their operations. Street vendors can directly compete with and negatively impact more traditional storefront businesses providing the same products and services, especially if their items are perceived to be of similar quality. Without the same level of overhead expenses such as taxes, utilities, and formal wage and benefit systems, dedicated street vendors with consistent access to product resources can realize substantial profits from their enterprises.

697

Roy S. Roberts

Street vending that is not licensed or regulated is considered part of the ‘‘underground economy.’’ Because of its informality and flexibility, it is also attractive to persons who have difficulty functioning in legitimate economic systems due to inadequate education and credentials, language and cultural barriers, past and/or present criminal records or incarceration, histories of substance abuse and other negative health issues, and other factors that would preclude employment in traditional settings. There have always been those persons who remain outside of these systems by design and/or necessity. These ‘‘hustlers’’ may be selling inferior, counterfeit, or contraband products at inflated prices, providing information related to illegitimate, vice, and criminal activities (drugs, gambling, prostitution, weapons, etc.), or serving as direct providers (drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, numbers runners, etc.). Persons with drug dependency or other substance abuse problems may become inadvertent street vendors, selling stolen items at any price for quick cash to buy drugs or pay debts to dealers. From the customer’s point of view, any business transaction with questionable street vendors means ‘‘buyer beware’’ in more ways than one, while the philosophy of the street vendor (whether legal or illegal) is the same as that of any entrepreneur: More sales equal more profits. See also: Blacks in Agriculture; Consumer Cooperatives; Food Service Industry; Grocery Store Enterprises; Retail Industry Sources Clinton, William Jefferson. ‘‘Cooperatives: A Path to Financial Success for Small Farmers.’’ President Clinton’s New Markets Tour: Background Information on American Farms and Hermitage, Arkansas, November 5, 1999. http://clinton3 .nara.gov/WH/New/New_Markets_Nov/factsheets/hermitage.html. Cross, John C. ‘‘Expanding Dual Labour Market Theory: Crack Dealers and the Informal Sector.’’ International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 20 (2000): 96–134. Cross, John C., and Bruce D. Johnson. ‘‘Street Vendors, Modernity, and Postmodernity: Conflict and Compromise in the Global Economy.’’ International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 20 (2000): 29–51. Helms, Jeff. ‘‘In Full Bloom.’’ Alabama Farmers Federation Web Site. http:// www.alfafarmers.org/friendsnfamily/friendsnfamilyStory.phtml?id¼4030. Maxwell, Grover. Interview with author, July 14, 2005. Maxwell, Thomas. Interview with author, July 14, 2005.

Fletcher F. Moon

Roy S. Roberts (1939– ), Automobile Executive, Businessman, Civic Leader Roy S. Roberts, who served as an automobile executive and General Motors (GM) executive, is a self-made man and the highest-ranked African American executive in the automobile industry during his tenure. His life

698

Roy S. Roberts

story, words of wisdom for youth, and perspective on building a healthy and prosperous black community speak to the kind of man Roberts evolved into from his humble beginnings. Roberts began his career at General Motors in 1977 and rose to many positions of responsibility including being elected General Motors vice president, group vice president for North American vehicle sales, and in 1992 general manager of the Division of Pontiac. He retired from GM in 2000 after a difficult year and engaged in the Mxchange.com venture, which unfortunately was unsuccessful. However, Roberts is still on the scene and making a difference as the managing director of Reliant Equity Investors in Chicago, Illinois. Roberts is a charming, energetic, positive, engaging, persuasive, charismatic, and sometimes intense person. He makes sure his company outsells its competition. In fact, he was the force behind GMC’s record-breaking sales in 1993, 1994, and 1995. He often encouraged his staff, spurred them to do their best. For Roberts, one is only as good as his or her last sale because the competition in the automobile industry is stiff. His ability to interact at all levels is outstanding. He is as at ease with assembly-line employees as he is with GM board members. This won him acceptance in many circles. In fact, after initial denial, he is among the first blacks accepted for membership at the Bloomfield Hills Country Club. Roberts encountered racism as he climbed the ladder. He believes in dealing with it head-on and staying positive. Important to Roberts is leaving a legacy that African Americans and other minorities can be high achievers in high-powered positions. His work ethic attests to this. Roberts works with zest and zeal to make things better. Strong on his mind as he carries out his duties is the knowledge that he has a fiduciary responsibility to his corporation and an awesome responsibility to his people. With Roberts’s long hours of work, it is surprising that he finds time to unwind. He plays golf and tennis, travels, and reads business-related materials. Roberts attributes his success to his parents, hard work, assistance from others, personal and professional growth on his part, and most important, divine providence. Many people who grew up with Roberts were not as successful in life. Many of his childhood friends are dead, in prison, or not very successful. Born in 1939 in Magnolia, Arkansas, with a humble beginning, Roberts is the second youngest of ten children. His mother died when he was two. His father, who supported the family by working in a foundry by day and as a barber in the evening, instilled in him and his siblings helpful life lessons, such as taking their studies seriously, having a sense of pride in themselves and their heritage, and most important, having respect for both property and human values. In addition to the strong values Roberts acquired from his family, his education played a big part in his attaining and maintaining his executive position at General Motors. Roberts attained his bachelor’s degree with honors in business administration from Western Michigan University. During his college days, Roberts worked full-time, commuted, was married with

699

Roy S. Roberts

children, and yet performed commendably in his studies. He also attended Harvard University. He received numerous awards including honorary doctorates from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and Grand Valley State College; President Bush’s American Success Award; 1995 Distinguished Alumni Award from Western Michigan University; Executive of the Year by Black Enterprise magazine, 1996; and Executive of the Year by African American on Wheels magazine, 1997. Roberts believes strongly in giving back to society. He is active with young people. He served on the National Board of the Boy Scouts’ Jamboree. Further, he served on the board of the United Negro College Fund and had chaired major fund-raisers. Roberts supports the Boys and Girls Club and mentoring programs and is also a notable and popular commencement speaker. On several occasions, Roberts has taken GM interns under his wing. He and his wife Maureen delight in housing students in their home. His success nugget for youths who aspire to be successful is that they should understand that affirmative action, which was instituted for those marginalized in the system, can only get them into a management or top position, but it will not sustain them in that position. They have to be able to perform their duties commendably and work to build coalitions and relationships. Roberts believes that preparation, a quality education, and a belief in oneself are the keys to success. He is confident that there are tremendous opportunities in the job market, and if one performs excellently, color and gender will be immaterial. He challenges those who aspire to success to emulate his work ethic: come to work with zest and zeal to make things better. Roberts is a firm believer that those who aspire to be successful should always improve, make things better, and never settle for the status quo. African Americans, according to Roberts, have a fiduciary responsibility to their organization and a great responsibility to their people; therefore, he thinks African Americans should perform their jobs commendably for themselves and their successors. Roberts’s view on blacks building better lives for future generations is noteworthy. He believes that blacks must address the social problems that threaten their progress and their lives. Roberts supports the notion that the community must come up with its own solutions. He also believes that there are greater opportunities now than at any other time for blacks to succeed in corporations around the country; in order to do that, however, Roberts believes that they have to be well prepared in a society that is driven by high technology. He cautioned that the strategies used during the last thirty years to further social progress need to be modified because blacks are still living on the margins of poverty and despair. Blacks should dedicate their lives to absolute excellence for a better future, he believes, and young people should be taught how to dream and be visionaries. Finally, since blackowned businesses create jobs, build pride, and self-determination, Roberts believes that the black community should revive the entrepreneurial spirit

700

David Ruggles

because it is the only way to secure a prosperous future for the present and future generations. It was in line with this belief that Roberts embarked on creating the Mxchange.com venture in 2000 after his retirement. This venture was an Internet exchange that would link minority businesses with large corporations. Unfortunately, the business had to be closed because of problems with the revenue source. A veteran in business, he knew closing the business at that time was the prudent thing to do, so all creditors were paid, and all the unspent money was returned to investors. Of immense importance to Roberts is that his life’s work—particularly his work and immense contributions at GM—stand as proof that African Americans and other minorities can perform and succeed in top-level positions. His humble beginnings, charismatic nature, ability to interact with people at all levels, words of wisdom for a better tomorrow, and ever readiness and willingness to lend a helping hand are to be emulated. Sources Blumenstein, Rebecca. ‘‘GM’s Merger of GMC, Pontiac Divisions Gives Roy Roberts Key Marketing Role.’’ Wall Street Journal, February 21, 1996. Brunelli, Mark. ‘‘New Online Exchange Will Give Minority Suppliers Global Reach.’’ Purchasing 128 (May 18, 2000): 118–120. Clarke, Caroline. ‘‘Delivering High Performance.’’ Black Enterprise 26 (June 1996): 214–220. Doby, Hersch. ‘‘Mxchange.com.’’ Black Enterprise 30 (June 2000): 33. ‘‘GM’s Man in Merging Traffic.’’ Business Week (March 4, 1996): 38. Norment, Lynn. ‘‘Roy Roberts: ‘General Motors’ $100 Billion Man.’’ Ebony 54 (January 1999): 132. ‘‘Roy Roberts Gets Top Personnel Post at GM.’’ Jet 72 (April 27, 1987): 27. White, Gregory. ‘‘GM’s Roberts Plans to Retire after Hard Year.’’ Wall Street Journal, January 19, 2000. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Nkechi Amadife

David Ruggles (1810–1849), Abolitionist, Hydrotherapist, Editor/Journalist, Entrepreneur David Ruggles was a fascinating man who managed to accomplish a great deal in a short span of time. He died at the young age of thirty-nine, but by that time he had been a grocer, America’s first African American bookseller, a prominent abolitionist, a successful hydrotherapist, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, a journalist, and an editor. He also served as secretary of the New York Vigilance Society and campaigned for the desegregation of private transportation. Ruggles was born on March 15, 1810, in Norwich, Connecticut, the seventh child of free black David Sr. and Nancy Ruggles. His father was a

701

David Ruggles

blacksmith and his mother a noted caterer and a founding member of the local Methodist Church. His early education was completed at religious charity schools in Norwich. By the age of seventeen, he had migrated to New York and found employment as a mariner. In 1928, he opened his own grocery store. Initially he sold liquor in his store, but observing the damage it did to the black community, he soon followed the trend of other black abolitionists who had endorsed the temperance movement and stopped selling liquor. In order to spread the news of his decision, he advertised it in Freedom’s Journal, which was the nation’s first black newspaper. It was published by a black Presbyterian named Samuel Eli Cornish. By the early 1930s, Ruggles had become completely involved in the growing antislavery movement in New York that was demanding the immediate end of slavery. His grocery store at 1 Cortlandt Street was also the nation’s first black bookstore until a mob destroyed it. While operating the bookstore, Ruggles sold antislavery works and stationery. He also printed and bound books and wrote letters for people who were unable to write. In 1833, he was appointed the Emancipator (an abolitionist weekly) agent to solicited subscribers throughout the Middle Atlantic states. Demonstrating a talent for public speaking and writing, he addressed audiences in support of the paper and published six articles in it. In 1834, he published his own pamphlet titled ‘‘The Extinguisher Extinguished: or David M. Reese, M.D. Used Up.’’ This publication was an attack on the local proponent of the American Colonization Society. This organization believed that the only way to solve the racial problems in America was to return all free blacks to Africa. This plan was very popular among white people in the antebellum United States and was only for free blacks, not slaves, who would remain in the custody of their owners. The next year Ruggles used his own press to publish, ‘‘Abrogation of the Seventh Commandments, by the American Churches.’’ This publication advocated that northern white women should shun southern white women who permitted their husbands to keep enslaved black women as mistresses. Ruggles also used his own press to publish another thirty-two-page antislavery publication ‘‘Antidote for Poisonous Combination.’’ Also in 1938 Ruggles published two additional pamphlets with another unnamed publisher. As an active member of the antislavery movement, Ruggles was appointed in 1930 the fundraiser for the newly founded Phoenix High School for blacks, and in 1935, he and several other young African Americans organized the New York Committee of Vigilance. One of the group primary objectives was to confront slave catchers, who were quite active in New York. The committee would demand that the city government grant jury trials to fugitive slaves and offer legal assistance. The group was supported by the Manumission Society, whose members included the lawyer William Jay, son of Chief Justice John Jay. The committee became highly effective in protecting the rights of local African Americans. In support of the movement, Ruggles would even go into private homes where enslaved African

702

David Ruggles

Americans were hidden and inform the servants that they were actually free. In order to make sure that all were informed, he published the information in abolitionist newspapers such as the Emancipator and the Liberator. Over a period of some five years, displaying an evangelistic tenacity that led to his being jailed several times before he was thirty and that finally broke his health and led to near blindness, Ruggles helped more than 1,000 fugitive blacks escape slavery and establish themselves in a new location through the Underground Railroad. It is a well-documented fact that one such fugitive was in fact Frederick Augustus Bailey, who is better known as Frederick Douglass. In 1838, Douglass, using an assumed name and borrowed identification, fled slavery in Maryland for freedom in New York. He arrived lonely, broke, and afraid, but Ruggles took him in. It was Ruggles again who brought to his home his brilliant friend, the black clergyman and former fugitive slave J.W.C. Pennington. Pennington was brought in to marry Douglass to Anna Murray. After the ceremony, Ruggles quietly sent the couple off to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where the young fugitive could practice his trade of caulker in the shipyards. In January 1839, he was forced to resign as secretary of the committee due to his aggressive work as an antislavery activist. It seemed that his methods did not always sit well with some of the more conservative members of the committee, such as Samuel Cornish, an executive member of the committee and publisher of the Colored American. Now with failing health, no longer secretary of the committee, and nearly destitute, he tried to publish a quarterly newspaper, the Mirror of Liberty. He managed four issues before the paper folded in 1840. His attempt to revive the National Black Convention Movement that year also failed. Still, Ruggles continued to refuse to accept the political temperament of his city and challenged the system repeatedly. In one assault on the system in 1841, he refused to sit in the ‘‘black-only’’ section of a steamship headed for Nantucket. One month later, he boarded the ‘‘white car’’ at the train station and was removed by force. He sued and lost in both cases but continued to encourage others to follow with more acts of civil disobedience. Although he continued to publish regularly in white abolitionist journals, Ruggles’s plight was desperate. His father died in 1841, and his friends thought that perhaps Ruggles would soon follow, given the severity of his illnesses. So they and other Boston blacks honored Ruggles with a dinner and monetary gift. Now blind and ill from several diseases, he left New York for Massachusetts in 1842. Lydia Maria Child, a celebrated white abolitionist and editor of the National Anti-Slavery Standard, arranged for him to live in Northampton, Massachusetts. There abolitionists had formed a commune called the Northampton Association of Education and Industry. Ruggles began hydropathy treatment and regained most of his health after eighteen months. Hydropathy was a German regimen involving rest, diet, and the application of various forms of water. Dr. Robert Wesselhoeft, a German immigrant who practiced hydropathy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, sent him written instructions on how to proceed.

703

Herman Jerome Russell

Ruggles was so impressed with this treatment that he decided to become a hydropathic doctor himself. He opened a hydrotherapeutic institution in Northampton and established the first water-cure hospital in the United States. Ruggles achieved success in his practice and treated great activists such as William Lloyd Garrison and Sojourner Truth. Ruggles continued to write and publish on abolitionism and added water-cure articles and journals to his many publications. He tragically succumbed to an infection of the intestines on December 26, 1849. Ruggles was, without question, an aggressive antislavery warrior, black abolitionist, pioneer hydrotherapist, and one of the most radical activists of his day. Sources Harding, Vincent. There Is a River: Black Struggle for Freedom in America. New York: Vintage Books, 1981. Hodges, Graham Russell. Root and Branch: African Americans in New York and East Jersey, 1613–1863. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. Johns, Robert L. ‘‘David Ruggles.’’ Notable Black American Men. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.

Mattie L. McHollin

Herman Jerome Russell (1930– ), Business Mogul, Community Leader, Philanthropist Herman J. Russell is the founder of H. J. Russell & Company, the largest minority-owned construction and real estate firm in the country. Russell, son of an Atlanta plasterer, started the H. J. Russell Plastering Company in 1952 during his senior year in college. Over the next half century, he developed his business into a multifaceted family-owned and -operated corporation specializing in construction, general contracting, real estate development, and concessions. His major construction projects have included international corporate headquarters, major airports, Olympic sports facilities, school buildings, and massive community revitalization initiatives across the country. In addition to Atlanta, his company has operations in such cities as Chattanooga, Birmingham, Tampa, Baltimore, Chicago, New York, and Phoenix. As he built his business empire, Russell also became a contributor to the civil rights movement, a civic leader, and philanthropist. He has donated millions of dollars to historically black colleges and universities and established programs to teach entrepreneurship to African American children. Russell was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 23, 1930, to Rogers and Maggie Russell; he was one of seven children. Russell’s entrepreneurial spirit emerged early. At first he did odd jobs for neighbors and had his own paper route. However, by the time he turned ten, he operated a shoe shine

704

Herman Jerome Russell

parlor in a vacant lot near his home. That year he also became his father’s apprentice in the plastering trade. At sixteen, Russell bought his first piece of property for $125 and later built a duplex home on the land. That investment helped pay for his college education at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University). The plastering company Russell ran with the help of his brother was so successful that Tuskegee authorities worried that the duo was taking work away from long-established businesses in town. The expansion of Russell’s business occurred quickly over the next few years. He returned to Atlanta after college to work with his father. He took over the family business after his father’s death in 1957. By this time, Russell also was starting his own family. He was married to Otelia Hackney Russell. Eventually, the couple would have three children. Just like their father, they would grow up working in the family business. In 1959 Russell created Paradise Management, a residential and commercial property management company. He started out with 18 apartment units; today the firm manages more than 10,000 units, many of them built by the H. J. Russell Construction Company, which Russell established in 1962. H. J. Russell & Company became one of the largest contractors in the Southeast after it began to take on projects for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) building program in 1968. That year Russell’s plastering company also was awarded the fireproofing and plastering contract for the Equitable Building, a major office complex in downtown Atlanta. That contract was the largest of its kind ever awarded to a blackowned company. Russell branched out into the hospitality industry in 1979 by establishing Concessions International to create food and beverage operations in airports around the country. By the 1980s, Russell had won myriad other major construction projects in the city of Atlanta and throughout the South. In 1980, he achieved prominence as a top transportation builder after taking on the contract for the main terminal of the Atlanta Hartsfield (now Hartsfield Jackson) International Airport. In 1989, his company won the bid to construct the Atlanta City Hall Complex. Before the end of the decade, Russell had completed another important project: the building of his own 42,000square-feet corporate offices in southwest Atlanta. The 1990s brought H. J. Russell & Company a number of high-profile construction projects related to local, national, and international sports. He landed contracts for Atlanta’s Georgia Dome stadium in 1992, Centennial Olympic Stadium and Turner Field in 1994, and Philips Arena in 1999. In the early twenty-first century, Russell is building and investing in projects to revitalize Atlanta’s Castleberry Hill community, where his offices are located. This initiative includes an extended-stay hotel, lofts, and a new home for Paschal’s Restaurant, the legendary eatery that fed activists of the civil rights movement. Additionally, the construction firm took on such major projects as the expansion of the Richmond, Virginia, Convention Center in 2000 and a major building initiative for BellSouth Corporation in 2001.

705

Herman Jerome Russell

By 2003, the combined profits for all of Russell’s ventures exceeded $300 million. That year H. J. Russell & Company became the fourth largest among all construction companies in the country—black and white. In 2003, Russell also decided to retire at the height of his success and named Michael Russell, the youngest of his three children, chief executive officer of H. J. Russell & Company and Concessions International. His oldest son Jerome is president of the company and the driving force behind its real estate ventures. After years of running the firm’s $75 million airport concessions business, Russell’s third child, Donata Russell Major, now heads the Herman J. Russell Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Russell empire. Russell has always believed in sharing his wealth and supporting those fighting for progress. During the 1960s, he worked behind the scenes of the civil rights movement, financing initiatives and bailing activists out of jail after demonstrations and protests. His friend Martin Luther King Jr. sometimes escaped the tension of the movement by swimming in the Russell family’s pool. Russell played a direct role in the desegregation of Atlanta when he became the first African American member of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce in 1963. Later he became the president of the organization. He also worked in 1973 to help elect Maynard Jackson as Atlanta’s first black mayor. Russell is just as committed to creating educational opportunities for young people. In 1989 he started a program in Atlanta to teach entrepreneurial skills to children in an inner-city elementary school. He has contributed more than $4 million to four higher education institutions for entrepreneurial projects—$1 million each to his alma mater Tuskegee University, Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University, and Georgia State University. Georgia State now houses the Herman J. Russell International Center for Entrepreneurship. Additionally, Russell has undertaken a $20 million building project at Tuskegee University. Over the years, Russell also has been an educator of sorts himself, providing training and invaluable work experiences for hundreds of employees of his company, which he sometimes calls ‘‘Russell University.’’ Approximately 700 women and men work for his enterprises in the early 2000s. Though retired, Russell is still chairman of his company and continues to oversee a massive revitalization project of inner-city communities in Atlanta. ‘‘I was fortunate to learn a long time ago that we, the Negro race, if we’re going to improve our quality of life, if I’m going to improve my family’s quality of life, it was going to take hard work and focus,’’ Russell told Georgia Trend magazine when he retired. ‘‘So I did the best I could.’’ See also: Food Service Industry Sources Grillo, Jerry. ‘‘Changing of the Guard.’’ Georgia Trend Online, 2003. http:// www.georgiatrend.com/site/page7249.html. H. J. Russell & Company. http://www.hjrussell.com/history.htm. Holmes, Tamara. ‘‘Herman J. Russell Passes the Torch: Construction Icon Steps Down from CEO Post and Transfers Reigns to Youngest Son.’’ Black Enterprise 34 (January 2004): 19.

706

Patricia Russell-McCloud Myrick-Harris, Clarissa. ‘‘Captains of Business and Industry: Herman J. Russell.’’ African American Voices of Triumph: Leadership. New York: Time-Life Books, 1995.

Clarissa Myrick-Harris

Patricia Russell-McCloud (1946– ), Professional Orator, Author Patricia Russell-McCloud has been hailed as one of five top business motivational speakers by Black Enterprise magazine. She polished her oratorical skills early in life delivering speeches around Indianapolis and once traveled to Los Angeles to speak before the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church convention. She started her career as a teacher and instructor before receiving her law degree and working with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)—all before becoming a top-notch motivational speaker. Russell-McCloud was born on September 14, 1946, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Willie and Janniel Russell, the younger of two older sisters, Barbara and Verdie. While her parents were both blue-collar workers, they had high expectations for their children. Patricia’s gift and passion for delivering speeches was recognized as early as eight years old. She recited Easter speeches and regularly gave welcoming addresses in church. She also began winning oratorical contests. She attended Shortridge High School in Indianapolis in the early 1960s during a time of great social change in the United States centered on the civil rights movement. This consequently led to her interest in political science and history, in which she planned to major in college. While at Shortridge, she sang in the choir and was in the speech and drama clubs. She graduated from high school in 1964. After high school, she attended Kentucky State University, majoring in political science and history. At Kentucky State she continued singing in the choir and pursuing her dramatic interests—singing in the university’s concert choir and performing with the drama troupe, the Kentucky Players. She also pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., a national black sorority organization. She later comments that this experience was a great life lesson. At the end of her freshman year, she was voted Outstanding Freshman. During her senior year, she was conflicted as to what to do after graduation. One option was to accept a teaching job, while her other option was to pursue a law degree. She eventually decided to teach, but she still accepted an opportunity from the Council on Legal Educational Opportunity to attend a special program to prepare students for law school at Harvard University School of Law. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from Kentucky State University in 1968, she taught American history in the Detroit Public School

707

Patricia Russell-McCloud

System at Foch Junior High School from 1968 to 1969. The next year, she returned home to Indianapolis to teach high school students at Arsenal Technical High School. After two years of teaching, Russell-McCloud revisited her law school aspirations. Fall 1970, she began her law studies at Howard University School of Law on a scholarship. She also became (1970– 1973) an instructor at Federal City College in Washington, D.C. to help finance her education and living expenses. After receiving her law degree from Howard University School of Law in 1973, she served as an attorney, chief of complaints, for the Federal Communications Commission for ten years. In the 1980s, Russell-McCloud tired of her job at the FCC and again decided to branch out and use her oratorical skills. She began doing motivational speeches at high schools and colleges. It was at one of these engagements in 1982 where she met her future husband, E. Earl McCloud. They later married on March 12, 1983. Soon afterward, she left the FCC and formed her own motivational speaking and professional training association, Russell-McCloud Associates in Atlanta, Georgia, where she serves as president. Describing her style as ‘‘big, broad, and, animated,’’ RussellMcCloud’s message reaches more than 200,000 people annually. Her clientele includes an array of corporate, government, and educational institutions such as Ameritech, Bell Laboratories, Ford Motor Company, McDonald’s Corporation, Central Intelligence Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Auburn University, Columbia University, and Duke University. On the lecture circuit, she earns an average of $15,000 per engagement inspiring middle managers to break the ‘‘glass ceiling.’’ She is an Elks Oratorical award-winner and has translated her orations to print in her literary work A Is for Attitude: An Alphabet for Living. In this book, she credits being the only pledge in a pledge year for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority as one of the learning experiences that enhanced her attitude for living by developing courageousness and fortitude. Her prescription for living and excelling has also been recorded on a compact disc, Never Give Up! (2005). Her crowd-pleasing speech ‘‘If Not You, Who? If Not Now, When?’’ has been recorded in the Congressional Record (H3661: May 14, 1980). Civic-minded, Russell-McCloud served as the eleventh national president of the Links, Incorporated, an organization of black women who commit themselves to the community through educational, cultural, and civic activities. Under her tutelage, the Links, and then-president Russell-McCloud, were commended by the Georgia House of Representatives (HR441: 1995–1996) ‘‘for their outstanding efforts in addressing the needs of the African American community.’’ See also: Women and Business Sources Clarke, Robyn D. ‘‘Five Great Business Motivators.’’ Black Enterprise 28 (April 1998): 83–87.

708

Patricia Russell-McCloud D. G. ‘‘Patricia Russell-McCloud.’’ Essence 27 (July 1996): 48. Georgia House of Representatives. 1995–1996 Sessions, HR441. ‘‘Metropolitan Atlanta Chapters of the Links, Inc.’’ http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/1995_96/ leg/fulltext/hr441.htm. Gilbert, Marsha. ‘‘Why the Motivation Business Is Booming.’’ Ebony 58 (December 2000): 132–134, 136. Harris, L. V. ‘‘Patricia Russell-McCloud.’’ Essence 22 (March 1992): 44. Jacobson, Robert R. ‘‘Patricia Russell-McCloud.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 17. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. ‘‘Patricia Russell-McCloud Motivational Speaker and Author.’’ Possible Woman Enterprises. http://www.possiblewoman.com/conferencejan04/patricia.htm. Russell-McCloud, Patricia. http://www.prussellmccloud.com. ———. A Is for Attitude: An Alphabet for Living. New York: HarperCollins, 1999. Warren, Nagueyalti. ‘‘Patricia A. Russell-McCloud.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book II. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996.

La Loria Konata

709

S Sailors and Merchant Mariners Africans and African Americans have long been involved with the sea as sailors. Especially in the period before the Civil War, blacks mariners helped create a distinctive African American identity among the groups of persons forcibly transported from Africa. Many blacks earned their living as sailors; others were able to base mostly small-scale enterprises on maritime activities. A few African Americans won fortunes. The decline in the salience of black seamen after the Civil War has tended to obscure their importance in an earlier period. ORIGINS On the west coast of Africa, Africans were intrepid fishermen from early on. Some go so far as to advance a strongly contested claim that Africans reached the coast of the Americas long before Columbus. There is better documentation of a long tradition of trade from the east coast of Africa to India and the Middle East. When the Portuguese became the first Westerners to reach India by sea in 1498, they relied on the experience of these non-Western sailors to complete the final leg of their venture. From 1441 on, as the Portuguese pushed ever further south along the west coast of Africa, substantial numbers of slaves began to reach Portugal. Since the Portuguese faced an increasing shortage of manpower, both slave and free blacks came to man their ships. As trade with Europeans developed in West Africa, Africans dominated ship-to-shore transport on a coast characterized by poor anchorages and high surf. Principals include the grumetes of Senegambia, a group strongly influenced by contacts with the Portuguese, and the Kru, known then under the name of Krumen or Kroomen, from the region of present-day Liberia, both of whom were highly valued for their skills in small boats. Numbers of Africans worked on the long-distance sailing of Europeans.

Sailors and Merchant Mariners

In the development of the colonial empires by Portugal, Spain, and Great Britain, black seamen played a crucial role. Although the manpower transported by the slave trade was largely absorbed by the developing plantation economy, the colonialists also depended on blacks involved in all phases of maritime activities, from building small ships and boats to fishing to serving on local and long-range trading vessels. At the abolition of slavery in British possessions in 1834, estimates of blacks working as stevedores or as sailors of one sort or another range from 3 percent of slaves in Jamaica to 16 percent in the Bahamas. In Brazil, which absorbed the largest share of slaves, slave and free black seamen of all sorts were highly visible. To give one example cited by James Farr, in 1856, 51 percent of all seamen and fishermen in Bahia, some 4,400 persons, were free blacks. The involvement of Africans in longdistance sailing continued throughout the period. For example, during the War of 1812, an American privateer seized a ship out of Gibralter, the Andalusia; of a crew of 100, 80 were free black Africans. Earlier blacks were also found among pirate crews, although the recent spectacular claim that pirates were free of bias against blacks and homosexuals appears unfounded. Numbers could be substantial. When the ship of Bartholomew Roberts, a notorious pirate of the early eighteenth century was taken, of the crew of 157, 45 were black. Blacks were involved in less legally dubious enterprises. Despite white suspicions and local laws, a small number of free blacks prospered in the local passenger business, having a virtual monopoly on some islands like Martinique. Throughout the Caribbean, many colonists depended on blacks in the lightering trade—that is, the transport of goods between ship and shore in small ships. On wharfs the stevedores were black. Of sailors on ships engaged in trade between North America and the Caribbean just before the American Revolution, it is estimated that onethird of the seamen were black. NORTH AMERICA THROUGH THE CIVIL WAR North America was an integral part of the Atlantic complex. The more northern British colonies in North America, especially, exported foods to the plantation economies that were flourishing in the southern colonies and in the Caribbean. The molasses from the Caribbean was turned into the rum exported to Africa in return for slaves destined for the Americas. Slavery existed in all of the colonies that became the United States, although numbers were substantially smaller. Many people from Maryland north used slaves in their maritime endeavors, and on both sides of the Atlantic, free blacks took to the sea. There were special hazards facing black sailors, as courts and slaveholders did not always take care to distinguish between free blacks and slaves, and captains were not above selling free blacks into slavery. During the War of Austrian Succession (King George’s War, 1744–1748), the New York Vice Admiralty court condemned to slavery 136 captured black seamen who claimed they were free under Spanish law.

712

Sailors and Merchant Mariners

A strong direct connection between Africa and British North American colonies remains evident in the eighteenth century. It appears that among blacks involved in maritime activities in the American South, the percentage of those born in Africa ran between 15 percent and 22 percent. Black sailors from Africa and elsewhere were means of communication and exchange of information among blacks throughout the Atlantic region. In the nineteenth century and earlier, there was great uneasiness about black sailors on ships coming into ports in the South. Especially following the attempted rebellion in 1822 of Denmark Vesey in Charleston, other southern states followed the lead of South Carolina in passing legislation, the Negro Seamen Acts, that aimed at confining black sailors to their ships or to onshore installations while they were in port. Great Britain vigorously protested this treatment of sailors on its ships, to small avail. There were good grounds for white suspicion that blacks and sympathetic white sailors could be engaged in dissemination of subversive information: For example, in 1830 copies of David Walker’s newly published Appeal, the first major call for emancipation written by an African American, reached the South by ship within a relatively short time. Southern states responded with legislation aimed at restricting the circulation of such ideas. In addition to long-distance sailors, there were indispensable groups of black sailors, often slaves, engaged in small-scale transport, piloting, and fishing. A recent study of African American watermen in North Carolina reveals this relatively small group of people as independent-minded abolitionists. In any case, the slaveholders’ ideal of restricting the movements of blacks as far as possible to a home plantation was a manifest impossibility in the case of blacks involved with both inland and maritime water trades. Still blacks possessed skills, especially a thorough knowledge of local waters, that could not be dispensed with. Slave captains, pilots, and crews dominated the water trade in areas like the Chesapeake Bay. During the Revolutionary War, the Royal Navy on more than one occasion sought out the services of pilots identified as blacks. The Americans also drew on the services of black pilots; for the Chesapeake Bay area George Washington writes in 1779 of a thousand dollars promised to such pilots. Paul Cuffe (1759–1817), of Massachusetts, together with his family undertook coastal trading voyages to the South, in addition to his activities as smuggler, whaler, and long-distance trader. Cuffe was perhaps the most affluent African American of his time. In addition to using black crews to man his ships, he used his capital to develop ancillary businesses also employing blacks. Another outstanding success was James Forten (1766–1842) of Philadelphia, who built a very successful sail-making business. There were few other blacks who succeeded on the scale of Cuffe or Forten, but many small-scale businesses provided such amenities as boardinghouses for blacks, who were not welcome at those catering to whites. The potential scope of such boardinghouses is evident in the career of William P. Powell. He began a temperance boardinghouse in New Bedford in the late 1830s and in 1839 moved to New York, where he ran the Coloured

713

Sailors and Merchant Mariners

Seamen’s Home, an establishment under the aegis of the American Seamen’s Friend Society, a white charity, for many years. In 1866 Powell reported that his boardinghouse housed about 500 sailors a year, and he said there were five other boardinghouses accommodating black sailors, along with several lesser establishments. Two years earlier, in 1864, he estimated that 3,200 black sailors entered New York Harbor every year. There were other entrepreneurs, such as dealers in clothes and furnishings for black sailors, like Abro Lyon, also of New York, whose prosperous business was burned out during the antiblack Draft Riot of 1863— significantly, he did not try to reestablish his business but turned instead to catering, selling ice cream in Newport, Rhode Island. Most of such businesses are hard to trace outside of city directories. Another area of specialized interest to blacks was oyster gathering and selling; in some areas, they had early on a dominant position. Thomas Downing of New York City was prominent as a seller of oysters, founding a family that remained prominent in business and politics for the remainder of the nineteenth century. As long as oysters were gathered by rake, a tool that could be handled by one man in a small boat, blacks were competitive, but when drags handled by larger boats and crews and requiring a larger capital investment became common shortly before the Civil War, they were forced out of the business. In the period before the Civil War, competition between white and black workers led to increasing restrictions on jobs open to blacks; whites simply refused to work beside blacks. In Baltimore white proprietors could insist on employing free black and slave caulkers side by side with white workers. As a slave, Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) was so employed, but when he escaped to New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1838, he found blacks could not work as caulkers alongside white workmen, and he had to become a laborer. At sea there was similar discrimination in employment; despite qualifications, most blacks could expect to be no more than seamen. The work of seamen was hard, dangerous, and ill paid. Their living space was cramped for space, dark, damp, and noisome from the reek of unwashed bodies. All too often, food was not only deficient from a dietary point of view but also deficient in quantity. The system of four-hour watches guaranteed that sailors could sleep for eight straight hours only on land. The men were also almost completely at the mercy of unscrupulous captains. The employment of blacks as common seamen continued through this period since nativeborn whites began to reject work as sailors in favor of the opportunities opening up in a rapidly growing nation, and only the most desperate immigrants sought the jobs. Still, the proportion of black sailors gradually grew smaller, and the range of positions grew smaller. Before tracing the decline of the merchant marine in the twentieth century, two areas call for special comment. The role of blacks in the American navy has been investigated in some detail, as has their role in the whaling industry.

714

Sailors and Merchant Mariners

NAVY AND AFRICAN AMERICANS Blacks served in most of the eleven separate state navies set up at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, as well as in the Continental Navy, established in 1775. Naval historians advance an estimate that 10 percent of the various navies were black. The new nation inaugurated the Department of the Navy in 1798, and instructions from the secretary of the navy instructed that blacks were to be excluded. This instruction appears to have not been strictly followed, especially as the tensions between the United States and Great Britain that cumulated in the War of 1812 grew. During the war, the force under the command of Oliver Hazard Perry, charged with the defense of Lake Erie, had a substantial contingent of blacks, perhaps as much as a third. This force quickly built ten additional warships and gained control of the lake in the Battle of Put-in-Bay. All in all the American naval forces during the war were 10 percent blacks. For some time afterward, the proportion of blacks remained about 8 percent. Then in 1839 a quota of 5 percent was imposed. This percentage was implemented and lasted until the Civil War. Both sides in the war used blacks, although the Confederacy’s naval efforts were necessarily on a small scale. For example, there were twenty-eight black landsmen, deckhands, and firemen in the six vessels of the James River Squadron defending Richmond. One famous sailor served in both navies. Former slave Robert Small had purchased his freedom by his sailing skills. He was pilot aboard the Confederate Navy’s steamship Planter in Charleston’s harbor. In May 1862 Small ran the confederate guard ships and delivered the ship to the Union forces blockading the harbor. Later in the war the navy made him noncommissioned captain of the Planter. After the war Small had a political career that led him to a seat in Congress. Just as escaped slaves joined the army to fight for their freedom, ‘‘contraband’’ slaves were used by the navy. Four, beginning with Robert Blake, won the medal of honor. Many joined black recruits from the North to serve in positions like cooks and powder monkeys, never rising above the rank of seaman. Contributing further to their employment was the increasing reliance on steam. Many whites believed the myth that blacks were less susceptible to heat exhaustion than whites and so found they were especially fitted to work in engine rooms as firemen and coal-heavers. According to James Baker Farr, except for the Mississippi squadron, where David D. Porter felt it necessary to separate the whites, mainly highly antiblack midwesterners, from blacks, the navy was fairly well integrated. The current estimates show that blacks made up 13.5 percent of the navy in 1863 and that 8 percent of those who saw service during the war, some 9,600 persons, were black. However, by the beginning of the twentieth century, the navy tried to bar blacks entirely, except as steward and mess attendants. From 1919 to 1932 black enlistments were excluded entirely; then blacks again could become mess men. Only in 1942, during World War II, did the navy begin to accept

715

Sailors and Merchant Mariners

blacks again, and the war was nearing its end before the first black navy officers were commissioned in 1944. Following the abolition of segregation in the armed forces in 1948, opportunities opened up. Samuel L. Gravely Jr. serves as a symbol of African American progress in the modern navy by becoming the first black admiral in 1971. WHALING INDUSTRY The era of whaling as a major commercial activity began to end in 1859 as the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania started the replacement of whale oil as a major industrial commodity, especially for illumination, and the fishery underwent a permanent decline following the Civil War. American whaling died off entirely by 1924. The canonical status of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851) as a major American novel does much, however, to keep the short-lived era of long-distance whaling alive in popular imagination. Knowledgeable contemporary sailors avoided service on whaling vessels, leaving jobs open for the inexperienced and the unskillful. Just as in the contemporary merchant marine, African Americans participated in the hunt but mostly as common seamen. On shore we have a black credited with an improved harpoon design, without much indication that he profited from his invention. There are a few records of black captains over the year: We know of the Industry, which made a trip to the Caribbean in 1822 with an allblack crew headed by Absalom Boston. Another whaler with an all-black crew, Rising States, which set out from New Bedford in 1836, is another allblack whaling ship. A few blacks had lesser but crucial roles. There is a partial list of twenty-seven black harpooners out of New Bedford before the Civil War. On the other hand, there is abundant evidence of blacks among the lesswell-paid members of the crew. We are sure that the occasional black worked these ships as early as 1746, and the numbers grew steadily, including many with both African and American Indian ancestry. One famous early whaler was Crispus Attucks, the black martyr of the Boston Massacre. He was on leave from his Nantucket whaler when the British shot him down. It was 1791 when whalers first entered the Pacific Ocean. Blacks were among the crew of the Beaver on this occasion. In 1807 we see 9 blacks among the 21-man crew of the Lion. Such a proportion would seem to be aligned with later estimates of the numbers of blacks in the whaling fleet. In the later 1850s, there is an estimate of 2,900 men aboard American whalers, some 1 in 6. There is one unexpected link to Africa, however. Since captains were seeking the cheapest possible crew, they often filled out their manpower requirements in the Cape Verde islands, a Portuguese possession inhabited by a mixed African and white population, many of whom took to the sea as a profession. This established a long-term link between the Cape Verde islands and portions of New England. Often, though not always, this connection over the years was based on maritime activities—at one stage, many sought work in cranberry bogs, an enterprise that was not entirely

716

Sailors and Merchant Mariners

successful. In the maritime area, coastal voyages came to the fore as whaling declined. Some 250,000 to 300,000 persons of Cape Verdean extraction live, many in New England, with 15,000 in New Bedford. POST–CIVIL WAR MERCHANT MARINE The Civil War marked the beginning of an overall decline in the U.S. merchant marine. American shipowners were required to use Americanbuilt ships, but shipbuilding fell behind world standards as Americans were slow to turn to steam. Americans handled two-thirds of the foreign trade shipping in U.S. ports before the Civil War. By 1870, only 38 percent was carried in American ships. Increasingly, owners turned to foreign seamen as they endeavored to keep wages down. By the 1890s, only a third of the crews on American merchant ships were Americans. Early in the last century the number of black sailors in northern ports declined, although there seems to be some increase in southern ports. Blacks also found a niche in the last generation of sailing ships, large vessels built for coastal trade, comprising over 75 percent of the crews. The situation facing blacks was not improved by the formation of unions in an attempt to better wages and working conditions. White sailors resisted attempts to include blacks in the unions, and blacks were hesitant in turn to try to join in the face of white hostility. Black sailors were often used as strikebreakers, which created more ill will. Still, in 1910 blacks furnished about 10 percent of crews. Racial hostility between blacks and whites seemed to rise as the years went on. Many ships hired only cooks and galley workers and maintained segregated crew accommodations. The Seaman’s Act of 1915 seemed to hold out hope for better times. With government assistance the merchant marine grew substantially. Hugh Mulzac, from the Grenadines, and a few other blacks went to sea as officers, but their careers were blocked after the war. During the 1920s the American merchant marine collapsed, as did the segregated International Seamen’s Union. There was one highly visible attempt to establish a black presence in shipping during this period. Marcus Garvey (1887–1940) and the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) established the Black Star Steamship Line in 1919. The aim of the line was to further the return of blacks to Africa as well as to engage trade. The line acquired three ships but failed due to financial mismanagement. In 1922 the U.S. government convicted Garvey on charges of mail fraud in connection with the line. His sentence was commuted in 1927, and he was deported. Following the passage of the Wagner Act in 1935, union activity began anew on a sounder legal foundation. The National Maritime Union actively recruited blacks and claimed 5,000 black members by the beginning of the war. The union’s stated goal of equality of opportunity was vitiated by hiring hall practices, which included covert antiblack discrimination. World War II led again to a large and rapid increase in the merchant marine. Hugh Mulzac (1886–1971) now acquired a symbolic role when he became the first

717

Frank Savage

black captain in the modern American merchant marine, as captain of the integrated crew of the SS Booker T. Washington in 1942. Significantly, in 1947, when the ship went out of service, Mulzac received no other assignment. Another major decline in America’s maritime industries followed. Shipbuilding tended to move to foreign countries, and many merchant ships were registered under the flags of convenience of countries like Panama and Liberia, which avoided the more restrictive regulations of countries like the United States. The decline is evident in the number of privately owned ships engaged in foreign trade and sailing under the U.S. flag. From over 1,000 in 1951, it fell to 101 in 2002. With a decline in the volume of coastal trade due to the competition from trains and trucks, maritime and maritimerelated activities, except for the U.S. Navy, now occupy a minor role in African American economic life compared to the situation before the Civil War. Sources Bolster, W. Jeffrey. Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997. Cecelski, David S. The Waterman’s Song: Slavery and Freedom in Maritime North Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001. Cohn, Michael, and Michael K. H. Platzer. Black Men of the Sea. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1978. Farr, James Baker. Black Odyssey: The Seafaring Traditions of Afro-Americans. New York: P. Lang, 1989. Halter, Marilyn. Between Race and Ethnicity: Cape Verdean American Immigrants, 1860–1965. Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1993. Putney, Martha S. Black Sailors: Afro-American Merchant Seamen and Whalemen Prior to the Civil War. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987. Winch, Julie. A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James Forten. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Robert L. Johns

Frank Savage (1938– ), Entrepreneur, Corporate Executive Frank Savage is a successful businessman who currently serves as the chief executive officer (CEO) of his own company, Savage Holdings, LLC. He has had a distinguished career as an executive officer of various financial management, international banking, corporate finance, and global investment management companies, including Alliance Capital Management International. Savage was born in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, on July 10, 1938, to Frank and Grace Vivian Savage. He grew up in Washington, D.C. and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Howard University in 1961. He earned his Master of Arts degree from the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in 1964. He has also

718

Frank Savage

received an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Hofstra University. On April 19, 1980, at the age of forty-two, Savage married Lolita Valderrama. They have six children: Eric, Brett, Mark, Antoine, Grace, and Frank. Savage lives with his family in Stamford, Connecticut, and enjoys reading and sailing. In 2001, Savage competed in and won the Swan Island Regatta, sailing his fifty-six-foot yacht. Savage speaks several languages including French, Arabic, Swahili, and Japanese. Savage began his career serving as an officer for Citibank, International Division, from 1964 to 1970. During this time, he was stationed in the Middle East and Africa. In 1970, he moved to New York and became president of Equico Capital Corporation, where he stayed for three years. From 1973 to 1975, he was the executive vice president of TAW International Leasing in New York. For the next twenty-six years, he served in various capacities for Equitable Life Assurance and its investment management subsidiary Equitable Capital Management, including executive vice president, president, vice chairman, and chairman. While with Equitable Capital Management, Savage built the company’s global investment management business. In 2002, Savage left Equitable Capital Management to start his own private equity firm, Savage Holdings, LLC. In Investment Management Weekly, Kathleen Willcox quotes Savage, who said, ‘‘I have always had a lurking entrepreneurial bug.’’ Savage serves as the chief executive officer of Savage Holdings, which invests in emerging markets, such as Africa and Asia. Savage Holdings has also developed into an advisory and consulting business, focusing on advising global clients on international investing and development. Eventually, Savage says that he would like to offer international asset management services to his institutional clients. Savage Holdings is performing well in its current incarnation. One of the most significant accomplishments of Savage and his newly developed company is that they have won a bid to manage the African Millennium Fund. Eleven companies answered the call of the government group, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, or OPIC, to submit bids to manage this project, but Savage’s group was selected, in part because of his tremendous experience in managing international investments. OPIC has given Savage and the African Millennium Fund $227 million of federally guaranteed loans. The fund is focusing on building an infrastructure in subSaharan Africa. They will support women entrepreneurs and companies that offer work for the poor. In addition, they will invest in private sector companies that will develop telecommunications, electricity, transportation, water distribution, sanitation, and financial services. Savage told Willcox for Investment Management Weekly, ‘‘You can’t rank emerging markets, but Africa is a classic private equity opportunity. There is an abundance of opportunity without enough capital.’’ As well as being a prominent and successful African American businessman, Savage also gives back to his community. He has served as a trustee for his alma mater Johns Hopkins University. He has been a director on the

719

Frank Savage

boards of Lockheed Corporation, Essence Communications, the Boys Choir of Harlem, and the New York Philharmonic. He has also served as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Minority Broadcasting Fund, New York Private Industry Council, and on the task force for the White House Conference on Small Business. Savage was a member of the Enron board until 2002, when he resigned in order to spend more time working on the African Millennium Fund, among other things. Quoted in Cliff Hocker’s article ‘‘Savage Resigns,’’ he says of his resignation, ‘‘I feel comfortable about the fact that I’ve helped the company get through this very challenging transition period from bankruptcy to trying to return to some level of normalcy.’’ Savage gives not only his time but also his money to worthy causes. Several years after being named an outstanding alumnus, Savage and his wife made the largest donation ever to Howard University from an alumnus. ‘‘I am truly blessed that my wife and I are able to do this,’’ Savage said of the $5 million donation, in ‘‘Howard University Alumnus Pledges $5 Million.’’ Savage has received many awards from the financial and the African American community for his outstanding work, including the Blackafrica award, the Harlem Commonwealth Banking award, the Urban Bankers award, and the Outstanding Alumni award from Howard University. Additionally, Savage was named one of Black Enterprise’s ‘‘25 Hottest Black Managers’’ in 1988 and in 2000 was named one of the ‘‘Top 50 Blacks in Corporate America’’ by Black Enterprise. Sources ‘‘Biography: Frank Savage.’’ Lockheed Martin. http://www.lockheedmartin.com/ wms/findPage.do?dsp¼fec&ci¼15611&rsbci¼0&fti¼0&ti¼0&sc¼400. Branch, Shelly, and Alfred Edmond Jr. ‘‘Frank Savage.’’ Black Enterprise 23 (February 1993): 126. ‘‘Frank Savage Named Chairman of Howard University Trustees Board.’’ New York Amsterdam News 88 (June 28, 1997): 18. Hocker, Cliff. ‘‘Investing in Africa.’’ http://www.blackenterprise.com/Pageopen .asp?Source¼Articles/08212001400.htm. ———. ‘‘Savage Resigns from Enron Board.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (September 2002): 24. Honorary Degree Recipients for Commencement 2005. Howard University. http:// www.howard.edu/commencement/2005/recipients.htm. ‘‘Howard University Alumnus Pledges $5 Million to Alma Mater.’’ Black Issues in Higher Education 18 (March 29, 2001): 17. Hughes, Alan. ‘‘Going Solo.’’ Black Enterprise 32 (February 2002): 24. Whigham-Desir, Marjorie, and Robyn D. Clarke. ‘‘Top 50 Blacks in Corporate America.’’ Black Enterprise 30 (February 2000): 106–126. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005. Who’s Who in America. 47th ed., 1992–1993. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who’s Who, 1993. Who’s Who in Finance and Industry. 25th ed., 1987–1988. Wilmette, IL: Marquis Who’s Who, 1987. Willcox, Kathleen. ‘‘Alliance Capital Chairman Bails for Savage Holdings.’’ Investment Management Weekly 14 (August 13, 2001): 3.

Allison L. Sharp

720

Alan Shaw

Alan Shaw (c. 1963– ), Computer Scientist, Community Activist For many inner cities, technology is relatively unknown. Teamed with the problems of poverty, crime, hopelessness, and lack of communication within the community, the result may be stagnation. However, one man is changing the idea of the global village into his vision of digital neighborhoods. Alan Shaw, son of the noted physicist Earl Shaw, spanned the digital divide between the haves and the have-nots with MUSIC (multi-user sessions in community) in the early 1990s and continues to empower his inner-city neighbors. In 1985, Shaw received his undergraduate degree in applied mathematics from Harvard; he continued his education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Laboratory for Computer Science, a center of innovation in programming, receiving his masters in computer science in 1988 and his doctorate specializing in media arts and sciences in 1995. His wife Michelle Shaw is a Harvard lawyer whom he married in 1990. They have five children— Chinua, Yesuto, Obasi, Ima, and Ife. The Shaws have combined their expertise—computer science and law— several times to empower the people of Four Corners, a neighborhood in the Boston borough of Dorchester. Four Corners is a largely minority, disadvantaged area in which Shaw, a youth outreach minister, has applied the theories of ‘‘learning through social apprenticeships’’ and ‘‘neighborhood networks and social constructionism.’’ Through social apprenticeships, the young adults in Four Corners have learned marketable skills and started giving back to the community; these teenagers are kept out of the streets and away from at-risk behavior. High school students learn trades such as electronics repair, landscaping, word processing, newsletter production, and Web design from neighbors. Neighborhood networks are the primary focus of Shaw’s early work; he utilized research conducted in Four Corners in his thesis. These networks are the foundation in developing social constructionism, in which community members shape the outcomes and activities within their neighborhood. This is empowered by the presence of producers rather than consumers. This is a crucial step in Shaw’s vision of bringing the fractured pieces of urban areas into one cohesive unit. MUSIC is the primary software used to connect communities. In the original 1993 study in Four Corners, twenty Apple computers with high-speed modems were placed in homes, connecting each resident only to the other nineteen in the network. The program connects those interested in a topic at hand, enabling neighbors to chat through discussion groups, post on a community bulletin board, and email one another. It also features real-time text and voice communications, graphics, and speech capabilities. Through MUSIC, Four Corners residents have organized a food cooperative run by teens, jobs postings, a neighborhood crime watch, newsletter,

721

Alan Shaw

and poet’s collective. However, the network has created even more; it has established a center for the community, bringing it out of poverty on its own and combating the crime, drugs, and gangs that plagued it previously. Children were encouraged to learn more, next-door neighbors met and established new friendships, and everyone offered helping hands more often than not. After Shaw completed his research in 1994, the program was removed from Boston; yet other communities—from Newark, New Jersey, to Chicago to rural Mississippi—were interested in implementing the design. Newark became a model for the adaptability of MUSIC after it was introduced into a low-income housing project surrounding a school district. Giving back is second nature to Shaw, who heads a religious household, exemplifying the Christian ideal of service to others. In addition to the MUSIC program, Shaw is also the technology coordinator for the Algebra Project sponsored by the Rochester Institute of Technology. Since 1998, this project has created inventive, activity-based math curricula for lowincome urban schools. Other methods through which Shaw uses technology to address social issues are cooperative learning circles, cultural epistemology, e-learning, games for mathematical understanding, improvisation, and collaboration in MetaCognition and intellectual praxis. By bringing together the inner city around a tool of the future, Shaw has broken down the barriers that have often held back low-income minorities and has given them something to strive for, to share with others. He has established a forum for urban communities to learn and grow. Approaching the new millennium with the advent of a Net that brought people together from one corner of the earth to the other, he developed a vision to make the global local. Seeing a need to empower the lower classes, to span the digital divide, he created a user-friendly, familiar, and useful infrastructure. Shaw gave disadvantaged neighbors the tools to develop knowledge and sow the seeds of lifelong learning, which gives urban communities the chance for a self-sustaining, wholesome future and the dynamic to work their way from poverty to a hotbed of learning and cohesion. His selfless vision to empower communities sets the stage to change the dynamics of urban communities in the future. Sources Hogan, Kevin. ‘‘MoJo’s October Hellraiser.’’ 1995. http://www.motherjones.com. Mariette, DiChristina, and Chris O’Malley. ‘‘Digital Neighbors.’’ Popular Science 254 (October 1994): 49. Roach, Ronald. ‘‘Making Sweet ‘Music.’ ’’ American Visions 11 (February–March 1996): 38. Shaw, Alan. ‘‘Imani Information Systems.’’ http://www.imanisystems.com/AlanShaw. html. ———. ‘‘Linking Up Villages.’’ http://www.villagenetwork.org/luv.html. Shaw, Allen, and M. Shaw. ‘‘Social Empowerment through Community Networks.’’ High Technology and Low-Income Communities. Ed. D. Schon, B. Sanyal, and W. Mitchell. Boston: MIT Press, 1999.

722

Shoe Shine Establishments Williams, Scott. ‘‘Computer Scientists of the Africa Diaspora.’’ 1997. http://www .math.buffalo.edu/mad/computer-science/shaw_alan.html.

Thura Mack

Shoe Shine Establishments The African American as ‘‘shoe shine boy’’ is a stereotypical image. As an African American icon, however, the shoe shine boy, often called ‘‘shine,’’ was seen as a servant rather than as a person who needed to make a living or as one who had a skill or craft. Nonetheless, shoe shining was one of several lines of business in the South and elsewhere that gave blacks a monopoly for many years. Until recent years, when shoe shine stands opened in airports, hotels, and various public places and may have become white owned, shoe shining appeared not to be a big-business interest of whites. The poverty that surrounded many blacks forced them into menial labor with poor wages. When the economic boon of the 1920s came, America’s black population did not, on the whole, share that wealth. Thus, many times their living came in outlets that required them to serve and/or to entertain whites. The development of the shoe shine parlor and street shiners is an example of an occupation that helped to meet blacks’ economic needs. Accounts of early shoe shine businesses among African Americans appear in scattered sources. In 1921, a shop advertisement in the city directory for Salem, Oregon, read ‘‘Cigars and Tobacco, Periodicals, Confectionery, Ladies’ and Gentlemens’ Shoe Shining Parlors, the Place That Pleases Everybody.’’ The owner was William Halsell, who moved to Salem around 1912 and also worked as a janitor, laborer, and farmer sometime between 1913 and 1917. Clearly, shoe shining provided means of support for small-time enterprisers who worked in the trade until they could find a more lucrative job or pursue their own field of dreams. Oscar Micheaux (1884?–1951) is an example. In the early 1900s, Micheaux worked as a shoe shine boy in Chicago while pursuing his dream of becoming a writer and filmmaker. He fulfilled his dream when he became a homesteader in South Dakota, founded a film and book company, published his own novels, and later produced a film. A 1933 survey of businesses in Tucson, Arizona, showed African Americans in a variety of enterprises. There were three automobile repair stations, three restaurants, and several shoe shine parlors. Joseph Pierce’s study of Negro business and business education among blacks covering the period 1944–1946 found that the shoe shine establishment was one of a few businesses that blacks could operate in main business areas without receiving pressure, racial prejudice, or corporate competition. It also offered the possibility of considerable expansion.

723

Shoe Shine Establishments

An example of a prosperous shoe shine establishment identified in Pierce’s study is Short’s Shoe Shine, located opposite the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City. Haywood Douglass Short (1872–?) opened the business on January 3, 1921. It became a family business when his two sons, Kenneth Belle and Lawrence Short, joined the establishment. Haywood Short, of California, Missouri, arrived in Iowa City on August 1, 1895, in search of work. He held odd jobs until he became a porter in Whitaker’s Barber Shop. He bought the building that housed the shop in 1934 and later equipped the space to house his business. Then a modern shoe shining, repairing, and dyeing business, his enterprise grew from eight to eighteen chairs. Short designed an adjustable chair for use in his shop so that it would comfortably accommodate a child or a six-foot-tall adult. In time, he hired as many as twenty-six employees, and they shined 2,000 shoes in one day. He also maintained a shoe repair business in the back of his shop. Short’s business provided jobs for young black students who attended the university and needed to help support themselves. Rather than exploit their labor, Short gave them 50 percent of the money that they took in. Numerous accounts exist of contemporary black businessmen who worked as shoe shiners when they were in their youth. Among them is Cleophus Ashburn, an eighty-two-year-old Detroit resident and retired automobile factory worker who grew up in the Black Bottom section on the east side. He shined shoes there and used his wages to purchase a Western Flyer bicycle. Similarly, Kenneth Cunning, a second-generation operator of Village Shoe Repair near downtown Milwaukee, hustled the central-city tavern circuit in that city early on. As a child, he built his own shoe box to carry his wares and to provide a resting place for the feet of his customers. Other shoe shine businesses operated within shoe repair shops; however, statistical data on shoe shining as a separate business are lacking. For these and other black-owned businesses to grow, Pierce called for the owners to study the market; examine its purchasing habits and preferences; improve standards of service; give special attention to good record-keeping, advertising, and experience of the facility; study the location of certain lines of business; and venture into partnerships and cooperatives. PRESERVING ASPECTS OF BLACK CULTURE Curley Randle (1944– ), owner of Mighty Fine Shoe Repair in Houston, Texas, operates a shoe shine business as well as a shoe repair business. He became interested in the trade in the 1950s and 1960s and visited neighborhood parlors to watch men shining shoes. He wanted to master the trade. Randle and his brother started working at different local car dealerships, shining shoes for the salesmen and later for the customers, both men and women, who waited for their cars. He continues his shining business by taking his service to local sites such as Duke Energy, the 3DI Building, and the U.S. Home.

724

Joseph Jacob Simmons III

As African Americans celebrate their heritage with festivals and outings, they acknowledge their rich history and showcase, among other activities, their history as owners of businesses. An example may be seen in Franklin County, Virginia, where on August 20–21, 2004, the Warren Street Festival 2004 was held. Local residents celebrated the black heritage of Rocky Mount and Franklin County, particularly citing former slave Stephen Warren who, over a hundred years ago, built a house at Warren and West Court Street in Rocky Mount, Virginia, and raised a large family. Warren Street was named in his honor and continues as a center of African American business enterprises in the town and county. Among the businesses that have flourished there is the Morgan Dixon Shoe Shine shop. African American shoe shining enterprises continue in various places. Some, however, may be losing out to decisions of public agencies and officials who set policies for businesses in public facilities. For example, in 1998 the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), the agency with control over the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, sought to close a shoe shining business run by six elderly African American men. Owner Royal Zeno had operated in the airport for thirty-six years. Public outcry emerged and gave city officials everywhere important factors for consideration: Facilities such as airports belong to a geographic community, and therefore community concern should be a factor in determining decisions that affect local businesses, such as Zeno’s shoe shine parlor. Sources ‘‘Curley Randle Not Only Shines, but Repairs Shoes at Mighty Fine Shoe Repair.’’ African American News & Issues—Archives. http://www.aframnews.com/archives/ 2002November2002-11-06/archives_nov06_feat1.htm. Davis, Julia. ‘‘Short’s Shoe Shine.’’ Negro History Bulletin 3 (January 1940): 54. ‘‘In the Steps of Esterban: Tucson’s African American Heritage. A Brief History: Establishing Neighborhoods.’’ http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/esteban/neighborhoods/ html. Morris, David. ‘‘Does Community Matter?’’ http://www.ilsr.org/columns/1998/ 071698.html. Pierce, Joseph A. Negro Business and Business Education: Their Present and Prospective Development. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1947. Reprint, Westport, CT: Negro Universities Press, 1971. ‘‘Warren Street Festival 2004.’’ http://visitfranklincountyva.com/warrenstreet/ warren_ street.htm.

Jessie Carney Smith

Joseph Jacob Simmons III (1925–2002), Engineer, Federal Commissioner Joseph Jacob Simmons III was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, on March 26, 1925, to Jacob Jr. and Eva S. (Flowers). From 1942 to 1944 and from 1946 to 1947, he was a student at the University of Detroit. Simmons married Bernice Elizabeth Miller on January 30, 1947. Their children are Joseph Jacob

725

Joseph Jacob Simmons III

IV, Mary Agnes, Bernice, Jacolyn, and Eva Frances. He received his B.S. degree in geological engineering from St. Louis University in 1949. He served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1944 to 1946. He was youth director for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1950 to 1955. Simmons was a candidate for the Oklahoma House of Representatives and the Muskogee City Council, both campaigns in 1956. Simmons was vice president of his family’s Oklahoma oil business before being recruited to work at the U.S. Department of Interior during the Kennedy administration. Simmons Royalty Company was headed by his father, an independent oil producer and broker whose exploits were recounted in Jonathan Greenberg’s 1990 book Staking a Claim: Jake Simmons and the Making of an African-American Oil Dynasty. From 1949 to 1961, Simmons also served as secretary-treasurer and geologist for Simmons Royalty Company in Muskogee. After an extensive tour, he compiled a geological report on the mineral and oil repositories in Liberia. During that time he was the agent/owner of the Simmons Insurance Agency in Muskogee. In 1962, he served for a year as the regional oil and gas mobilization specialist for the U.S. Department of the Interior in Battle Creek, Michigan. From 1970 to 1982, Simmons was the vice president for government relations for the Amerada Hess Corporation in New York City. He began working as a domestic petroleum production specialist for the Office of Oil and Gas in Washington, D.C. in 1962. He advised the Interior Department on all technical matters and policy decisions dealing with domestic gas and oil exploration, drilling, production, and conservation practices. He was promoted to assistant director of the Office of Oil and Gas in 1966. Simmons consulted the department on the formulation of federal policy on the proper development of domestic and foreign petroleum and natural gas resources. In 1968, he became the deputy administrator of the Oil Import Administration, and in 1970, he was promoted to vice president and assistant to the chairman of the board. Simmons’s work for the U.S. government included service as an undersecretary for the Department of the Interior from 1983 to 1984. In 1982, he was appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as one of six commissioners for the Interstate Commerce Commission, where he served as vice chairman in 1986, 1989, and 1993. He was a commissioner on the President’s Commission on Executive Exchange from 1970 to 1981 and a member of the fuel oil marketing advisory committee for the Department of Energy from 1978 to 1982 and the Department of the Interior Outer Continental Shelf Advisory Board beginning in 1984. Simmons was vice chair of the Surface Transportation Board from 1995 to 1997. In 2000, the Surface Transportation Board named a boardroom ‘‘The J. J. Simmons III Boardroom’’ in his honor. He was a commissioner on the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Commission from 1983 to 1988. His awards from the Interior Department include a Special Act of Service in 1963, an Outstanding Performance award in 1968, and a Distinguished Service award

726

Russell Simmons

in 1970. He became president of the Simmons Company in 1997. After he retired, Simmons was a consultant to energy, railroad, and transportation companies. He was a director of Forest Oil Corp. and Trenton Works rail car manufacturing company. He held memberships in the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, where he received their public service award in 1984; the American Institute of Mining; the National Academy of Science Board of Mineral and Energy; and the National Academy of Science Board of Earth Sciences and Resources. He received an Alumni Merit award from St. Louis University in 1968 and an honorary degree from Madonna University in 1991. Simmons served on the board of trustees of Madonna College in Livonia, Michigan, from 1969 to 1976 and started his service on the board of the Morehouse College School of Medicine in Atlanta in 1990. Simmons died December 19, 2002, at his Washington, D.C. home of heart and kidney ailments. He left an important legacy in the area of geology and in the petroleum industry. Sources Greenberg, Jonathan D. Staking a Claim: Jake Simmons and the Making of an AfricanAmerican Oil Dynasty. New York: Atheneum, 1990. ‘‘Joseph Simmons Dies; Interior Undersecretary.’’ Washington Post, January 2, 2003. ‘‘Simmons, Joseph Jacob III.’’ African American Biographies, 2: Profiles of 332 Current Men and Women. By Walter L. Hawkins. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, 1994. ‘‘Simmons, Joseph Jacob III.’’ Who’s Who among African Americans. 17th ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994.

Kathleen E. Bethel

Russell Simmons (1957– ), Music Promoter, Business Entrepreneur With an eye for talent and an ear attuned to his audience, Russell Simmons introduced African American urban youth culture into mainstream America. Simmons made a fortune promoting two of his loves: hip-hop music and clothing. Through his company Rush Communications, he ventured into a number of arenas in the performing arts, created a clothing line called Phat Fashions, and developed a host of other business ventures. Clad in T-shirt, jeans, baseball cap, and sneakers, he frequently conducts business by cell phone. Known as the Godfather of Hip-Hop, he has significantly influenced American culture and the fashion industry. He gives back to his community, especially to New York City and Palm Beach County’s urban youth, through Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, an organization that supports the arts. Simmons’s parents, Daniel and Evelyn, lived in middle-class Hollis, Queens, New York City. His father taught school and later became attendance supervisor for Queens District 29. His mother worked for the city as

727

Russell Simmons

recreation director. His father’s political activism and both parents’ artistic natures played a part in shaping his own and his brothers’ lives. Simmons’s older brother Daniel (Danny) became an artist and novelist. Younger brother Joseph (Joey) became known as Run, first in the music group RunD.M.C. and later as ordained minister Reverend Run. Russell, the middle son, born on October 4, 1957, became an entrepreneur. In 1998, he married supermodel Kimora Lee. The Simmonses have two daughters, Ming Lee and Aoki Lee. Bored by school, young Simmons joined a street gang, the Seven Immortals, and became their warlord. His earliest experience with business skills involved selling marijuana and fake cocaine on street corners. He loved clothes and spent much of his money at A. J. Lester’s, a store specializing in upscale ghetto clothing. Simmons worked briefly for Orange Julius in Greenwich Village but lost the job for throwing oranges into the street. At Harlem’s City College of New York, he studied sociology and spent his evenings in dance clubs, concerts, and restaurants. In the student lounge, Simmons met Rudy Toppin, who introduced him to promoting shows and nicknamed him Rush. In his autobiography Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money and God (2001), Simmons records a turning point in his life. In 1977, at Charles’ Gallery, he heard disc jockey Eddie Cheeba chanting rhymes and found himself captivated by the audience’s excitement. It ‘‘made me feel I had just witnessed the invention of the wheel. . . . Just like that, I saw how I could turn my life in another, better way,’’ he recalls. Deciding to invest his street skills into promoting music, Simmons left college in 1979, just four or five credits short of graduation. He and friend Curtis Walker arranged parties and concerts. At one particularly rough juncture, when Simmons had spent all his money on a show no one attended, his mother gave him $2,000. He later recalled that her belief in him far outweighed the money. By 1979, Simmons helped Walker, now known as Kurtis Blow, begin his career. The two flew to Amsterdam, where Simmons met further encouragement. People there addressed him as Mr. Simmons. This small sign of respect helped him believe in his own potential. Together, Walker and Simmons wrote ‘‘Christmas Rappin’,’’ a single that was popular that year. In 1983, he helped form and promoted Run-D.M.C., the group that included his brother Joey. In 1984, he teamed with Rick Rubin, a New York University student who ran a small record label, Def Jam, from his dorm room. In 1985, CBS Records approached the two and agreed to distribute their records—a $600,000 deal. Other successes included LL Cool J’s first album Bigger and Deffer (1987), the Beastie Boy’s Licensed to Ill (1986), and Run-D.M.C.’s Raising Hell (1986). The song ‘‘My Adidas’’ from Raising Hell led to a million-dollar sponsorship from the Adidas company, the first deal of its kind between an athletic wear company and nonathletes. Simmons refused to censor hip-hop lyrics, ‘‘attitude,’’ or violence, maintaining that the music reflected the reality of life on the streets. He wanted audiences to hear these voices and believed that authenticity could encourage

728

Russell Simmons

urban black youth to believe in their own possibilities for success. He saw what others failed to see—that rap music would influence mainstream America by remaining true to itself. By 1986, rap music had achieved pop status. Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith’s remake of ‘‘Walk This Way’’ became rap’s first top-five hit and the first rap video to achieve significant airplay on MTV. These successes led to promoting Public Enemy, Oran ‘‘Juice’’ Jones, the Beastie Boys, the rap duo D. J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, among other groups. Simmons’s music promotions resulted in ten gold albums, six platinum albums, and two multiplatinum albums. Always alert to his audience, he soon launched other new ventures. Def Pictures produced the films Krush Groove (1985) and Tougher Than Leather (1988). In 1990, two years after Rubin left Def Jam to form his own company, Simmons established Rush Communications and began sponsoring Def Comedy Jam and Def Poetry Jam tours. The Def Comedy Jam series was a hit series on HBO from 1992–1997. By 1992, Rush Communications had become the second largest entertainment company owned by an African American. In 1992, Simmons created a casual urban clothing line called Phat Fashions, starting with men’s and boys’ wear labeled Phat Farm. Boutiques in Manhattan and Los Angeles first carried the clothes that now sell through retail stores. Kimora serves as designer, president, and creative director for Baby Phat, a women’s and girls’ line launched in 2000. Sometimes she records songs to give away with purchases. In 1993, Simmons launched Oneworld magazine. In 1995, he participated in a documentary titled The Show that chronicled the impact of hip-hop on America’s culture. Rush Media Company, a new advertising and marketing business, began producing award-winning ads for Coca-Cola in 1996. With Stan Lathan and Bill Brillstein, Simmons formed SLBG Entertainment, an agency promoting actors and entertainers. More films appeared: The Addiction (1995), The Nutty Professor and The Funeral (1996), and How to Be a Player and Gridlock’d (1997). In 1998, the syndicated television program Oneworld Music Beat with Russell Simmons premiered. In 2000, Simmons launched a Web site—http://360hip-hop.com— spearheaded by Stan Lathan, which merged with BET.com in 2001. The site featured music, news, politics, lifestyle, and culture. In conjunction with Rock the Vote, the site launched Rap the Vote, seeking to register a million voters while encouraging youth to vote. In 2002, Black Enterprise named Rush Communications its Company of the Year, and Fortune named Simmons one of the ‘‘50 Most Powerful Black Executives.’’ Highlights of other ventures include: the men’s cologne ‘‘Premium,’’ created with Stern Fragrances; a hip-hop–based multicultural television network; a luxury watch by Italy’s Grimoldi; and an energy drink named DefCon3, distributed by 7-Eleven. Russell, and then Kimora, designed limited edition Motorola cell phones featuring their names. Simmons even created the Rush Visa Card, a prepaid debit card for people with nonexistent

729

Russell Simmons

or low bank accounts. In 2003, his Broadway show Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam on Broadway won a Tony for the Best Special Theatrical Event. In his adult years, Simmons has become a yoga devotee, a vegan, and a Democrat. He also directs his energies to include political and philanthropic ventures. Through his Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, cofounded in 2001 with Benjamin Chavis, he encourages political involvement among young people. He endorses political candidates and supports slave reparations. He successfully fought for the repeal of New York’s Rockefeller Drug Laws that have sent many youth to prison for minor offenses. He has served as a trustee of the National Urban League. He annually sponsors hip-hop summits where people from various walks of life focus on issues regarding rap music. Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, cofounded by the Simmons brothers, reaches out to disadvantaged youth to provide significant experiences with the arts. Each year, the foundation sponsors Art for Life, gala benefits in the Hamptons and Palm Beach, and a Youth Holiday Party. The Rush Community Grants Program supports nonprofit arts and education programming for New York City’s youth. The Rush Arts Gallery and Resource Center provides mentoring programs in the arts for children in New York and exhibition space in the Chelsea Arts district. The Rush Impact Mentorship Initiative gives urban youth the opportunity to meet and talk with the staff at Phat Farm, both on site and in their own communities. Simmons finds himself equally at home with Louis Farrakhan, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and friends from his old neighborhood. He has achieved success by remaining genuine, by supporting the ideas of creative people, by listening closely to his audience, and by taking risks. Not all of his ventures have proven successful. Simmons has a talent for knowing when to stay with a project and when to move on. He banked on hip-hop’s power to influence American culture. Having gained wealth, he now seeks to give back, especially to America’s urban youth. Through his persistence and his authenticity, he has set an example for entrepreneurs of all races. See also: Retail Industry Sources Berfield, Susan, Diane Brady, and Tom Lowry. ‘‘The CEO of Hip Hop.’’ Business Week 3855 (October 27, 2003): 90–96. Hughes, Alan. ‘‘Phat Profits?’’ Black Enterprise 32 (June 2002): 149–156. Mueller, Michael E., and Leslie Rochelle. ‘‘Russell Simmons.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 30. Ed. Ashyia N. Henderson. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Roberts, Johnnie L. ‘‘Beyond Definition.’’ Newsweek 142 (July 28, 2003): 40–43. ‘‘Simmons, Russell.’’ Current Biography Yearbook 1998. Ed. Elizabeth A. Schick. New York: H. W. Wilson Company, 1998. Simmons, Russell, with Nelson George. Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money and God. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001. Vaughn, Christopher. ‘‘Russell Simmons’ Rush for Profits.’’ Black Enterprise 23 (December 1992): 66–72.

Marie Garrett

730

Naomi R. Sims

Naomi R. Sims (1949– ), Model, Beauty Products Entrepreneur Naomi Sims strutted into the world of fashion in the 1960s as one of the country’s first black supermodels. Sims’s striking and inimitable beauty proved to be what the fashion industry was looking for, as evidenced by appearances on the cover of Time magazine in 1969, Vogue in 1973, and Ladies’ Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, McCall’s, Life, and the New York Times special ‘‘Fashion of the Times.’’ Born in Oxford, Mississippi, on March 30, 1949, Sims was already five feet ten inches tall by the time she was in the eighth grade. She was sent to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for high school, to improve her education. Although she felt awkward and ostracized, her upbringing taught her to walk with pride and dignity. Sims chose to attend New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, but she ran short on funds, and she began supporting herself by posing for fashion illustrators. Because this was the 1960s, black people—and certainly black women—were not in the forefront of American society. She was a national symbol of the ‘‘Black Is Beautiful’’ movement. Never had a model so dark skinned received so much admiration, recognition, and professional prestige. Her dynamic professional runway modeling career lasted from 1967 to 1973 and was characterized by the fact that she was dark skinned and long. Her image was the opposite of what conventional America had previously associated with beauty. Sims, the first top black female model to appear in virtually every fashion magazine in the world, retired from professional modeling in 1973. She grew tired of the superficial values and landing jobs to fill racial quotas and not star quality. Sims decided to devote more time to business interests and writing. In the 1970s, black women bought from 40 to 50 percent of all wigs sold. Sims took full advantage of the thriving market by launching the Naomi Sims Collection in 1976. Soon it became one of the largest brandnamed manufacturers of wig products. Sims capitalized on the black haircare market by designing and manufacturing the first ‘‘natural-looking wigs’’ designed with black hair texture in mind. When she initially began her entrepreneurial journey, she was met with considerable resistance from the leading department stores of the time, which saw no value in promoting wigs to women of color. She was convinced that she knew more about realistic projections of styles black women were interested in than the corporate boards that turned her down. She stood her ground, and in its first year of operation, the Naomi Sims Collection grossed over $5 million. A cosmetic line, Naomi Sims Beauty Products, Limited, was launched in 1986 and by 1988 had already exceeded $5 million in profits. Naomi Sims Cosmetics expanded in 2003 as her products were made available to the Canadian market, including a wide array of hair and skin beautification

731

Naomi R. Sims

products for women. The Canadian campaign also represented Sims’s philanthropic interests. The initial event to promote the line was used as a fund-raiser for charity work, where it was decided that looking good and feeling great were important within communities of people of color. Such philanthropy is consistent with Sims’s commitment to giving back. She portrays a positive image and also gives her time to community needs. Similarly, she renders service through organizational membership with the Harlem Northside Center for Child Development (board of directors); Women’s Firm, Inc; Play Schools Association; Sickle Cell Anemia Drive (panel member and lecturer); and the New York State Drug Rehabilitation Program. Her lists of accomplishments have been recognized throughout space and time accordingly. The list includes Model of the Year Award, 1969 and 1970; Modeling Hall of Fame, International Mannequins, 1977; Woman of the Country, International Mannequins, 1977; Women of Achievement, American Cancer Society, 1972; Top Hat Award, New Pittsburgh Courier, 1974; Ladies’ Home Journal Woman of Achievement, 1970; Ebony Success Library; International Best-Dressed List, 1971–1973, 1976, and 1977; New York City Board of Education Award, 1970; Key to the City of Cleveland Recipient, 1970; and Lifetime Achievement Award from Fashion & Arts Xchange, 2003. Further in recognition of her accomplishments, the governor of Illinois proclaimed September 20, 1973, as Naomi Sims day. Such adulation has been earned genuinely by Sims, whose All about Health and Beauty for the Black Woman (1986) has become standard reference material for women of color regarding matters of makeup, diet, hairstyles, exercise, elegance, and aging. Other books by Sims include How to Be a Top Model (1979) and All about Success for the Black Woman (1982). Sims became the first black woman accepted as a beauty in her own right; her image of ‘‘elegance and regality’’ inspired pride in all women of color. Sims has proven to be a more-than-capable businesswoman, and her example is one of beauty as well as intelligence. She is not only a pioneer black model but a pioneer businesswoman as well, across all races. She is married to Michael Alistar Findlay, and they have one child, Pip. See also: Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources Fashion Institute of New York. http://www.fitnyc.suny.edu. Tropicana Community. http://www.tropicanacommunity.org/news/news.php. 20th Century American Leaders Database. http://www.hbs.edu/leadership/database/ leaders/827. Unity First. http://www.unityfirst.com/naomisims.htm. White, Renee Minus. ‘‘Original Super Model Naomi Sims Is Honored at FIT.’’ Amsterdam News Online, March 6, 2003. http://www.amsterdamnews.org/News/ article.asp?NewsID¼23619&sID¼24. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Shannon L. Mathis

732

Norma Merrick Sklarek

Norma Merrick Sklarek (1928– ), Architect, Educator, Entrepreneur Norma Sklarek’s remarkable career is filled with notable ‘‘firsts.’’ In 1954, she became the first African American woman to be licensed as an architect in the state of New York and, in fact, in the United States. Eight years later, in 1962, she became the first African American woman to become a licensed architect in the state of California. Sklarek was the first African American woman director of architecture at Gruen and Associates, a prestigious architectural firm in Los Angeles. In 1980, she was the first woman to be honored by her peers and elected fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Of special note in her list of ‘‘firsts’’ is that Sklarek was the first African American woman to establish an architectural firm. During her long and rewarding career, she has produced a number of award-winning projects. Further, her career has not been limited to the practice of architecture, but she taught and lectured extensively and made significant contributions to her profession by service to professional organizations and by scholarly contributions to architectural journals and other publications. Sklarek was the only child of Walter Ernest Merrick, a medical doctor, and Amy Willoughby Merrick. She was born on April 15, 1928, in Harlem, New York. Her parents were from the Caribbean—her mother from Barbados and her father from St. Vincent. She grew up during the era of the Great Depression; thus, the family had limited financial resources. Since money was not available to hire help, it was out of necessity that little Norma learned self-sufficiency by doing chores and helping her father around the house with projects such as painting and carpentry work. Sklarek was educated in New York’s public school system. She attended Hunter High, a top-rated magnate school for New York City’s girls. Hunter High accepted only the best students who excelled in English and mathematics. She was an excellent student and very interested in art, mathematics, and the sciences. Sklarek’s parents wanted her to have a profession, and when the time came to choose a career, her academic preparation and her grades would have given her entry into any number of fields. At her father’s suggestion, however, she chose architecture. In order to underline the significance of this career choice, it is important to give brief consideration to the political and social climate of this country during this period. At the time that young Sklarek chose this career, racism and sexism reigned with impunity in the organizations and institutions of the nation. Many of the higher education institutions with architecture programs did not accept blacks at all, and the architectural program at Columbia, her institution of choice, had a quota system that would make it very difficult for a black woman to gain entry there. Despite these obstacles she persevered. As required by Columbia prior to seeking admission to the architecture program, she studied liberal arts for one year at Barnard College, then applied and won out over the competition and successfully gained entry into

733

Norma Merrick Sklarek

Columbia’s architecture program. According to Sklarek, the architecture classes were tough. She was the youngest and least mature student in all of her classes; some of the students in her classes already had bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Competition was fierce. But the self-sufficiency and determination learned in her childhood came to her rescue. She successfully completed the undergraduate architecture program, receiving a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1950. In 1954, she successfully passed the thirty-sixhour, four-day licensing exam on the first try. Such a feat was often unheard of at that time, and it surprised the dean and many of her fellow students. Subsequently, in 1954, she became the first African American woman to become a licensed architect in New York State and in the United States. With these accomplishments behind her, Sklarek was about to face her biggest challenge until this point—finding a job in her chosen field. In spite of her credentials and her exhaustive job search (she applied to about twenty firms without positive results), she found it very difficult to find work in an architectural firm. Finally, her stellar academic achievements were noticed, and she was offered and accepted a position as architect at the esteemed firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. She worked for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill from 1955 until 1960. In 1960, Sklarek joined Gruen and Associates in Los Angeles, where she became director of architecture and head of the architecture department. She was responsible for technical documents and a portfolio of large, notable commercial projects. She was the first African American woman hired in such a capacity. For the next twenty years at Gruen and Associates, she was in charge of a variety of large projects such as the American embassy in Tokyo, Japan; the award-winning Fox Hills Mall in Culver City, California; the California Mart, a 2.5 million-square-foot international merchandising complex; and the San Bernardino, California, City Hall, which was selected as one of the Nation’s Outstanding City Halls by the Library of Congress and the American Institute of Architects. Sklarek credits her years at Gruen and Associates with broadening her horizons and preparing her for future professional challenges. In 1980, she moved to Welton Becket Associates in Los Angeles as a vice president and project director for Passenger Terminal One of the Los Angeles’ International Airport project. Skylark was under considerable pressure to have the airport terminal operational in time for the 1984 Olympics to be held in Los Angeles. Her solid professional preparation and her ‘‘stick-to-it’’ attitude allowed her to successfully complete the project on time when many of the male project leaders working on other airport projects were less successful. In 1985, Sklarek and two other partners, Margot Siegel and Katherine Diamond, formed an architectural partnership, Siegel-Sklarek-Diamond Architects. This was the largest woman-owned and mostly woman-staffed firm in the country. However, the projects that the firm was able to acquire were smaller than those to which Sklarek had been accustomed, and that, coupled with her concerns about the prospect of personal liability associated with architectural projects, convinced her to leave the partnership in 1989.

734

Norma Merrick Sklarek

She became a principal at the Jerde Partnership in 1989. From 1989 until 1992, she managed and reviewed the functional and technological aspects of projects. In this capacity, she assured the final review of the integration of all architectural details and engineering systems into the designs. Sklarek has lectured and taught architecture at New York City College and the University of California, Los Angeles. She was admitted to the American Institute of Architects in 1966 and served as director of its Los Angeles chapter; she was a member and chair of the AIA’s National Ethics Council for three years and vice president of the California Council AIA. She was director of the University of Southern California Architect Guild. She served as commissioner to the California Board of Architectural Examiners and master and juror for the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. She wrote ‘‘Women in Architecture,’’ published in the Encyclopedia of Architecture: Design, Engineering and Construction (1990). She served as technical adviser of the Architectural Graphic Standards. She speaks about her experiences and career in the books I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America (1989), and African American Architects in Current Practice (1990). Although some of her more notable projects are referenced here, Sklarek has many other projects to her credit. Those include, but are not limited to, many shopping centers in various cities throughout the country. Sklarek spent more than fifty trailblazing years fully involved in her industry. To honor her contributions, Howard University awards a scholarship in her name—the Norma Merrick Sklarek Architectural Scholarship Award. She is a pioneer in her field and a great role model not only for African American women but for all women. That she deserves a place in the history books is undeniable. Sklarek is the mother of three children—two sons, Gregory and David, and one daughter, Susan. Now semiretired, she is active in her profession in a reduced capacity. She lives in Palisades, California, in the home built for her by her first husband, architect Rolf Sklarek, who died in 1985. She shares that home with her second husband, Cornelius Welch, a medical doctor, whom she married in 1985. See also: Women and Business Sources ‘‘Harlem Renaissance—Norma Sklarek: The 1st African American Woman Architect.’’ http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/harlemrenaissance/89270. Hodges, Carolyn. ‘‘Norma Sklarek.’’ Notable Black American Women. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Lanker, Brian. I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America. New York: Stewart, Tabori, and Chang, 1989. ‘‘Norma Sklarek.’’ http://nj.essortment.com/normasklarek_rqbo.htm. Travis, Jack, ed. African American Architects in Current Practice. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1990. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Alicia Henry

735

‘‘B’’ Smith

‘‘B’’ Smith. See Barbara B. Smith

Barbara ‘‘B’’ Smith (1949– ), Model, Restauranteur, Lifestyle Expert, Television Host, Author Barbara ‘‘B’’ Smith has built her career around style, achieving success in a variety of industries: modeling, acting, owning restaurants, writing books, publishing a magazine, hosting a television show, and marketing housewares. Describing herself to Andrea Lillo as a ‘‘lifestyle general practitioner,’’ she directs her talents toward living with style and helping others to do so. Along the way, she has achieved many ‘‘firsts’’ for African American women. The early days of Barbara Smith’s life set the stage for her interest in the lifestyle industry. She was born on August 24, 1949, in Everson, Pennsylvania. Her father, William H. Smith, a steelworker, used his construction skills to create an attractive home for his wife, daughter, and three sons. Her mother, Florence Claybrook Smith, a part-time maid, taught Barbara cooking and homemaking skills. Life in the Smiths’ home centered around the kitchen, and Barbara often watched her mother, grandmother, and aunts prepare food and entertain family gatherings. Having strong role models, Smith loved and excelled in home economics in high school. But she had not yet envisioned the scope of her career. Her heart was set on becoming a model. While attending high school, she enrolled in John Robert Powers Modeling School in Pittsburgh. After completing both in 1967, she moved to Pittsburgh to pursue modeling. TransWorld Airlines, after conducting a national search, hired her as their first black ground hostess. A couple of years later, at the age of nineteen, she participated in New York’s Ebony Fashion Fair and remained in New York City. Eventually, she modeled for the well-known Wilhelmina agency. In July 1976, she became the first African American cover model for Mademoiselle. She also graced the covers of Essence and Ebony. Modeling led to acting. During the 1970s, she appeared in hundreds of print ads, radio spots, and television commercials for such well-known companies as Revlon, Clairol, Noxzema, Crest, Hertz, Excedrin, Equal, and Oil of Olay. She also performed, sang, and danced in off-Broadway and summer stock productions in New York. Smith understood the brevity of modeling careers and believed in goal setting. She loved cooking and hosting dinner parties. Around 1975, she decided to try the restaurant business. As she traveled and lived in various world cities like Paris, Milan, Vienna, and Los Angeles, she paid attention to food and to style, asked questions, and collected recipes.

736

Barbara ‘‘B’’ Smith

OPENS RESTAURANT In the early 1980s, Smith began learning the restaurant business in earnest. She started as a hostess for Ark’s America in New York and worked her way to floor manager. In 1986, she became the first person outside Ark Restaurants Corporation to own a share of the business. She opened her first restaurant in an unlikely and rundown location in New York’s theater district. The menu featured international cuisine, served in an elegant, yet casual setting. B Smith, as she calls herself, not only made a success of her own business but as a charter member of the Times Square Business Improvement District, also contributed to attracting other businesses to the area. She was the first black woman to become a trustee of the Culinary Institute of America. Smith eventually achieved ownership of the New York location and opened other restaurants, one at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station in 1994 and one in Sag Harbor on Long Island, New York, in 1998. Again, she worked hard, spending long days in the restaurants, thoughtfully selecting menus, carefully hiring employees, decorating with distinctive colors, and making an extra effort to greet and talk with customers. She adapted each restaurant to the locale, serving Cajun, Creole, and Southern cuisine at Union Station and featuring local seafood and New American cuisine in Sag Harbor. Offering entertainment as well as food, the restaurants host book readings, music programs, cultural events, and political gatherings. Smith’s culinary expertise led her into the publishing industry, beginning with a quarterly newsletter containing recipes and lifestyle information. Then in 1995, Artisan Press published B. Smith’s Entertaining and Cooking for Friends, which, according to Robert Dahlin, was ‘‘the first glossy book of its kind written by a highly visible African American.’’ A mixture of home cooking and international cuisine, the book focuses on entertaining with style for busy people. Her second book, B. Smith, Rituals and Celebrations, released by Random House in 1999, features recipes and suggestions for planning a variety of special occasions. That year, she also began to publish her own magazine, B Smith with Style. In partnership with her husband, television producer Dan Gasby, she debuted in her own half-hour nationally syndicated television show, B. Smith with Style, in 1997. Much of the filming for the show takes place in the Sag Harbor home they share with Dan’s daughter Dana. She has appeared as a guest on many other television shows, including the Today Show, Good Morning America, and Oprah Winfrey. Eventually, Smith embarked on another business venture, this one with Bed, Bath and Beyond. Initially, she developed her own line of bedding, then expanded into products such as wall coverings, housewares, and other home furnishings. Cotton, Inc. awarded her its Textile Designer Award for her Puzzle Box quilt design, produced by Keeco. Having experienced success as an entrepreneur, Smith makes mentoring other young black women a priority. She wants to help young black women

737

Paula A. Sneed

realize the opportunities open to them and to help provide scholarships for them. She serves as a role model by participating in a number of organizations, including the New York Women’s Foundation, Links, Equity, the Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists. She serves on the board of Feminist Press. She raises funds for a variety of causes on behalf of women, children, and minorities. Her initiative and hard work have resulted in awards such as the Frederick Douglass Medallion from the New York Urban League, the NAACP Spirit Award, and the Honorable Tribute Award from the Roundtable for Women in Foodservice. Elle D
ecor magazine honored her as one of America’s ten most outstanding nonprofessional chefs. Smith loves to learn, works hard to meet her goals, and steadily progresses toward new ones. As she does so, she maintains a willingness to attempt new ventures. ‘‘I’m like a jazz musician,’’ she told Barrie Gillies. ‘‘I improvise as I go along. I’m not afraid to change a recipe at the last minute and I’m not afraid to fail. That’s how you create your taste, your personal style.’’ She describes her own style to Nicola Godfrey as ‘‘simplicity with a certain richness, especially conveyed in colors.’’ As she lives out that style, Debra Dickerson says that ‘‘Smith is leading America to reimagine black women as black ladies.’’ See also: Fashion Industry; Food Service Industry; Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources Brennan, Carol. ‘‘Barbara Smith.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book III. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 2003. Dahlin, Robert. ‘‘Entertaining with B. Smith and Workman.’’ Publishers Weekly 242 (February 27, 1995): 38–39. Dickerson, Debra. ‘‘The Elements of Style.’’ Village Voice (November 9, 1999): 67. Gillies, Barrie. ‘‘Cover Girl Turned TV Teacher.’’ Good Housekeeping (November 1997): 30. Godfrey, Nicola. ‘‘Just B.’’ Working Woman 23 (November 1998): 30–32. Lillo, Andrea. ‘‘B. Smith Turns It On.’’ Home Textiles Today 21 (July 10, 2000): 34. Rubiner, Joanna. ‘‘Barbara Smith.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 11. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Sobkowski, Anna. ‘‘Beating the Odds.’’ Executive Female 12 (September–October 1989): 37–39, 61–62.

Marie Garrett

Paula A. Sneed (1947– ), Corporate Marketing Executive The success of Paula Sneed as a leading executive and power play marketer is one of women of color’s most beckoning examples of breaking through roadblocks of racism and sexism in America. Yet her persona is not as immediately recognizable as it should be. She was born on November 10, 1947, in Everett, Massachusetts, to Thomas E. and F. Mary Turner Sneed.

738

Paula A. Sneed

She is married to Lawrence P. Bass, and they have one daughter, Courtney. After securing a B.A. degree from Simmons College in 1969, Sneed worked in nonprofit social work before matriculating at the famed Harvard Business School, where she secured her M.B.A. with honors in 1977. Such preparation propelled Sneed into the managerial ranks of General Foods Corporation, which later merged with Kraft, as the assistant manager of products. This deserving opening of the gates at Kraft would prove quite advantageous for the company because twenty-eight years later, in 2005, Sneed’s contributions have been acknowledged appropriately to the extent of being named executive vice president and president of e-Commerce and Marketing Services. Additionally, Sneed is the only black on Kraft’s fifteen-member policymaking and implementing team referred to as the Kraft Food’s Management Committee. Sneed exemplified the necessary intelligence, resilience, and innovative adaptability required to climb to the top of North America’s largest food company. Sneed’s rise through company ranks began in 1980 with a promotion to product manager of the Main Meals Division and followed promptly in 1983 with a promotion to category manager for the Desserts Division. She broke ranks into executive superstardom in 1986 as vice president of consumer affairs. In 1990 and 1991, respectively, Sneed assumed greater responsibility and internal influence as senior vice president of the Food Service Division and as executive vice president and general manager of the Desserts Division. Perhaps Sneed’s greatest attributes are her marketing sensibilities and ability to adapt to changing times in the era of Internet suaveness as an effective medium of consumer solicitation and as an ultimate determinate in increasing sales. Accordingly, in 1995, Sneed was named Kraft Foods senior vice president and in 1999 chief marketing officer for all company endeavors. Later that same year, Sneed’s heights continued ascending as she was named executive vice president for the entire company and president of a newly formed specialized entity called e-commerce. The added responsibility amassed by Sneed centered around the management of over $1.5 billion a year in world-class marketing, advertisement, public relations, research, promotions, and sales of company brands such as Kraft cheese, Maxwell House and Jacobs coffees, Philadelphia cream cheese, milk chocolates, Post cereals, Nabisco crackers and cookies, and Oscar Myers meat products. In the case of her additional post as e-commerce president, Sneed is credited with conceptualizing and steering strategic moves that currently drive company initiatives in the more than 150 countries where Kraft foods and beverages are consumed and enjoyed. Further rewarding of her accomplishments appeared in the form of another work-based promotion to group vice president, Kraft Foods North America, and president of e-Commerce and Marketing Services in 2000. Sneed has never been one to selfishly withhold the gems of success that have helped her reach her goals. To the contrary, she has been called upon on numerous occasions to provide insight, encouragement, and direction for aspiring women and particularly those of color in the dynamic fields of

739

Paula A. Sneed

business. At the fourth annual Women’s Forum cosponsored by Michigan Business Women and the University of Michigan’s Office of Career Development in March 1996, Sneed pushed the trailblazer analogy to describe women’s muddied navigation through corporate red tape and bigotry. Arguing for the continued need to move ‘‘rocks,’’ clear ‘‘brushes,’’ notch ‘‘trees,’’ and forever be cognizant of ‘‘wild animals,’’ Sneed’s keynote address was relevant beyond the obvious exchange of words. She appealed to the greater need for individual change in the context of adapting to the times. Moreover, her remarks suggesting that one should not expect life to deal a fair hand were received favorably as well. The telecommunications field has received Sneed favorably also, as is evident in her substantial contributions in training, research, and serviceoriented initiatives. Her conceptual skills were highlighted at the International Association of Food Industry Suppliers’ inaugural Food eBiz Conference, October 8–10, 2000, in Washington, D.C. Through leading of a session titled ‘‘E-Service: What It Takes to Exceed Customer Expectations in an E-Business Environment,’’ Sneed’s work at Kraft was partially used as a model for other corporations’ electronic marketing potentiality. In similar fashion, Sneed proved important in Forrester Research Inc.’s launching of new consumer packaged goods market focus analyses in Chicago, October 17–18, 2001. In-depth research penetration looking at how emerging technologies such as the Internet reshaped existing business practices of the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry was the designed focus of inquiry as facilitated by Sneed. CPG brand managers, marketers, e-tailers, retailers, and Internet executives at the senior level all benefited from the keen insight afforded from Sneed and her critical assessments based on exploration of what technologies will reshape the CPG industries and how profitability can be increased by retail and manufacturing sales through technology. The trailblazing pace of Sneed only intensified as the 2000s moved forward. Recognized as one of the few dot.com ‘‘major players’’ left standing after the rapid demise of Internet businesses, in May 2001 she responded in an interview with Consumer Insight by addressing the upside to Internet marketing in the competitive field she represents. Her larger point was based on what she referred to as specialized marketing to individuals, selfsegments, and communities, wherein a more personalized approach could be implemented in message transmission since the Web is now an integral component of the average daily life. With her impeccable track record, it is small wonder that in 2002 she accepted the Award for Excellence in the Arts from The Theater School of DePaul University and in 2003 was referenced in the article ‘‘Why Black Women Keep Rising,’’ where she vehemently advocated ambition-filled pedagogical training from an early age. This model of success was instilled in her from childhood mentors and eventually led to her articulating the sincere desire to eventually become a top company executive. Never one to abandon crippling realities rampant in the professional world, Sneed noted that sexism and racism certainly are existing festers

740

Charles Clinton Spaulding

plaguing corporate America but insisted that they not become destabilizing to the degree where women and black women in particular give up hope. This determination launched Sneed to her most recent July 1, 2005, promotion at Kraft to executive vice president of its Marketing Resources and Initiatives. With this move Sneed also became a member of the board of directors of Charles Swab Corporation, a very influential firm. Additionally, Sneed is a trustee at Simmons College, her alma mater; Teach for America; Illinois Institute of Technology; and Chicago Children’s Museum. She is director of Airgas, the largest distributor of specialty, industrial, and medical gases, MRO products and services and supplies to commercial and industrial markets; and a member, Executive Leadership Council & the Chicago Network. Sneed’s accomplishments have been noted by Harvard Business School’s Black Alumni Association and Fortune’s ‘‘Most Powerful Black Executives’’ list. In appropriate form, Girls Inc. once recognized Sneed in a salute to power players who inspire all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. Sneed’s example is an inspiration to many. See also: Food Service Industry; Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources Airgas Investor Relations. http://www.shareholder.com/arg/bios.cfm?bio¼Sneed20. Associated Press. ‘‘Former Kraft CEO Resigns.’’ NorthwestHerald Online, June 25, 2005. http://www.nwherald.com?BusinessSection/301397061776360.php. Crockett, Roger O. ‘‘Why Black Women Keep Rising.’’ Business Week Online, July 14, 2003. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/contents/03_28/b3841116_ mz057.htm. Dorey, Shannon. ‘‘Business Models of the Dot Com Survivors.’’ Surf’s Up, May 2001. http://www.the-surfs-up.com/news/news6p1.html. Forrester Research. http://www.forrester.com/ER/Press/Release/0,1769,547,FF.html. Fortune. http://www.fortune.com/fortune/blackpower/snapshot/0,15307,24,00.html. Girls Inc. http://www.girlsinc.org/ic/page.php?id¼2.4.15. Keep Media. http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/RefrigeratedTransporter/2000/09/01/ 216211?extID¼100. Meyn, Susan. ‘‘Women’s Forum Spotlights Strategies for Women in Business.’’ University Record, March 26, 1996. http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9596/Mar26_ 96/artc114.htm. Simmons College. http://www.simmons.edu. Theatre School of DePaul University. http://theatreschool.depaul.edu/PROGRAMS/ GALA2002.htm. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Uzoma O. Miller

Charles Clinton Spaulding (1874–1952), Insurance Company Executive Charles Clinton Spaulding believed in hard work, in a cooperative spirit, and in America’s opportunities. Completing the eighth grade at the age of twenty-three, Spaulding eventually headed the world’s largest black-owned

741

Charles Clinton Spaulding

life insurance company, North Carolina Mutual. He worked for the good of African Americans collectively and individually, through his pioneering business successes. Gaining a national reputation, he helped shape social issues through federal and state politics. Benjamin McIver and Margaret Ann Moore Spaulding had fourteen children, ten of whom survived into adulthood. A freed slave, Spaulding make his living as a farmer, furniture maker, blacksmith, and during Reconstruction, county sheriff. The couple’s second son, Charles Clinton, born on August 1, 1874, in Columbus County, North Carolina, married Fannie Jones on September 26, 1900. They raised four children: Margaret, C. C. Jr., John A., and Booker B. On August 19, 1919, Spaulding’s wife died. On January 3 of the following year, he married Charlotte Beatrice Stevens Garner of Newark, New Jersey. Spaulding credited his father with teaching him important life lessons and with setting an example of hard work and optimism. Young Spaulding labored on the family farm, attending school whenever possible. In 1874, he moved to Durham, lived with his uncle Aaron McDuffie Moore, and entered Whitted Grade School at age twenty. He worked as a dishwasher, bellhop, Early building housing North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance and waiter, then worked in the office of Company in Durham, North Carolina. It was located in white attorneys Winston and Bryant. Durham’s black business district known as the ‘‘Black Wall In 1898, having completed school, Street’’ of America. Source: Thomas O. Fuller. Pictorial History Spaulding took a job as clerk for a of the American Negro. Memphis: Pictorial History, Inc., Pubblack-owned cooperative grocery store, lishers, 1933, p. 141. soon becoming manager. Faced with financial setbacks, the original owners withdrew in 1899. They left Spaulding with a $300 debt that took five years to pay. In 1898, Spaulding’s uncle, A. M. Moore, a doctor, John Merrick, a barber, and five other men founded the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association. Each owner contributed $50 to establish this alternative

742

Charles Clinton Spaulding

to the burial aid societies of the day. They hired Spaulding to sell policies part-time. According to Langston Hughes, the company’s first client invested sixty-five cents toward a $40 policy—then died soon after. The owners paid the policy at their own expense, and Spaulding used this setback to advance the company’s reputation for keeping its promises. Merrick and Moore eventually bought the company, and in 1900, they hired Spaulding as general manager. The firm’s sole employee, he served as bookkeeper, agent, advertising manager, janitor—and as a member of the board of directors. He traveled throughout the state, working to establish a clientele. Gradually, he recruited a staff of part-time agents, often teachers and preachers. By 1902, the company had representatives in fifty North Carolina towns and cities. In 1903, Spaulding hired three full-time clerks and the first full-time agents. He rented a larger office and invested in a typewriter and a safe. Spaulding initiated the company’s first newsletter and embarked on an extensive advertising campaign, placing the company name on items from calendars to cuspidors. He regularly provided barbershops, offices, and stores with ample supplies of pens, matchbooks, fans, paperweights, and medical thermometers. He earned $15 a week. In 1904, he expanded the company into neighboring South Carolina. The list of policyholders grew from 20,000 to 40,000. Spaulding gained more managerial independence and a salary of $75 a month. By 1906, the firm moved to a two-story brick building just outside Durham’s white business district. Spaulding now rented office space to his physician uncle and put the white law firm he had worked for on retainer. In 1907, the client base reached 100,000. By 1908, the company purchased additional land, expanded its office space, and created a home for other black businesses: Merrick’s barbershop, a drugstore, a newspaper office, and a tailor shop. North Carolina Mutual spawned subsidiaries that fueled the black economy, such as Mechanics and Farmers Bank, Durham Textile Mill, and a real estate company. It financially supported local black enterprises, including Lincoln Hospital, a library, newspapers, churches, and a baseball team. Spaulding served as chairman of the board of Lincoln Hospital and as a deacon and trustee of White Rock Baptist Church. When Merrick died in 1919, the company took on a new name, North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, and elected Spaulding secretarytreasurer. He oversaw a reorganization of the company, which now employed over a thousand people throughout a dozen states and Washington, D.C. Merrick’s son Edward oversaw the Georgia business venture. In 1921, North Carolina Mutual moved into a modern, marble-trimmed six-story structure, Durham’s second-tallest building. African Americans from across the nation attended the dedication of the new headquarters, which now stood within the white business district. Spaulding helped organize and served as president of the National Negro Insurance Association, the first black organization of its kind. He became president of Mechanics and Farmers Bank.

743

Charles Clinton Spaulding

HEADS INSURANCE COMPANY Aaron Moore died in 1923, and the company elected Spaulding president. The firm’s affiliates included Mutual Building and Loan Association, Bankers Fire Insurance Company, the National Negro Finance Corporation, and the Mortgage Company of Durham. Spaulding now headed the world’s largest African American insurance organization. In 1926, he received the Harmon Foundation Award for Achievement in Business. When the company faced hard times as the Great Depression approached, he sold concerns in five states, reduced staff by 18 percent, and found other ways to lower expenses. Noting a second cousin’s affinity for numbers, he sent Asa Spaulding to college. America’s first black actuary, in turn, helped North Carolina Mutual survive. Sylvia Jacobs reports that, with typical optimism, president Spaulding wrote to W.E.B. Du Bois that by forcing companies to manage more efficiently, the depression had created better businessmen. Spaulding joined North Carolina’s Council on Unemployment and Relief and served on President Herbert Hoover’s Federal Relief Committee. In 1932, addressing the Association for the Society of Negro Life and History’s annual meeting, he voiced his conviction that success in business serves as an effective agent against discrimination. The National Urban League, in 1933, named Spaulding national chairman of its Emergency Advisory Council. The council enlisted African American support for the National Recovery Administration (NRA), part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. It helped blacks understand laws regarding employment and property and dealt with complaints concerning mistreatment of blacks. Spaulding endorsed political candidates and advocated for blacks nationally. He served on the Durham Chamber of Commerce, the National Council of the Young Men’s Christian Association, and as president of the National Negro Business League. In 1935, he chaired Durham’s Committee on Negro Affairs, through which he influenced voter registration and turnout. He lobbied for hiring black policemen and for building parks, playgrounds, and pools for blacks. In all these endeavors, Spaulding encouraged cooperation among blacks and whites, spearheading needed change. He privately supported the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), but he avoided publicity related to the organization. Like Booker T. Washington, he believed in self-help, and like his father, he believed in the promise of America. During World War II, Spaulding vigorously supported the war effort. He led the sales of war bonds to blacks, and he invested millions of North Carolina Mutual’s dollars in bonds. When Saturday Evening Post, Reader’s Digest, and Ebony carried articles about national hero ‘‘Mr. Negro Business,’’ he kindly took time to answer fan mail. The December 1948 issue of American Magazine carried his own article, ‘‘What This Country Means to Me.’’ Time magazine reported that after touring fifteen European countries, Spaulding wrote: ‘‘As for myself, I shall

744

David L. Steward

always feel grateful that my ancestors were transplanted to North America. It is the best place in the world that I have found to live and leave one’s mark.’’ Leaving his mark included investing in the lives of young African Americans, especially businessmen. His own son C. C. Jr. worked with North Carolina Mutual, eventually serving as director of both it and Mechanics and Farmers Bank before starting his own law firm. Spaulding Sr. used his influence to acquire support for black ventures through such prestigious white organizations as the Duke Foundation and the Rosenwald Foundation, for which he served as regional broker. He became the first African American elected to the Slater Fund. He worked to secure the survival of black institutions, such as Shaw University and Virginia Theological Seminary. He served as trustee for Shaw and Howard Universities and for North Carolina College. Four colleges granted him honorary degrees. Still serving as president of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, Spaulding died on his seventy-eighth birthday, August 1, 1952. White Rock Baptist Church held the largest funeral in Durham’s history at that time. The mayor proclaimed a day of respect. Following Spaulding’s death, the firm he had worked to build continued its success. In 1966, North Carolina Mutual hosted a five-day celebration to dedicate its new home office. Guests included Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Durham continued to honor Spaulding as an African American role model by lending his name to schools, parks, and playgrounds. See also: Advertising and Marketing; Black Businesses in Large Cities: A History Sources ‘‘High Reach, High Mark.’’ Time 60 (August 11, 1952): 21. Hughes, Langston. Famous American Negroes. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1954. Ingham, John N. Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983. Jacobs, Sylvia M. ‘‘Spaulding, Charles Clinton.’’ Dictionary of American Negro Biography. Ed. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982. Podesta, James J. ‘‘Charles Clinton Spaulding.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Weare, Walter B. Black Business in the New South: A Social History of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1973.

Marie Garrett

David L. Steward (1951– ), Computer Industry Executive David L. Steward is the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of World Wide Technology, Inc. (WWT), named the largest African American–owned business in the United States in 2001 by Black Enterprise

745

David L. Steward

magazine. WWT, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, is a leader in the field of information technology. It distributes information technology products and provides telecommunications, networking, imaging, and conversion services. Steward is the moving force behind the success of WWT, which has grown from a company with four employees and sales of $812,000 in 1990 to 550 employees and sales of $1.1 billion in 2003. The company now has offices in Washington, D.C., London, San Diego, Kansas City, and Dallas. The visionary behind the conglomerate WWT, Steward is the fifth of seven children. He was born and raised in Clinton, Missouri. As a young boy he mowed lawns, milked cows, and weeded gardens but dreamed of being in business and traveling on airplanes. Growing up he was affected by racism and was the only African American male in his graduating class. This did not deter him from following his dreams, and the successful millionaire businessman credits his achievements in part to daring to believe in his dreams that he would successfully be able to surmount his obstacles. His parents played an important role by providing him with strength and determination. As a young boy, he was taught that he could do anything, and limitations were not set for him. His father, a mechanic by profession, worked other jobs to provide for the family. His mother believed that there were no limits on what he could do or achieve. His father’s work ethic and his mother’s wisdom and optimism inspired him; together they provided the fuel for Steward’s future successes. Upon graduation from Central Missouri State University in 1973, Steward held various sales and marketing positions with Union Pacific Railroad and Federal Express, but he found that these positions neither fueled his ambitions nor helped him achieve his dreams. Realizing that working for someone else was not going to help him get ahead, he became an entrepreneur. In 1984, Steward purchased Transportation Business Services, a consulting firm, and in 1987, he launched Transport Administrative Services, a company that provided online automated transportation audit services. Wanting to diversify, Steward founded World Wide Technology in 1990 on a shoestring budget with borrowed money. After an initial period of financial hardships, the first breakthrough for WWT came after receiving a $30 million federal contract with the General Services Administration. In 2001, CEO Steward spun off Telecobuy.com, his Internet service, from WWT. In 2002, Steward merged WWT and Tele cobuy.com to form World Wide Technology Holding Co. This merger helped strengthen World Wide Technology’s financial position and diversified its customer base. WWT now consists of three divisions: federal business, telecommunications, and commercial business. While WWT serves the commercial and government sectors, Telecobuy.com serves the telecommunications markets. Besides the federal government, some of WWT’s famous clients include Dell, Boeing Co., Anheuser-Busch Companies, Lucent Technologies, Transportation Security Administration, Cisco, HP, Microsoft, and Sun

746

David L. Steward

Microsystems. Telecobuy.com provides marketing services to SBC, Verizon, BellSouth, Sprint, and Cingular. The company has a one-stop shop that provides Sun Microsystems products, networking equipment from Cisco Systems, and a variety of software products. As a devout Christian, Steward’s religious convictions play an important role in how he conducts his business. His faith helped him through his darkest days when World Wide Technology went through difficult financial times. Applying the principles he learned from the Bible, he tries to live by the words of Christ in Luke 6:38: ‘‘Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.’’ This faith helps him serve and give back to his employees and community. He teaches a Sunday school class titled ‘‘Business by the Good Book,’’ and in his book Doing Business by the Good Book: 52 Lessons on Success Straight from the Bible, published in January 2004, Steward selects and comments on biblical scriptures that show how to succeed in business. Steward is actively involved in his community, serving it by sitting on the boards of Webster University, St. Louis Science Center, Union Memorial Outreach Center, St. Louis Area Boy Scouts Council, United Way of Greater St. Louis, and the Regional Commerce and Growth Association. WWT also supports minority students interested in information technology by offering them the INROADS Summer Internship Program. His leadership and dedication to the community and his business have won him numerous awards and accolades, including 1997 Business Person of the Year by the St. Louis Sentinel, 2000 National Society of Black Engineers Entrepreneur of the Year, 1998 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and 2001 Small Business Administration Hall of Fame Inductee. Steward lives in St. Louis with his wife Thelma and his two children Kimberly and David Jr. Sources About World Wide Technology. http://www.wwt.com. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 36. Detroit: Gale Group, 2003. Cranon, Angela M. ‘‘The Possible Dream: David Steward Has Come a Long Way from Milking Cows and Selling Christmas Cards Door-to-Door.’’ Minority Business Entrepreneur 17.2 (April 30, 2000): 9. Dingle, Derek T. ‘‘Operating in Rough Waters.’’ Black Enterprise 33 (June 2003): 107. Edmond, Alfred A., Jr., Matthew S. Scott, and Jeffrey McKinney. ‘‘B.E. 100s: Built to Last.’’ Black Enterprise 31 (June 2001): 101. Lopinot, Justin R. ‘‘David Steward, World Wide Technology.’’ St. Louis Business Journal, June 22, 1998. http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories. ———. ‘‘In Depth: Entrepreneur of the Year.’’ St. Louis Business Journal, June 19, 1998. http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/1998/06/22/focus1.html. Muhammad, Tariq K. ‘‘On Top of the World.’’ Black Enterprise 29 (June 1999): 118. Steward, David L. Doing Business by the Good Book: 52 Lessons on Success Straight from the Bible. New York: Hyperion, 2004.

747

Leon Howard Sullivan Survey ‘‘ ‘Good Book’ Means Good Business.’’ New Pittsburgh Courier, January 7, 2004. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Girija Venkat

Leon Howard Sullivan (1922–2001), Minister, Civil Rights Activist The Reverend Leon Sullivan was a Baptist minister and civil rights activist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the first African American member of the board of directors of General Motors (GM), appointed in 1971. Sullivan is most famous for developing the ‘‘Sullivan Principles’’ in 1977 in response to the racist apartheid system in South Africa. Companies that signed on to the principles agreed to integrate their facilities in South Africa and to provide equal opportunities for employees regardless of race. Sullivan believed that if companies practiced these principles in South Africa that it would undermine racially oppressive apartheid systems. In 1999, the United Nations adapted the Sullivan Principles into an international code of business ethics, the Global Sullivan Principles. The Sullivan Principles are the most immediately recognizable of Sullivan’s accomplishments, but he was also a successful minister, a published author, an organizer of civil rights actions in Philadelphia, and the founder of a technical training program that now functions in seventeen nations. By the end of his life, Sullivan was widely recognized as one of the leading figures in the movement for racial justice in the United States. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H. Bush in 1992. At the time of his death from leukemia on April 24, 2001, he was the subject of a PBS documentary on his life, A Principled Man: Rev. Leon Sullivan, produced by Diana Sole. On his death, in an article by Chris Herlinger, Diane Bratcher of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, praised his ability to take ideas that would normally be unpalatable to corporate leaders and explain ‘‘why it was important to observe human rights . . . certain people could hear his voice.’’ Sullivan was born to Charles and Helen Sullivan on October 16, 1922, in Charleston, West Virginia. By his late teens he was a practicing minister in two churches and then went on to be ordained as a Baptist minister. After serving in New York and New Jersey, he was appointed pastor of Zion Baptist Church in Philadelphia in 1950. At his arrival in 1950 there were 600 members in the church. By his retirement to pastor emeritus in 1988, there were 6,000 members. Sullivan was educated at West Virginia State University, Columbia University, and Union Theological Seminary in New York. He cited an experience with a soda fountain owner at age ten as one of the defining moments in his life. He had ordered a hot dog but was told he could not sit down to eat because he was black. From that point on, Sullivan was dedicated to standing up for racial equality and justice.

748

Leon Howard Sullivan

As a young man in New York during the 1940s, Sullivan was influenced by his contacts with the leading African American political figure of the day, A. Philip Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Randolph was the leader of the March on Washington movement during World War II. As were other young Africans of the time, Sullivan was particularly influenced by Randolph’s program of nonviolent protest and community activism. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Sullivan helped organize economic boycotts and protests against businesses in the Philadelphia area. In 1964, Sullivan established Opportunities Industrialization Centers, a technical skills training program, in an abandoned jail in Philadelphia. Sullivan’s reasoning was that efforts to break down job discrimination would bear little fruit if young African Americans lacked the technical skills to take the jobs that were opening up for them (Tables 39 and 40). This was an important self-help component of Sullivan’s civil rights program. By 1969, the program had grown substantially and became OIC International in 1969. Today there are forty-six centers in seventeen countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Another of Sullivan’s projects was the Progress Investment Associates and Zion Nonprofit Charitable Trust. Both organizations sought to address the lack of funding for quality housing, education, commercial centers, and other services in the inner cities, primarily through nonprofit organizations. They also founded retirement homes and assisted living complexes—known as ‘‘Opportunity Towers’’—for inner-city residents. INTRODUCES THE SULLIVAN PRINCIPLES The Sullivan Principles were introduced in 1977 in the aftermath of the Soweto uprising in South Africa on June 13. The violent repression of the white government was met with a revived antiapartheid movement in the United States, particularly on American college campuses. The divestment movement called on pension funds, universities, and municipalities to withdraw investments (divest) from companies that did business with South Africa on the grounds that this kind of economic pressure would force the white government to reform. Eventually, 125 corporations signed on to the Sullivan Principles. Specifically, the Sullivan Principles advocated nonsegregation of the races in eating, comfort, and work facilities; equal and fair employment practices for all employees; equal pay for all employees doing equal and comparable work for the same time period; initiation and development of training programs that will prepare, in substantial numbers, blacks and other nonwhites for supervisory, administrative, clerical, and technical jobs; increasing the number of blacks and other nonwhites in management and supervisory roles; and improving the quality of employees’ lives outside the work environment in such areas as housing, transportation, schooling, recreation, and health facilities. Despite the popularity of the principles, their effectiveness and purpose were questioned by opponents of apartheid both in South Africa and in the

749

Table 39. Unemployed and Unemployment Rates by Educational Attainment, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin, 1992–2003 Unemployment Rate1

Unemployed (1,000) Year, Sex, and Race

Total

Less Than High School Diploma

High School Graduates, No Degree

Less Than a Bachelor’s Degree

College Degree

Total

Less Than High School Diploma

High School Graduates, No Degree

Less Than a Bachelor’s Degree

College Degree

Total:2 1992 2000 2003

6,543 3,589 6,028

1,533 791 1,109

2,590 1,298 2,069

1,527 890 1,629

893 610 1,221

6.1 3.0 4.8

11.5 6.3 8.8

6.8 3.4 5.5

5.6 2.7 4.8

3.2 1.7 3.1

Male: 1992 2000 2003

3,767 1,829 3,368

942 411 648

1,462 682 1,161

829 427 863

533 309 696

6.4 2.8 5.0

11.4 5.4 8.2

7.4 3.4 5.7

5.9 2.6 5.1

3.3 1.5 3.2

Female: 1992 2000 2003

2,776 1,760 2,660

591 380 461

1,128 616 908

697 463 766

361 301 525

5.8 3.2 4.6

11.5 7.8 9.8

6.3 3.5 5.2

5.4 2.8 4.5

3.0 1.8 2.9

White: 1992 2000 2003

4,978 2,644 4,389

1,145 564 800

1,928 924 1,490

1,162 667 1,166

743 489 933

5.5 2.6 4.3

10.7 5.6 7.8

6.0 2.9 4.8

5.0 2.4 4.2

3.0 1.6 2.8

Black:3 1992 2000 2003

1,269 732 1,1157

322 179 222

565 315 459

301 169 340

81 68 137

11.0 5.4 8.3

15.9 10.7 13.9

12.3 6.4 9.3

9.8 4.0 7.9

4.4 2.5 4.5

Asian:3,4 2000 2003

146 288

28 45

34 59

35 55

49 129

2.7 5.3

5.7 9.5

3.0 5.6

3.2 5.9

1.8 4.4

Hispanic:5 1992 2000 2003

853 569 975

434 297 451

235 150 261

134 85 176

50 38 87

9.8 4.4 6.4

12.8 6.2 8.2

9.1 3.9 5.9

7.7 3.2 5.7

5.0 2.2 4.1

1

Percent of unemployed of the civilian labor force. Includes other races, not shown separately. 3 Beginning 2003, for persons in this race group only. 4 Prior to 2003, includes Pacific Islanders. 5 Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin may be of any race. Source: Published in U.S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004–2005, 124th ed. (Washington, DC: GPO, October 2004), 396. 2

Leon Howard Sullivan Table 40. Unemployed Workers—Summary, 1980–2003 Race, Hispanic Origin

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2001

2002

2003

UNEMPLOYED White 16 to 19 years old 20 to 24 years old

5,884 1,291 1,364

6,191 1,074 1,235

5,186 903 899

5,459 952 866

4,121 795 682

4,969 845 829

6,137 925 977

6,311 909 1,012

Black 16 to 19 years old 20 to 24 years old

1,553 343 426

1,864 357 455

1,565 268 349

1,538 325 311

1,241 230 281

1,416 260 307

1,693 260 365

1,787 255 375

Asian 16 to 19 years old 20 to 24 years old

(n.a.) (n.a.) (n.a.)

(n.a.) (n.a.) (n.a.)

(n.a.) (n.a.) (n.a.)

(n.a.) (n.a.) (n.a.)

227 40 41

288 31 50

389 41 63

366 31 47

Hispanic 16 to 19 years old 20 to 24 years old

620 145 138

811 141 171

876 161 167

1,140 205 209

954 194 190

1,138 208 212

1,353 221 265

1,441 192 273

Full-time workers

6,269

6,793

5,677

5,909

4,538

5,546

7,063

7,361

Part-time workers

1,369

1,519

1,369

1,495

1,154

1,254

1,314

1,413

n.a. ¼ Not available. Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, monthly, January 2004 issue; and unpublished data. Published in U.S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004– 2005, 124th ed. (Washington, DC: GPO, October 2004), 372.

United States. Critics charged that the principles served as cover for corporations, allowing them to continue to profit from the racist system in South Africa rather than withdrawing. In particular, the administration of U.S. President Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) cited the Sullivan Principles as an alternative to economic sanctions against the apartheid government. In testimony before Congress in 1983, Randall Robinson, director of TransAfrica, the main antiapartheid organization in the United States, said in his testimony before a subcommittee of the House of Representatives Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs, ‘‘When one measures what those corporations do for that small number of blacks in the job place as opposed to the great contribution they make to the state and its capacity to perpetuate apartheid [in the form of taxes paid to the government of South Africa], I think we would be better served if the corporations left.’’ By 1984, Sullivan himself acknowledged that the principles were not having a strong enough impact and called on the Reagan administration to enact tougher sanctions. By the late 1980s, Sullivan himself had convinced more than a dozen companies to withdraw from South Africa. Despite the controversy surrounding the principles, South African leader Nelson Mandela and others praised Sullivan for his efforts in bringing down the apartheid government in the early 1990s. Sullivan was also the author of several books, including Moving Mountains: The Principles and Purposes of Leon Sullivan (1998), Alternatives to Despair (1972), and Build, Brother, Build (1969). At his death from leukemia

751

Percy Ellis Sutton

on April 24, 2001, in Scottsdale, Arizona, Sullivan was eulogized in leading publications around the world as one of the foremost leaders in the areas of civil rights, human rights, economic opportunity, and corporate responsibility. Sources Auerbach, Stuart. ‘‘Sullivan Abandons S. African Code.’’ Washington Post, June 4, 1987. http://www.oicinternational.org/history. DeBerry, Clyde E. ‘‘Vocational (Career) Education in Black Cities.’’ Journal of Negro Education 42 (Summer 1973): 360–378. Herlinger, Chris. ‘‘Leon Sullivan Dies at 78.’’ Christianity Today, April 30, 2001. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/118/44.0.html. Leon H. Sullivan Foundation. http://www.leonhsullivanfoundation.org. Opportunities Industrialization Centers International (OIC International). http:// www.oicinternational.org. Sullivan, Leon. ‘‘The Sullivan Principles and Change in South Africa.’’ Africa Report 29 (1984): 3. Sullivan, Leon H. http://www.globalsullivanprinciples.org. Thompson, Alex. ‘‘Incomplete Engagement: Reagan’s South Africa Policy Revisited.’’ Journal of Modern African Studies 33 (March 1995): 83–101. U.S. Congress, House of Representatives. Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, Subcommittees on Financial Institutions Supervision, Regulation and Insurance. ‘‘Testimony of Randall Robinson, Executive Director of TransAfrica.’’ South African Restrictions: Hearings. Washington, DC: GPO, 1983.

John W. Wood III

Percy Ellis Sutton (1920– ), Politician, Elder Statesman, Businessman During the last half of the twentieth century multimillionaire Percy Ellis Sutton was among the vanguard of progressive African American politicians, businessmen, and philanthropists. Derek T. Dingle’s work Black Enterprise Titans of the B.E. 100s provides some insight about Sutton’s business philosophy. In an interview Sutton explained, ‘‘I believe that you always have to stay in the race.’’ When Sutton realized that ‘‘white Americans accumulated wealth through investments in stocks and bonds,’’ he put ‘‘every dollar’’ he could find in stocks. He did not touch his savings or the money in his children’s educational funds, but he used every extra dollar he could find for investing. He began this practice while he was still in law school. Sutton stated that he diligently ‘‘read the financial pages and books on the financial markets.’’ He chose companies that he felt ‘‘would stand the test of time.’’ He held many of those stocks ‘‘for as long as fifty years.’’ He also continued his family tradition of unity at home and in the workplace by placing his own children and other family members in strategic positions in his businesses. Sutton also learned from his father to return some of the assets to his community to assist ‘‘people with broken wings.’’ Now retired, over Sutton’s half-century career he has reached out to help the needy and

752

Percy Ellis Sutton

the politically disenfranchised in the United States, the West Indies, Africa, and other parts of the world. Born on November 24, 1920, in San Antonio, Texas, Sutton was the youngest of fifteen children. His parents, Samuel J. and Lillian Smith Sutton, encouraged a strong sense of family unity among the twelve children who survived childhood. Several siblings and Percy’s mother helped to home school him along with his father, a former slave who was both an educator and a businessman. Samuel Sutton was a high school principal, undertaker, and property owner who had many friends among the black intelligentsia—such as W.E.B. Du Bois and George Washington Carver— who frequented the Sutton home. Urged on by their father’s industry, all of the Sutton children had successful careers mostly as educators and managed to help and support one another in their educational pursuits and professions. Sutton graduated from the Phillis Wheatley High School in San Antonio and attended Prairie View College, Hampton Institute, Tuskegee Institute, U.S. Air Corps Cadet Training School at Tuskegee, as well as several other military training schools. Although Sutton was a stunt pilot who had performed at carnivals and fairs, because of an illness he could not pass the necessary air corps physical, so he served as an intelligence officer with the Tuskegee Airmen, the first group of African American U.S. Army Air Force pilots. In 1943, during World War II, Sutton married Leatrice O’Farrell, and the couple subsequently gave birth to a boy, Pierre, and a girl, Cheryl Lynn. After being decorated and honorably discharged with the rank of captain in 1945, Sutton moved to New York City and attended Columbia University and Brooklyn University law schools while holding a variety of jobs, including postal clerk. He graduated from law school in 1950 and passed the bar in 1951. After serving as an intelligence officer again, this time in the Korean War, Sutton began to practice law in New York City with his brother Oliver. Their firm operated efficiently and continued to serve clients in the United States and the Virgin Islands for over forty years. Because of his interest in racial justice and civil rights, Sutton represented Malcolm X and his wife Betty Shabazz, the Black Panthers, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and many individuals— sometimes for free. He also represented freedom riders and demonstrators during the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. While Sutton and his brother were establishing their law firm, they were also investing in a variety of businesses. Dingle wrote that as far back as 1961 Sutton registered more than twenty businesses under the name of Inner City. He and his brother also owned a chain of gasoline stations. During his entire career Sutton operated on both the political and business fronts. For Sutton, law, politics, and business intertwined. After some unsuccessful attempts at the polls, Sutton was elected to the New York State Assembly, where he served from 1965 to 1966. He then agreed to fill the

753

Percy Ellis Sutton

expired term of the Manhattan borough president in 1966, a position to which he was reelected three times, serving a total of eleven years. By the time that he stepped down in 1977 after an unsuccessful bid to be mayor of New York City, he was already cofounder and chairman of New York City Inner City Broadcasting Corporation (ICBC). As a child, Sutton was fascinated with radio broadcasting and the power of communication and had been hoping for an opportunity to break into the broadcasting industry. As a politician he always attempted to use the media to his best advantage. Finally an owner offered to sell Sutton WLIB-AM and WLIBFM for $3 million. It took Sutton eight years to coax the needed funds from contacts, banks, and Small Business Administration programs intended to help African American entrepreneurs get started. The investors he recruited included Jesse and Jackie Jackson, Roberta Flack, David Dinkins, and Betty Shabazz. Sutton’s son Pierre ran the company, which was composed at the beginning of thirty-two employees. BUILDS BROADCASTING CONGLOMERATE Founded in 1971 ICBC purchased the Harlem-based WLIB-AM radio station and its sister station WBLS-FM in 1974. These were the first blackowned radio stations in New York City. By 1980 WBLS-FM ranked as the number one radio station in America. ICBC ranked as the second largest African American–owned radio broadcasting company in the United States. Sutton, using the expertise he had gained as Manhattan borough president, was able to build ICBC into a broadcasting conglomerate, owning and operating numerous radio stations, cable television franchises, and television production operations. Sutton was particularly pleased to obtain cable franchises first in Queens and then in other areas of the United States. Sutton and his brother Oliver bought Harlem’s Apollo Theater in 1981 for $250,000 after rescuing it from bankruptcy court. The theater shut its doors in 1979 because of lack of revenue. Sutton refurbished the theater and deeded it over to the not-for-profit Apollo Theater Foundation in 1991. Dingle wrote that Sutton planned ‘‘to generate revenues from concerts and events, television syndication, and licensing.’’ In Harlem, the renovated and reborn Apollo Theater marks the cornerstone of Sutton’s production company. By the late 1990s, Sutton was still executive producer of the show It’s Showtime at the Apollo, a show that reached ‘‘seventy percent of American households for more than a decade.’’ By 1999 ICBC enjoyed annual sales of $51 million and had 270 employees. ICBC Broadcast Holdings, organized in 2000, owned and operated eighteen urban-formatted stations in seven market areas including California, Pennsylvania, Florida, South Carolina, and Mississippi. In 2002, Sutton cofounded and is chief executive officer (CEO) of Synematics, Inc. Sutton was cofounder, chairman, CEO, and principal investor in Synematics, Inc., a high-technology software/hardware company whose products carries the trade name Envious. This company provides patented technology software

754

Lucious (Lou) Switzer

to monitor, manage, and control commercial private and governmental networks. The businesses discussed in this entry represent some of Sutton’s major business endeavors but certainly not all that he has been involved in for more than six decades. Before Sutton retired, he developed a plan of succession to keep the company from chaos during its transition to new leadership. Dingle quotes Sutton: I know of the horror stories of the dissolution of family businesses and the erosion of family wealth because of poor succession and estate planning. I didn’t want that to happen to my family. I decided that I was going to take a decade to train the next generation and pass on my management philosophy.

Elder statesman Sutton gracefully removed himself from the family business but has continued to look for personal and business opportunities. He believes that an active mind is the source of intellectual vibrancy. In his lifetime he has received numerous awards including the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal and a dozen honorary doctorates, he has served on a variety of boards, and he has lent his expertise to untold business and political endeavors. Sources Cosby, Camille O., and Renee Poussaint, eds. A Wealth of Wisdom: Legendary African American Elders Speak. New York: Atria Books, 2004. Dingle, Derek T. Black Enterprise Titans of the B.E. 100s: Black CEOs Who Redefined and Conquered American Business. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1999. Duckett, Alfred. Changing of the Guard: The New Breed of Black Politicians. New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1972. Fox, Ted. Showtime at the Apollo. Rev. ed. Rhinebeck, NY: Mill Road Enterprises, 2003. Hewitt, Vivian D. ‘‘Percy E. Sutton.’’ Notable Black American Men. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.

Debra Newman Ham

Lucious (Lou) Switzer (1948– ), Interior Design Company Executive Lucious Switzer wanted to be an architect from the time he was in fourth grade—a seemingly wistful dream for a young African American man armed only with great will, ambition, a high school education, and a portfolio of his high school shop drawings. Through talent, perseverance, hard work, business acumen, and timing, he rose to start his own design firm, the Switzer Group, which became one of the country’s premier interior design firms, specializing in multimillion-dollar projects for corporate giants like IBM, Citibank, and Equitable. Headquartered in Manhattan, the Switzer Group is among the foremost firms in the nation for billings, customer retention, and clean, modern design that creates warm, functional corporate settings.

755

Lucious (Lou) Switzer

Switzer is as astute businessman who oversees all business aspects of the firm while keeping in touch with the day-to-day work and making a point of speaking to each of his fifty employees every day. He is active on numerous boards and mentoring programs and has received many awards including Man of the Year in 1995 from the Ace Mentor Foundation, Entrepreneur of the Year in 1987 from the National Association of Black Accountants, Ellis Island Medal of Honor by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, and induction into the Hall of Fame of Interior Design Magazine. Switzer was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, on October 12, 1948, to Louise Johnson and Clarence Jacobs. He is married to Gina Abondonato Switzer and is the father of Gregory, Rhonda, Reed Everett, Clay Joseph, and Ty William Switzer. As a child he loved to watch his uncle, an architect, create architectural renderings and decided his dream was to become an architect himself. He admits that he was an average high school student, but in the 1960s, after graduation, he moved north to Brooklyn to be near Manhattan, the design and architectural mecca of the East Coast. The only work he could find was in a grocery store, but every day off, he spent in the employment office searching for a better job. Eventually, he was told of a job at 101 Park Avenue, the ‘‘Architect’s Building.’’ After proudly showing the interviewer his shop drawings, he was told that the available job was for an ‘‘office boy.’’ Switzer decided to take it anyway. This impressed the interviewer, who laughed and said he liked Switzer who would ‘‘take the job’’ before it had even been offered. So Switzer began working for $55 a week at Sherburne and Associates. Sherburne and Associates had a burgeoning workload from the growing financial service sector on Wall Street, and six months after Switzer started as an office boy, they needed every draftsman they could find and promoted Switzer to draftsman. During the next three years, two things happened that shaped Switzer’s career. He applied to and was accepted at Pratt Institute. When his boss heard of this, he called the accounting department and had them draw up a check for Switzer’s tuition. Switzer was allowed to work on all the boss’s favorite projects and earn overtime hours. Switzer even had the keys to the boss’s Cadillac to drive when the boss was away. In contrast to this show of support, the other incident that shaped Switzer’s career was less pleasant. For several years, Switzer has been the designer for the Atlanta branch of the New York–based W. E. Hutton & Company. The job had been handled from New York, but the company wanted someone to go to Atlanta to oversee other projects. Switzer had been working alone on these contracts for years, and suddenly the company wanted him to work as a team member; another member of the firm was sent to Atlanta instead. Switzer sensed that his firm was unwilling to send him to Atlanta because of his race, and he confronted his boss about it. His boss said it was because of Switzer’s inexperience, but Switzer felt this to be untrue and resigned a month later. A year later, Switzer was working at another design firm and received an offer to be assistant director of facilities planning for W. E. Hutton & Company. Jim

756

Lucious (Lou) Switzer

Hutton, the company chief, requested a breakfast meeting with Switzer, where Hutton explained that he had not known about what had happened a year before with the Atlanta situation. Feeling vindicated, Switzer accepted the job and remained with the company until it closed in 1972. FOUNDS THE SWITZER GROUP For the next three years, Switzer and a partner tried working as a consulting firm. Switzer graduated from Pratt in 1975 and decided to start his own firm, the Switzer Group, on East 52nd Street. His dream was to have six employees. He opened with himself and a secretary. His first client was Citibank, which commissioned him to design the interior space for a building that was 80,000 square feet. His fee for this project was $100,000. His second client was Avon, and his third was IBM. The rise of the Switzer Group was steady, and methodical, and by 1987, the number of employees had grown to sixteen and the firm relocated to Madison Avenue. Switzer’s number-one rule of practice is to understand his clients’ businesses, expectations, and tastes. The Switzer Group has maintained a client retention rate of 80 percent—an impressive number that proves Switzer’s ability to relate to his customers. The Switzer Group is notable in its ability to bring a project in at budget and on time. In 1980, the Switzer Group was honored by Interior Design magazine as one of the ‘‘top 50 giants in the United States.’’ The design business changes with the decades and with economic times. In the early 1980s, businesses were expanding, splitting their operations, and redeploying personnel. One of the Switzer Group’s big projects was for Equitable Insurance. The Equitable was moving people from their headquarters to four separate offices containing approximately 1 million square feet to be designed by Switzer. In 1983, the Switzer group added more employees and relocated into a larger space at its earlier site on 52nd Street. In 1985, they relocated again to 902 Broadway and employed eighty-five people. Throughout the 1980s the Switzer Group created designs for numerous businesses, such as IBM, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Freedom National Bank, and was the recipient of many prestigious awards such as the Restaurants and Institutions Award for interior design of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. The late 1980s and the 1990s brought more changes for the firm. In 1985, the Switzer Group was the only full-service design firm to have an in-house telecommunications and information service, and in 1989, the Switzer Group developed a design for NYNEX Mobile Communications. In 1990, Lou Switzer’s son Gregory Switzer joined the Switzer Group as director of marketing and communications. Another trend of the 1990s was a downsizing from the expansion of the late 1980s. In 1993, Switzer Group pioneered a concept called ‘‘hoteling’’ for IBM, in which different employees share the same office on alternate shifts. IBM’s Regional Headquarters in Cranford, New Jersey, was being reduced

757

Lucious (Lou) Switzer

from five offices totaling 400,000 square feet to one office totaling 100,000 square feet. The Switzer Group created an airy, well-lighted space for this new office. In 1993, Switzer was inducted into Interior Design’s Hall of Fame, a prestigious industry award. That same year for Consolidated Edison the Switzer Group designed the Energy Education Center, a 200,000-square-foot ultramodern training facility. In 1994, this project was awarded the Design AIA Award. In the late 1990s, the Switzer Group continued its award-winning design work for corporate giants like Pfizer, Equitable, and the General Services Administration. During this time, the innovative use of technology, such as that seen in IBM’s Global Services Delivery Center, continued to win notice for Switzer from the corporate world. Switzer is excited about the changes that the Internet has brought about in corporate interiors. He remains close to the design action at his firm, but he needs time to oversee management and marketing. He remains passionate about the design process, explaining in an interview with Peter Slatin: ‘‘In the old days, you put people at a desk and you lined them up, rows and rows of desks. Today, it gets a lot deeper—it’s the inner workings that are important to any corporation.’’ An interior architect going into his second quarter century in the field, Switzer will have many years ahead of him to produce award-winning design innovations. According to Switzer, his most significant project is the newly completed IBM New York Headquarters. Admittedly biased toward this, his most recent accomplishment, Switzer can be counted on to complete many more innovative designs in the years to come. Sources Geran, Monica. ‘‘Happy in the Hamptons.’’ Interior Design 62 (November 1991): 152. ———. ‘‘Mr. Louis Switzer.’’ Interior Design 64 (December 1993): S33. ———. ‘‘The Switzer Group.’’ Interior Design 3 (March 1995): 134. Gorman, Jean. ‘‘Southern Savvy.’’ Interiors 152 (July 1993): 54–58. Slatin, Peter. Design as an Understanding of the Business Environment: The Switzer Group. New York: Edizioni Press, 2001. Switzer, Lou. Email interview with Elizabeth S. Evans, December 14, 2004. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thompson Gale, 2005.

Elizabeth Sandidge Evans

758

T Vertner W. Tandy Sr. (1885–1949), Architect, Military Servant Vertner Woodson Tandy’s contact with the building industry spanned the period from his childhood until he died, leaving a record of a premier African American architect who practiced in New York City and whose work included designs for schools, churches, private homes, a bank, and multifamily units. The change in the ethnic composition of Harlem in the 1920s and the emergence of the black cultural revolution known as the Harlem Renaissance helped to provide a backdrop for his architectural business to flourish. Tandy’s work, if not the man himself, may be best known in the African American community as the country home of black millionaire Madame C. J. Walker, ‘‘Villa Lewaro.’’ Born on May 17, 1885, in Lexington, Kentucky, Tandy was the son of Henry A. and Emma E. Brice Tandy. His father was a prominent and successful brick contractor in Lexington, whose works included the Fayette County Courthouse that his firm Tandy & Bird, Builders, completed in 1898. He was also an important influence on Tandy’s choice of career. Young Tandy studied at Lexington’s Chandler Normal School, one of many founded by the American Missionary Association and a first-rate institution in the racially segregated society of the early 1900s. After graduation in 1902, he went to historically black Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The institute’s president and founder Booker T. Washington saw that the school trained architects and professionals in the building trades. There he probably majored in architectural drawing and design and gained useful and practical experience in the building trades. He also trained under William Sidney Pittman. Three years later, in 1905, Tandy enrolled as a special student at Cornell University, where he continued his training in architecture. One of his roommates was Eugene Kinckle Jones (1885–1954), who later became a civil rights activist and in 1910 cofounded the National Urban League. Both in design and artistic training the architectural curriculum at Cornell was modeled after the E´cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. While at Cornell, Tandy

Vertner W. Tandy Sr.

was one of six black students who in 1906 founded the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity; he also designed the fraternity’s pin. Upon graduation from Cornell in 1908, Tandy had an association with the Julius Kessler whiskey company, for whom he was commissioned to do a horse stable and garage in New Jersey. Later he worked with the H. M. Miller Company located in Toronto, Canada. His architectural practice in New York City was established by mid-1908. Between 1908 and 1910, Tandy designed a series of stables and small houses. School buildings were among his designs as well, and during this period he designed three public schools for the State Board of Education in New Jersey. Although the claim remains unsubstantiated, by 1918 he may have designed forty-three schools located through the United States. In 1908 as well, Tandy and George Washington Foster Jr. formed a partnership, Tandy & Foster Architects; the partnership was dissolved in 1915. Nearly two years later the firm received its first commission from an African American client when it was commissioned to design the $100,000 English Gothic Revival–style Saint Philip’s Protestant Episcopal Church in the Harlem section of New York City. In 1910–1911 he was commissioned to design its Queen Anne–style parish house. Saint Philip’s was said to be this country’s wealthiest black church. The project raised Tandy from obscurity and resulted in his recognition as one of the city’s best-known black architects. From 1912 until about 1922, when Young died, white architect William E. Young was an associate of Tandy’s. It was during this period that Tandy became a high-profile black architect with national acclaim. Between 1915 and 1916 he received other high-profile commissions. The first of these was from Madam C. J. Walker, the black hair-care magnate who wanted a townhouse in Harlem; for this he remodeled two side-by-side row houses to create a Federal/Regency Revival–style structure. The project was completed in 1916. Perhaps the commission that brought Tandy the greatest recognition in the African American community was Walker’s suburban home, ‘‘Villa Lewaro,’’ completed in 1917. Located in Irvington-on-the Hudson, New York, for many years the $250,000 Italian Renaissance Revival–style mansion was called the finest-ever black-owned home. A third of his high-profile commissions was from the Montgomery Munitions Corporation; it was the first defense industry contract awarded to a black architect. For the corporation he designed a 25,000-square-foot manufacturing factory. African American clients continued to commission Tandy during the 1920s, calling for building alterations for churches and businesses relocating to Harlem, an area that was becoming the cultural capital of African America during the Harlem Renaissance. Most noteworthy among these commissions was the Imperial Elks Lodge, awarded in 1922. Nightclubs in Harlem, such as the well-known Small’s Paradise (1925), were among his clients. He also had contracts from black institutions outside New York, including Tillotson Institute campus in Austin, Texas (later known as Huston-Tillotson College), and several facilities for Lincoln Ridge Colored Institute in Simpsonville, Kentucky.

760

Susan L. Taylor

The Great Depression took a toll on Tandy’s success. Between 1927 and 1945 he had no new commissions in Manhattan and scarcely any new work elsewhere. Instead, he focused on small projects, such as correcting building codes violations, consultation work with other architects, and teaching evening courses on the city’s building codes. To supplement the family’s income, his wife, Sadie Tandy, returned to teaching in the local schools. By the time World War II ended, Tandy was in demand again and his business saw rigorous activity during the last four years of his life; however, the business never returned to its original level of success. In 1945, he was associate architect with Edwin Forbes and Skidmore Owings and Merrill on the $8.5 million urban renewal project, the Abraham Lincoln Houses—a project of the New York State Housing Authority. In addition to commissions from white clients for building alterations and additions, this period brought to Tandy in 1948 one of his largest commissions ever—the Ivey Terrace Apartments. It was one of the first multifamily developments that New York commissioned to an African American and one of the state’s earliest projects of this time financed by the Federal Housing Administration in New York. Among his achievements, in 1945 Tandy became the first black accepted into membership in the American Institute of Architects. He was also a member of the Elks and the Masons. During the war he was the first black commissioned officer in the state of New York; he was commissioned first lieutenant and later promoted to captain and then major in the ‘‘Hell Fighters,’’ the allblack U.S. 369th Infantry, the 15th New York Regiment of the National Guard. He married Sadie Hale Dorsette on June 3, 1912, and had one child, Gertner W. Jr. He died in New York City on November 7, 1949, when he was sixty-four years old. His funeral was held at the church that he codesigned in 1910, St. Philip’s Protestant Episcopal Church. Tandy flourished during a time when African American architects were few in number and, in some cases, discouraged from entering the profession. As his commissions indicate, he was well accepted, particularly in Harlem and in Manhattan, where he did most of his work. Sources Obituary. Pittsburgh Courier, November 12, 1949. ‘‘Vertner Woodson Tandy.’’ African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary 1865–1945. Ed. Dreck Spurlock Wilson. New York: Routledge, 2004. Who’s Who in Colored America. Ed. Thomas Yenser. 6th ed. Brooklyn: Thomas Yenser, 1944.

Frederick D. Smith

Susan L. Taylor (1946– ), Editor, Publishing Executive, Columnist, Author For more than thirty years, Susan L. Taylor has been the tour de force behind Essence magazine’s success as one of the nation’s leading lifestyle

761

Susan L. Taylor

magazines for African American women. She joined Essence in 1971 as a young freelancer in fashion and beauty, and by 1981, her ascension through the Essence organization’s ranks culminated with the position of editor and chief. Under her dynamic headship, the magazine’s circulation went from 600,000 to over 1 million and presently boasts a readership of more than 8 million persons across the United States and worldwide. Since leaving the editor’s post to become editorial director in 2000, Taylor’s existing duties as senior vice president of Essence Communications Incorporated (ECI) have been expanded from day-to-day magazine operations to oversight of the corporation’s umbrella initiatives. Today, Taylor serves as an integral part of the Essence organization’s drive to diversify the corporation’s interests as the premier provider of information concerning persons across the global African diaspora in the twenty-first century. Taylor was born on January 23, 1946, in New York City. Her parents Lawrence and Violet Weekes Taylor, both immigrants from the Caribbean, owned and operated their own clothing store in Harlem. Taylor was educated at Catholic schools, but even its strict parochial environment could not temper her expressive persona. At twenty, she married, became a licensed cosmetologist, and began a short-lived acting career with the Negro Ensemble Company. In 1970, Taylor launched her own line of cosmetics and natural shin-care products for African American women, which she named Nequai Cosmetics after her young daughter Shana Nequai. A fourthgeneration entrepreneur, Taylor drew on the experiences of her family’s matriarchs. She marketed the well-researched and her highly sought after product line out of a salon in the Bronx and soon expanded her scope to the Caribbean. Essence magazine also debuted in 1970. In May of that year, Taylor’s neighborhood stroll took her inside a Bronx candy store where she saw its premier issue. The face of the black woman on the Essence cover astonished her. ‘‘I didn’t know whether to read it or to hug it,’’ recalled Taylor in Current Biography. Despite the eventual lost of her company to her former husband following their separation, its success caught the attention of Essence editors. Soon she was secured for a number of the magazine’s freelance writing assignments. While she had nothing more than her high school diploma and cosmetologist license, they were impressed with her work. Still, Taylor was a twenty-four-year-old single mother, struggling to support her young daughter. Just when she thought that she could not go on, Taylor overheard a sermon that changed her life. The preacher insisted that people could change their lives. She decided to think positively, and it paid off. With no editorial experience whatsoever, Taylor was hired as beauty editor in 1971; a year later her responsibilities were expanded to include both beauty and fashion covers. Essence magazine filled a dire need in the publishing market, yet it struggled to develop an editorial focus that would appeal to its audience. In the decade that followed, Taylor’s leadership helped to forge the Essence brand, so readily associated with the magazine today. Throughout her

762

Susan L. Taylor

ten-year tenure as beauty and fashion editor, she committed to covering traditional editorial fares from a uniquely African American perspective. She also personally effected changes in the process of model selections to reflect the diversity of beauty in black persons. In the process, she helped to redefine American standards of beauty to include every range of black skin color, shape, and size. Taylor was a top candidate for the editor’s post when it became vacant in 1980. Despite Taylor’s achievements, when she was named editor one year later some members of the Essence staff opposed her promotion, and a few even quit in protest. After all, Taylor was a single parent, the only one in editorial at the time, and she was desperately trying to cover all the bases at home and on the job. Undaunted, editor and chief Taylor began to develop her vision for the Essence publication. The magazine would address issues that more directly affect the African American community and broadened its coverage to include more pages devoted to the social problems and health issues facing both women and men. She also launched a column by and for men called ‘‘Brothers’’ and had the magazine devote one issue each year to the topics of special interest to Essence’s male readers. In spite of some initial hesitance, Taylor launched her now-signature column ‘‘In the Spirit,’’ which quickly became her line of communication with Essence readers. The connection she shared with her audience was further extended in 1983 when Taylor became host and executive producer of ECI’s syndicated weekly television show, Essence. The show featured interviews with celebrity guests as well as experts who discussed black culture and social issues. While Taylor saw the show as the companion piece to the magazine, she identified the unique mission of each media form. The magazine is a hands-on, how-to guide for daily living. The television show was geared for a wider audience in an attempt to counter negative images of black America. The success of Essence as the country’s first nationally syndicated blackoriented magazine format show was irrefutable. The weekly program ran for four seasons and aired in more than sixty American markets as well as several Caribbean and African countries. Her tremendous business acumen was rewarded with a promotion to the additional post of Essence Communications’ vice president in 1986 and senior vice president in 1993. Taylor also serves as the executive producer of the ‘‘Essence Awards,’’ ECI’s annually televised awards show. Widely watched in American homes, the show’s celebration of black talent is an award-winning Fox Television Network special. Similarly, Taylor has been the driving force behind the corporation’s annual Essence Music Festival, which hosts premier African American performers and over 200,000 fans in New Orleans during the Fourth of July holiday and features the Taylor-lead Essence Empowerment Seminars. Taylor herself is a much-sought-after speaker. In an industry where bibliotherapy for black people was nonexistent, Taylor’s In the Spirit: The Inspirational Writings of Susan L. Taylor (1993), a selection of her monthly column, paved the way for other black nonfiction writers to be published as well. Her editorship introduced many African American readers to today’s

763

Susan L. Taylor

most prolific authors, while Taylor nurtured scores of Essence editorial staff members, many of whom are now authors of well-regarded books. Most recently, Taylor gave up her duties as editor and chief of Essence to assume the role of editorial director in 2000. She continues to write her monthly ‘‘In The Spirit’’ column and remains executive producer of the Essence Awards and Essence Music Festival. However, the major shift means that Taylor will no longer be responsible for reading every single manuscript before it is accepted into the magazine’s pages, as she had done for the last nineteen years. Taylor’s new responsibilities include the oversight of ECI’s umbrella initiatives including Essence Entertainment, Essence Eyewear and Hosiery, Essence by Mail, Essence Licensing, and Essence Books. Taylor sees her present challenge as ensuring that Essence is strategically positioned to maintain and expand its status as the premier magazine of choice of African American and African Caribbean women. She expects to continue to export the Essence ‘‘brand’’ throughout the Caribbean, United Kingdom, and Africa and even hopes to extend the company’s reach to nonEnglish-speaking countries. Taylor also welcomes the possibility to publish the magazine in additional languages. Toward this end, Essence has positioned itself as a major player in the Hispanic market with its publication of Latina, a Spanish lifestyle magazine for Hispanic women and men. Four years after becoming Essence’s editor and chief, Taylor enrolled in evening classes at Fordham University in New York, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology in 1991. She further pursued postgraduate studies at Fordham and is presently pursing a master’s degree in divinity at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Taylor is also the recipient of honorary doctoral degrees from Spelman College and Bennett College for Women as well as Delaware State, Dillard, Fisk, and Lincoln universities. Taylor is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Women in Communication, and the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME). Her service activities help persons of African ancestry both nationally and internationally. In 1999, Taylor was the first African American woman to receive the magazine industry’s highest honor, the Henry Johnson Fisher Award, by the Magazine Publishers of America. Three years later, the ASME inducted Taylor into its highly selective Hall of Fame. In addition to In the Spirit, Taylor is author of Lessons in Living (1998) and coauthor of Lessons in Living and Confirmation: The Spiritual Wisdom That Has Shaped Our Lives along with her husband of fifteen years, writer and editor Khephra Burns. She is currently working on a third book, The Ten Commandments of Love. Her daughter Shana owns a thriving beauty supply business and is married to Atlanta businessman Bernard King. The couple has one daughter, Amina Suzanne. See also: Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources Dodson, Angela. ‘‘The Essence of Susan Taylor.’’ NABJ Journal, November 2004. http://www.nabj.org.

764

Theater Owners Booking Association and the Entertainment Industry Marshall, Diane. ‘‘Susan L. Taylor.’’ Notable Black American Women. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. McHenry, Susan. ‘‘Black Publishing’s Inspirational Godmother.’’ Black Issues (November–December 2004): 12–16. Shuler, Deardra. ‘‘Susan Taylor: Following Her Spirit.’’ Global Black News. November 2004. http://www.globalblacknews.com. Stilson, Janet. ‘‘A-List Profile: Essence: ‘Spirited’ Taylor Connects.’’ Advertising Age 74 (October 2003): S6. ‘‘Susan L. Taylor.’’ Current Biography Yearbook. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1997. Taylor, Susan L. In the Spirit: The Inspirational Writings of Susan L. Taylor. New York: Amistad, 1993.

Crystal Anne deGregory

Theater Owners Booking Association and the Entertainment Industry The Theater Owners Booking Association, traditionally referred to as TOBA, was born out of the imagination of comedian Sherman Douglas, who retired from active performing to reside in Washington, D.C. in about 1915. At that time he began to lease and purchase theaters to form a chain (or circuit) that could support performances and provide audiences for the touring shows that had then begun to proliferate in small and large cities throughout the country. There was a certain camaraderie among the owners and managers that provided the basic support for this enterprise, and, together with the shows’ directors and staff, the structure was there to permit the enterprise to gain success. According to some sources, in 1921 the TOBA stretched from Jacksonville to Galveston, to Kansas City, to Cleveland, and included in its circuit Chicago, St. Louis, New York, Memphis, Baltimore, and several other cities ‘‘along the way.’’ The kinds of shows varied widely from those highlighting a star performer (usually a singer) to variety shows featuring light dramatic skits, dances, dance ensembles, and musical routines; usually there was a final ‘‘ensemble’’ group closing number. In a way, these were the precursors of the major vaudeville show era that soon emerged. Historically, the TOBA circuit came on the heels of a few other types of performing shows that frequented the area, providing live entertainment and a good evening’s diversion, sometimes avowedly a bit on the rowdy side. There were the minstrel shows, about which a great deal has already been written. Featured performers in the minstrel shows included Thomas McIntosh, Bert Williams, and Dan Emmett (who claimed to have invented the banjo and may well be credited with adding a fifth string on the neck of the instrument). Often these shows served as ‘‘schools’’ of development for upcoming or novice singers, musicians, and dancers. ‘‘Blackface’’ shows, stereotypical dance, and acrobatic routines were often the norm, as were various comedy routines (for example, the comic and the straight man).

765

Theater Owners Booking Association and the Entertainment Industry

Ironically, black performers often also wore blackface makeup in these shows. The minstrel shows served an urban audience in both the North and South and flourished around the turn of the century, with roots extending back to the ‘‘Gay Nineties’’ and before. Mirroring life on the plantation, the principal performers were often white and the musicians black. The music parodied plantation entertainment, which usually featured familiar songs, slapstick comedy, and routines captured from a somewhat distorted view of plantation life. One of the most popular of the minstrel shows was ‘‘The Original Georgia Minstrels,’’ featuring Sherman Dudley and his humorous skit with a mule, and comedian Tom McIntosh, doing an exhibition drumming routine. There were three additional popular entertainment shows on the scene at that time: ‘‘In Old Kentucky,’’ ‘‘The Smart Set,’’ and ‘‘Black Patti’s Troubadours.’’ ‘‘In Old Kentucky,’’ perhaps the most well known, began around 1900. The show often had a loose plot, sometimes with several scenes, centering on horse racing. The horse was often named ‘‘Queen Bess’’ and won the Derby. ‘‘Massa’s in the Cold, Cold Ground’’ was played by the band if she lost. Famous pianist and composer Eubie Blake played in the pit band for two weeks as the show toured from New York to Richmond in 1902. The show usually included Friday night dance contests with prizes; the contests were free to competition by one and all. A famous banjo player, Charles French, often played a still familiar banjo technique, called ‘‘stop time,’’ accompanying the dancers (the player plays a loud beat in the middle of a measure, followed by a short pause). Of course, the show closed with the familiar grand finale—all the performers dancing and singing in the final number. Gus Hill, a white producer, organized ‘‘The Smart Set’’ around 1900. It was basically a sectional show, featuring a play called ‘‘The Black Politician,’’ and often included a horse racing skit, interspersed with comedy and dance routines. The featured performer was often the ubiquitous dancercomedian; filling this role were performers of the caliber of Ernest Hogan, Sherman Douglas, and Water Crumbley. A featured singer was Marian Smart, who specialized in sentimental ballads. For one particular trip, the group traveled by private railroad car, opening in Newark and journeying south through North and South Carolina and Georgia. The group played primarily for white audiences, with seating sometimes available in the balcony for blacks. Major singers of the era traveled as well, often with a supporting tour group. These included The Whitman Sisters, Lillian Russell, Mae West, Marian Stuart, ‘‘Black Patti,’’ and Ida Forsyth. ‘‘Black Patti’s Troubadours’’ had a proud and storied career. Black Patti was from Baltimore and lived near Eubie Blake. Her given name was Sissieretta Jones. Her shows were somewhat stereotyped as well, divided into three sections, and featuring Patti’s renditions of operatic arias. The other two sections often included a buck-dancing contest and a series of special group routines, including the cakewalk. Patti usually closed

766

Theater Owners Booking Association and the Entertainment Industry

the show accompanied by the entire cast singing a group number, often operatic in nature. ‘‘Variety’’ shows often traveled as well, sometimes on the TOBA circuit, sometimes on the Keith Circuit. These often included dance skits featuring blazingly fast tap dance routines of the type later polished and perfected by Bill Robinson, the Nicholas Brothers, and others. Other famous dance routines included exhibition dances modeled after popular ballroom dances later developed artistically by Fred Astaire and the black team Norton and Webb. Many of the above-named performers worked in tours or as solo artists on the TOBA circuit as well as in individually scheduled performances. The TOBA continued to grow and feed off its roots, including the entertainment types already described, that were out there reaching the public. TOBA, also known by its nicknames ‘‘Toby’’ and the monicker ‘‘Tough on Black Artists,’’ utilized the new and seasoned artists and performers flowing from the gathering talent stream in the country. The number of venues for TOBA shows increased from twenty-one to eighty in the mid-1930s and drew in some of the major theaters in the country; some are still extant or undergoing renovation. Shows are often presented in the Apollo and Cotton Club in New York, the Lincoln in Philadelphia, the Royale in Baltimore, and several other locations. Over time there was a gradual crystallizing of the show format. Often a show featured a major artist with a band, or a soloist with band accompaniment. With a major bandleader there might or might not be a lead soloist. Usually the bandleader would be a recognized artist of the day—for example, Chick Webb, Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, and Count Basie. The typical show had up to eight segments, alternating musical numbers, solos with band accompaniment, dance routines, possible dramatic or comic skits, and a group ensemble finale. Often there was also a ‘‘Tab’’ segment, where a tabloid (or encapsulated) version of a full band show was presented. A ‘‘one-nighter’’ was often the rule while on tour: a show, perhaps two or three shows (including a matinee) in a major city, a travel day, and on to the next site. Thus, we get the ‘‘Tough on Black Artists’’ monicker. Several social factors brought about the demise of the TOBA shows. It might be said that it was hit with a ‘‘quintuple whammy.’’ First, there was the issue of travel. Travel became less the norm, and more the exception, particularly for the big bands like those of Duke Ellington, for example. Next, the Great Depression hit the industry hard, and there was less ‘‘front money’’ available to finance a tour, as well as less spending money among the potential audiences. Consequently the theaters began to convert to movie venues, to maintain income, and the potential tour groups had to look harder for places to visit. Third, the movie industry was blossoming and reaching into the talent pool for major and supporting artists and performing units. Next, vaudeville itself became somewhat self-sufficient and centered on specific major cities; consequently, there was little need of tour formats to supply talent. Then television began to take over as an additional talent

767

John W. Thompson

draw, with needs for talent in specific locations and specific venues for shows, as, for instance, The Ed Sullivan Show. The final dislocation was a social one: World War II and the needs of the nation. One still can observe a continuation or some of the concepts introduced by the TOBA. Talent shows are seen regularly on television (for example, ‘‘Miss America,’’ the Milton Berle Show, big band specials, and American Idol). There are continuations of the ‘‘circuit’’ concept: the Keith Circuit, Columbia Artists Management, the William Morris Agency, and others. Finally, most major rock, rap, and country groups travel quite a bit throughout the world, depending on entrepreneurs, their agents, managers, and leaders to set up their tours. Sources Dixon-Stowell, Brenda. ‘‘Dancing in the Dark: The Life and Times of Margot Webb in Aframerican Vaudeville of the Swing Era.’’ Black American Literature Forum 17 (Spring 1983): 3–7. Hughes, Langston. Black Magic: A Pictorial History of the Negro in American Entertainment. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1967. Riis, Thomas. ‘‘Theater Owners’ Booking Association.’’ New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan, 1988. Sampson, Henry T. Blacks in Blackface: A Source Book on Early Black Musical Shows. Metuchen, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980.

Darius L. Thieme

John W. Thompson (1949– ), Internet Industry Executive John W. Thompson, the chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of the board of Symantec, is the first African American to head a major Silicon Valley company. On April 14, 1999, he assumed the helm of a leading industry provider of Internet security system solutions that represents 400 of the Global 500 companies. With over 100 million users throughout the world, Symantec credits Thompson for commendable leadership in transforming the company from one of primarily software production to one of the most respected implementers of fraud and content protection, virus prevention, and illegal access prevention in the business. Moreover, Thompson is widely regarded as the mastermind responsible for critically assessing the company’s stagnation and providing much needed leadership that witnessed company profits nearly double in only three years. Keys to his success have been marked by innovative branding of new market concepts and upgrading company acquisitions to facilitate larger consumer demands. Born on April 24, 1949, on a military base in Fort Dix, New Jersey, Thompson is the son of Eunice and John H. Thompson. He attended Lincoln University in Missouri on a music scholarship but soon admitted a lack of interest in that field. With encouragement from a family friend, he transferred to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) in

768

John W. Thompson

Tallahassee and became a business major. He received a B.A. in business administration in 1971. Shortly after graduation, he began as a sales representative with IBM in Florida. So successful was Thompson in sales that he was promoted and moved to Atlanta as branch manager with IBM (1975–1979). From 1980 to 1984 he was regional administrative assistant and later regional marketing director for IBM in Boston. He continued upward mobility, becoming assistant to the chief executive officer and chairman at the headquarters facility in White Plains (1984). He held a number of other posts with IBM, including director of its Midwest operations, head of marketing for its U.S. operations, general manager of personal software products, and general manager of IBM Americas. Little did Thompson know that he would spend nearly twenty-eight years with IBM implementing theoretical lessons gained at FAMU and later at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Sloan School of Management Science, where he earned an M.S. in management sciences in 1982. His program at MIT was designed for midcareer executives. While at IBM he reached the corporate ceiling by functioning at senior levels in software production, marketing, management, and sales. As IBM Americas general manager, Thompson ignited $37 billion in returns for the company and managed support of technological goods. He had a solid career with IBM and had been mentioned as a potential candidate to head the company. Notwithstanding this success, it was a natural progression for him to take the top post at Symantec where his abilities could be put to the test on the heels of increasing demands for efficient antivirus programs due to the influx, inundation, and apparent ease with which computer spam occurred. Spam concerns have been high on Thompson’s agenda, and he sits at the center of national debates and dialogue on methods to address this widespread problem. He has been an open proponent of wholesale revamping of industry mechanisms and more detailed education of system maintenance matters to curtail consumer dependence and reliability on maintenance providers. One critical area Thompson views is the need to begin applying fees to senders of electronic mail and to apply laws of physical reality to those of cyberspace. Philosophically aligned with technology mogul Bill Gates on this proposal, Thompson suggests that such a measure would mitigate against junk mail and ultimately legitimize mass mail outs. Particular beneficiaries of this proposed initiative would be consumers and small businesses who, according to Thompson, are hit the hardest from spam attacks. Furthermore, he calls on the federal government to step up and more aggressively address the growing problems with devastating consequences. Specifically, he challenges the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Homeland Security to assert leadership and appeals to the private sector as well for proaction instead of passiveness. Thompson’s commitment to action has also earned him the responsibilities of serving in advisory and consulting capacities in the following areas: National Infrastructure Advisory Committee; Silicon Valley Blue Ribbon

769

Gloria E. A. Toote

Task Force on Aviation Security and Technology (chairman); Illinois Governor’s Human Resource Advisory Council; and Florida A&M University Cluster (chairman). Additionally, he serves as a board member for UPS, Seagate and Crystal Decisions, and NiSource Inc. His powerful positions have consistently been backed by quality work driven by quality results. Consider his determination to buy out VERITAS Software, which propelled Symantec’s global operations to greater heights in system intrusion research and attentiveness in thirty-eight countries around the world. His efforts were noted by Black Enterprise, who acknowledged him as the 2004 Executive of the Year. Thompson’s hire by Symantec proved to create a considerable stir within executive leadership circles and served as a catalyst for other aspiring minorities in similar lines of work. He is committed to continue pushing for inclusiveness within highly technical professions where less than 2 percent of Silicon Valley’s 150 top companies were run by blacks or Hispanics at the time of his hire in 1999. But his greatest example, he concedes, is leadership by example and a demonstration to others that minorities can excel at high executive levels. He advocates performance-based initiatives but underscores his efforts to diversify the workforce in America. Thompson and his wife Sandi live in Woodside, California; he has two adult children from a previous marriage. See also: E-Commerce and the African American Community Sources Donnelly, Rory. ‘‘John W. Thompson.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Helft, Miguel. ‘‘Symantec Names Black to CEO’s Post.’’ Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, April 15, 1999. Hughes, Alan. ‘‘The Best CEO in Silicon Valley: John Thompson Has Transformed Symantec into a Multibillion-Dollar Security Software Juggernaut.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (September 2004): 108–114. Miller, Michael J. ‘‘Interview: Symantec CEO Calls for a Radical Approach.’’ eWeek, March 5, 2004. ‘‘Symantec’s John Thompson: Building on Faith and Fate.’’ VARBusiness, December 6, 2001. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 2005.

Janet Walsh

Gloria E. A. Toote (1931– ), Lawyer, Writer, Entrepreneur, Politician Gloria E. A. Toote is a multitalented person who showed her genius at an early age. Her drive toward success started in 1954 when she graduated from the Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C. In 1955, she passed the bar examination and worked in corporate, real estate, and government law. Toote’s interest next turned to the music industry. When she founded the Town Sound Studios, an independent, nonaffiliated business,

770

Gloria E. A. Toote

all other recording studios were operated solely by whites. Her enterprise inspired other black entrepreneurs to enter the record business. Also, Toote was the top-ranking black woman in government following her appointment in 1973 as the assistant secretary for equal opportunity to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Toote was born to Frederick Augustus and Lillie Toote on November 8, 1931, in New York City. Her father served as the archbishop of the African Orthodox Church and assumed leadership of the United Negro Improvement Association following Marcus Garvey, who was deported to Jamaica in 1927 for mail fraud. According to Toote, her father was partially responsible for her initiative and professionalism. She recalls him as a demanding father and an inveterate professional. Her own professional endeavors were many: After receiving her J.D. degree in 1954 from Howard University School of Law, she passed the New York State bar exam in 1955 and went to work at the law firm of Greenbaum, Woolf, and Ernst. Already a practicing professional, she continued her law studies at Columbia University Graduate School of Law, graduating in 1956. In 1957, she resigned the law firm to work for New York State’s governor Nelson Rockefeller. Later she began private practice in corporate, real estate, and government law and simultaneously worked as a writer for Time magazine from 1957 to 1958. By 1966, she had given up the practice of law for her first entrepreneurial endeavor—recording studio owner and operator. Toote, with characteristic initiative, set out to find a building for her new enterprise. She founded Town Sound Studios in an old low-rent, four-story brick building that had been Englewood’s (New Jersey) city hall. Empty since 1928, the building had decayed badly and lacked either electricity or washrooms. To reduce remodeling expenses, Toote worked as laborer, contractor, and architect, using costly professionals sparingly. HAR-YOU training program dropouts, friends, and relatives provided the remainder of the labor force. Upon its completion, the building provided 2,400 square feet of studio space and housed equipment to transcribe, cut, record, copy, and copyright the compositions of primarily black musicians. This equipment cost $250,000 and earned the studio the reputation as the most up-to-date facility in the New York area. Toote learned how to perform all the technical functions of the recording business and then trained a group of young people who later helped others to start businesses. Although the company remained in the black, its profits did not afford Toote enough money to own a house. She had not gone into business to make huge profits but to provide a much-needed service and to demonstrate that black people can establish and manage a business at a profit. Moreover, Toote hoped her business was a positive example for black kids who saw the neighborhood numbers runner as an example of ultimate success. Following her entrepreneurial efforts at Town Sound Studios, she returned to law and politics. In 1971, she campaigned for President Richard Nixon

771

Dempsey Jerome Travis

and received an appointment as assistant director of ACTION—spending two years at the agency coordinating all the federal volunteer programs. Her appointment in 1973 as assistant secretary for equal opportunity of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) made her the highest-ranked African American woman of the Nixon and Ford administrations. In 1978, after a ‘‘run’’ for the cochairwoman of the Republican National Committee, Toote, who lost the election, served on the President’s Advisory Council on Private Sector Initiatives from 1983 to 1985. Toote was also involved in the 1992 reelection campaign of President George H. Bush. She attended a $250-a-plate breakfast where she and Larry Thompson, Atlanta lawyer, discussed strategy with the president. Also attending the breakfast were members of the Congressional Black Caucus— individuals who each earned at least $125,000 a year. At their disposal, the Caucus had $3.8 million derived from fund-raisers and other activities to invest in the reelection of the president. At this time, the Black Political Caucus recognized Toote for her work at HUD and Shirley Chisholm for hers in the House of Representatives. In 1996, Toote, still practicing law and serving the Republican Party, accused the Republican Party of not courting African American voters, especially the old guard who had been loyal Republicans. Toote still lives and works in New York City. She is presently revising her autobiography and looking to the Republican Party for leadership. See also: Women and Business Sources Booker, Simeon. ‘‘Ticker Tape U.S.A.’’ Jet 82 (July 13, 1992): 10. Eddings, Jerelyn, et al. ‘‘Voices from the Gallery.’’ U.S. News & World Report (November 4, 1996): 28, 30. Llewellyn, Noelle. ‘‘Dukes, Ferrer and Toote Speak Out on Voting.’’ New Crisis 107 (September–October 2000): 20–23. Rowe, Billy. ‘‘Ladies Armed to Flex Political Muscles.’’ Columbus Times, July 11, 1989. Smith, John Clay. Rebels in Law. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998. Trescott, Jacqueline, and Mary Ann French. ‘‘Black Caucus, Full Steam Ahead; At the Annual Summit, Legislators Look Forward to November Gains.’’ Washington Post, September 28, 1992, final edition.

Lois A. Peterson

Dempsey Jerome Travis (1920– ), Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Writer, Publisher, Musician, Real Estate Executive Dempsey Jerome Travis is one of Chicago’s biggest success stories. He has succeeded in a half-dozen or more careers and shows no signs of slowing down. His company, Travis Realty—based in Chicago—is among the 100 largest black businesses in the United States; Travis, himself, was listed for

772

Dempsey Jerome Travis

seven years in a row by Ebony magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans and as Black Businessman of the Year by Dollar and Sense magazine. Even though he still manages his investments and charitable activities, Travis retains his interest in civic enterprises. During this time, Travis also wrote twenty books—most of which were inspired by his own personal experience, famous Chicagoans, and historical events. Travis, born in Chicago on February 25, 1920, is the son of Louis and Mattie Strickland Travis. The parents were part of the rural, southern black migration of the 1920s to large northern cities. From the beginning, Travis profited from the economic and political climate the migratory movement created. Before his birth, his family had moved into a neighborhood of successful small, black-owned businesses that provided Travis with positive role models. Inspired by his surroundings and assured by his parents, Travis started down the entrepreneurial path. At the age of five, he was already delivering the Chicago Defender and working odd jobs in the neighborhood. The path next led him to a career in music. At eighteen he was playing piano with a touring group and booking the band’s performances. Soon tiring of the hardships of life on the road, Travis decided to attend college and enrolled in Roosevelt University, Chicago, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949 and immediately founded Travis Realty Corporation. Next, he attended the Kent School of Law for a year but decided not to practice law because he refused to remain unoccupied until his case was called. In the 1960s, he continued his education at Northwestern University’s School of Mortgage Banking. At about the same time, he established United Mortgage Bankers of America and Dempsey Travis Securities and Investment Corporation and served as president of Sivart Mortgage Company, Travis Realty, as well as Dempsey Travis Securities and Investment Corporation. Travis invested his energy in a variety of areas. He served as editor/ contributor for three well-known publications: Dollars and Sense Magazine, Ebony magazine, and Black Scholar. In addition to his editorial work, Travis found time to serve on the boards of several organizations, including the Chicago Historical Society, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the Garret Evangelical Theological Seminary, and the Museum of Broadcast Communications. Additionally, Travis was recognized by Ebony magazine, Blackbook, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, and Who’s Who in the World for his business and financial acuity, and his many media appearances earned the participating stations and networks five Emmy nominations. By 1980, after a fifty-year involvement in business, publishing, civil rights, entertainment, charity, sales, development, and property management, Travis had a lot to say. He turned to writing and at present has written twenty books—all top-sellers. An Autobiography of Black Chicago (1981) reflects Travis’s lifelong love for Chicago. In the prologue he discusses his own background in relation to the history of Chicago. The two are intertwined. He began his music career there, went to the university, established businesses, became active in civil rights, and participated in a host of other

773

Dempsey Jerome Travis

fraternal, philanthropic, and religious activities. For Travis, life was Chicago, and each of his books represents a seed deeply rooted in black Chicago: An Autobiography of Black Jazz (1987), An Autobiography of Black Politics (1987), Real Estate Is the Gold in Your Future (1997), Harold: The People’s Mayor (1998), Racism: American Style a Corporate Gift (1998), I Refuse to Learn to Fail (1991), Views from the Back of the Bus during World War II and Beyond (1995), and The Duke Ellington Primer (1996). Others such as An American Story in Red, White, and Blue (2002) are primarily biographical, topical, or thematic in nature. The motivation for An American Story in Red, White, and Blue was to explore issues of race— specifically, how and why black people lost their history. This book examines the attitude of whites toward Native Americans and blacks. While Native Americans were robbed of their land and herded onto reservations, Travis believes Native Americans retained a sense of their racial identity that few blacks did. For years Travis has supported scholarships for worthy students with the profits earned from his book publishing business. He has funded scholarships and recently also gave $250,000 to the University of Chicago Hospitals. The donation established the Dempsey and Moselynne Travis Pediatric Eye Clinic. The clinic will use the money to conduct research, buy specialized diagnostic equipment, and purchase glasses for needy children. Travis’s generosity with money supports a part of his vision to help black youngsters. Hoping to influence black professionals to remain in the neighborhood, he applied his business skills to erect a South Side Townhouse development. He was motivated by his memories of the great men who lived in his neighborhood, men that he respected and looked to for inspiration. So in order keep powerful black role models in Chicago, Travis has developed a village community. As Travis knows, and as an African proverb proclaims, ‘‘It takes a village to raise a child.’’ See also: Real Estate Industry Sources ‘‘Black Businessman of the Year: One of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans.’’ Urban Research Press, Inc. http://www.urbanresearchpress.com/dempsey.html. Calloway, Earl. ‘‘Dempsey J. Travis Rips into J. Edgar Hoover’s Diabolical Racism in FBI Wired the Nation.’’ Chicago Defender, August 26, 2000. ———. ‘‘Travis Book Offers Shocking Truth.’’ Chicago Defender, November 17, 2000. Counselors of Real Estate. ‘‘Dempsey Travis: Chicago CRE Remembers the Golden Age of Jazz.’’ Counselors of Real Estate Organizational News. 2004. http:// www.cre.org. Hall, Corey. ‘‘Bookin’! Dempsey Travis Explores Three Shades of American History.’’ Hyde Park Citizen 13 (November 14, 2002). Office of Public Affairs, University of Chicago Medical Center. ‘‘$250,000 Gift Supports Children’s Eye Care at University of Chicago Hospitals.’’ 2000. http:// www.uchospitals.edu/news/2000/20000531-dt.php. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Lois A. Peterson

774

Lloyd G. Trotter

Lloyd G. Trotter (1945– ), Business Executive The current business climate is such that few individuals climb the ladder into a corporation’s hierarchy without bouncing between many companies. Lloyd Trotter is an exception. Since joining General Electric (GE) in 1970 as a field service engineer with GE Lighting, he has risen through the ranks to the company’s upper echelons. As president and chief executive officer (CEO) of GE Industrial Systems, Trotter is head of one of the top divisions of the worldwide manufacturing giant. As an African American who has beaten the odds by breaching white upper management, he has used his influence to help other persons of color trying to achieve similar success by being one of the country’s greatest advocates for mentoring. Trotter was born on April 9, 1945, in Cleveland, Ohio. His was a typical blue-collar family in a steel belt city—his father was a General Motors die setter, and his mother was a housewife taking care of three sons and a daughter. Although the Trotter children grew up in somewhat modest circumstances, their parents managed to create a foundation for success. All of Lloyd’s siblings would go on to earn master’s degrees. Of the four, it was Lloyd who did not find his career path immediately. Upon graduating high school in 1963, Trotter joined Cleveland Twist Drill Co. as an apprentice in its tool-and-die program. When he entered Cleveland State University in the late 1960s, it was not so much for personal benefit as it was for his job. He had little choice of courses to take, as he took those required to stay in his employer’s apprenticeship program. When he completed those, he decided that he wanted to finish college, but then he took classes that were of interest to him, classes in manufacturing. In 1970, as a tool-and-die engineer at Cleveland Twist, Trotter began working on a tooling problem for General Electric’s lighting division. The problem was not unlike the many he was used to solving as part of his everyday job. This time, however, he so impressed his clients that they offered him a position as a field service engineer with GE Lighting. Trotter was ready for a career change, but he really did not know what direction to take. Nevertheless, the timing was right, so three weeks later he made the jump. The new job did not deter Trotter from completing his college degree. He continued his studies, earning a B.A. in business administration in 1972. In the meantime, Trotter continued to impress his new employers with his can-do attitude, always looking to make improvements and offer helpful suggestions. General Electric soon rewarded his eye for innovation with a succession of promotions, jumping from division to division. He held various production and technology positions in the GE Lighting, Gas Turbine, Appliances, and Electrical Distribution and Control divisions. For instance, in 1978, he was sent to GE’s Appliance Park in Louisville, Kentucky, where he was charged with improving manufacturing efficiency. The first two years

775

Lloyd G. Trotter

he helped automate portions of the dishwasher assembly lines, while the next two years he was assigned to running those dishwasher lines. In 1990, Trotter was made vice president and general manager of manufacturing for GE’s Electrical Distribution and Control (ED&C) division, which designs and manufactures devices to control, distribute, transform, and protect electricity. During his eighteen months in that position, he integrated forty facilities to raise productivity by 150 percent for the Plainville, Connecticut–based division. That performance led to his being named president and CEO of ED&C, a division so large that it could be ranked among Fortune 500 companies all by itself. Trotter may have been a great example of a black person making it in the white corporate world, but he was very aware that advancement opportunities for persons of color were infrequent—that he was an exception. With that in mind, in the early 1990s, Trotter founded GE’s African-American Forum, a group for black employees to meet and discuss career advancement issues. The quarterly meetings helped pair younger employees with established managers, who could help mentor them by teaching them the ins and outs of the corporate culture, with an eye toward advancing within GE. The formation of that group had a ripple effect throughout GE and throughout American industry. Within GE, a women’s forum, a Hispanic forum, and other interest groups followed. Then other large companies followed suit by encouraging their employees to form similar affinity groups to help achieve diversity throughout management. Trotter’s mentoring efforts go beyond GE. He serves on the board of directors for the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. He also represents GE for America’s Promise, the organization created by former Secretary of State Colin Powell designed to increase volunteerism in support of the nation’s youth. In 1998, Trotter was tabbed to become president and CEO of the newly created GE Industrial Systems, as well as being made a senior vice president of the corporation. Headquartered in Plainville, Connecticut, Industrial Systems was a $6 billion global business with 40,000 employees around the world. His mission: to increase company profits by cutting redundancies in administration and combining manufacturing processes for greater efficiencies. His success in doing just that caused the GE brass to ask him to do it again a few years later. In late 2003, when GE decided to combine its Consumer Products division, a unit that included its appliance and lighting businesses, with its Industrial Systems division, which makes circuit breakers, electric motors, and other products, they put Trotter in charge. In January 2004, Trotter took control of the $14 billion Consumer & Industrial division based in Louisville, Kentucky. As president and CEO of the division, Trotter oversees 75,000 employees worldwide in 150 locations. His new objective is to increase profits by 20 percent, by cutting as much as $200 million in costs and increasing revenue by as much as 4 percent.

776

Lloyd G. Trotter

Trotter lives in the Cherokee Park area of Louisville with his wife Teri. They have three children, all grown, and five grandchildren. In 2001, Trotter was recognized by his alma mater Cleveland State with an honorary doctoral degree in business administration. Among his hobbies is collecting art from the Harlem Renaissance period and adding to his extensive wine collection. Sources ‘‘Biography: Lloyd G. Trotter.’’ Harvard Business School African-American Alumni Association. http://www.hbsaaa.org/conf2001/Biographies/confBioLloydTrotter.htm. Branch, Shelley, and Alfred Edmond Jr. ‘‘Lloyd G. Trotter.’’ Black Enterprise 23 (February 1993): 130. ‘‘Leadership Bios: Lloyd G. Trotter.’’ General Electric Company. http://www.ge.com/ en/company/companyinfo/executivebios/eb_trotters.htm. Schoenberger, Robert. ‘‘GE Leader Brings Skills Back to Town.’’ Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY, February 22, 2004. Thomas, David A., and Suzy Wetlaufer. ‘‘A Question of Color: A Debate on Race in the U.S. Workplace.’’ Harvard Business Review 75 (September 1, 1997): 118.

Kevin C. Kretschmer

777

U Urban Financial Services Coalition To serve the interests of minority professionals in the banking industry, the National Association of Urban Bankers (NAUB) emerged in 1974 in New York City. The organization was incorporated in 1977; to fulfill the broader interests of the financial industry at large, it changed its name to the Urban Financial Services Coalition (UFSC) in the summer of 2000. Its primary aims are to increase the volume of practitioners in banking, insurance, brokerage, and securities fields by minorities and women. Additionally, it seeks support for minority-related issues that historically have been ignored and marginalized by traditional financial institutions. Supplemental efforts at achieving organizational objectives have historically included professional development, supporting educational initiatives, and instilling empowerment within underserved communities. Social responsibility upheld by its members has represented an important factor espoused by UFSC executives. This was the case in 1985 when the organization’s first female president, Gail Snowden, articulated the need for senior black pioneers in banking to resist retreat from the apparent insensitiveness exhibited by majority industry insiders. Her central claim at the NAUB annual conference in Miami was that member input and resourcefulness were needed more than ever to ensure any hope of consistent upward mobility by minorities. Toward that end, Snowden also was critical of blacks falling into defeatist traps where education is minimized at the expense of notions of ‘‘who you know’’ mentalities. She emphasized to attendees that educational training and increased professionalism were the surest means of achieving their mission. In 1999, the mantra of education and training was echoed by Rasheed Wyatt, president of the Buffalo, New York, chapter, who observers state was a man on a crusade to teach. Wyatt is an important example of the leadership cadre produced by UFSC because of his keen insight into the business and human qualities associated with building up the black community. Wyatt expressed the importance of the presence of black bankers in the

Urban Financial Services Coalition

black community; small businesses, churches, and individuals would benefit directly from member expertise in credit counseling and mortgage acquisition. It is said that the best teachers are those who are the greatest listeners as students. Critical to the learning curve, according to Wyatt supporters, is his ability to make those he is helping—students, clients, and citizens of the community at large—feel equally moved by his embracement of their ideas and positions. Not in vain at all, his leadership ultimately served the greater good by educating consumers on ways of becoming potential suppliers instead. Information has consistently been pushed through UFSC’s network. This certainly was the case at the organization’s 2000 San Francisco conference, as Roger Ferguson, Federal Reserve Board vice chairman, admonished predatory lenders who prey on minorities. His data are consistent with data collected by Robert Manning showing how immigrant populations educated in the United States, youthful African Americans, and blue-collar white males are targeted. Further impacts from the UFSC stem from its umbrella of programs including Bank Education Awareness Month, the National Program Funding Initiative, the Herbert W. Whiteman Jr. Scholarship Program, the Wells Fargo Capital for Knowledge Program, the FDIC Money Smart Alliance, and the Urban Financial Services Coalition Foundation. Its collective portfolio is quite impressive as well, as upward of 50 percent of its members hold professional M.B.A. and/or Ph.D. degrees. The vast majority of the membership is composed of those in commercial and retail banking. Roughly 25 percent come from investment and brokerage sectors, with approximately 5 percent representing educational, consulting, and research areas. There are fifty chapters throughout the United States and Canada. See also: Black Banks: Their Beginning Sources ‘‘Bank of America Executive to Head National Association of Urban Bankers.’’ Bank of America. http://www.bankofamerica.com. Hartley, Tom. ‘‘Marine Banker Pushes Minority Involvement.’’ Business First of Buffalo 15 (March 29, 1999): 1–2. Jones-Fields, Linda. ‘‘The Plight of Bankers.’’ Black Enterprise 16 (October 1985): 26. Leuty, Ron. ‘‘Federal Reserve Gives Bankers an Earful.’’ San Francisco Business Times 14 (June 2, 2000): 13. Manning, Robert. Credit Card Nation: The Consequences of America’s Addiction to Credit. New York: Basic Books, 2000. Urban Financial Services Coalition. http://www.ufscnet.org.

Uzoma O. Miller

780

V Sheila Vaden-Williams (1959– ), Organization Executive Sheila Elizabeth Vaden-Williams is the president of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers (NAMAD), a 500-member organization headquartered in Lanham, Maryland. Founded in 1980, NAMAD’s mission is to provide opportunities for ethnic minorities in all aspects of the automobile industry. Vaden-Williams is responsible for overseeing the dayto-day operations of NAMAD. This requires her to be actively involved in developing and implementing the organization’s future direction and goals. She is a problem solver and an events planner and oversees the administrative details of the organization. In addition to addressing minority dealer complaints, she also serves as a liaison to senior automotive executives. Various interviews with Vaden-Williams have identified her as being an authority on the state of minorities in the automotive industry. VadenWilliams has been associated with NAMAD since 1994. From 1991 to 1995 she served as the chief executive officer of Vaden, Williams & Associates, Inc., a full-service events planning and management consulting firm. Vaden-Williams was born on September 19, 1959, in Nashville, Tennessee. Upon high school graduation with honors in 1977, she continued her education at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. degree in economics in 1981. She received a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1984. Specializing in public finance, Vaden-Williams became an associate in the corporate law firm of Sidney & Austin. Later she joined the law firms of Hunton & Williams and Ginsburg, Feldman & Bress after her move to Washington, D.C. Due to her consulting abilities and expertise in writing laws for franchise development, Vaden-Williams has gained the attention of several major automobile companies. These companies include American Honda, Jaguar North America, Volkswagen/Audi, and Volvo.

Sheila Vaden-Williams

Another area of her expertise has focused on the development and delivery of customized diversity awareness and sensitivity training to employees, including senior executives of BMW of North America, Jaguar North America, Mercedes-Benz USA, Volvo of North America, Volkswagen, and Audi. She has also provided diversity training to the National Automobile Dealers Association employees and to Automotive Trade Association executives. Such training enables her to help industry understand the business case for diversity. She interfaces directly with senior-level manufacturers to effect change. Some of Vaden-Williams’s board memberships and appointments include the Premier Automotive Group Diversity Advisory Council; consulting with Volvo, Aston Martin, Jaguar, and Land Rover on issues relating to their business disciplines of Franchise Development Marketing; and human resource committees with various firms. From 1999 to 2003, she served on the Pepsi Cola Ethnic Diversity Marketing Consumer Advisory Board. She also serves on the board of Automotive Retailing Today, an industry-wide coalition that works to improve the image of participants in the new car industry. Past appointments for Vaden-Williams include executive adviser to the Women’s Automotive Association International and member of the Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency’s Minority Business Coordinating Council. Vaden-Williams has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards. One of her honors included being selected as one of the ‘‘100 Leading Women in the Automotive Industry’’ for North America in 2000. In addition, she was nominated for the Urban Wheel Award in two categories— Woman of the Year and Executive of the Year, 2000; named as an Automotive News All Star, for which she received recognition as one of the ‘‘20 Most Influential Members in the Automotive Industry,’’ 1999; and named as a Forty Under Forty Award recipient for the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, which recognized her accomplishments and community service. Other honors and awards received include the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Diversity Executive Leadership Program in 2000 and the ‘‘Keepers of the Dream Award’’ in 2002. Vaden-Williams continues to serve as a role model for youth, especially young women seeking acceptance in the automotive industry and the corporate world. As a woman in the industry, Vaden-Williams has what she deems a unique privilege to bring a woman’s perspective to bear. She works with key players in America’s largest industries and shows them that their commonalities unite them more than their differences. She still sees a need for further work, and she is energized and excited to participate in what may well be the greatest revolution in the industry. Some of Vaden-Williams’s professional affiliations include memberships in the American Bar Association, District of Columbia Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Automotive Trade Association Executives, Automotive Retailing Today, and the

782

Sheila Vaden-Williams

Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. In her position as NAMAD president, VadenWilliams has connected with major civil rights organizations, members of Congress, and other automotive industry association representatives. Vaden-Williams is a member of the Autism Society of America and the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She and her husband James M. Williams Jr. have three children, James III, Vaden, and Jessica. Vaden-Williams is a role model for women. She encourages women to break tradition, to step outside the box, and to fully embrace careers in corporate America. See also: Women and Business Sources Miller, Joe. ‘‘Sheila Vaden-Williams: Young Standouts Have Varied Backgrounds, Plenty of Potential.’’ Automotive News, September 11, 2000. http://www.autonews .com/article.cms?articleId¼6378&abt¼vaden-williams. Mitchell, Jacqueline, and Maisah B. Robinson. ‘‘African American Women Executives on the Rise.’’ Network Journal 5.4 (January 31, 1998): 12. National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers. ‘‘NAMAD Board of Directors: Sheila Vaden-Williams, Esq.’’ http://www.namad.org/static/bio_williams.asp. —. ‘‘NAMAD Mission.’’ http://www.minorityada.org/Mission.htm. ‘‘President.’’ Automotive News, September 11, 2000, 8W.

Sharon D. Brooks

783

W A’Leila Walker (1885–1931), Businesswoman, Arts Patron, Socialite A’Leila McWilliams Walker, also referred to by Langston Hughes as the ‘‘joy goddess’’ of Harlem’s 1920s, was a powerful businesswoman and a dedicated patron of the arts. Besides possessing a great business sense to continue the business and legacy of her mother Madame C. J. Walker, A’Leila also managed to promote and sometimes jump-start the careers of many talented African American artists. She helped to increase interest in the youth, black poets, artists, and writers. At her home in New York she called ‘‘The Dark Tower,’’ A’Leila entertained notable African American writers such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and James Weldon Johnson. Intellectuals and activists like W.E.B. Du Bois, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Adam Clayton Powell Sr. and artist Aaron Douglas were also among her guests. Leila (A’Leila) was the first and only child of Sarah (Breedlove) McWilliams and Moses McWilliams. She was born during the Reconstruction era, 1865–1898, and only two decades after the Civil War, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on June 6, 1885. Leila’s mother Sarah, later known as Madame C. J. Walker, was born to enslaved parents and later sharecroppers Owen and Minerva Breedlove in Louisiana in 1867. Walker, along with her parents, lived in a dilapidated shack on the Burney family’s plantation in Delta, Louisiana, on the Mississippi River. Walker’s early years as a child laborer were spent working as a sharecropper alongside her parents until their deaths. As a black child born during Reconstruction, she experienced extreme poverty, which permeated throughout her childhood years. Walker and many other blacks of that time lived in homes without windows, running water, or toilet and only a dirt floor. They received minimal materials needed for their survival and suffered great humiliation and indignity, particularly by their former white owners and white society in general. Shortly after her parents died, Sarah moved to Mississippi with her sister Louvenia and her brother-in-law. At the early age of seven, Sarah witnessed domestic violence and suffered abuse at the hands of her brother-in-law. In

A’Leila Walker

an attempt to escape the abuse, at the age of fourteen Sarah left her sister’s home and married Moses McWilliams. Four years after their marriage, Sarah and Moses welcomed their daughter, Leila McWilliams, into the world in 1885. Tragically, two years after Leila’s birth, Moses McWilliams died. It had been alleged that Moses was killed by a lynch mob. BETWEEN POVERTY AND PROSPERITY, THE WALKER FAMILY ENTERS THE HAIR-CARE BUSINESS As a single mother, Sarah realized that Vicksburg was not the ideal place for blacks. She wanted a better chance for employment and for her daughter to receive the formal education that she did not get as a child. Moreover, urban areas provided greater opportunities for blacks to succeed. Therefore, Sarah and young Leila moved to St. Louis, where Sarah’s brother lived. With her meager earnings, Sarah was not only able to support her daughter and provide her a public school education; she also sent her to college. Since Sarah was unable to read or write, she insisted that her daughter attain a formal education. Leila attended public school in St. Louis and later attended and graduated from a private black college, Knoxville College, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Leila’s successful matriculation at Knoxville College was one of Sarah’s proudest moments, particularly since she had not been afforded the opportunity as a child. Subsequently, Leila’s education would later assist the two women as they began their business. After the death of her brother, Sarah and Leila moved to Denver, Colorado, to live with her sister-in-law and her four nieces. Sarah had grown dissatisfied with working as a domestic, and with less than $2, she began a hair preparations company. Her intimate knowledge of hair loss, due to personal experience, provided Sarah the inspiration to create better hair-care options for black women who also suffered hair loss or growth problems. Sarah had been encouraged by the success of her formula on her own hair and on the hair of other black women. She, along with Leila, her sister-in-law, and four nieces, began to fill jars with the hair-care products in the attic of their home. Six short months later, Sarah’s business grew, and she also married successful newspaperman C. J. Walker. By virtue of being in the newspaper business, Walker had a keen knowledge of advertisement and mail-order procedures. Sarah borrowed from her husband’s knowledge, and the two of them joined as business partners. After their marriage, Sarah also changed her name to Madame C. J. Walker. Her decision to change her name, like many other black women, was brought on by their desire to prevent white people from referring to them by their first names, no matter who they were. In an effort to keep her name secret, she chose to be called Madame C. J. Walker. Unfortunately, she and her new husband began to experience incompatible differences concerning the business and divorced a short while later. She, however, continued to wear the name Madame C. J. Walker.

786

A’Leila Walker

HELPS ESTABLISH SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS Leila was her mother’s principal asset in business. Her formal education would benefit the company greatly, as she was illiterate and needed a reliable, dedicated, and trustworthy person to assist her. Leila therefore worked side by side with her mother. Leila assisted in product manufacturing, helped make business decisions, trained hair-care professionals in the Walker method, and traveled throughout the country as a salesperson. In 1906, Walker placed Leila in charge of the mail-order operation, while she traveled throughout the country promoting the company’s products. By 1908, the company’s growing success led the Walker women to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Both mother and daughter moved there and opened a beauty school named Leila College. There black women were trained as cosmetologists in the Walker method. Leila managed the manufacture of the hair-care products as well as the beauty school, while her mother continued her cross-country mission to introduce the product to thousands of black women. By 1910, the Walkers had 5,000 black agents selling their products on a commission basis. Amazingly, these women were able to amass greater wealth as Walker agents than they would have working as domestics. While helping other women set up in-home beauty shops and teaching bookkeeping techniques, Walker agents averaged over $1,000 over a seven-day period. Also in 1910, the Walkers’ moved their headquarters to Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1913 Leila, who now referred to herself as A’Leila, moved part of the business to New York, where she established another Leila College. She also married and became A’Leila Walker Robinson. A’Leila’s marriage to Robinson was short-lived, and she would subsequently marry two more times before her death in 1931. Before her divorce from Robinson, A’Leila adopted a daughter named Mae Bryant Perry in 1912. She had married and divorced Dr. Wiley Wilson by 1919 and Dr. James Arthur Kennedy prior to her death. Although unsuccessful in marriage, she was a successful businessperson. In addition to running Leila College in New York, A’Leila set up a special correspondence course that cost $25 to take. Students who completed the course received diplomas and contracts from Leila College. The signatures of Madame C. J. Walker as president and A’Lelia Robinson as secretary adorned the papers. Both mother and daughter traveled to various speaking engagements and consulted one another regarding the business. Their dual position as business partners as well as family bound them together professionally and personally. By the time of her mother’s death in 1919, the Walker Company had amassed great wealth, making Madame C. J. Walker the first African American female millionaire. A’Leila, devastated by her mother’s death, threw herself into the business of running the company. Like her mother, A’Leila would make a mark on the Walker Company as well. In 1928, she established the Walker Company Building located at 617 Indiana Avenue in Indianapolis.

787

A’Leila Walker

The building then included the Walker Manufacturing Company, the Walker College of Beauty Culture, a beauty salon, barbershop, pharmacy, grocery store, professional offices, and the Majestic Walker Theatre. As a testament to A’Leila’s genius, the Walker Building was the first black-owned and -operated building of its kind in the United States. The building and the company became a refuge for all members of the black community including professionals, entrepreneurs, and patrons of the arts. Since blacks were denied use of white office buildings at the time, the Walker building filled a void that was otherwise impenetrable. In 1988, the Walker Building underwent some muchneeded renovations and once again became the center of black life in Indianapolis. It has since been placed on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places. When Madame C. J. Walker died, she left A’Leila the bulk of her estate and the mansion, Villa Lewaro, located in the village of Irvington, New York. A’Leila also owned a townhouse on New York’s 136th Street. The famous mansion had been christened ‘‘The Dark Tower’’ after Countee Cullen’s column in Opportunity magazine. A’Leila Walker and her Dark Tower became synonymous with the Harlem Renaissance and many of the great artists of the 1920s. The Dark Tower drew in scholars, musicians, artists, and people of all races, varied sexual orientation, and social status. A’Leila threw lively, weekend-long parties; she also hosted more refined dinner parties for select guests. In 1922, her interest in Africa led A’Leila to become one of the only Westerners to visit Ethiopian Empress Waizeru Zauditu. She also traveled to other parts of the world including Europe, South America, and the Middle East in the 1920s. Toward the end of the decade, weekend parties and drinking began to take their toll on A’Leila. With the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, the Dark Tower would suffer, and by 1930 it closed. A’Leila even auctioned off antiques and luxury items. On August 16, 1931, A’Leila died after hosting a birthday party for a friend. All of Harlem’s greats and many unknowns came out to show their respect. A’Leila’s funeral was eulogized by Adam Clayton Powell Sr.; Bethune College founder Mary McLeod Bethune spoke of the legacy of both Walker women; and Langston Hughes contributed a poem titled ‘‘To A’Leila.’’ As a testament to their dedication and support for the black community, the Walker mansion, Villa Lewaro, was bequeathed to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Sadly, the NAACP sold the building due to the organization’s financial crisis in the 1930s. The Madame C. J. Walker Papers are located at the Indiana Historical Society Library in Indianapolis, Indiana. A’Leila Bundles, granddaughter of A’Leila Walker, is also working on a biography about her namesake. The book’s publication date has not been announced. See also: Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources Bundles, A’Leila. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madame C. J. Walker. New York: Scribner, 2001.

788

Antonio Maceo Walker Hughes, Langston. The Big Sea: An Autobiography. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1940. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Epic Lives: One Hundred Black Women Who Made a Difference. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1993. ———. Notable Black American Women. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992.

Baiyina W. Muhammad

Antonio Maceo Walker (1909–1994), Insurance Executive, Entrepreneur Antonio Maceo Walker became one of the pioneering African American actuaries in the United States as he followed his father as president of Universal Life Insurance Company in 1952 and a prominent black banker as president of Tri-State Bank in 1958, which was founded in 1946; both are based in Memphis, Tennessee. Under his leadership the assets of the insurance company grew from $9.2 million in 1952 to some $50 million in 1983. Walker was born in Indianola, Mississippi, on June 7, 1909, the only son of Joseph Edison, a physician, and Lelia O’Neal Walker. Named in honor of the Afro-Cuban freedom fighter Antonio Maceo who helped Cuba establish independence from Spain in the Spanish-American War of 1898, Walker was not only an advocate of entrepreneurship in the African American community but also a noted fighter for justice and civil rights. In his view both economic development in the black community and full civil rights were necessary to advance the quality of living for black citizens in the United States. His wealth and position as a community leader enabled Walker to support the civil rights movement by such activities as supplying bail money for incarcerated political leaders and providing meeting space at Universal Life headquarters. He did not even shy away from participation in a sit-in. Walker’s propensity for self-help for blacks in this country undoubtedly has roots in his childhood experiences of the all-black incorporated town of Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Walker moved with his mother, father, and sister Johnetta Walker-Kelso in 1920 to Memphis. There he witnessed his father found Universal Life Insurance Company in 1923 and later honed his business skills by working in the family business. Walker was educated at Kortrecht High School and LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis before his matriculation at Fisk University, from which he graduated in 1930 with an A.B. in business administration. He earned an M.B.A. from New York University in 1932, where he was the only black graduate student; an M.A. in actuarial science from the University of Michigan in 1935; in recognition of his later achievements Fisk University, Jarvis Christian College, LeMoyne-Owen College, Morehouse College, Rhodes College, and Wilberforce University bestowed honorary doctorates on him.

789

Antonio Maceo Walker

Uniting community service and business interests, he participated with his family in the founding the Mississippi Boulevard Disciples of Christ Church and Tri-State Bank of Memphis in 1946. Walker was president of Memphis Mortgage Guaranty Company; president and chairman of the board, TriState Bank of Memphis; and president, Universal Life Insurance Company, 1952–1953, and board chairman, 1985–1990. In 1979, he was appointed to the White House Conference on Small Business Commission by President Jimmy Carter and also witnessed the naming of the Computer and Information Management Service Center at LeMoyne-Owen, named partially in his honor. Strategically placed at the center of black institutions during the tumultuous civil rights movement, Walker did not abandon his moral mission owing to the lucrative career he etched out for himself and family. With the rich tradition of helping others instilled in him by his family background and the development of a keen sense of purpose and goodwill with the skills he acquired, the bloodlines he inherited ensured his continuing commitment to moral betterment. Thus, while speaking at an annual athletic banquet at Fisk University in 1960, he noted how lessons learned from such men as Mound Bayou’s Dr. T.R.M. Howard in the 1940s taught him the value of convictions. A member of Tri-State Bank’s first board of directors, Howard experienced tremendous difficulty on account of his militant fight against segregation. Furthermore, Howard faced economic sanctions because the governor of Mississippi informally supported banks’ refusing to renew his old loans and denying opportunities to take out additional ones. Such experiences led Walker and his father to the significant role that they would play in the relieving the economic plight of black citizens in Memphis. Their economic power would help others resist informal sanctions applied by the white community to blacks seeking economic or political progress for the community. As a banker, Walker played a tangible role in the lives of black Memphians because he was able to provide loans to clients who would ordinarily be denied by majority-run fiscal institutions. These loans touched the economic nerves pumping blood through the black community—the church, businesses, and the nuclear family. Many black churches secured loans from Walker, as did businesses seeking development and families pursing the dream of home ownership. In addition, Walker is highly regarded for his behind-the-scenes maneuvering as a fund-raiser for civil rights causes and for leading a committee that would eventually finance the tuition for the first black students at Memphis State University in 1964. Perhaps Walker’s most precious asset was his awareness of the financial necessity of African Americans always having the capital to nurture the distinct interests of their community, where majority financers could and did not. Walker was trying consciously to shape Tri-State Bank and Universal Life companies into hubs for economic parity. As an outgrowth of his economic stature, he was also able to place himself in a pivotal political position. He understood how financial security helped

790

Madame C. J. Walker

neutralize racial discrimination. The color green silenced many issues. A posthumous overview in a 1994 article shows how the black banker operated as a community leader. He was among a small group that included school officials, civil rights leaders, and businessmen that clandestinely held gatherings to have a voice in how the school board was chosen. Additionally, these assembled participants made sure that blacks would serve on the school board for the first time. From the list of organizations he served and from achievements he accumulated, Walker certainly was a force to be reckoned with. He was a U.S. representative at the American Exhibition in Mali, West Africa, in 1964; a member of the National Citizen’s Commission selected by President Lyndon Johnson, 1965; on the board of directors, Abe Scharff YMCA; on the board of directors, United Negro College Fund; a trustee of the Tennessee State University Foundation, 1973; on the board of directors, Economic Club of Memphis, 1974; on the board of directors of the Memphis Transit Authority; on the board of directors, Tennessee Advisory Committee of the Civil Rights Commission; chairman, Memphis and Shelby County Democratic Club; and a trustee of Fisk University. Walker was married to Harriet Ish Walker, and they had three children. After his wife died, in 1990 he married Charlesteen Miles. Walker died in Memphis on June 8, 1994, at the age of eighty-five. Sources ‘‘A. Maceo Walker, Prominent Business Leader, Activist, 85, Dies.’’ Jet, June 27, 1994. Collins, L. M. One Hundred Years of Fisk University Presidents, 1875–1975: Cravath, Merrill, Gates, McKenzie, Jones, Johnson, Wright & Lawson. Nashville, TN: Hemphill’s Creative Printing, 1989. ‘‘ ’83 Graduates Get Forbes as Speaker.’’ Southwestern Today (April 30, 1983): 2–3. Richardson, Joe M. A History of Fisk University, 1865–1946. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1980. Vincent, David. ‘‘Maceo Walker: Business Leader Was Role Model for City.’’ Commercial Appeal, June 10, 1994. Walker, Antonio Maceo. ‘‘Our Challenge Today: Are We Willing to Pay the Price?’’ Speech presented at the Annual Fisk University Athletic Banquet, Nashville, TN, March 15, 1960. ‘‘Walker, Papasan, McCrary to Be Honored for Leadership.’’ Commercial Appeal, May 2, 1991.

Uzoma O. Miller

Madame C. J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove) (1867–1919), Entrepreneur, Philanthropist The success of Madam C. J. Walker as black beauty hair culturist and self-made millionaire is one of America’s most compelling stories

791

Madame C. J. Walker

of entrepreneurial genius. Despite her tragic beginnings as the orphan child of sharecroppers, Walker’s invention of her Wonderful Hair Grower and popularization of the hot comb placed her among the most celebrated entrepreneurs of the early twentieth century. With great resourcefulness and tremendous business acumen, businesswoman Walker exploded onto the African American business scene in 1905. Over the course of the next decade, she revolutionized the marketing of products by and for black people as well as the wider hair-care industry and established herself as the benefactor to numerous causes throughout the African American community. Madame C. J. Walker was born Sarah Breedlove on December 23, 1867, in Delta, Louisiana, to Owen and Minerva Breedlove. As emancipated slaves, the Breedloves worked as sharecroppers on the cotton plantation of the Burney family and lived amid dire poverty. Having been orphaned as a result of the death of both parents when she was only six, the young orphan moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1878 to live with her older sister Louvenia and her husband Jesse Powell. Conditions were no less impoverished there, as she had little to no opportunity for formal education and was eventually employed as a domestic. By the age of fourteen Walker had grown tired of her brother-in-law’s abusive behavior and escaped his cruelty by marring Moses McWilliams at fourteen. Four years later, the couple celebrated the arrival of a daughter on June 6, 1885, whom they named Lelia. Tragically, McWillams died just two years later, reportedly at the hands of a lynch mob. At twenty-one, the young widow and single mother was virtually penniless. She did, however, have four brothers in St. Louis, Missouri, who were established barbers. Like many fledgling blacks of her time, Walker migrated to the city in pursuit of more opportunities to secure better employment. While she still worked as a domestic and laundress, the benefits of moving to an urban area also increased the chances for blacks to receive an education as well as become involved in social, benevolent, and church activities. Walker joined St. Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal Church and became involved in the National Association of Colored Women’s (NACW) activities, both of which sharpened her racial awareness and offered her new insight into the future’s possibilities. Although she was barely literate, she demonstrated extreme resourcefulness with her earnings of as little as $1.50 a day and put her daughter through the city’s public schools and Knoxville College, a private black college in Knoxville, Tennessee. While her daughter’s college graduation was among Walker’s most fulfilling accomplishments, by the 1890s, Walker was in her thirties but was still struggling to make ends meet. She probably hoped that her marriage to John Davis in the fall of 1894 would improve their quality of life, but he amounted to little more than a shirker, whose irregular employment and excessive drinking only increased Walker’s financial burdens. Embarrassed by her husband and physically worn after almost twenty years of work as a domestic, Walker began to lose her hair, and the method she and her black female contemporaries employed to straighten their hair only worsened her hair loss.

792

Madame C. J. Walker

Further embarrassed by her appearance and frustrated by her failing marriage, Walker separated from Davis in 1903 and began to use every product she could find to try and stop her hair loss, including those made by black female entrepreneur and hair culturist Annie Pope-Turnbo (later Annie Turnbo Malone). While Walker worked as one of Pope-Turnbo’s agents as early as 1903, she later contended that none of the existing products restored her hair. According to Walker’s own account, she prayed to God for help and claimed that the formula she would later use for her own products was divinely given in a dream. After much experimentation with patent products of the day as well as her own divinely inspired secret ingredients (supposedly sulfur), family and friends recognized Walker’s rapid hair growth and began to request that she duplicate it for them. Preparing the formula in her home, she began selling the product to them and later marketed it door to door throughout the black community. Despite some success, she and her daughter relocated to Denver, Colorado, in 1905, following the death of her brother who lived there. Arriving with less than $2 in her pocket, she boarded with his widow and daughters and quickly sought work as a cook and sold Pope-Turnbo’s Wonderful Hair Grower in the community. As her business grew, she gradually traded her work as a domestic for manufacturing her own hair products. The move provided her with some agency of her own, and she and her family began to fill jars with Walker’s own ‘‘Wonderful Hair Grower’’ in the attic of their home for sale. ESTABLISHES HAIR CULTURE BUSINESS Having finally severed all ties with Pope-Turnbo, Walker set out to establish her own hair culture business but still suffered from the embarrassment caused by her hair loss. Six months later, she married Denver newspaperman Charles Joseph Walker. His knowledge of mail-order procedures as well as his connections in the advertising industry helped her to market her product, mostly in African American–owned newspapers. The move proved advantageous for her fledgling business and earned about $10 daily. Walker wanted to continue to expand the business, but her husband disagreed. Tired of his constraints, she separated from him but still used ‘‘Madame C. J. Walker’’ (her husband’s initials) as her professional name. Following their separation, Walker intensified her efforts to improve and expand her business. In 1906, she placed her daughter A’Lelia Walker in charge of her burgeoning mail-order operations in Denver. Meanwhile, Walker tirelessly traveled throughout the country’s southern and eastern regions. Within two years, both mother and daughter relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where they made their company base and established both a branch office and beauty school, Lelia College. By 1907, Madam Walker’s business boasted earnings in excess of $300, a considerable sum when compared to the $40 to $60 monthly earnings of white male factory workers and astounding when juxtaposed to $8 to $20,

793

Madame C. J. Walker

the average earnings of black female domestics. While continuing her tour across the country, Madam Walker began to enlist thousands of women as ‘‘Walker agents,’’ salespersons to personally sell her products door to door. The exhausting sales drive included hundreds of scalp treatment demonstrations to conventions of African American organizations, churches, and civic groups, which she also used to develop new and improved sales and marketing strategies. On a visit to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1910, Walker was so impressed by the locale’s central location at the crosswords of eight railway systems that she and her daughter made the city their new home and company headquarters. Soon after, they consolidated their Denver and Pittsburgh offices and built a modern factory for the manufacturing of their goods, which had been expanded to include her hair solutions, facial creams, and other related cosmetics. The Walkers also opened a hair and manicure salon, an additional beauty school, and a training center for her Walker agents and her research and production laboratories. By that time, Walker had 5,000 agents at her command. Dressed in white blouses carefully tucked into long black skirts and carrying black satchels containing Walker’s products and combing apparatus, they dotted the streets of African American communities selling her goods on a commission basis. Their employment offered them a chance not only to enhance the physical appearances of their customers but also to escape the drudgery of domestic work to which most black woman were confined. Traveling door to door, they also logged thousands of miles selling and promoting Walker hair-care and beauty culture products. Walker agents’ efforts were tremendously successful. By 1910, the company had tripled its 1907 earnings to boast almost $11,000 in revenues, the equivalent of almost $200,000 today. On another one of her trips, Madam Walker met Freeman B. Ransom, a Columbia Law School student working as a train porter during his summer vacation who she later hired to direct her Indianapolis operations. Madam Walker found a capable attorney, trustworthy adviser, and lifelong friend in Ransom, while Lelia Walker was free to move to New York in 1914, where she expanded the company’s activities on the East Coast and opened an additional Lelia College. By the close of that year, her gross company earnings were over a million dollars. Walker traveled extensively throughout the American South, Central America, and the Caribbean throughout the decade. She moved to New York in 1916 and built a lavish mansion, which she named ‘‘Villa Lewaro,’’ on the Hudson River. She ran the New York office, oversaw the entire business from that office, and released the company’s daily operations to Ransom and her factory forelady Alice Kelley, a former schoolteacher. Walker used her free time to become involved in Harlem’s social and political life. She was a model of black philanthropy, freely contributing to numerous social and educational causes concerning African American communities across the South, including, the education of women, black entrepreneurship, and antilynching legislation. Even so, Walker faced opposition among some

794

Madame C. J. Walker

The residence of hair-care magnate Madame C. J. Walker, located on the Hudson River in New York. Known as ‘‘Villa Lewaro’’ (‘‘Villa Le Ware’’ or ‘‘Villa Leeward’’), African American architect Varner W. Tandy Sr. designed the Italian Renaissance Revival style mansion, which still stands. Source: Clement Richardson, ed., National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race. Vol. 1. Montgomery, AL: National Publishing Co., 1919, p. 264.

black leaders who accused her of trying to emulate the image of white women. Fortunately, her wealth allowed her to secure private tutors who taught her how to read and write over the course of several years, and she surrounded herself with the best educators and lawyers for both personal and professional guidance. Despite physicians’ advice to reduce her travel and busy itinerary because of her hypertension, Walker continued to work at the hectic pace that had made ‘‘Madam C. J.’’ a household name in black communities throughout the nation. While traveling she became ill and returned to New York, where she died on May 25, 1919, at Villa Lewaro from complications caused by the disease. Her funeral was also held at the residence, and she was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. See also: Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources Bundles, A’Lelia P. ‘‘Madam C. J. Walker.’’ A’Lelia Bundles and the Lewaro Corporation. http://www.madamcjwalker.com. ———. ‘‘Madame C. J. Walker: Cosmetics Tycoon.’’ Ms. 12 (July 1983): 91–94. ———. ‘‘Madame C. J. Walker to Her Daughter A’Lelia Walker—The Last Letter.’’ Sage: A Scholarly Journal of Black Women 1 (1984): 34–35. ———. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker. New York: Scribner, 2001.

795

Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker Elliott, Joan Curl. ‘‘Madame C. J. Walker.’’ Notable Black American Women. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Lowry, Beverly. Her Dream of Dreams: The Rise and Triumph of Madam C. J. Walker. New York: Knopf, 2003. Nelson, J. ‘‘Fortune That Madame Built.’’ Essence 14 (June 1983): 84–86.

Crystal Anne deGregory

Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker (1867–1934), Banker, Activist, Philanthropist Maggie Lena Walker is an icon in American history, women’s history, and African American history. Walker’s most distinguished achievement as the first African American female founder and president of a bank (St. Luke Penny Savings Bank) is celebratory; however, her leadership, philanthropy, and activism are equally notable. Born just after the Civil War, Walker was among the first generation of southern African Americans who were either born in the city or who migrated there in search of a better life as they made the transition from living under slave conditions to living as free persons. There would be several events, institutions, and people who would impact Walker and shape who and what she would become later in life. Walker was born on July 15, 1867, in Richmond, Virginia, to Elizabeth Draper, a former slave and later domestic worker, and Eccles Cuthbert, and Irishborn newspaper correspondent for the New York Herald and later news editor for the Richmond Dispatch. Elizabeth Draper and Walker’s birth father did not marry. Draper instead married William Mitchell in 1868. William Mitchell worked as a butler for the well-known Van Lew family, where Elizabeth worked as a domestic servant. Tragically in 1876, Elizabeth became a widow when William Mitchell was found floating in the James River. The coroner reported his obvious murder as a suicide. ConseMaggie Lena Walker founded the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, Virginia, in 1903. It was to serve as a quently, Walker had to assist her mother depository for insurance premiums for the Independent Order with caring for her younger brother of St. Luke’s insurance department. Source: Clement Ri- John B. Mitchell and delivering clothes chardson, ed., National Cyclopedia of the Colored Race. Vol. 1. for her mother’s laundry business, all the while continuing her education at Montgomery, AL: National Publishing Co., 1919, p. 381.

796

Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker

Lancaster School. Through her mother’s example Walker learned the importance of having a strong work ethic, entrepreneurship, and the importance of female networks. These values would remain with her and become more evident in the second stage of her life. In 1879 she attended the Colored Normal School in Richmond and graduated at the top of her class in 1883. Her activist quality became apparent when she and a group of her classmates protested against the local school board’s decision to segregate the graduation ceremony. Although Walker and her classmates were unsuccessful in orchestrating an integrated graduation ceremony at the Richmond theater with white students, they were able to reach an agreement to have their ceremony in the school’s auditorium. It was also during her teenage years that Walker became very active in the church. The church would serve as a central force in her life. The First African Baptist Church (FABC) shaped several important aspects of her experience because of its primary role as a religious institution that provided support to the individual as well as the entire community. Membership in the church meant that one became apart of the community, and the baptism served as the rites of passage for new members. Richmond’s FABC had the oldest and largest Sunday school of any church in the state. When Walker attended in the 1870s the Sunday school membership totaled 400, and by the 1880s, its membership had doubled. In her later journal entry she noted that her involvement with the FABC and the instruction of her Sunday school teacher, William White, had a major influence on her life. She later taught as an FABC Sunday school teacher. Walker continued in her efforts to reach out to the community not just in the church but also through civic and fraternal organizations. At the age of fourteen she joined the Independent Order of the Sons and Daughters of St. Luke, later shortened to Independent Order of St. Luke. The Order was founded in 1867 by Mary Prout, a former slave, originally established to provide service to the ill and funds for burials. It was essentially a grassroots organization that played an active role in the political, economic, and social structure of the African American community. Walker returned to Lancaster School to teach for three years while she continued her education in accounting and sales. In 1886 Maggie Lena married Armstead Walker, a successful building contractor, and they had three sons. She left her teaching appointment at Lancaster. She instead joined several other African American women to form an insurance company called The Women’s Union. Both she and her husband Armstead were active members of the Independent Order of St. Luke, but it was Maggie Lena Walker who rose through the ranks to hold several important positions. She organized a juvenile branch of the Order in 1895 while concurrently serving as founder or leader of several organizations, namely, Richmond Council of Colored Women, the National Association of Wage Earners, the International Council of Women of Darker Races, the National Training School for Girls, and the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls. She also served as a leader to the Richmond

797

Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker

chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Richmond Urban League, and the Negro Organization Society of Virginia. Walker became Right Worthy Secretary of the Order in 1899, and for the next thirty-five years she would occupy that seat and bring the organization to noted achievement. At the time of her appointment the organization was in financial trouble, with funds totaling only $31.61, and 1,000 members. Walker’s primary mission became raising community awareness and increasing the organization’s membership. With little financial backing and staff, Walker established a weekly journal titled the St. Luke Herald in 1902. The newspaper became the vehicle that would help raise community awareness and membership to the Order. Like most other black publishers and editors, Walker used her newspaper to speak out against injustices that were committed against blacks. The editorials spoke against segregation, lynching, and inequities in education for black children. The St. Luke Herald served as a major force in its twenty-five-year history. The paper’s circulation reached over 100,000 St. Luke members, and during that period the Order’s funds had grown to over $75,000. Walker’s enthusiasm and love for the order never waned. By 1903, she established a joint stock group, the St. Luke Association, purchased property to build the headquarters, and founded the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank. Through the Penny Savings Bank, members of the African American community were provided an opportunity to grow their limited wealth within the black community. Black women, particularly washerwomen, including Walker’s mother, were among the strongest supporters of the bank. The bank’s commitment to that segment of the population continued to exist under Walker’s leadership. Walker understood the importance of networks among black women as well as the importance of having resources within the black community. Adding to her noted achievements, Walker, along with twenty black women from the Independent Order of St. Luke, established a department store, the St. Luke Emporium, in 1905. Their goal was to provide quality merchandise, economically priced within the black community. The Emporium also provided employment as well as on-the-job business training to black women. Unfortunately, white retail store owners hindered their efforts, and the Emporium closed within one year. Walker should be a well-known figure in American history, not just for her quest to ensure that African Americans achieved economic power but also for her work for women’s suffrage, equal educational opportunities for black children, and independent black political mobilization. Walker received no recognition for her superior achievements and dedication to the community prior to her death on December 15, 1934. Virginia Union University awarded her an honorary master’s degree in 1925. There also exist several historic landmarks in Richmond in her honor, namely, Maggie L. Walker High School, Maggie L. Walker Historical Foundation, and the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site. During Walker’s tenure, the

798

E. E. Ward Transfer and Storage Company

St. Luke Penny Savings Banks merged with the Second Street Bank and Commercial Bank and Trust Company to form the Consolidated Bank and Trust Company. Heroically, that bank still exists today, and to Walker’s credit, it serves as one of the oldest existing black banks in the United States. See also: Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources Branch, Muriel Miller, and Dorothy Marie Rice. Pennies to Dollars: The Story of Maggie Lena Walker. North Haven, CT: Linnet Books, 1997. Brown, Elsa Barkley. ‘‘Womanist Consciousness: Maggie Lena Walker and the Independent Order of St. Luke.’’ Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (Spring 1989): 610–633. ‘‘From Washerwoman to Bank President Was Course of the Late Mrs. Maggie L. Walker.’’ Baltimore Afro-American, December 22, 1934. ‘‘Maggie L. Walker Liked Her Clerks in White Uniforms.’’ Baltimore Afro-American, December 29, 1934. Marlowe, Gertrude Woodruff. A Right Worthy Grand Mission: Maggie Lena Walker and Quest for Black Economic Empowerment. Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 2003. ‘‘Mrs. Maggie L. Walker, Insurance Head Dies: High State Officials and Prominent Leaders Attend.’’ Baltimore Afro-American, December 22, 1934. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Epic Lives: One Hundred Black Women Who Made a Difference. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1993.

Baiyina W. Muhammad

E. E. Ward Transfer and Storage Company African American business history in late-nineteenth-century America documents the work of a people to rebuild the South’s economy and, for black urban businesses outside the South, identifies a variety of enterprises to respond to the needs of a changing society. While the history cites businesses such as catering, hoteliers, barbershops, and grocery stores that were operational, the storage and transfer business has received little notice. One of them, the E. E. Ward Moving and Storage Company, founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1881, is an example of a black family enterprise that has lasted for more than a century. The U.S. Department of Commerce recognized E. E. Ward Moving and Storage Company in 2003, citing it as the oldest continuously running black-owned business in the United States. The Congressional Black Caucus also recognized the firm’s status. Located in Columbus, Ohio, management of the company has passed from the Ward family but continues its traditional commitment to excellent service According to Brian O’Connor in Black Enterprise, in the 1840s, John T. Ward demonstrated his compassion by transporting slaves for the Underground Railroad. He maintained that motivation. In April 1881 Ward, with

799

E. E. Ward Transfer and Storage Company

his son William, established the Ward Transfer Line. Two men and two horses comprised his staff and means of transportation, respectively. Edgar Earl Ward, born in 1881 and John Ward’s youngest son, took over the business in 1889 and renamed it the E. E. Ward Transfer and Storage Company. While the company began to use motorized equipment in 1914, it retained horses to aid in moving until 1921, when it retired its last. In 1947, William Ward’s grandson, Eldon W. Ward, took over the business and remained president for nearly fifty years until he retired in 1996. Eldon Ward was highly recognized in the local business community. In 1991, he was inducted into the Ohio Corporate Hall of Fame and in 1992 into the Central Ohio Business Hall of Fame. It was under his leadership that the company received the 1996 National Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics from the Better Business Bureau in Category III, with employees numbering from eleven to ninety-nine. Ward served his community well, serving on over forty boards and as board president of the Columbus Foundation, the Franklin County United Way, and Central Ohio YMCA. The business moved out of family management. In 2001, Brian Brooks and Otto Beatty III took over. Eldon Ward, now ninety years old and a resident of Sun Lakes, Arizona, who had considered the firm ‘‘a way of life’’ and not just a way to make money, rejoiced that the two men would continue the company and retain Ward as a part of its name. The company offers commercial services (to Ohio businesses, governmental agencies, charitable organizations, and colleges and universities); specialized services (e-commerce, bulk delivery, logistics assistance, postauction and liquidation); and residential services (packing, moving, storage, and replacement coverage). Among its notable clients are Steinway Piano Company; the company contracted Ward to move pianos, and it has been estimated that Ward moved over 900,000 pianos between 1903 and 1959. Ward also contracted with the Board of Elections to move voting machines to precincts. The company concentrates services on residential and small businesses and credits its longevity to its commitment to excellent service. A highly motivated business firm, the E. E. Ward company is a member of the American Moving and Storage Association, the Ohio Association of Movers, and the Better Business Bureau. Its long-standing commitment to service has remained exemplary, bringing recognition to the company and its leaders and the respect of the local community that knows its reputation well. Sources ‘‘E. E. Ward Transfer & Storage Co. Is Oldest Black-Owned Business in U.S.’’ Jet 104 (August 25, 2003): 34. O’Connor, Brian Wright. ‘‘Family Matters.’’ Black Enterprise 22 (January 1992): 68, 72–74. ‘‘Presenting E. E. Ward Moving & Storage.’’ COMBA Client Profile. http:// www.comba.com/2004cp/eew/htm.

Jessie Carney Smith

800

Lloyd David Ward

Lloyd David Ward (1949– ), Manufacturing Executive The path to success for Lloyd David Ward has rarely been a straight one, and it has seldom been easy, but that has never kept him from staying on that path. Although raised in impoverished circumstances, Ward’s parents instilled the value of education and a solid work ethic into his being. These traits helped him to forever strive to higher levels, allowing him to become the first African American chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of a publicly traded Fortune 500 company with the Maytag Corporation. Since then, even when major career setbacks have occurred, Ward has proven his resiliency by staying on that path. Ward was born on January 22, 1949, in Romulus, Michigan, just southwest of Detroit. The middle of five children and one of three boys, Lloyd grew up in a rural twenty-foot-square, three-room house that lacked indoor plumbing. The modest home, however, was the birthplace of a business dream, though it belonged to his father, Rubert. The family’s patriarch worked a full schedule of jobs: a postman by day, a janitor at a movie theater at night and a Baptist preacher at Christ Temple of Science Church on Sundays, all of those jobs taking him into Detroit. His dream was to open ‘‘Ward & Sons,’’ an auto repair shop that he had run with his boys. A do-ityourselfer, Rubert had no on-the-job training as a mechanic. Instead, he frequently came home from the library with various repair manuals, which he studied diligently. Unfortunately, Rubert Ward never realized his dream, dying from a heart attack at age forty-seven, in 1967. His work ethic and desire to succeed in business, however, were passed on to young Lloyd. At Romulus High School, Ward excelled in sports, starring on the football and basketball teams. He also had his first job while in high school, working construction. Of those, it was his prowess on the basketball court that would take him on his next step to success, earning a scholarship to Michigan State University. At East Lansing, Ward concentrated equally on academics and athletics. Originally, a premed student, he changed his major to engineering after being involved in a car accident in which he learned that he was sickened by the sight of blood. During his sophomore year, Ward met and began pursuing an English major from Detroit named Estrelita. The popular ‘‘Lita,’’ as she was commonly known, told Ward that she had lots of suitors and that he would have to ask her out well in advance of any proposed date. She remained unaware that he was a basketball player until recognizing him on the court during pregame warmups. Impressed that he had not used his ‘‘jock’’ status to try and impress her, she gave the unassuming Ward a chance to date her. Sensing that the talented and hardworking, but somewhat timid, Ward had even more to offer, the socially adept Lita helped Ward to become a more forceful personality. On the hardwood, the five-feet-ten-inch point guard, capable of dunking, would eventually become team captain.

801

Lloyd David Ward

Ward graduated from Michigan State with a B.S. in engineering in 1970 and married Lita shortly afterward, on June 27. Their relationship has been a partnership that Ward often credits with helping him to attain his full potential in the business world. Lita continues to help him behind the scenes as an unofficial adviser and in social situations as an invaluable adjunct. The couple has two children, Lloyd II and Lance, now grown. Later in 1970, Ward joined Procter & Gamble (P&G) as part of its ‘‘qualifiable’’ program, a forerunner of affirmative action. Though he bristled at the notion that African Americans were somehow considered unqualified to gain entry-level jobs at the company, he now acknowledges that at least they were a company seeking diversity at the time, and that allowed him to get a foot in the door. In spite of the fact that all of management at P&G was white, Ward quickly ascended through the ranks of the engineering department, willingly moving from location to location to better his situation. When he made it known to one of his supervisors that his goal was to head an American corporation as CEO by the age of forty-five, he was told that only marketers and product developers would ever achieve that distinction at the company. At that point, Ward made a concerted effort to transfer out of engineering. His repeated denials, however, resulted in his displeasure with P&G to the extent that he decided to go elsewhere. In 1977, Ward accepted a position at Ford Motor Company and moved the family to Detroit. The move proved to be an ill-advised one. Inside the mammoth automaker, Ward struggled to be noticed. He soon longed to be back at Procter & Gamble and a year later managed to return there, though under his own terms. Instead of returning to engineering, Ward was given a chance to prove his worth in a variety of positions. For a decade, Ward bounced from field to field to gain valuable experience, even at times willingly taking a step down in the hierarchy in order to advance higher in the long run. To improve his luster even more, Ward earned an M.B.A. from Xavier University in 1984. By 1986, Ward had moved to general management, leading P&G’s dishwashing unit. Tiring of the corporate culture at P&G, however, Ward was beginning to think about a second departure from the company that had nurtured him. When an opportunity to work in the fast-paced food industry arose at PepsiCo in 1988, Ward jumped at it. First, he served as vice president of Pepsi-Cola’s eastern region from 1988 through 1991. He then moved over to the conglomerate’s Frito-Lay operations to become president of the western (1991–1992), then central regions (1992–1996). At Frito-Lay, Ward was lauded for his part in fending off a battle for market share when moneyed challenger Anheuser-Busch introduced Eagle Snacks into the arena. Using his marketing skills to outsmart the newcomer, Eagle soon pulled back, and ultimately Anheuser-Busch left the snack business altogether. Ward also increasingly honed his oratory skills, becoming a confident speaker both on formal occasions before large audiences and at small, informal meetings of shift workers. Either way, he was always on a mission to fire up the employees. Told that there was really no opportunity for growth in market

802

Lloyd David Ward

share, Ward took that as a personal challenge. Under his guidance, Frito-Lay was able to improve market share in the division from 50 percent to 56 percent. Ward became deeply involved with the Dallas community during his tenure at PepsiCo. He helped create a program designed to increase the number of high school students getting into college by encouraging his employees to become mentors to students. He even enlisted the aid of members of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team to give inspirational talks. To top it off, he was able to get the company directly involved by offering incentives to the students, so far as flying students who passed a state test on the Frito-Lay corporate jet to a Six Flags theme park. By 1996, 61 percent of the students passed the state’s math test, up from just 32 percent two years earlier. In 1995, when a Chicago corporate search firm contacted Ward about an opportunity that could lead to becoming the CEO of a nationally known company, he discussed it at length with Lita. The company was Maytag, the respected high-end appliance manufacturer based in Newton, Iowa, a small, one-company town. Located forty miles from Des Moines, and with no African American community of its own, it was a difficult decision for the Wards. Ultimately, they viewed the upside as greater than the downside, and Ward accepted the position of executive vice president in 1996. Handpicked by longtime CEO Leonard A. Hadley, Ward’s time at Maytag proved a roller-coaster ride. Hadley chose Ward not because of their similarity in styles but because of their obvious differences. Hadley felt that Maytag needed a fresh approach and new ideas to lead it into the new millennium. Ward’s immediate impact was phenomenal. Despite angering local residents by deciding to live in Des Moines and commute, Ward’s early decisions appeared to help the company’s stock soar dramatically. Such Ward decisions as positioning the company as an even higher-end manufacturer—with introductions of such products as the costly but immediately popular Neptune washer—pushed Maytag stock to three times its previous value. He took over the president and chief operating officer reigns in 1998, continuing to add diversity to the management team previously unseen. When Ward became the first African American CEO and chairperson of a publicly traded Fortune 500 corporation on August 12, 1999, the company was still riding high. Unfortunately, when the stock market soon began to tumble, due in large part to the failure of overvalued dot.coms, Maytag’s fortunes also fell. Ward’s practical solutions to rebuilding stock value—including the possible moving of corporate headquarters to a large city—rocked a town unable to face unpleasant realities. By November 2000, with his situation tenuous, Ward resigned, citing only ‘‘strategic differences’’ with the board of directors as the reason. Although he received a handsome severance package from Maytag, Ward, faced with unemployment for the first time in his career, quickly signed on

803

Lloyd David Ward

as CEO of iMotors in January 2001. Despite his best efforts, the struggling San Francisco–based used car dot.com closed shop just four months later. HEADS U.S. OLYMPIC COMMITTEE On November 1, 2001, the former basketball star rebounded when he was named CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC). The office of USOC head had seemingly been installed with a revolving door, with the arrival and departure of three CEOs since 2000. Three months after Ward was hired, the U.S. Winter Olympic Team made history by winning a record thirty-four medals, one shy of the figure for the three previous U.S. winter squads combined. Ward appeared to be revitalizing the USOC with his talent for bringing new corporate sponsors into the fold. In fact, his nearly tireless energy seemed to be invigorating the entire movement. Then things began to unravel. In putting forth the name of an electrical company’s bid to sell power generators for use during the 2003 Pan American Games to be held in the Dominican Republic, Ward failed to state that that company employed his brother Rubert, as well as a close childhood friend. Ward declared his innocence, and the USOC chose not to discipline him for allegedly using his influence in a case of possible conflict of interest, just giving him a reprimand for a ‘‘technical violation.’’ Subsequent to the decision not to punish Ward, however, five high-ranking members of the board resigned in protest (including three members of the ethics committee), and U.S. Senate hearings followed. The highly politicized USOC, wherein a 123-member board of directors watched over a 485-member staff, were constantly at loggerheads. In late February 2003, Ward again came under fire for an excessive travel budget, his handling of the moving expenses of the marketing chief, and preferential treatment at the Salt Lake Winter Games given to the builder of his house. With the beginnings of a Senate investigation under way, on March 1, 2003, Ward announced that he was resigning in order to keep the focus on the athletes and on Olympic ideals, not on internal squabbling. The result of the incidents was an entire restructuring of the USOC, which reduced the number of its unwieldy board of directors to a more workmanlike 11 members. Now residing in Long Boat Key, Florida, in April 2003, Ward cofounded a company called BodyBlocks Nutrition Systems Inc., based in Atlanta. The company launched its initial product line of N Motion energy drinks and an energy bar in the Atlanta area in November 2004. It hopes to compete in the nutrition supplement market against such products as Red Bull and Power Bar. Ward has already signed track star Michael Johnson as a spokesman for the N Motion product line. Ward serves, or has served, on the board of directors of General Motors Corp., J. P. Morgan Chase & Co., Belo Corp., and Southwest Corporation. He has also served on the boards of several nonprofits: the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Ronald McDonald House, Dallas

804

Carl H. Ware

YMCA, Paul Quinn College, Jimmy Johnson Foundation, and Inroads of Southwest Ohio. See also: Retail Industry Sources Borzilleri, Meri-Jo. ‘‘Switch Focus Back to Ideals, Ward Says.’’ Gazette (Colorado Springs, CO), March 2, 2003. Leonhardt, David. ‘‘The Saga of Maytag’s Lloyd Ward: His Remarkable Journey to Become CEO.’’ BusinessWeek Online, August 9, 1999. http://www.businessweek .com/@@XchqDmcQ93pJpwYA/1999/99_32/b3641001.htm. Miller, Bryce. ‘‘Ward Feels Link to Athens Games.’’ Des Moines Register, August 30, 2004. Ryberg, William. ‘‘Online Firm Headed by Ward Closes.’’ Des Moines Register, April 27, 2001. Schaefer, Jim, and Jo-Ann Barnas. ‘‘Ethics Probe Focuses on Detroit Firm: Olympics Controversy Linked to Ex-MSU Basketball Captain.’’ Detroit Free Press, February 8, 2003. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Kevin C. Kretschmer

Carl H. Ware (1943– ), Businessman, Civic Leader Carl H. Ware has had two simultaneous careers. One is as an Atlanta civic leader involved with such bodies as Clark Atlanta University, the Atlanta City Council, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. The other was as one of the top executives in Atlanta’s signature business, the Coca-Cola Company. He has displayed an amazing aptitude at both, leaving a lasting legacy in both arenas. Ware was born on September 30, 1943, to U. B. and Lois Wimberly Ware in Newnan, Georgia, about thirty miles southwest of Atlanta. The son of sharecroppers, Carl became determined to attend college during high school, though no one in his family had ever done so before. The choice of institutions was a simple one, Atlanta’s Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University), from where his principal was an alumnus and where several of his classmates planned to enroll. Along with the aid of a music scholarship from the Prince Hall Masons, Ware was able to work his way through Clark by taking on a succession of full-time jobs. Among those were stints as an orderly at Grady Hospital, as a janitor at a bank, and as a prop man at an Atlanta TV station—all the while handling a full load of courses. Incredibly, the social science major finished his undergraduate studies a semester early. As a senior, he was elected president of the Clark College Men’s Association and pledged the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. As if he was not already busy enough, he also found the time to meet and romance a pretty freshman named Mary Alice Clark. Ware graduated from Clark College with a B.A. in 1965.

805

Carl H. Ware

After graduation, Ware accepted a fellowship at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University. On January 1, 1966, he married Mary Clark. Their union resulted in one child, a son, Timothy Alexander. Following his year at Carnegie Mellon, Ware enrolled in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. He earned an M.P.A., with a focus on city planning, in 1968. Degree in hand, Ware stayed in Pittsburgh to accept the position of director of housing with the Pittsburgh Urban League. The assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., however, caused Ware to want to return to the South, to help carry out King’s unfinished work there. Ware returned to Atlanta in 1968 with the intention of working within the political realm to help his people. First, however, with a partner, he cofounded Urban East Housing Consulting, becoming one of the first black-owned businesses to open an office on the city’s famed Peachtree Street. In 1970, Ware joined the Atlanta Housing Authority as director of family and community services. The next year, he became deputy director of urban development. Also in 1971, at the invitation of then-president Vivian Henderson, Ware joined Clark College’s Board of Visitors. That marked the first of increasingly pivotal roles Ware would play in determining the direction of his alma mater. As the face of southern politics changed in the 1970s, primarily due to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Ware seized the opportunity to be a part of that change. In 1973, he ran for, and was elected to, the Atlanta City Council, representing the 11th District. He served in that capacity for five and a half years, the last three (1976–1979) as city council president. In the meantime, during 1974, Ware was offered a position with Atlanta’s largest and best-known corporation: the Coca-Cola Company. He joined the world’s largest soft drink maker as an urban and governmental affairs specialist. Just as he was considering a possible run for mayor in 1979, he was named vice president of special markets for Coca-Cola USA. That significant promotion, which put him in charge of expanding African American and Hispanic marketing and advertising programs, caused him to veer from elective office to concentrate on his business career. Perhaps ironically, Ware probably wound up impacting the struggle for equality on a global scale in a way far greater than he ever could have locally as mayor of Atlanta. In 1982, Ware was elected vice president of urban affairs, becoming responsible for Coca-Cola’s domestic and international external affairs and philanthropic programs. Throughout the decade, Ware used the company’s influence to help the oppressed and impoverished. This was never truer than in the case of fighting the policy of apartheid in South Africa, during which time he worked with such notable antiapartheid figures as Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Ware is credited as being the chief architect of Coca-Cola’s strategy to disinvest from South Africa in 1986, due to its racial positions. That strategy was lauded as a model for other companies and was praised by

806

Carl H. Ware

Tutu and the long-incarcerated freedom activist Nelson Mandela. In fact, after the end of apartheid, Ware was the first American businessman whom Mandela agreed to meet following the latter’s release from prison in 1990. Also during the mid-1980s, Ware was one of the key supporters of a movement to consolidate his alma mater, Clark College, with Atlanta University. After the 1988 merger, he served as the first chair of the board of trustees of Clark Atlanta University, remaining in that role for fifteen years until October 2003. In addition to providing his considerable leadership skills to the institution over three decades, Ware has been exceedingly generous monetarily. He has also been instrumental in securing contributions from other civic leaders in the Atlanta area. In 2004, his legacy to Clark Atlanta was cemented with the opening of the Carl and Mary Ware Academic Center. Ware received another boost up the corporate ladder at Coca-Cola in 1991, when he was named deputy group president, Northeast Europe/Africa group, based in London. Also in 1991, he completed the Harvard Business International Senior Management Program. In 1993, he became head of Coca-Cola’s Africa Group, serving in that capacity until 1999. That position was nearly his last at the soft drink giant. In November 1999, Ware resigned in a fit of anger after being passed over in a management reshuffling planned by then–chief executive officer (CEO) Douglas Ivester that would effectively demote him. Stunned by Ware’s resignation, which came in the midst of a high-profile lawsuit accusing the company of widespread discrimination against black employees, Coca-Cola’s directors, who held Ware in high regard, did a little reshuffling of their own. A short time later, it was Ivester who submitted his resignation. On January 4, 2000, the company announced that Ivester’s soon-to-be successor, Douglas N. Daft, had persuaded Ware to remain with the company. Daft made the twenty-six-year veteran the company’s only executive vice president, with the newly created title of head of global public affairs and administration. In essence, Ware had become the beverage maker’s number-two officer. Ware’s final title, from 2002 until his retirement in February 2003, was senior adviser to the chairman and CEO. In 2002, Ware became chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, just one of many Atlanta-area civic organizations with which he has been affiliated. Upon retirement from Coca-Cola, Ware began writing his memoirs. He also spends time at the Coweta County, Georgia, farm where he was born and raised, which he now owns. Ware is currently serving on, or is a former member of, the boards of numerous corporations and agencies. Among them are the Chevron Corp., Georgia Power Co., Cummins, Inc., PGA TOUR Golf Course Properties, Inc., Coca-Cola Bottlers Consolidated, Atlanta Falcons, U.S. Civil Rights Commission, National Council of Black Agencies, Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund, Medical Education for South African Blacks, and the Africa-America Institute. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

807

Augustus Washington Sources Arthur, Audrey. ‘‘Carl Ware: A Lifetime of Service Breaks Down Barriers and Builds a Legacy.’’ Clark Atlanta Magazine (Spring–Summer 2004): 10–13. ‘‘Carl Ware, Executive Vice President, The Coca-Cola Co., Is Elected to Chevron Board of Directors.’’ Chevron Press Release Archives. January 31, 2001. http:// www.chevrontexaco.com/news/archive/chevron_press/2001/2001-01-31.asp. ‘‘Carl Ware Joins Cummins Board.’’ Investor Information. October 13, 2004. http:// investor.cummins.com/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker¼cmi&script¼410&layout¼7&it em_id¼630505. Foust, Dean. ‘‘Coke’s Daft Woos Back a Key Player.’’ BusinessWeek Online, January 5, 2000. http://www.businessweek.com/print/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2000/nf00105c.htm? chan¼db&. Who’s Who among African Americans. 18th ed. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005.

Kevin C. Kretschmer

Augustus Washington (c. 1820–1875), Photographer/Daguerreotypist, Abolitionist, Entrepreneur, Educator, Planter, Politician, Newspaper Editor Augustus Washington had a diverse and interesting life. Information about Washington’s early life reveals his passion for education. In spite of lack of funds and racism, Washington persevered and gained a relatively good education. The research of Ann Shumard, assistant curator of photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, produced letters written by Washington himself and other documents that reveal that he was not only interested in educating himself but wanted to educate others. In fact, at the age of sixteen, he organized a small school for African American children in Trenton, New Jersey; some years later he taught at the African Public School in Brooklyn, New York, and in Hartford, Connecticut; he operated the North African School, one of Hartford’s two schools for blacks. There is no doubt that he was an abolitionist. Although born free, he desired to alleviate the suffering and oppression he knew that fellow blacks experienced as result of slavery. As a teenager, he sought advice and support from abolitionists and as a young adult while working as a teacher in Brooklyn, New York. He collaborated with other abolitionists and was a community activist working for abolition and seeking voting rights for free blacks. His work with the abolitionist community is further evidenced by the work he did photographing abolitionists such as John Brown, Lydia Sigourney, and William Lloyd Garrison. After learning the art of daguerreotyping in 1843, Washington saw photography as a means to improve his impoverished condition. He subsequently owned and operated successful businesses as a daguerreotypist in Hartford, Connecticut, as well as in Liberia, West Africa, after immigrating there in 1853.

808

Augustus Washington

Washington was born a free man in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1820 or 1821. Washington’s father was a former slave from Virginia, and his mother was of South Asian descent. It is believed that his mother died when he was young because Washington was raised by his stepmother, a woman of Indian American, white, and Negro ancestry who had also been a slave. No doubt, his parents influenced his desire for education because it is known that they were critical when they perceived that he was about to let his pursuit of daguerreotypy interfere with his studies. It is known that he had one sister, but not much additional information is known about his family. Washington married in 1850, and he and his wife Cordelia were parents of two daughters. Washington received his primary education at private white schools in Trenton. When he was about sixteen at the recommendation of a fellow abolitionist, he applied and was accepted at the Oneida Institute, a predominantly white school in Whitesboro, New York. He remained at the Oneida Institute for approximately one and a half years—until lack of money forced him to leave in search of work to pay his current educational debts and to fund his further education. During this hiatus from school, he taught at the African Public School in Brooklyn. By 1841, he was determined to continue his education and thus left teaching and enrolled at the Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire, where he studied until 1843. He entered Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1843, where he was the only African American student. It was at Dartmouth during a three-month winter break that Washington learned to daguerreotype. Much to the chagrin of the president of Dartmouth College and his parents, he began to work as a daguerreotypist. His hope was that by working as a part-time daguerreotypist he would be able to generate enough funds to cover his educational expenses. However, his photography business demanded too much of his time, and he soon found that he was unable to keep up with his studies while working as a photographer. Therefore, he set his work aside and devoted full-time to his studies. However, he was unable to cover the mounting educational expenses, and once again he was forced to abandon his education in pursuit of livelihood. He left Dartmouth after one year with the intent of returning later to finish his college education. In the fall of 1844 he began teaching in Hartford, Connecticut, at one of the two black schools, the North African School. His very modest but consistent teaching salary provided Washington the funds he needed to pay all of his educational debt. Having freed himself of his educational debt, he was free to return to educational pursuits at Dartmouth. Toward the end of 1846, he decided against returning to Dartmouth. Instead, after having been bitten by the entrepreneur bug, Washington returned to the business he had learned seven years before while a student at Dartmouth. On December 24, 1846, he advertised the start of his first business in the antislavery newspaper the Charter Oak. It was the Washington Daguerrean Gallery that opened at 9 Waverly Building in Hartford. By all accounts, Washington operated a successful gallery in Hartford. He was an astute businessman. He marketed his daguerreotypes to a cross section

809

Augustus Washington

of Hartford’s society where he had strong support from the sizable abolitionist population. His pricing, ranging from $.50 to $10 for a photograph, his large selection of frames and such, and his advertisements in antislavery newspapers touting his years of experience and expertise all helped to garner a large clientele for him. Although business was good at the gallery, Washington was increasingly alarmed and uncertain about his future in the United States. With the passing of the Fugitive Slave Law and the enactment of the Compromise of 1850, the political climate in this country made life very scary for Washington and other freeman. With these changes in laws, it was not uncommon for freeborn persons of color to be snatched from northern streets or homes and sent to the South into slavery with no legal right to be heard in a court of law. Washington decided that the time had come for him to leave the country. After six years of success as a daguerreotyper, Washington moved to close his business at 136 Main Street in Hartford in 1853 and left the country. On April 2, 1853, he advertised the liquidation of the daguerreotypy business in Hartford Weekly Times in Hartford. That same year in November, he, with his wife and children, sailed for the American colony in Liberia, West Africa. Washington had objected to colonization in the past, influenced no doubt by his studies at the Oneida Institute. Nevertheless, in 1853 he left for Monrovia, Liberia, with high hopes for a life free of oppression and persecution. Why such a change in his perspective, and would his hopes for liberty be realized? With the unfavorable social and political climates for free blacks in the States, he had gradually come to believe that it was only in Africa that he would be accepted as an equal, really enjoy the fruits of his hard work in business, and find a place that he could truly call home. Washington was undoubtedly confident that he could make a go of things in Liberia. With partial support from the American Colonization Society and with his daguerrean equipment in tow, he was ready to start his life in the new country of his choosing. He could not have been disappointed with the ways things turned out for him there. Carol Shumard, the Smithsonian curator who researched Washington’s life and work and through the exhibit ‘‘A Durable Memento: Portraits by Augustus Washington, African American Daguerreotypist,’’ has collected facts and documented his story as none before her. It is she who reports of his life in Liberia. He prospered as a daguerreotypist photographing Liberian president Stephen Allen Benson, a variety of Liberian statesmen, and other prominent persons in Liberia. He also traveled to other African countries, Gambia, Senegal, and Sierra Leone, to make daguerreotypes. His photography business flourished, and with the profits, he was able to purchase land on the Saint Paul River and develop a large sugar plantation employing at least sixty persons. Washington’s golden touch did not fail him, and this new enterprise also prospered. He built a sturdy brick home for his family. He became a well-respected member of Liberian society. Washington was elected to the Liberian House of Representatives, became speaker of the House, and eventually was elected to the Senate. By the time that he died

810

Booker T. Washington

on June 7, 1875, in Monrovia, Liberia, Washington had also become owner and editor of the New Era newspaper. He was a respected businessman and politician; his passing was mourned throughout West Africa. Sources ‘‘African Colonization—By a Man of Color.’’ http://teachingamericanhistory.org/ library/index.asp?document¼621. Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin 39 (January 1974): 14–19. http://www.cther itage.org/biography/topical_slavery/articlesmonographs.htm. ‘‘A Durable Memento.’’ Smithsonian Magazine, May 1999. http://www.smithsonian mag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues99/may99/mall_may99.html. ‘‘A Durable Memento, Portraits by Augustus Washington, African American Daguerreotypist.’’ http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/awash/awhart.htm. ‘‘From Obscurity, an African American Photographer’s Life Comes into Focus.’’ http://www.si.edu/opa/insideresearch/9997/photo.htm. ‘‘The Life and Work of Augustus Washington.’’ http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa284 .htm. ‘‘Man of Many Faces, None His Own.’’ Washington Post, September 27, 1999. http:// www.pulitzer.org/year/2000/criticism/works/allen10.html. ‘‘Special Articles and Monographs.’’ http://www.ctheritage.org/biography/topical_ slavery/articlesmonographs.htm.

Alicia Henry

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), Educator, Politician, Businessman Booker T. Washington, founding principal of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881 and organizer of the National Negro Business League (NNBL), was catapulted to national fame in 1895 when he delivered a speech at the Atlanta Cotton States and International Exposition. In his presentation, later dubbed the ‘‘Atlanta Compromise,’’ Washington contended that in all things ‘‘purely social’’ whites and people of color could be as separate as the fingers ‘‘yet one as the hand’’ in the work of developing the South. By the time that Washington delivered this speech, African Americans had lost many of the social and political gains of post–Civil War Reconstruction. Washington believed that African Americans made many tactical mistakes after the war. He argued that after Emancipation each African American leader should have first devoted himself to ‘‘real estate or industrial skill’’ rather than seeking a seat in the U.S. Congress or state legislature or tried to develop ‘‘a dairy farm or truck garden’’ before desiring leadership in a political convention. In other words, he believed that a greater percentage of freed people should have worked hard to educate themselves, purchase their own land, and develop their own businesses in those crucial years after the war. He contended that ‘‘no race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.’’ Washington declared that the Atlanta Exposition ‘‘Negro Building’’ exhibits demonstrated thirty years of post-Emancipation achievement in many areas

811

Booker T. Washington

of African American endeavor. These included ‘‘invention and production of agricultural implements, buggies, steam engines,’’ newspapers, books, the arts, and the management of drugstores and banks. In his mind these exhibits confirmed that racial advancement could come in the wake of diligence in education, work, and business. The exhibits provided ample evidence, he explained, that given ‘‘a man’s chance in the business world,’’ the race could succeed. Washington’s manuscript version of this famous speech is located in both his manuscript collection at the Library of Congress and in volume three of his published papers. Born into slavery on April 5, 1856, on the Burroughs plantation in Franklin County, Virginia, Washington steadfastly sought ways to distance his race from the stigma of bondage. Although Washington was not necessarily a businessman in the traditional sense, he was a consummate fundraiser for Tuskegee and a successful investor in various enterprises. Louis R. Harlan, editor of the published Washington papers and author of a twovolume biography of Washington, wrote that among the founders of the NNBL only a few of the businessmen had a greater net worth than the ‘‘wizard’’ of Tuskegee. Actually, along with educational attainments, African American and small- and large-scale economic initiatives were at the core of Booker T. Washington’s social and political philosophies. A perusal of Up From Slavery, Washington’s 1901 autobiography, demonstrates his concern with effective methods by which the formerly enslaved could distance themselves from the ignorance and poverty of the peculiar institution. The themes of hard work and educational advancement permeate not only his autobiography but also most of his writings. In his speeches, books, and articles, he taught that no matter how humble one’s beginnings or how servile the work performed, hard work was the avenue to success. Washington believed that as long as people of color could advance economically, other doors of opportunity for equal participation in American society would eventually open. Economic self-sufficiency, he believed, of his race was the path to political empowerment in the United States. Washington’s correspondence— located at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.—demonstrates that even in his behind-the-scenes civil rights activities, the ‘‘wizard’’ tried to remove hindrances to African American political, economic, and educational advancement. Washington believed in the American work ethic and considered himself to be a personification of the rags-to-riches saga. The concept of industrial education was not just to teach African American students skills but to usher them into self-sufficiency and, ultimately, prosperity in business or professional activities. He argued that any fine-quality product or service would be marketable to both whites and blacks. In reality, Washington knew that most African American businessmen and -women primarily served clients of their own race. In many of his speeches, Washington spoke about the monetary value of African American landownership and business enterprises. This was his way of emphasizing the progress of the race since Emancipation.

812

Booker T. Washington

In Up From Slavery, Washington relates that his mother was the plantation cook, and his father was someone who lived nearby but never took the least interest in him. Because Washington had gray eyes and reddish hair, most observers believed that he was probably the son of a white man. At the end of the Civil War, Washington moved with his mother, stepfather, and siblings to Malden, West Virginia, where he worked at several jobs and began to get a rudimentary education. When he heard about Hampton Institute, a school for African American youths, he determined to go there. After an arduous trip by railroad, wagon, and foot of about 500 miles, stopping along the way to get odd jobs when he ran out of money, Washington finally arrived at the school. The admissions official was reluctant to accept him as a Hampton student because his education was so limited. To test him, the teacher assigned him to clean a room. With all the diligence he could muster, Washington dusted and swept the room several times. The teacher was so impressed with his diligence that he was accepted as a student. Additionally, because he did such a good job with the room, he was given the position of school janitor to pay his room and board. Washington was able to complete his program and, after graduation, took several jobs but eventually returned to work as a teacher and administrator at Hampton. Hampton founder and guiding spirit, former Union General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, was so impressed with Washington both as a student and as a teacher that he began to take him along on fund-raising trips and ultimately—in 1881—recommended Washington to be the founding principal of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Upon his arrival at Tuskegee, Washington was disappointed to find that school officials had provided nothing except some land and a $2,000 annual allocation for the school. There was no building, few students, and no staff. The first classes met in a ramshackle building that had so many holes in the roof that a student had to hold an umbrella over Washington’s head while he taught. Undaunted, Washington rolled up his sleeves and led his students in the building of the campus. They cleared land, made bricks, planted crops, and did everything else that needed to be done to build their school. The workmanship was of such an excellent quality that some of those student-constructed buildings still stand over a century later as historical landmarks. During Washington’s leadership from 1881 to 1915, Tuskegee became a multimillion-dollar campus. In an article titled ‘‘Booker T. Washington and the National Negro Business League,’’ Harlan wrote that ‘‘in the early years Tuskegee sold everything from brick to buggies in the local market.’’ AN UNRECOGNIZED BUSINESSMAN Harlan explained in his ‘‘Booker T. Washington’’ article that Washington was ‘‘more of a businessman than he seemed to be.’’ By the turn of the twentieth century, Harlan wrote, Washington owned personal property in land, houses, and commercial buildings that earned about $100 in rental

813

Booker T. Washington

proceeds each month. Washington also owned stock in a Birmingham coal company, $500 worth of stock in a shoe company located in Massachusetts, and $600 worth of stock in the Tuskegee Cotton Oil Company and had clandestine investments in at least two African American newspapers and a magazine. He probably also had stock in cotton mill and oil mills owned by African Americans. Additionally, Washington was involved with the savings bank, located on Tuskegee’s campus, which encouraged thrift among the faculty, staff, and students, and with the Southern Improvement Company, which, with ‘‘philanthropic capital,’’ subsidized African American landownership by selling loans on long terms at low interest. Washington published several books and many articles, but he usually paid ghost writers to author these for him. Nevertheless, Harlan reported, Washington also earned a modest income from royalties, especially for Up From Slavery. At an Atlanta University conference in 1899 on the theme of ‘‘The Negro in Business,’’ cited by Harlan in The Making of a Black Leader, W.E.B. Du Bois called for the ‘‘organization in every town and hamlet where the colored people dwell of Negro Business Men’s Leagues and the gradual federation for these of state and national organizations.’’ Washington asked Du Bois to give him his list of African American businessmen so that he could start to organize them. The 300 delegates at the first meeting, held in Boston in 1900, elected Washington as their president. He continued to hold that leadership position until his death in 1915. In the same source, Harlan wrote that Washington saw the NNBL as an instrument for a ‘‘new emancipation, the achievement of economic independence.’’ Consistent with Washington’s policy of racial conciliation, the NNBL rarely spoke out on political matters but instead was a showcase for Promotional piece for the National Negro Business League (NNBL) giving its purpose, describing its work, and announ- African American achievement. In the cing its 1913 annual meeting. Educator Booker T. Washington preface to his 1907 book The Negro founded the NNBL in 1900. Source: Monroe N. Work, Negro in Business, Washington wrote that his Year Book and Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro, 1912. Tuske- publishers wanted him to write about the ‘‘undoubted business awakening gee, AL: Tuskegee Institute, 1912, p. 220.

814

Booker T. Washington

among the Negro people of the United States.’’ He explained that the book was neither a statistical study nor a history but rather a collection of brief accounts of some successful businessmen with the hope that their achievements would encourage an ‘‘increasing number of our young men’’ to take advantage of business opportunities. Book chapters include titles such as ‘‘The Negro in Agriculture,’’ ‘‘The Negro as a Financier and Capitalist,’’ ‘‘The Negro Banker,’’ and ‘‘The Negro Undertaker.’’ Other chapters focused on individual businessmen or companies and the NNBL. Washington’s NNBL leadership brought him even more national acclaim. His racial policies also caused him to be a much-sought-out adviser to leaders of the Republican Party. Cited in volume 8 of The Booker T. Washington Papers, Washington wrote to his ally Ralph Tyler that ‘‘soon after Mr. Roosevelt succeeded President McKinley, he asked me to give him the names of a number of colored people of ability and high character whom he might consider from time to time for positions under the government.’’ Washington was able to offer choice positions to men who were willing to comply with his political philosophy. In addition to Republican Party jobs and funds that were at his disposal, Washington became a rich man in 1903 not because of a successful business enterprise but because of his public speaking and fund-raising expertise. After hearing Washington make an appeal for help for Tuskegee, Andrew Carnegie, billionaire steel baron, who was already an institute supporter, awarded the school $600,000 and gave Washington the interest income from $150,000 for his personal use. This gift marked the beginning of wider business enterprises for Washington but not in the traditional sense. By 1903, some members of the African American intellectual elite—W.E.B. Du Bois and journalist William Monroe Trotter being two of the most outspoken—were openly critical of Washington’s conciliatory and accommodationist racial policy. Washington used his money and influence to try to control their criticism as well as negative publicity in the African American press. He bought some newspapers and gave monetary gifts to others. Cited in The Making of a Black Leader, Du Bois wrote in the January 1905 issue of The Voice of the Negro that $3,000 of ‘‘hush money’’ had been spent in five major cities. The Washington papers corroborate Du Bois’s accusation. Washington was not a typical businessman at this point; rather, he was a politician managing his Tuskegee machine. He was a power, image, and money broker for many in the African American community. His support usually resulted in jobs for those who pleased him and employment doom for those who did not. Because Washington’s primary business endeavors after 1903 were secret, he usually used agents to be the front men for his image control endeavors. He endeavored to control not only his personal image but also that of his race. Washington was sometimes militant but always secret. His avowed policy was to seek the goodwill of southern whites by emphasizing the usefulness of an educated and productive African American citizenry. Washington stressed the need for people of color to show themselves to be honest and hardworking members of their community. He believed that African

815

Regynald G. Washington

American militancy was counterproductive. Washington’s papers reveal that behind the scenes Washington used some of his money to secretly support civil rights initiatives and even collaborated with Du Bois from time to time. Because so many of Washington’s business endeavors were secret, or perhaps because he is so well known as an educator and politician, few think of him as a businessman even though he was the organizer of the NNBL. Only since many of Washington’s papers were published beginning in 1972 did the public have the opportunity to gain a more well-rounded view of this consummate politician and businessman. See also: Booker T. Washington Business Association Sources Booker T. Washington Papers. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Harlan, Louis R. ‘‘Booker T. Washington and the National Negro Business League.’’ Booker T. Washington in Perspective. Ed. Raymond W. Smock. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1988. ———. Booker T. Washington: The Making of a Black Leader, 1865–1901. New York: Oxford University Press, 1972. ———. Booker T. Washington: The Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901–1915. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. Harlan, Louis R., ed. The Booker T. Washington Papers. Vols. 1–7. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972–1989. Harlan, Louis R., and Raymond W. Smock, eds. The Booker T. Washington Papers. Vols. 8–14. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1972–1989. Washington, Booker T. The Negro in Business. 1907. Reprint, New York: AMS Press, 1971. ———. Up From Slavery: With Related Documents. 1901. Reprint, Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin, 2003.

Debra Newman Ham

Regynald G. Washington (1954?– ), Food Service Industry Manager The restaurant industry has been served well by Regynald G. Washington who, through persistence, hard work, and academic preparation, rose through the ranks from busboy to become a highly visible manager in Disney’s WSPN Zone restaurants, in the entire restaurant field, and in organizations that support the industry. Frequently serving as guest lecturer in educational forums, he is also sought out for service on boards that govern academic training programs as well as the profession’s leading organization— the National Restaurant Association. Washington, whose parents were educators, was born around 1954 in Marathon, a small town in the Florida Keys. His career in the restaurant industry began when he was thirteen years old. He worked as a busboy at a resort in the Florida Keys. Years later he would return to that resort to

816

Regynald G. Washington

manage its food and beverage operations. His parents had other ideas about his career, however, and thought that a field such as law, medicine, or architecture would be a better career option. The idea of waiting tables or preparing food would place him in a servant’s role—one that they wanted him to avoid. But the restaurant industry appealed to Washington as a viable career choice. Washington prepared for his career path by earning an Associate of Science degree in hotel and institutional management from Miami Dade Community College. Then he enrolled in Florida International University and received a Bachelor of Science degree in international hotel and restaurant management. He became a certified food and beverage executive, awarded him by the Educational Institute of the American Hotel and Motel Association. He was certified further as a ‘‘foodservice management professional’’ by the National Restaurant Association’s (NRA) Educational Foundation. In addition, he graduated from Executive Techniques of Chicago. His career path to high leadership positions included well-chosen posts. Washington returned to the Indies Resort and Yacht Club in Duck Key, Florida, where he managed the food and drink concessions in the 1970s and 1980s. He left that position and moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and to the Magic Pan Restaurant for which he served as general manager in the 1970s and 1980s as well. Although the precise dates of his employment are unclear, his upward mobility in the 1970s and early 1980s continued. He was general manager, F&B, Air Terminal Services, Inc., in Washington, D.C.’s National Airport (now Regan Airport) and at Motorola Inc. in Chicago. He moved to Atlanta and held various posts, including corporate executive vice president and corporate senior vice president of Concessions International, Inc. (1980s–1996). By now he had moved into higher management. Sometime in the 1990s he became founder and president of Washington Enterprises, Inc. In 1996– 1997 he joined Sylvia P. Woods, Harlem’s black restaurateur, as president and chief operating officer of Sylvia Woods Enterprises. He moved to Epcot Center, Walt Disney World (1997–2001) as general manager of food and beverage services and then became director of resort food and beverage operations for that company (2001). There he managed food and beverage operations at eighteen Walt Disney Resorts located in Florida and in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Washington’s activities in Orlando also included that as general manger of food and beverage at Epcot1, Walt Disney World. While there he was responsible for operations of internationally themed table-service restaurants, quick-service restaurants, and outdoor locations. He also supervised a multimillion-dollar special events and catering organization. Beginning 2001, Washington has held the post vice president and general manager for Disney Regional Entertainment/ESPN Zone, the company’s Burbank-based national sports restaurant chain. In that post he is responsible for the strategy, direction, and growth of the company.

817

Regynald G. Washington

COMMITTED TO THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY Washington remains highly committed to the restaurant industry. In a letter to the president of NBC Entertainment, cited in Rapid Response, Washington criticized the network for what he called ‘‘irresponsible approach in portraying (and staging) the restaurant industry in the most exaggerated light on the new show, ‘The Restaurant.’ ’’ This is ‘‘un-reality’’ television, he said, and an inaccurate reflection of the professionalism and quality standards that has driven the industry and its 11.7 million employees. He said that the show’s first four episodes gave a ridiculous, sensational, and mischaracterization of the industry. He saw the industry as a vital part of the American way; it was situated at the ‘‘cornerstone of the nation’s economy, career opportunities and community involvement.’’ The rewarding opportunities of the industry included the chance that it gave Americans to own their own businesses and to build a career in the restaurant business. Both the National Restaurant Association and the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation were committed to cultivating new workers, training its workforce, and providing rewarding experiences to customers in restaurants. NBC Entertainment’s show was damaging to the image of the nation’s 870,000 restaurants. As further commitment to the industry, Washington uses his lectures before various groups to encourage others to choose a career in the restaurant industry. Should they follow his advice, the industry will welcome them ‘‘with open arms into this awesome, fascinating, exciting industry,’’ he said in the Culinary Institute of America ‘‘News.’’ He advised graduates at the college’s Commencement in March 2004, ‘‘Above all, strive for excellence’’ and ‘‘be passionate in knowing that the best food you have ever made will be your next dish.’’ They should aim for quality whether ‘‘cooking hamburger or oysters, turkey legs or frog legs, pasta or yellow-fin tuna, chocolate chip cookies or almond biscotto.’’ An entrepreneur with many affiliations, Washington is a member of the board of directors, National Restaurant Association (treasurer, 2001–2002, vice chairman, 2001–2002, and chairman, May 2003– ). He is also a member of the board of trustees of NRA’s Education Foundation and of the board of directors of the Florida Restaurant Association. Previously, Washington chaired the Certification Governing Board of the NRA’s Educational Foundation Food Service Management Certification Program. Past affiliations also include president of Georgia State University’s Advisory Board for the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration, University of Delaware’s Advisory Board for the School of Hospitality Management, and member of the Atlanta chapter of the Chaine des Rotisseurs. Honored for his achievement as well, Washington received the Foodservice Industry Leader of the Year Award from the Georgia Hospitality & Travel Association (1994) and the Lifetime Penn State Conti Professor for the School of Hospitality Management, Pennsylvania State University (1999). Nation’s Restaurant News named Washington one of the Top 50 New Taste Makers in

818

Sarah Spencer Washington

the restaurant industry in America (1999). He has given keynote addresses for the Education Foundation of NRA’s Salute to Excellence and was speaker for the foundation’s Chain Operators Exchange Conference. He also gave the keynote for the MultiCultural Foodservice and Hospitality Alliance and the Southern California Restaurant Association conference. Washington lives in Burbank, California. Washington continues to hold a stake in the future of the restaurant industry and in the organizations that promote its work. He holds the industry to high standards, both to preserve its image and to encourage others to seek a career in that field. See also: Food Service Industry Sources ‘‘CIA Graduates Will Be ‘Raising the Bar.’ Regynald Washington Addresses Commencement.’’ Culinary Institute of America. ‘‘News.’’ http://secure.ciachef .edu/press/archives/2004/pr040604.html. Edelman, Rob. ‘‘Regynald G. Washington.’’ Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 44. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2004. Lyons, Charlotte. ‘‘Culinary Professionals and Their Favorite Recipes.’’ Ebony 58 (February 2003): 116–118, 120, 124. ‘‘National Foodservice Educational Leader and Disney Executive to Speak at California Scholarship Presentation.’’ California Restaurant Association. ‘‘News & Info.’’ http://dev.calrest.org/newsinfo/prdetail.asp?prid¼37. ‘‘Regynald G. Washington.’’ Exec in the Class. http://www/cfs/purdue.edu/RHIT/ pages/industry/darden/regynald_washington.htm. Washington, Regynald G., and Steven C. Anderson. ‘‘Letter to President of NBC Entertainment Regarding ‘The Restaurant.’ ’’ Rapid Response. http://www.restaur ant.org/pressroom/rapid_response.cfm?ID¼714.

Frederick D. Smith

Sarah Spencer Washington (1889–1953), Entrepreneur, Philanthropist Sarah (Sara) Spencer Washington was a pioneer in the field of beauty. A woman with vision, she founded one of the oldest and largest internationally accepted systems of beauty culture in the world for African American women. During her day, she was a force to be reckoned with since the beauty products that she manufactured were unique in the world. Because of her and others like her, beauty culture became elevated to the science that it is today. Spencer created the slogan: ‘‘Now is the time to plan your future by learning a depression proof business.’’ Spencer was born on June 6, 1889, in Berkley, Virginia, the daughter of Joshua and Ellen (Douglass) Phillips. She received her early education in the public schools of Berkley, and she later attended the Lincoln Prep School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Like many during this period, she walked several miles a day to attend school. After graduating from the Norfolk Mission College in Norfolk, Virginia, Spencer began her professional education in

819

Sarah Spencer Washington

the field of beauty culture in York, Pennsylvania. She later pursued advanced work in chemistry and business administration at Columbia University. After completing her education, she found employment in the city of Norfolk in a local printing office owned by one of the local Elk’s leaders. Spencer’s mother was plagued with many health problems that could be helped with exposure to salt air. Therefore, sometime during the early years of the twentieth century, Spencer and her mother moved from Virginia to Pennsylvania, and by 1911, they had settled in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Finding employment was a necessity for the mother and daughter. Between 1905 and 1913, Spencer used her dressmaker experience as a primary source of income, while her mother found employment in the homes of wealthy whites as a domestic worker. Spencer was able to make use of her mother’s employers as a customer base for her beaded handbags. Nevertheless, because of her educational background, her family was disappointed that she did not pursue a career as a schoolteacher. Between 1913 and 1916, Spencer owned a small hairdressing shop where she worked as a beauty operator. The shop was located at the corner of Indiana and Arctic Avenues, a few doors from the building she would one day own. During this time, she began to experiment with new cosmetic ideas that would change the beauty culture among African American women. After a brief marriage to Isaac Washington, the couple separated in 1919. That same year, she founded the Apex News and Hair Company, serving as founder, president, and sole owner. Her mother served as treasurer of the company, until her death in 1937. Washington worked days in the beauty salon and taught students her craft. During the evening, she promoted her cosmetic products from door to door in Atlantic City. Because of her keen sense of business, she progressed, by the mid-1940s, from a one-room beauty shop to a business worth a half a million dollars. The company continued to grow, and the name was changed to Apex Beauty Products Company, becoming one of New Jersey’s largest African American–owned businesses, and by the middle of the 1930s, the business community considered it to be one of the nation’s leading African American manufacturing companies. Washington manufactured seventy-five different kinds of beauty preparations in her own laboratories. Apex used the finest and most expensive ingredients in beauty items in its laboratories in Atlanta City, purchased from the leading manufacturers in the world. At one time, the company employed 215 regular employees, with more than 35,000 Apex agents throughout the United States. It also operated eleven beauty schools in the United States, with franchised schools in foreign countries. The school graduated about 4,000 students yearly. Graduates of the school opened their own beauty shops in the larger cities and small towns throughout the United States. The triangular, blue and white Apex trademark became a recognizable symbol, representing a popular competitor in the cosmetology industry. Apex manufactured and sold cosmetic products that would be useful for any beauty artist to achieve professional success and recognition, including basic hair products, such as the hot comb, pressing oils, and pomades. Later the company

820

Sarah Spencer Washington

added perfumes, rouges, lipsticks, skin fresheners, and beautifying creams, all prepared especially for African American women. Washington was not the first to promote products for African American women, but because her company expanded during a depression-ridden post–World War I economy, she received recognition for her success. Washington was insightful enough to realize that as long as there were women in the world, the beauty business would flourish. From her viewpoint, beauty culture was the most profitable profession one could enter. One of her favorite sayings was, ‘‘As long as there are women in the world, there will be beauty establishments.’’ Because of Washington’s keen business outlook, she realized that the demand for beauty artists would always be greater than the supply. It was a field where very little experience was necessary, but through hard work and determination, beauticians could earn money as independent operators or as owners of beauty shops. Washington’s deep religious beliefs provided her with the courage and strength to move into uncharted territory for women. She continued to practice her belief as a Christian Scientist throughout her career. Washington also realized the importance of political activism by becoming a lifelong Republican. In 1939, her many successes earned her an award presented at the New York World’s Fair. She obtained international recognition in the business world, thus enhancing the status of African American women. Washington’s business empire covered many types of enterprises, such as the Apex News and Hair Company, the Apex Publishing Company, which published Apex News for beauticians and agents, Apex Laboratories, Apex Drug Company, and Apex Beauty Colleges. From her Atlantic City beauty shop and first beauty school, the Apex School and beauty culture spread to numerous locations, including 525 South Broad Street, Philadelphia; Forty-seventh and Parkway, Chicago; 163 West Kinney Street, Newark, New Jersey; 895 Fulton Street, Brooklyn; Auburn and Butler, Atlanta; Eutaw and Riddle Streets, Baltimore; Third and Clay Streets, Richmond, Virginia; 1417 U Street, NW, Washington, D.C.; Bantu World Building, Johannesburg, South Africa; and several Caribbean locations. The Philadelphia Apex School was built from the ground up by Washington and dedicated in May 1945. However, it was demolished in 1980 to make way for redevelopment in the area. Before her death, Washington sold all of the Apex Schools to their directors. Washington believed that she had a responsibility to the community and supported many worthy causes, such as the endowment of a home for girls devoted to the educational features of the National Youth Administration program and the donation of twenty acres of farmland as a campsite for African American youth. Her educational endeavors were many. She provided educational opportunities for her grandniece and adopted daughter, Joan Cross Washington, at Palmer Memorial Institute, in Sedalia, North Carolina. Similarly, she gave annual scholarships to ambitious students throughout the country and contributed large sums of money to worthy institutions. In 1947, Washington retired from many of her business pursuits after suffering a stroke. Upon her death in 1953, her estate was worth more than

821

Barbara Mae Watson

$1 million. She was buried in Pleasantville Cemetery outside of Atlantic City. Her legacy included a record of activism in many social, civic, and political activities. Washington was considered one of the early African American philanthropists, because of her many contributions to educational and charitable organizations. See also: Retail Industry; Women and Business Sources Goddard, Richlyn F. ‘‘Sarah Spencer Washington.’’ Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. 2nd ed. Vol. 3. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Jordan, Casper LeRoy. ‘‘Sarah (Sara) Spencer Washington.’’ Notable Black American Women. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Porter, Gladys L. Three Negro Pioneers in Beauty Culture. New York: Vantage Press, 1966.

Mattie L. McHollin

Barbara Mae Watson (1918–1983), Modeling and Charm School Entrepreneur, Federal Official, Ambassador Born on November 5, 1918, in Harlem, New York, to wealthy immigrant parents from Jamaica, Barbara Watson went on to become the first black and first woman appointed assistant secretary for consumer affairs with the title assistant secretary of state under the Jimmy Carter presidential administration in 1976. The immediate fifteen years prior were spent advancing in public service capacities through the legal arena as attorney for the city of New York and as executive for the city’s United Nations–affiliated component. Her extensive training as a forty-four-year-old 1962 New York University Law School graduate were put to use through positions as statutory aide for the New York Board of Statutory Consolidation and as assistant attorney in the office of the Corporation Counsel, New York City. She would become linked with the State Department by serving as executive director of the New York City Commission to the United Nations, where she was the mayor’s direct representative and conduit between the city and visiting diplomats. Her skills certainly were not born out of a vacuum. The twenty-five preparatory years before being named to the State Department in 1966 as the special assistant to the deputy undersecretary of state for administration included graduating from Hunter College in 1943 with a B.A degree and serving in the New York City United Seamen’s Program, as a clerk for the New York State Unemployment Office, as a research assistant in music for the National Youth Administration, as a radio announcer and commentator during World War II, and for ten years between 1946 and 1956, as a pioneering and extremely successful entrepreneur in the role of owner, director, and operator of Barbara Watson Models and Barbara Watson Charm and Model School.

822

Barbara Mae Watson

Partially in response to the growing trend of implanting an image of clean, middle-class, and respectable femininity, in 1946 Watson, along with her business partner, commercial artist Edward Brandford, opened the Brandford Models and became the first African American modeling agency in the United States. Not yet thirty years old, Watson was impressive and diligent in her business pursuits. Equipped with the focus needed to provide alternatives to women of color regarding social and economic success, she was prepared to offer meaningful cosmetic advice to black women. She proved perceptive and tactful in her marketing and sales strategies, first and foremost by impressing upon potential students the utility for women outside the confines of professional modeling exclusively. By using such a sales pitch, Watson was able to establish an impressive number of clients who benefited in a myriad of life-altering ways. Armed with more-than-adequate business skills and determination, Watson facilitated the transfer of Brandford Charm and Model School to the Barbara Watson Charm and Model School in 1953. This feat is important to note because of the rising phenomenon of black target marketing in the areas of beauty and sophistication with the advent of such publications as Ebony, Jet, and Our World in the 1940s and 1950s. Accordingly, the pantheon of early black models impacted the livelihood of Watson’s school. Vera Francis, Dorothy Brown, Ophelia DeVore, and Sylvia Fitt were all pioneer models, with DeVore and her family establishing the DeVore School of Charm in 1946 as well. Fitt is important in her own right because of how her image was portrayed. In a February 1954 edition of Our World the beautiful and vivacious Fitt is exposed not only as mouth-dropping gorgeous by the most critical standards but as a wholesome, family-oriented mother, too. Regardless of the political correctness, or incorrectness, it may represent, it is worthy of note that Fitt simultaneously at the time of the article’s publication was the director of Watson’s Charm School. The significance here can be found in the broad context of Watson’s objectives. Consider the correspondence covered in a 1949 letter between Phyllis J. Hunt and Watson regarding upcoming courses. Hunt makes it clear that she never had intentions of being a professional model, but the prior instruction received from Watson was a significant reason why she felt confident in the work world. Moreover, with an emphasis placed on social graces as determining factors in the socioeconomic positioning of black women, Watson’s genius far supercedes the artificial. To further bolster this claim, one need only look at how Watson juxtaposed grace, elegance, and proper diction as methods of social mobility. A letter from Watson to a nursing home director in 1955 provides considerable insight. Entrenched in Watson’s plea are the therapeutic values associated with her schools’ methodologies. Again, the emphasis of her principles is always on personal character. For instance, the marketing concept of re-creating oneself is pushed in the brochure advertisement ‘‘You-All New,’’ where charm and pleasant personalities are encouraged as the most practical mediums toward fulfilling professional and personal relationships.

823

Barbara Mae Watson

This latter description is in fact what would significantly impact Watson’s own rise through the State Department because effective ambassadors are determined and judged by their ability to nurture relationships. That said, it was not surprising to see Watson appointed in 1968 as director of the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs by President Lyndon Johnson. Her previous work as an entrepreneur and director certainly were revisited, too, as she was responsible for overseeing a $60 million annual budget, managing 3,250 home and abroad employees, and working as the highest U.S. official who regulated immigration policy. Watson’s appointment ended in resignation in 1974, as she was ostracized by Republican pundits aligned with the administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. An attempt was made, in essence, to force her on the outside of the loop of important decisions, and consequently she was named to ambassador posts in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, Central America, and the South Pacific. The ploy proved ineffective. With a two-year hiatus from 1974 to 1976, Watson’s work was again rewarded by Democratic President Jimmy Carter in 1976. From 1976 to 1980, she held herself in exemplary form where previously no other woman, nor an African American, had ever held the post of assistant secretary of state. In 1980, Watson was named ambassador of Malaysia before retiring in 1981 under the administration of Ronald Reagan. Her lists of accomplishments and awards are extensive. Included are stints as a board member of the Girl Scouts of America, Fordham University, the World Trade Institute, United Mutual Life Insurance Company, Barnard College, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and Center for Strategic and International Studies, Wolftrap Foundation for Performing Arts, and the Women’s Advisory Board of the Office of Economic Opportunity. Condoleezza Rice, current secretary of state and another black woman, was left with an efficient blueprint for success by Watson’s deeds. The consummate facilitator of peaceful relations and mutual respect, Watson’s work with the State Department was carried out with style, grace, and supreme confidence. Her time spent as proprietor, curriculum developer, chief executive officer, marketing specialist, and public relations director of the Barbara Watson Charm and Model School clearly added to her ability to conduct herself as a distinguished diplomat. See also: Fashion Industry; Women and Business Sources Haidarali, Laila. ‘‘Polishing Brown Diamonds: African-American Women, Popular Magazines and the Advent of Modeling in Early Post-War America.’’ Journal of Women’s History 17 (Spring 2005): 10–35. Hine, Darlene Clark, ed. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Oxford: University Press, 2005. Nicholson, Dolores. ‘‘Barbara Watson.’’ Notable Black American Women. Book II. Ed. Jessie Carney Smith. Detroit: Gale Research, 2003. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events. 2nd ed. Rev. and expanded. Detroit: Gale Research, 2003.

Uzoma O. Miller

824

Damon Wayans

Damon Wayans (1961– ), Comedian, Actor, Screenwriter, Movie Producer, Television Producer Damon Wayans began his career in television with a controversial hit show In Living Color, which debuted in 1990. The show introduced talents who were stars in their own right and many who went on to participate in larger acting roles such as Jamie Foxx and David Allen Grier. One of eleven children, Wayans was born in 1961 in New York City, the son of Howell and Elvira Wayans. He credits his family with giving him values and the materials he would later use to begin his comedic career. Although his family was poor, he and his siblings would stretch their imaginations with games of ‘‘make me laugh or die.’’ Wayans was married to Lisa Thorner but divorced in 2000. He is the father of four children—Damon Jr., Michael, Cara Mia, and Kyla. In 1982, Wayans began his stand-up comedy career at the Good Times Club in New York City. Appearing in comedy clubs across the country, Wayans credits comedy as an art that he can control through writing, producing, and stage performing. Wayans in 1984 appeared in the movie Beverly Hills Cop with Eddie Murphy. In 1985, Wayans appeared for one year on television as a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live. He returned to the stand-up comedy circuit after pursuing other projects for a year. MAKES MOVIE DEBUT Wayans participated in several works directed by Robert Townsend. In 1987, he had a role in the movie Hollywood Shuffle. During 1987–1988, Wayans appeared in several television specials with Townsend: Take No Prisoners: Robert Townsend and His Partners in Crime and Mutiny Has Just Begun: Robert Townsend and His Partners in Crime. Wayans worked with Steve Martin in the 1987 movie Roxanne. He appeared in 1988 in the movies I’m Gonna Git You Sucka and Colors and Punchline, alongside costars Sally Field and Tom Hanks. He was among the cast in the 1989 movie Earth Girls and Easy. In 1989, Wayans had his first comedy on Home Box Office (HBO), and in 1990, his voice was used as one of the children in the sequel Look Who’s Talking Too. In Living Color, the television show that put Wayans in the spotlight, made its debut in 1990. The show was one of the stand-up comic’s greatest hits because of the characters he portrayed: Homey the Clown, Anton the Bum, and Handi-Man. Wayans marked the end of his stand-up comedy performances with one last show taped at the Apollo Theater in Harlem called Damon Wayans: The Last Stand? Wanting experience with other forms of comedy, at the end of the 1991–1992 airing of In Living Color Wayans announced his leaving the show. After the television show, Wayans continued his comedy career in the movie industry.

825

Paul Revere Williams

Wayans starred in several movies. In 1991, he appeared in the action adventure movie The Last Boyscout as a costar with Bruce Willis. In 1992, he starred in the hit movie Mo Money, which Wayans wrote and directed. Wayans had a starring role in the film Blankman, which he cowrote and produced in 1994. He reflected that the film shows that comedy can motivate people and remind them what is important in life. In 1995, Wayans starred in the movie Major Payne, in which he played a marine charged with training junior ROTC misfits. For the years 1996–1997, he played in several films: The Great White Hype, Bulletproof, Billy Madison, and Happy Gilmore. In 1998, Wayans tried his hand at a television comedy, Bamboozled. The show, written by Spike Lee, was about a writer played by Wayans who feels pressure from the network to create a hit series. The show becames a hit but was short-lived. In 2000, Wayans produced and cocreated My Wife and Kids; Tisha Campbell-Martin played his on screen wife. The story dealt with popular culture and tackled issues such as virginity and premenstrual syndrome. It ran for several seasons and was cancelled in May 2005. For the show, Wayans received the People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy series and Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series Award. In September 2004, Wayans won two distinctive awards from the first-ever BET (Black Entertainment Television) Comedy Awards. Campbell-Martin won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, and Wayans won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Wayans also won Outstanding Directing in a Box Office Movie for White Chicks (2004). And he won Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series award for The Bernie Mac Show (2001). Wayans is also known for his stand-up comedy act. Sources Chambers, Veronica. ‘‘Damon Wayans.’’ Essence 23 (1992): 40. ‘‘Damon Wayans.’’ Newswire Association, Inc., September 29, 2004. York, Jennifer M., and Joe Kuskonski, eds. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 41. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2004.

Marvella Rounds

Paul Revere Williams (1894–1980), Architect Paul Revere Williams was born on February 18, 1894, in Los Angeles, California. His parents moved from Memphis, Tennessee, to California to start a new life. His father was a hotel waiter and opened a fruit stand in Los Angeles. At age four, tragedy struck: Williams was orphaned when both parents died. He was separated from his older brother Chester and raised by a foster mother. Though his early years were challenging, Williams’s foster mother kept him focused on education.

826

Paul Revere Williams

A friend of the family suggested that Williams consider architecture as a career. In response to this suggestion, Williams imagined what it would be like to draw an image on a piece of paper and later watch it become a building of bricks and boards; to him that was almost magical. To this end, Williams considered architecture an acceptable goal. Williams was educated at the Los Angeles Polytechnical High School. There his dream of becoming an architect was discouraged, but he transformed this discouragement into negative reinforcement, which drove him harder toward his goal. Williams’s high school guidance counselor advised him that black people would always need doctors and lawyers. She advised him further that it was unimaginable that they would build fine homes or expensive office buildings. To do that, one would be obligated to depend entirely on white clients for a living. This advice marked a crossroads in Williams’s life: He knew he could never allow others to discourage him because he was black. If he did, he would always question his right to be all that he could be. Williams was determined to prove to himself that he could be one of the best architects that the world would ever know. Upon completing high school, Williams attended Los Angeles Art School and made $3 a week as an architect’s helper. He entered many design competitions, winning several before pursuing a college education. Williams enrolled and earned a degree in architectural engineering from the University of Southern California. Upon graduation, he attended several local art schools to further develop his skills and talents. After completing his coursework at the art schools, Williams then trained as an apprentice at the Los Angeles architectural firm of Justin C. Austin. Shortly thereafter, Williams would establish his own firm. By age twenty-one, Williams was licensed to practice architecture. Seven years later, at age twenty-eight, he opened his own architecture practice. Williams made history in 1923 when he joined the Southern California chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). This was one of Williams’s first great accomplishments in that he was the national organization’s first African American member. He later accomplished another historic feat with the AIA by becoming the first African American elected to the AIA College of Fellows. During World War II Williams served his country as an architect for the U.S. Navy. After the war, Williams wrote two books: The Small Home of Tomorrow (1945) and New Homes for Today (1946). Both works displayed his unique, artistically inclined designs. DESIGNS FOR HOLLYWOOD STARS As an African American, Williams had to be equally clever as a businessman as he was creative as an architect. This was necessary in order for him to make his white clients feel comfortable patronizing him. His clientele was a virtual listing of ‘‘Who’s Who in Hollywood.’’ Frank Sinatra,

827

Paul Revere Williams

Cary Grant, Groucho Marx, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Lucille Ball, and Desi Arnaz all dwelled in houses designed by Williams. However, it was the home with 32,000 square feet and fifteen bedrooms that Williams designed early in his career for automobile manufacturer E. L. Cord that established Williams. After that design, Williams was never short of private clients. Though he designed homes for ‘‘Hollywood greats,’’ the public buildings he designed are equally, if not more, impressive. Some of his most famous works include the United Nations Building in Paris, France, and the flying saucer–shaped terminal at the Los Angeles International Airport. Williams designed both the Music Corporation of America building and the Saks Fifth Avenue building in Beverly Hills. His creations also consisted of churches, educational buildings, and community centers. In all, Williams designed more than 3,000 buildings between 1920 and the 1970s. The works he created during his career are nothing short of amazing. However, considering his race, another light is shed on his accomplishments. Williams’s mere existence was ironic in several ways. Williams was an African American ‘‘serving’’ the upper class of whites in the segregated Southwest. He worked for clients that he could not interact with socially. Williams would design buildings in neighborhoods where he could neither live nor visit. Williams traveled to appointments to meet clients on segregated trains and buses. He developed the ability to draw upside-down while standing, because Jim Crow laws prevented him from being seated next to his white clients during a consultation session. He often met with clients over lunch, but could neither be served nor eat with his clients. Though Williams understood and negotiated the politics of race in order to be successful at his practice, he remained politically conservative and chose not to ‘‘make waves,’’ believing that the racial obstacles he constantly encountered and overcame forced him to become better than his white colleagues. In order to gain his level of success, he simply had to be better than everyone else. Several interviews with Williams as well as his granddaughter’s biographies leave scant insight into Williams’s feelings about the prejudice he regularly encountered. Williams for the most part let his work speak for itself. His contributions to architecture, the awards and international acclaim, considered within the appropriate historical context, allow the public to understand Williams’s story without narration. Karen Hudson, Williams’s granddaughter, has written several books about Williams and maintains his archives. Hudson often lectures at museums and universities, discussing the life and work of her famous but widely unknown grandfather. Hudson is the author of Paul Revere Williams, Architect: A Legacy of Style, published in 1993, and The Will and the Way: Paul R. Williams, Architect, published in 1994. The latter was written for children and based primarily on a journal Williams left for his grandson. In a July 1937 American Magazine article, Williams discusses a client’s home in a beautiful Hollywood neighborhood: ‘‘I have dreamed of living

828

David Augustus Williston

there. I could afford such a home. But, this evening leaving my office, I returned to my small, inexpensive home in an unrestricted, comparatively undesirable section of Los Angeles . . . because . . . I am a Negro.’’ Williams received countless awards during his career as well as after his death. In 1939, the AIA elected Williams to the College of Fellows. This is one of the highest honors that it awards, noting an architect’s contribution to the profession as well as society. The Omega Psi Phi Fraternity named Williams ‘‘Man of the Year’’ in 1951. In 1953, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) awarded him the Spingarn Medal. He received honorary doctorates from Howard University in architecture, Lincoln University in science, and Tuskegee Institute in Fine Arts. In 2000, Williams posthumously received the Southeast Regional African American Preservation Alliance’s Triangle of Service Award. Though Williams died on January 23, 1980, his life and accomplishments are just beginning to receive the attention that they so well deserve. Sources Hudson, Karen E. Paul Revere Williams: A Legacy of Style. New York: Rizzoli, 1993. Miller, Geralda. ‘‘Black Architect Leaves His Stamp on Nevada.’’ RGJ.com, February 8, 2003. http://www.rgj.com/news/printstory.php?id¼34065. Puente, Maria. ‘‘Paul Revere Williams Built on Black History.’’ USATODAY. com, March 11, 2004. http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2004-03-11-paul-reverewilliams_x.htm. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Notable Black American Men. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. Williams, Paul R. ‘‘I Am a Negro.’’ American Magazine (July 1937): 59, 161–163.

Edwin T. Johnson

David Augustus Williston (1868–1962), Landscape Architect, Educator David Augustus Williston was a pioneer black landscape designer and the first black to set up private practice in that profession. He provided landscape designs for a variety of sites, including, the first federally funded public housing project, several historically black colleges, private residences, and the airfield for the famed Tuskegee Airmen in Alabama. He also taught courses in horticulture and agricultural at several historically black colleges. Despite his importance in the development of African American business, he has received little notice in published works. The exact date of Williston’s birth is unknown; however, it is known that he was born in 1868 on a farm in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to Frank and Henrietta Williston. He was the second of their thirteen children. Each child was assigned a garden spot on the farm and used the spot to grow corn, cotton, and rice. Whether or not young David also grew such products is unclear; however, it is clear that his was the most bountiful and that he always had a patch of flowers growing there. He loved land and loved cultivating it to a level that he found desirable.

829

David Augustus Williston

The Willistons were financially well off, and the family was a pillar in the black society of 1890 Fayetteville. They were active in Evans African American Methodist Episcopal Church. They believed in education and saw that their children’s training would exceed that of a normal school. The women among Williston’s twelve siblings became teachers. Edward, the oldest boy, was the first in the family to achieve a good education and to have a highly visible position: He became head of pediatrics at Freedman’s Hospital, an all-black health facility in Washington, D.C. David followed Edward to Washington on the promise that his brother would finance his education at Howard University’s Normal School—a promise that Edward kept. Williston attended the school in 1893–1895 and received intensive training that would serve him well later on. After earning a normal diploma in 1895, when he was twenty-seven years old, he enrolled at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. His training at Howard enabled him to place out of a semester of classes at Cornell. His mentor, Liberty Hyde Bailey, was well known as an agricultural scientist and director of Cornell’s Agricultural Department. Williston graduated in 1898 and became one of the university’s first black graduates as well as its first black to graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture. Later he studied municipal engineering offered by the International Correspondence School in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 1898, Williston began teaching at several of the nation’s racially segregated black colleges. First he was a professor of agriculture and horticulture at the State College of North Carolina at Greensboro, now known as North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He taught one year (1901–1902) at Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, Missouri. Then Booker T. Washington persuaded him to move to Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where Washington was founder and principal. He joined renowned scientist George Washington Carver on the agricultural science faculty and was superintendent of grounds as well. He also worked with campus architect Robert Robinson Taylor. The three men, who were pioneers in their respective fields, established a ‘‘black brain trust’’ at Tuskegee that enabled the school to be recognized as the leading agricultural and vocational school for African Americans. For twenty-seven years Williston taught intermittently at Tuskegee but spent the years 1907–1909 teaching agriculture and horticulture at Fisk University in Nashville. He also did a campus plan for Fisk. Williston worked almost exclusively with the leading black land-grant colleges as landscape designer and consultant. He valued the use of native plants and used many in his landscape designs; however, he did use nonnative plants on campuses. He may have been the only black who taught horticulture and the essentials of site planning. At Tuskegee, Williston’s planting designs included The Oaks (the home of Booker T. Washington), Dorothy Hall, and the George Washington Carver Museum. Williston taught for awhile at Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State College (now Tennessee State University) in Nashville. He had moved to

830

David Augustus Williston

Washington, D.C. by 1934 and set up private practice, becoming the first black landscape architect to do so. He had experienced the Great Depression while at black colleges in the South; now he had come to an economic and cultural center for blacks, where there were many educators, doctors, and other black professionals, and the income level in the black community was higher than it was for blacks in many other regions. There were black architects, such as Albert Irvin Cassell, John Lankford, Hilyard R. Robinson, and others, who helped to set a tone for building programs in the District of Columbia and elsewhere. Williston became landscape architect at Howard University in Washington and used his artistlike skills to design the landscape for five buildings. He and Howard’s architect Albert Cassell collaborated on the site for Founders Library but were in conflict over the location, which obstructed the view of the city. He worked with Hilyard R. Robinson on the site planning and design for other buildings at Howard, including the School of Architecture and Engineering, Cranton Auditorium, Fine Arts Building, and the School of Ecology. Beyond the campus they collaborated on Langston Terrace Housing Project, the first federally funded housing project in the nation. After that project he concentrated on meeting the increasingly extensive demands that landscape architecture required. Other collaborations with Robinson included the residence of then-UN Ambassador Ralph J. Bunche; Flanners House Social Training Center; housing for Ford Motor Company employees in Ypsilanti, Michigan; and the airfield for the 99th Pursuit Squadron in Chehaw, Alabama, better known as the airfield for the Tuskegee Airmen—a racially segregated squadron of black pilots who served with distinction in World War II. He maintained his office for more than twenty-five years, operating a profitable business and at the same time preparing young black students to enter the profession. He hired at least three full-time draftsmen between 1935 and 1950. His landscape projects at other sites included Roberts Airfield that Firestone built during World War II; the gymnasium at Tennessee State University; the veteran’s hospital at Tuskegee, Alabama; the president’s residence at Atlanta University and Catholic University of America; and the amphitheater for Alcorn State University in Alcorn, Mississippi. He was involved with a major project for Winthrop Rockefeller, governor of Arkansas, that called for landscape projects throughout the state but died before the work was completed. Among the honors that Williston received were Howard University’s Annual Alumni Award for Distinguished Post Graduates, which in 1946 he shared with two other recipients. His memberships included the American Forestry Association, the American Society for the Advancement of Science, and the American Society of Ecology. Williston was married to Sue Bell Thomas in 1906, onetime secretary to Booker T. Washington. They had one son, Thomas Augustus. Williston practiced landscape architecture all of his life, until he had a protracted illness and died on July 28, 1962, when he was ninety-four years old.

831

Oprah Winfrey

The contributions of Williston survived him and became his legacy. He was a premier black landscape architect who captured the beauty of nature in his designs, operated a profitable business, and promoted his emerging profession by recruiting young talented blacks to enter the field. Sources Muckle, Kirk, and Dreck Wilson. ‘‘David Augustus Williston: Pioneering Black Professional.’’ Landscape Architecture (January 1982): 82–85. Williams, Douglas A. ‘‘David Augustus Williston.’’ African American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary 1865–1945. Ed. Dreck Spurlock Wilson. New York: Routledge, 2004.

Jessie Carney Smith

Oprah Winfrey (1954– ), Television Show Host, Producer, Production Company Owner, Philanthropist Oprah Gail Winfrey, a television celebrity and producer, started her career as a radio announcer and news anchor but found her niche as talk show host in the 1970s on WJZ TV in Baltimore, Maryland. Her on-camera style, charisma, and interviewing skills led her to Chicago, where the show A.M. Chicago soon was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. Over her years of stardom, she gained great wealth and business acumen. She has won the admiration of many by her benevolence. According to 2004 issues of Black Enterprise and Forbes magazines, Winfrey, who has a net worth of over $1 billion, is the first African American woman billionaire and the only black woman in film and television to own her own production company. Winfrey is the chairperson of Harpo (Oprah spelled backwards), Inc., Harpo Productions, Inc., Harpo Studios, Inc., Harpo Films, Inc., Harpo Print, LLC, and Harpo Video, Inc. Few circumstances of Winfrey’s early life seemed to presage her climb to fame and fortune. She was born to nineteen-year-old Vernita Lee on January 19, 1954, in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Her father, Vernon Winfrey, was in the military and knew nothing of his daughter’s birth until Vernita wrote to ask him to help buy clothes for their baby. Winfrey’s great aunt named her after Orpah, who is mentioned in the book of Ruth in the Bible, but the hospital registrar transposed the second and third letters of her name. At first Vernita and her new daughter lived with Winfrey’s grandparents Hattie Mae and Earless Lee. Hattie Mae realized that Winfrey was a very perceptive child and taught her to read by the time she was three years old. When Winfrey was four years old, Vernita decided to move to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to see if she could find a good job. She left Winfrey with her grandparents for two more years. Even though Winfrey’s grandparents were emotionally undemonstrative, strict, and liberal with corporal punishment, they were careful to feed Winfrey’s voracious appetite for learning and regularly took her to

832

Oprah Winfrey

church where she was admired for her speaking abilities. Winfrey credits her grandparents for shaping her character. According to Jean Blashfield’s biography, Winfrey was clearly precocious. When she went to kindergarten, she wrote the teacher a note saying, ‘‘Dear Miss New: I do not think I belong here.’’ The teacher placed her in first grade the next day. In 1960, Winfrey moved to Milwaukee to live with her mother. Vernita expected to get married and build a stable family, but her plans did not materialize. Vernita gave birth to another daughter, Patricia, when Winfrey was seven. Later Vernita had a son named Jeffrey. Life in Milwaukee was almost the opposite of life in Kosciusko for Winfrey. Her grandparents were strict, and her mother was lax. Vernita barely eked out a living and often had male company in their home. Winfrey skipped the second grade and went to the third in Nashville, Tennessee, where she lived a year with her father Vernon and his wife Zelma. Both were conscientious parents who encouraged her to read, helped her with schoolwork, and tutored her in the memorization of the multiplication tables. After the school year was over, Winfrey went to Milwaukee for the summer, and her mother persuaded her not to return to Nashville. Yet Vernita was busy with her work and social life and had very little time for ‘‘the smart one,’’ as the family dubbed Winfrey. As Winfrey entered her teen years, teachers continued to recognize her keen intellectual and speaking ability. Consequently, Winfrey was transferred to a mostly white suburban high school where she was popular and excelled in her studies. Yet Winfrey’s home life remained troubled. Male relatives sexually abused her. She became sexually active, very secretive, mischievous, and rebellious. Winfrey ran away and was pregnant by the time she was fourteen years old. In frustration, her mother again asked Winfrey’s father to allow Winfrey to live with him. In 1968, he agreed to provide Winfrey with a safe and structured environment. He was surprised to find that Winfrey was pregnant but supported her through the pregnancy until Winfrey miscarried. This whole experience later led to Winfrey’s crusade against child abuse in her adult life. In her father’s home Winfrey received much attention and was required to go to church. Zelma monitored her homework and required extra work assignments from her. Vernon made it clear that ‘‘C’’ grades were unacceptable. Winfrey began to excel in high school, dress less provocatively, and tone down her makeup. Winfrey spoke regularly in her father’s church, often reciting James Weldon Johnson’s poems ‘‘God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse.’’ She spoke so well that first local churches and then churches nationwide invited her to speak. A trip to Hollywood made her long for stardom. Her dramatic talents brought great opportunities her way. She represented Tennessee in a national forensics competition at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and was invited to be a conferee at President Richard Nixon’s White House Conference on Youth. Winfrey won the election for senior class president at East High School in Nashville. In 1971, after she won the local Miss Fire Prevention contest, the

833

Oprah Winfrey

local black radio station, WVOL, gave ‘‘Miss Fire Prevention’’ a tour of their studio and asked her to read some material. The station manager liked her style and offered her a job as a newscaster. Winfrey won a beauty contest sponsored by the Elks Lodge in 1971. The prize was a four-year scholarship to Nashville’s Tennessee State University, an institution of higher learning with a predominantly African American student body. Because Winfrey’s father did not want her to go away for college, she welcomed the chance to be educated nearby. In her freshman year, she won the Miss Black Tennessee contest. For the talent competition she performed a dramatic reading and sang. Winfrey continued to hone her talent by majoring in speech and drama. She appeared in many of the school plays. BEGINS TELEVISION CAREER In 1972, Winfrey was hired as a news anchor at WTVF-TV in Nashville. These successes opened up the opportunity for her to become the coanchor of the evening news in Baltimore, Maryland, on WJZ-TV in 1976. Winfrey left the university for Baltimore in her last semester, and her B.A. was not awarded until 1987. The coanchor assignment did not fit Winfrey, but she had a contract with them. The station tried her as cohost of the station’s local talk show called People Are Talking in 1978, and Winfrey’s career began to take off as the ratings for the program shot up. One of her colleagues from WJZ went to work in Chicago and urged Winfrey to come there to cohost A.M. Chicago on WLS-TV 1984. It became the number-one talk show in Chicago just one month after she began. The viewers liked her style so much that in 1985 the program was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. In the same year Winfrey starred as Sofia in the movie The Color Purple and was nominated for an Academy Award. The next year, 1986, Oprah Winfrey Show was syndicated nationally. At first Winfrey was content to receive a salary, but then she learned how to market herself. She bought her show from the ABC network and eventually became the chief executive officer of her own company, Harpo Productions, Inc. She purchased her own studio and has produced and appeared in movies for the theater and television including The Women of Brewster Place in 1989. By 1995, she was the only African American on Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 richest Americans. Forbes writers noted in 2004 that Winfrey has consistently stayed near the top of the list of the magazine’s ‘‘Celebrity 100.’’ In 1996, Winfrey began Oprah’s Book Club. She chose a book each month to read and discuss with her viewers. The books she selected soared on the bestseller lists, and bookstores had difficulty keeping them in stock. In 1997, Winfrey started Oprah’s Angel Network, a nonprofit organization that has raised millions of dollars to help those in need. The Oprah Winfrey Foundation also finds ways to minister to those suffering want in various places around the world. In 1998, Oprah partnered with several others to form Oxygen Media, Inc., a cable channel and interactive network for

834

Women and Business

women. Viewers are also especially drawn to her program Oprah after the Show, during which she speaks informally with her studio audience. In 2000, she partnered with Hearst Magazines to launch O, The Winfrey Magazine, which reaches 2 million subscribers. She has personally supported needy causes and has urged her viewers to support them, too. When she celebrated her fiftieth birthday in January 2004, Winfrey donated $50 million to charity. In 2004, Winfrey’s annual salary was $210 million. Twenty-three million viewers a week in the United States and many more in over 100 other countries watch her daily television show. It is the highest-rated television talk show in television history. Winfrey has received many honors including thirty-nine Daytime Emmy Awards. See also: Women and Business Sources Alder, Bill, ed. The Uncommon Wisdom of Oprah Winfrey: A Portrait in Her Own Words. New York: Carol Pub., 1996. Black Enterprise. Various issues. http://www.blackenterprise.com. Blashfield, Jean F. Oprah Winfrey. Milwaukee, WI: World Almanac Library, 2003. ‘‘The Celebrity 100.’’ Forbes 174 (July 5, 2004): 87. Illouz, Eva. Oprah Winfrey and the Glamour of Misery: An Essay on Popular Culture. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. Lowe, Janet C., ed. Oprah Winfrey Speaks: Insights from the World’s Most Influential Voice. New York: Wiley, 1998. Mair, George. Oprah Winfrey: The Real Story. New York: Birch Lane Press, 1994. Oprah Winfrey. http://www.oprah.com. Waldron, Robert. Oprah! New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1987.

Deborah Newman Ham

Women and Business The history of enterprising African American women can be traced back to the 1600s and colonial America when African women brought their strong sense of industry and keen selling skills to America. In their native land, African women had shown their entrepreneurial aptitude in numerous enterprising areas including agricultural endeavors, cooking, cloth making, textile weaving, sewing, and making baskets, brooms, pottery, and quilts. They also had demonstrated skills in midwifery and medicinal remedies. Thus, the first businesses owned by African women in America reflected these skills. Agricultural marketing and cooking were natural primary enterprising activities of slave women. Some women became street vendors and sold agricultural products, craft items, and processed and prepared food; and some women were even able to open produce stores, bakeries, and catering businesses. Mary Bernoon and her husband, Emanuel, for example, both

835

Women and Business

former slaves who purchased their freedom, started a catering service and opened an oyster and ale house in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1736. Duchess Quamino, a slave in the William Channing household in Newport, Rhode Island, baked cakes and pastries. In time, she became known as the ‘‘Pastry Queen of Rhode Island’’ and became a leading caterer. She started her business during the Revolutionary War era and was able to accumulate enough money to eventually buy her freedom. In the South there were even some black women plantation owners, such as Marie Therese Metoyer (Marie Therese Coincoin), who was a successful entrepreneur in colonial America. Born in 1742 of African slaves in Louisiana, her family was owned by a French military officer, Louis Juchereau de Saint-Denis. After his death, Marie Therese, whose slave name was Coincoin, was given first to his widow, then to his son. She was then sent to live with Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer, a merchant living in the Red River Valley. The two apparently fell in love, and Coincoin gave birth to ten of his children. Metoyer ultimately set her free with sixty-eight acres of land. Free at forty-four after having been a house slave all of her life, she went to work in the fields, growing indigo and tobacco, and trapping bears. Gradually she managed to buy all of her children out of slavery. She acquired more land and sixteen slaves of her own, beside whom she worked in the fields. By the time she died around 1817 at age seventy-five, she and her children had nearly 12,000 acres of plantation land and at least ninety-nine slaves. There was also Madame Cecee McCarty, who started her business activities in the 1790s. Reported to have been the country’s wealthiest black businesswoman at the time, she owned an imported goods store and used slaves as a traveling sales force. She was the largest black slaveholder in New Orleans by 1830 and was also involved in informal loan and banking activities. Bridget ‘‘Biddy’’ Mason, born in 1818 in slavery in Mississippi, won freedom for herself and daughters in 1856 after her master moved to California, a state where slavery was forbidden as of 1850, and went on to became a successful entrepreneur in California. She bought property in Los Angeles and was one of the first black women to own land in Los Angeles. The site is now the center of the commercial district in Los Angeles. In 1884, she sold a parcel of the land for $1,500 and built on the remaining land a commercial building with spaces for rental. Her wise business decisions allowed her to accumulate a fortune of almost $300,000. In antebellum America, free African American women were involved in a wide variety of enterprises including arenas dominated by men. While only a few free black women became wealthy from their entrepreneurial endeavors, many were able to use their skills and talents to provide livelihoods for the families and to buy freedom, in many instances, for themselves and their family members. Some of the antebellum ventures these pioneering women were involved in included agricultural enterprising activities, food vendors of prepared food, catering, baking, doing day work, selling fruits and vegetables, shop keeping, caring for laundry, health care as nurses

836

Women and Business

and widwives, dressmaking, hair care, and running restaurants, inns, and boardinghouses. During the antebellum era, even on the international front, a black woman could be found involved in entrepreneurial endeavors. Mary Garner Prince, who was born in New England, accompanied her husband to St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1824 and established a garment-making business. Prince’s business was known for baby linens and children’s garments, and her clientele included the Russian empress. In the antebellum era, black women could also be found working alongside their husbands in entrepreneurial endeavors, which poised them to take over the enterprise in the event of the spouse’s death. Henrietta S. Duterte of Philadelphia, for example, became the first practicing female mortician in the United States when she took the helm of their funeral business after her husband’s death in 1858. African American women also initiated businesses as dressmakers and tailors. One successful dressmaker was Elizabeth Keckley (Elizabeth Hobbs) who was born a slave and purchased her freedom in 1855. She moved to Washington, D.C. in 1860, where she started her own dressmaking business. She became the private dressmaker to First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. She also started a school in Baltimore, Maryland, for black girls to teach them sewing and etiquette and was additionally the founder of the First Black Contraband Relief Association. Hairdressing was another enterprise area ventured into by antebellum black women who provided such services largely for wealthy white women. Some free antebellum black women were also slave owners. Some owned slaves for benevolent reasons (to free them) and others for commercial endeavors. ENTERPRISING ACTIVITIES AFTER SLAVERY After the ending of slavery in 1865, most African American women continued largely in the same types of gendered-based businesses they had been involved in prior to the Civil War, but some took traditional enterprises to a new level and others ventured into new industries. In 1885, Sarah E. Goode, owner of a Chicago furniture store, became the first African American woman to receive a U.S. patent. The patent was for a space-saving folding cabinet bed that, when folded, could be used as a desk. Another enterprising African American woman who ventured into nontraditional territory was Ida B. Wells, who was born into slavery and became a part owner of a small newspaper, Free Speech, in Memphis, Tennessee, in the late 1800s. Wells was considered to be a militant in her time for her efforts to abolish lynchings and establish racial equality. Her newspaper editorialized the lynchings of black men. In 1892, in response to an article on a local lynching, her offices were ramsacked and burned and her life threatened if she did not leave town. In 1895, Wells married Ferdinand L. Barnett, a Chicago lawyer, activist, and editor. Barnett was the owner and

837

Women and Business

founder of the first black newspaper in Chicago, the Conservator. After their marriage, Wells bought the Conservator from Barnett and took over the duties of editor, where she continued to write about southern lynchings. Following the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery, blacks and whites, while not considered equal, often ate in the same restaurants, rode together in the same railway cars, and even used the same public facilities. Large black communities in urban areas emerged; and in the cities, blacks and whites were, in many instances, in more direct business competition than ever before. From the 1880s into the 1960s, a majority of American states enforced segregation through ‘‘Jim Crow’’ laws that allowed the imposition of legal punishment for consorting with members of another race. The most common types of laws forbade intermarriage and ordered public institutions and business owners to keep their black and white customers separated. This operating environment had a major impact on African American female entrepreneurship in the early twentieth century. Blacks were forced into operating in a segregated society and sought out black establishments for goods and services. The first major blow against the Jim Crow system of racial segregation did not occur until 1954, when the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision ruled that separate is not equal and recommended ways to stop rampant segregation. This began the civil rights era. The early 1900s, thus, was a thriving period for black businesses; and the 1920s and early 1930s are often described as the ‘‘Golden Era’’ for black business growth. EARLY-TWENTIETH-CENTURY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENTS The early twentieth century saw a rise in African American women–owned businesses in the black hair-care business, financial institutions, manufacturing as well as social entrepreneurial endeavors. Madame C. J. Walker, reported to be the first African American female millionaire in America, was born Sarah Breedlove in 1867 to former slaves who chose to remain as sharecroppers. Madame C. J. Walker founded the Madame C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, which produced and distributed a line of hair and beauty products for black women, including specially formulated hair oils and conditioners to stimulate hair growth and cure scalp ailments. The business grew out of a personal need, as Sarah suffered from a scalp ailment that caused her to lose most of her hair. She experimented with many store-bought and homemade remedies and formulated a product that would condition and heal the scalp. After refining and perfecting her ‘‘Wonderful Hair Grower’’ product in 1905, she moved to Denver, Colorado. Other products were also developed, including ‘‘Glossine’’ hair oil, ‘‘Temple Grower,’’ and a ‘‘Tetter Salve’’ for psoriasis of the scalp. In 1906, Sarah married Charles Joseph Walker, a Denver newspaperman. The marriage lasted only a few years, but it provided a new professional name for Sarah and her business—the Madame C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company. His journalistic background also aided Sarah in

838

Women and Business

developing advertising strategies for her business. Much of the company’s growth resulted from a sales force of women across the country who were known as Walker agents. Dressed in white blouses and long black skirts, the ladies went door to door in African American communities demonstrating and selling Madame Walker’s products. By 1917, the Madame C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, located in Indianapolis, Indiana, had a manufacturing facility, a training center for its sales force, research and production laboratories, and a beauty school to train hair ‘‘culturists’’ and was the largest black-owned business in the country with annual revenues of approximately $500,000. Also in the business of hair care was Annie Turnbo Malone, born in 1869. She was a businesswoman who developed a variety of hair treatments and was the first to patent the hot comb. She also founded Poro College in 1917 in St. Louis, which is believed to have been the first center in America devoted to studying and teaching black cosmetology. The school employed almost 200 people and also taught students how to walk, talk, and dress for business. Both Malone and Walker exposed the world of self-employment to black women by serving as door to door agents of hair-care products or owners of beauty shops. Another pioneer in the hair-care industry was Sarah Spencer Washington, who started Apex News and Hair Company in 1919 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Washington was an astute businesswoman whose hair products were prevalent in the marketplace. She owned extensive business property, including a facility that housed the Apex Warehouse, Apex Auditorium, Apex Laboratory, Apex Publishing Company, Apex Drug Store, and six apartments. She also had a beauty school that grew to have branches in major cities across the country, including Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York; Atlanta, Georgia; Richmond, Virginia; Baltimore, Maryland; and Newark, New Jersey. Additionally, she had a school branch in the Bantu World Bank in Johannesburg, South Africa. More than 25,000 students graduated from her schools. She also owned the Brigantine Hotel and established the Ellen Memorial Center for Girls. Washington was one of the leading businesswomen in America until her death in 1953. At the turn of the twentieth century, African American women continued entrepreneurial pursuits in nonstereotypical, gender-based arenas such as financial institutions. In 1903, Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker became the first black female bank founder. The daughter of a former slave and white abolitionist, Walker was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1867. She started St. Luke Penny Savings Bank with a little over $9,000 in deposits obtained from members of the Independent Order of St. Luke, an African American benevolent society that was formed after the Civil War to take care of the sick and cover funeral expenses of members in exchange for small monthly dues contributed by members. Walker served as the bank’s first president, which earned her the acclaim of being the first woman to charter a bank in the United States. While many African American banks closed during the Great Depression, Walker’s

839

Women and Business

bank merged in 1930 with two smaller banks in Richmond, Virginia, and became Consolidated Bank and Trust. The bank is still operating out of offices in Richmond, Virginia, located across the street from its original site. In the early twentieth century, Mary McLeod Bethune, while being best known for starting the Daytona Normal and Industrial School for Negro Girls in 1904, which is now known as Bethune-Cookman College, was also one of the founders of the Central Life Insurance Company in Tampa, Florida. And in Mississippi, Minnie Cox and her husband Wayne W. Cox established the ‘‘Delta Penny Savings Bank’’ in Indianola in 1904 and five years later formed the Mississippi Beneficial Insurance Company. The turn of the twentieth century also found a former Texas slave, Jane Johnson (Calloway) Endsley, starting a railroad-yard coal and log business in the heart of Dallas. Jane Endsley ran the business with the assistance of her sons and provided fuel for many Dallas residents. The business was considered the largest enterprise of its kind in the city. At the dawning of the twentieth century, African American women were also starting social entrepreneurial enterprises aimed at uplifting the African American community. In 1897, Mrs. S. H. Norris of Dallas, Texas, organized the Grand Court, Order of Calanthe, the only fraternal insurance organization owned and controlled by black women. In the early 1900s, Nannie Helen Burroughs established the Women’s Industrial Club, which offered short-term lodging to black women and taught them basic domestic skills. The organization also provided moderate-cost lunches for downtown officeworkers. Later, during the Great Depression, Burroughs established a selfhelp venture called Cooperative Industrial, Inc. In 1909, the National Trade and Professional School for Women and Girls, located in Washington, D.C., was opened with a curriculum that emphasized practical and professional skills along with black history undergirded with traditional Christian values. The school, now named the Nannie Helen Burroughs School, Inc., still exists in Washington, D.C. and offers elementary education. As the demand for business education grew with the development of urban business, Erma Jewell Hughes started the Hughes Business College in Houston, Texas, in 1932. As African Americans progressed, more interest emerged in the arts and culture. In 1931, Katherine Dunham started the Negro Dance Group in Chicago, Illinois, and in 1941, Mary Caldwell Dawson started the National Negro Opera Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the first permanent black opera company in the United States. The depression took its toll on black businesses. Most African American women who were able to remain in business were operating traditional businesses, such as restaurants, laundries, groceries, and clothing stores. It was not until the 1940s during World War II before black businesses began to prosper again. By 1942, Rose Morgan owned and operated the largest African American beauty parlor in the world, the Rose Meta House of Beauty in New York City. The firm had a staff of twenty-nine, including twenty hairstylists, three licensed masseurs, and a registered nurse. In 1955, Rose Morgan’s House of

840

Women and Business

Beauty expanded and opened in a more stylish setting with a dressmaking department and charm school in addition to the existing salon facilities. In the early 1960s, she added a wig salon. Over time, she employed and trained more than 3,000 people. She began marketing her own line of cosmetics and staging fashion shows. Morgan was one of the founders of New York’s only black-owned commercial bank, the Freedom National Bank. During the World War II era, enterprising opportunities increased for African American women, especially in the food and personal services industries. The incomes of blacks, in general, had increased; and more blacks owned cars, and thus more blacks started traveling for leisure. A few women responded to the new day by establishing resort hotels. Sarah Spencer Washington started an Apex Rest Tourist Retreat and a nine-hole golf course and country club. Sally Walker developed a 300-acre resort for blacks in the Catskill Mountains that included luxuries such as a dance casino, a lake, and tennis and basketball courts. During the post–World War II era, the participation of women on the business side of music and entertainment increased. Gladys Hampton, wife of Lionel Hampton, became the first black woman to own a record company in 1946. Vivian Carter in 1953 was a partner in starting Vee Jay Record Company in Chicago. THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA AND BEYOND The 1950s and 1960s can be characterized by a number of civil rights advances and the call for racial equalities. As a result of desegregation, many black businesses that had prospered primarily due to providing products and services to blacks during segregation began to experience problems competing with white businesses that became accessible to blacks. At the same time, the civil rights movement led to the opening of many new opportunities for enterprising women. Ernesta G. Procope, for example, started E. G. Bowman Co., Inc., in 1953, which became the largest minority-owned insurance brokerage in America and the largest such company owned by a woman. The company is also the first black-owned commercial brokerage to have an office on Wall Street. Clients have included companies named as the top 500 firms in the United States by Fortune magazine. In 1959, Ruth Jean Bowen became the first black woman to establish a successful booking and talent agency, Queen Artists, in New York City. By 1969, the Queen Booking Corporation was the largest black-owned entertainment agency in the country, with talents including Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. The 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s were decades of progression for African American women in uncharted seas. In 1970, the nation’s first black advertising agency was started by Barbara Gardner Proctor in Chicago, Illinois. In 1979, Dorothy Edwards Brunson bought WEBB-Radio in Baltimore, Maryland, and became the first African American woman to own a radio station. Two additional radio stations later, she got out of the radio

841

Women and Business

business and bought WGTW-TV in Philadelphia in 1986. In 1980, Catherine ‘‘Cathy’’ Hughes founded the first radio station to target the African American market, Radio One, Inc. Based on 2003 net broadcast revenue, Radio One, Inc., is the nation’s seventh largest radio and the largest company that primarily targets African American and urban listeners. Radio One owns and/or operates sixty-nine radio stations located in twenty-two urban markets in the United States and reaches approximately 13 million listeners every week. Radio One also programs ‘‘XM 169 The POWER’’ on XM Satellite Radio and owns approximately 40 percent of TV One, an African American–targeted cable channel. In 1999, Radio One became one of the few African American–owned companies on the stock market, making Hughes the first African American woman with a company on the stock exchange. During this era of forging to new heights and navigating uncharted seas, Oprah Winfrey became the first African American woman to host a nationally syndicated weekday talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show. The show became the highest-rated talk show in television history with estimated viewers totaling l4 million daily in the United States and millions more in 132 other countries. Winfrey formed her own production company, Harpo Productions, Inc. In 1988, Harpo Productions acquired ownership and all production responsibilities for The Oprah Winfrey Show from Capitol Cities/ ABC. She established Harpo Studios, a production facility in Chicago, making her the third woman in the American entertainment industry to own her own studio. In addition to being a successful talk show host and producer, she is also a successful actress, founder of the successful O, the Oprah Magazine, and cofounder of Oxygen Media, Inc., a cable channel and interactive network presenting programming designed primarily for women. Oprah Winfrey is included in the Forbes magazine billionaire list. Also in the 1980s, Suzanne de Passe became president of Motown Productions. The renowned television, film, and music producer and media entrepreneur went on to start de Passe Entertainment in 1992. In the 1990s entrepreneurial talent also rose from the genre of rap music. Queen Latifah, rap artist who became a television and film actress, author, and entrepreneur, started Flavor Unit Records and Entertainment in the 1990s with partner Sha-Kim Compere. The company manages some of the biggest names in music at the beginning of the twenty-first century such as LL Cool J and Outkast. Toward the later part of the twentieth century African American women also made their mark in the world of franchising. In 1987, Barbara J. Wilson became the first black woman to have an automobile dealership. In 1998, Katherine Johnson opened a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership in Horn Lake, Mississippi, making her the first black woman licensed for the dealership in the company’s history. In 1999, Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst became the owner of Infiniti of Huntsville, based in Huntsville, Alabama, making her the first African American to own a Nissan Infiniti car dealership in North America.

842

Women and Business

In 2005, Black Enterprise magazine listed several women operating the country’s successful and largest African American–owned industrial and service companies. Some of the women included in the chief executive ranks are Janice Bryant Howroyd of the Act-1 Group located in Torrance, California; Oprah Winfrey, Harpo, Inc., Chicago, Illinois; Robin C. Brooks, Brooks Food Group, Bedford, Virginia; Valerie Daniels-Carter, V and J Holding Cos., Inc., Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Anita B. Williams, Logistics & Environmental Support Services Corp., Huntsville, Alabama; and Jeanette M. Abraham, Detroit Heading, L.L.C., Detroit, Michigan. Black Enterprise also reported the most successful African American woman–owned auto dealerships. Some of the women listed are Norma J. Ross, Bob Ross Buick, Centerville, Ohio; Pamela Rodgers, Rodgers Chevrolet, Woodhaven, Michigan; and Ellenae Fairhurst, Huntsville Autoplex, Huntsville, Alabama. BLACK WOMEN IN CORPORATE AMERICA The civil rights laws opened many doors for enterprising women in the entrepreneurial sector as well as the corporate sector. As increasing numbers of women achieved levels of higher education and graduate education, more sophisticated entrepreneurial ventures were started. And with affirmative action efforts to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business from which they historically had been excluded, more African American women began to journey up corporation ladders. The corporate climb, however, was long and hard for most; and few African American women have made it to the very top rank in corporate America. There are, however, some stellar exceptions. In 1995, Ann M. Fudge was named president of Maxwell House Coffee Co. And, in 2003, Fudge became chairman and chief executive officer of Young & Rubicam Brands, a global network of preeminent companies across the full range of marketing communications. Young & Rubicam Brands companies include Burson-Marsteller (public relations/public affairs); Wunderman (direct and database marketing); Landor Associates (brand consulting and creative design); Sudler & Hennessey (strategic health-care communications); and Cohn & Wolfe (public relations); among others. In 1996, Pamela Thomas-Graham, at age thirty-two, was named partner in the largest management consulting firm in the world, McKinsey & Company. In 2001, she became CEO and president of CNBC. She is the highest-ranking African American in the cable news industry. And in 2004, Renetta McCann became CEO of Starcom Americas, one of the leading media agencies in the world. Black women have also made great strides in public utilities and transportation. In 1983, Carmen Elizabeth Pawley Turner was named general manager of the Washington, D.C. transportation network, making her the first black woman to head a major transportation network. In 1992, Roberta Palm Bradley became the first woman to head a major public utility, Seattle City Light.

843

Women and Business

The closing of the twentieth century also found a few African American women in the boardroom of some of the nation’s largest firms. As of 2002, African American women held 93 board seats of the total 4,862 positions at Fortune 500 companies. Some of the boardroom trailblazers were Dolores Duncan Wharton, who in 1979 became the first black and first woman on the board of Gannett Company, and Sybil Mobley, who in 1982 became the first black woman member of the board of Sears, Roebuck and Company. The later portion of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first also saw African American women taking the helm of corporate entities that had been started by their family. Teri Gardner became president of Soft Sheen Products, Inc., a large black hair-care manufacturer and business started by her father in 1964. The company was sold in 1998 to the L’Ore´al Group. At the time of sale, the company employed 400 people and in 1997 achieved sales of close to $80 million. Soft Sheen exported its products to Canada, the United Kingdom, western African countries, and the Caribbean. In 1987, Linda Johnson Rice was named president and chief operating officer of her father’s businesses, Johnson Publishing Company, the largest black-owned publishing firm in the world, and Fashion Fair Cosmetics, the world’s number-one line of makeup and skincare of color. She took over as president and CEO in 2002. At the turn of the twenty-first century, African American women also have made their mark on the world of sports. In 2005, Sheila Johnson, cofounder of BET (Black Entertainment Television), became part owner of the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Washington Mystics, becoming one of the first black women to own a professional sports team. At the turn of the twenty-first century as well, the quest for business ownership and success in business are still very much a part of the American dream; and the enterprising spirit is alive and strong for African American women. The Center for Women’s Business Research reported in 2004 that African American women in the United States owned an estimated 414,472 businesses (firms that are at least 51 percent owned by an African American woman). These firms employed nearly 254,000 people and generated $19.5 billion in sales. The number of African American women–owned firms in 2004 represented a 32.5 percent increase between 1997 and 2004; and the employment increase was 50.1 percent during this time frame, with the sales level representing a 43.9 percent increase for the same time frame. While the number of African American women–owned businesses is dwarfed compared to the total of all privately held, women-owned firms (50 percent or more women owned) operating in the United States, which was estimated to be 10.6 million in 2004, it is evident that the enterprising spirit of African American women remains unwavering and has withstood the test of time. From the 1600s to the present day, African American women have been involved in the world of business in an effort to make a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities. There are many heroines in the historical overview of African American women and business, and there are many stories yet to come.

844

Women and Business

See also: Fashion Industry; Food Service Industry; Real Estate Industry; Retail Industry Sources Academy of Achievement: ‘‘Oprah Winfrey.’’ http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/ page/win0bio-1. Afro-American Almanac. http://www.toptags.com/aama/bio/women/nburroughs.htm. ‘‘B.E. Auto Dealer 100 List.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (June 2005): 141–148. ‘‘B.E. Industrial/Service 100 List, June 2005.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (June 2005): 113–120. Bolden, Tonya. The Book of African-American Women: 150 Crusaders, Creators, and Up Lifters. Avon, MA: Adams Media Corporation, 1996. Brooks, Charles. ‘‘Exploring 100 Years of Black Business—Part 1.’’ http://www.black -collegian.com/career/industry-reports/blackbus100.shtml. Center for Women’s Business Research. ‘‘African American Women–Owned Businesses, 2004.’’ http://www.nfwbo.org/minority/African-American.pdf. Dailey, Maceo. ‘‘Review of Juliet E. K. Walker, The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship.’’ June 11, 1999. http://www.eh.net/ bookreviews/library/0160.shtml. Davis, Marianna. Contributions of Black Women to America. New York: Peter Lang, 1982. Ebony Editors. Ebony Success Library. Vol. 1. Chicago: Johnson Publishing Co., 1973. Harley, Sharon. Sister Circle: Black Women and Work. ‘‘Working for Nothing but for a Living.’’ Black Women in the Underground. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002. Harris, Fran. About My Sister’s Business: The Black Woman’s Road Map to Successful Entrepreneurship. New York: Fireside, 1996. Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldmen. African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Johnson Publishing Company. http://www.johnsonpublishing.com/ME2/default.asp. Kranz, Rachel. African-American Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs (A to Z of African Americans). New York: Facts on File, 2004. Lanker, Brian. I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America. New York: Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 1989. ‘‘L’Oreal to Acquire Skinceuticals.’’ http://www.loreal.com/_en/_ww/press-room/ press-release.aspx?NewsID¼27a76b97-0a5c-4609-966c-6445256351e7&r¼2&sr ¼1&. Meeks, Kenneth. ‘‘Most Powerful Blacks in Corporate America.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (February 2005): 105–142. ‘‘Oprah Winfrey’s Biography.’’ http://www.oprah.com/about/press/about_press_bio .html. Ringle, Ken. ‘‘Up Through Slavery.’’ Washington Post, May 12, 2002. Sherr, Lynn, and Jurate Kazickas. Susan B. Anthony Slept Here. A Guide to American Women’s Landmarks. New York: Random House, 1994. Smith, Jessie Carney. Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events. 2nd ed. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 2003. ———. Black Firsts: 2,000 Years of Extraordinary Achievement. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1994. ———, ed. Epic Lives: One Hundred Black Women Who Made a Difference. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1993.

845

Sylvia P. Woods ———, ed. Notable Black American Women. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 1992. ———, ed. Powerful Black Women. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1996. Walker, Juliet E. K., ed. Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. ———. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998. White, Renee Minus. ‘‘Original Super Model Naomi Sims Is Honored at FIT.’’ Amsterdam News, March 6, 2003. http://www.amsterdamnews.org/News/article/ article.asp?NewsID¼23619&sID¼24.

Millicent Gray Lownes-Jackson

Sylvia P. Woods (1926– ), Restaurant Owner Born in New York City in 1926 but maintaining strong ties to her South Carolina roots, Sylvia Pressley Woods and her family transformed a small neighborhood luncheonette into a soul food restaurant and food products enterprise known throughout New York City and the nation. An only child born to Julia and Van Pressley, Sylvia Pressley spent her teen years traveling between Hemingway, South Carolina, visiting her maternal grandmother, and Brooklyn, New York, where her mother lived. Her father had died soon after her birth. After attending cosmetology school in New York, and marrying Herbert Woods, a childhood friend from Hemingway, she opened her own beauty parlor in Hemingway. Eventually Sylvia and Herbert Woods and their infant son Van moved to New York but continued to travel back to Hemingway. By 1950, with the arrival of a daughter Bedelia, they settled in an apartment on 131st Street in Harlem. Woods began styling hair in the apartment to supplement the family’s income. The Harlem apartment also served as a way station for friends, cousins, and other relatives who had also moved to New York from Hemingway and needed to get acclimated to the new environment. Needing more money for the growing family, she found work in a hat factory in Queens. In 1954, seeking to cut down on commuting expenses, Woods took her cousin’s suggestion and applied for her cousin’s waitressing job, which she was planning to vacate. The job, at Johnson’s Luncheonette on Harlem’s Lenox Avenue, was appealing to Woods, who had inherited her mother’s commitment to saving. She saw the job as an opportunity to reduce both her commuting expenses and her clothing expenses since the job required her to wear a uniform. Although she had rarely been to a restaurant, and had not worked as a waitress before, she worked at Johnson’s for eight years. In 1962 Johnson, who owned two other restaurants, offered to sell the restaurant to Woods. With savings and the assistance of her mother (who mortgaged the family farm in Hemingway), in August 1962, Woods and her husband purchased the restaurant, with fifteen stools and six booths. It was

846

Sylvia P. Woods

renamed Sylvia’s in 1963. During the early period of the restaurant’s operation, Herbert Woods’s income as a long-distance truck driver was an important source of income. His experience as a cook in the U.S. Navy also enabled him to provide staffing support as well. Because Hemingway was a community of experienced cooks, growing up there, both Sylvia and Herbert Woods had learned to cook and appreciated the preparation of good southern cuisine, which they offered in the restaurant. Drawn by good food at reasonable prices, but also by the friendly, welcoming atmosphere created by Sylvia Woods, the business developed a loyal clientele from local residents. In 1968, the business moved to 328 Lenox Avenue. RESTAURANT GAINS FAME Sylvia’s gained a much wider audience in 1979 following a New York magazine article by restaurant critic Gael Greene in which she rhapsodized over Sylvia’s barbecued pork ribs, collard greens, and candied yams. The restaurant’s customer base soon grew to include residents of other parts of New York City curious about soul food, as well as celebrities and tourists who began arriving by the busload. With the growth in business, the restaurant expanded, taking over adjacent space and eventually more than tripling in size. Herbert Woods gradually assembled all the other stores on the restaurant’s Lenox Avenue block as well as other adjacent real estate. In 1992 Sylvia’s Also, a space for private parties, was opened adjacent to the restaurant. By the 1990s Sylvia’s four children Van, Kenneth, Bedelia, and Crizette were working in the business, which continued its expansion. As customers repeatedly indicated an interest in purchasing Sylvia’s barbecue sauce by the gallon, a food products line was developed. The Queen of Soul Food line of products was launched in 1992, and among its products are collard greens, Specially Cut Yams, Kicking Hot Sauce, and Mild & Sassy Original Sauce. The products are available nationwide in grocery stores. In 1997, a 200-seat Atlanta branch of Sylvia’s Restaurant was opened at 241 Central Avenue, and there have been discussions regarding opening restaurants in other locations. In spite of the growth of the business, the Woods family continued to maintain their ties with Hemingway, South Carolina. Sylvia Woods continues to be a daily, welcoming presence in the New York restaurant, often greeting customers, many of whom ask to be photographed with her. In 2001, Herbert Woods died of prostate cancer, but as Sylvia Woods observed, her children and grandchildren are well prepared to continue the growth of the business that traces its roots in the lessons of thrift, hospitality, and the long line of cooks from Hemingway, South Carolina. See also: Food Service Industry; Women and Business Sources Beech, Wendy. ‘‘Look Before You Leap.’’ Black Enterprise 30 (September 1999): 95–96. ———. ‘‘Recipe for Success.’’ Black Enterprise (August 1997).

847

Sylvia P. Woods Giles, Dari. ‘‘Atlanta after Hours.’’ Black Enterprise 28 (November 1997): 166. Gite, Lloyd. ‘‘Canned Food Gets Some Soul.’’ Black Enterprise 24 (October 1993): Greene, Gael. ‘‘Harlem on My Mind.’’ New York, March 12, 1979. Harris, Wendy. ‘‘Sylvia and Herbert Woods, Sylvia’s Restaurant.’’ Against All Odds: Ten Entrepreneurs Who Followed Their Hearts and Found Success. Ed. Wendy Harris. New York: Wiley, 2001. Marriott, Michael. ‘‘Queen of Soul Food Taking ‘Down Home’ on the Road.’’ New York Times, September 3, 1997. Martin, Douglas. ‘‘Herbert Woods, Consort of a Soul Food Queen, Dies at 76.’’ New York Times, June 15, 2001. Miller, Bryan. ‘‘Diner’s Journal.’’ New York Times, November 4, 1983. Townsel, Lisa Jones. ‘‘Mother-Daughter; Business Buddies.’’ Ebony 52 (June 1997): 90. Woods, Sylvia, and Christopher Styler. Sylvia’s Soul Food: Recipes from Harlem’s World-Famous Restaurant. New York: Hearst Books, 1992. Woods, Sylvia, and Family, with Melissa Clark. Sylvia’s Family Soul Food Cookbook: From Hemingway, South Carolina to Harlem. New York: William Morrow, 1999.

Kevin McGruder

848

Y Andre Young. See Dr. Dre

Z Alfred W. Zollar (1955?– ), Technology Executive Despite the transparent reality that black and minority communities and institutions are leap years behind in technological sophistication relative to the majority culture in the United States, Alfred W. Zollar represents one beacon of exemplary service in the global technological field. The onetime systems engineer trainee for IBM, one of the world’s leading providers of information technology hardware, software, financial consulting, and research, proves through hard work and diligence blacks can achieve at high levels of business sophistication and in capacities of managerial leadership. With a 2005 net worth of $89.1 billion, IBM is a proven pacesetter in the information technology (IT) profession, and for nearly the last thirty years, Zollar has worked his way through all areas of their hardware and software divisions in executive leadership roles. Zollar was born in Kansas City, Missouri, around 1957. He is married to Alicia Underwood, and they have one son, Alfred Jr. He has a master’s degree in applied mathematics from the University of California, San Diego, and beginning in 1977, his expertise in mathematics was applied to IBM in the position of trainee in systems engineering. His training led to rapid incremental advancement: general manager, eServer iSeries; general manager, Lotus; general manager, Network Computing Software Division; general manager, Networking Software; vice president for Tivoli Development; laboratory director, Software Group; and product manager, DB2. His ability to apply the technical mathematic and computer skills necessary to advance in the IT field should be apparent, but leadership in management, development, and the astute articulation of overseeing massive projects requires more than technical skill alone. In addition to the aforementioned, this also requires depth and vision. When interviewed in 2002 on IBM’s global initiative to enhance distributive computing, as Maryfran Johnson and Don Tennant report in Computerworld, Zollar’s leadership crosses the color line and addresses critical areas impacting Internet usage. Accordingly, consider his mention of the

Alfred W. Zollar

‘‘Dynamic Work Places Initiative,’’ where he explains how medium- to largesize customers are engaged in activities such as e-HR self-service, portals, emails, research, e-learning, and document management. The goal of dynamic workplaces, states Zollar, is to take integrated systems and make them adaptive-friendly for users. Business problems are to be addressed in a manner that connects people into a utility or network structure. This network structure is the World Wide Web, which has drastically rearranged mediums of communication, learning, and business exchange. Zollar is in a key position: He implements policy, develops mechanisms, and explores options. His skill base and delivery position him well within the cutting-edge industry of IT. Despite encouraging progression of blacks in technical fields, Zollar sees IT as a wide-open field for more blacks and minorities to enter because, according to him, it is one’s talents that make he or she advance in this area. However, he does not ignore his responsibility to his race and utilizes his rise to success as a vehicle to champion more inclusiveness for minorities. Such influence has led him to be a board member of the Chubb Corporation and of the Executive Leadership Council of the IBM Black Family Technology Awareness Project, of which he is also the cochair. According to U.S. Black Engineer & Information Technology Magazine, he was one of the 50 most significant blacks in technology in 2004, and in 2003 Savoy named him one of the 100 most influential blacks in America. In July 2004, Zollar assumed responsibility for leading IBM’s Tivoli Software in offering customer solutions in availability, security, storage and optimization, orchestration, business service management, and provisioning. Despite personal success stories like Zollar’s, U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics indicate that representation by blacks in high-technology fields is decidedly low compared with other professions. Yet the model he has set serves as a positive reminder of the potential blacks have in this demanding industry. Accordingly, Denise Street-Robb, president, Mitchell Street Associates, Dwayne Walker, chief executive officer (CEO), ShopNow.Com Inc., Curtis Crawford, CEO, Zilog Inc., and E. David Ellington, CEO, NetNoir Inc., are black high-technology executives who have drawn strength from Zollar’s example and used him as a motivational model for their respective climbs up the corporate ladder. See also: E-Commerce and the African American Community Sources Copeland, Lee. ‘‘Information Technology Industry Lags Behind Nation in Hiring Blacks.’’ Computerworld 34 (January 31, 2000): 40. DiSabatino, Jennifer. ‘‘Lotus CEO Addresses Customer Service Woes.’’ Computerworld 35 (April 9, 2001): 19. Johnson, Maryfran, and Don Tennant. ‘‘Lotus Chief Sets Course in Wake of IBM’s ‘On-Demand’ Strategy.’’ Computerworld 36 (November 11, 2002): 18. Martin, Roland S. ‘‘2003 Power List.’’ Savoy 3 (August 2003): 71. Meeks, Kenneth. ‘‘The 75 Most Powerful African Americans in Corporate America: Meet 75 Executives Who Hold Tremendous Clout in the World of Business,

852

Alfred W. Zollar Including the 18 Who Earned CEO Positions.’’ Black Enterprise 35 (February 2005): 142. Thompson, Garland. ‘‘The 50 Most Important African-Americans in Technology.’’ U.S. Black Engineer & Technology Magazine 27 (January–February 2004): 26. ‘‘Tivoli Software Executive Biographies.’’ IBM. http://www-306.ibm.com.

Janet Walsh

853

Selected Bibliography Afro-American Encyclopedia. 10 vols. North Miami, FL: Educational Book Publishers, 1974. Atlanta University. Report of the Conference on a Study of Current Needs of Business Enterprises and Business Education among Negroes. Atlanta, GA: Atlanta University, February 24, 1944. Bailey, Ronald W., ed. Black Business Enterprise: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. New York: Basic Books, 1973. Bell, Gregory S. In the Black: A History of African Americans on Wall Street. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2002. Boston, Thomas D. Affirmative Action and Black Entrepreneurship. New York: Routledge, 1999. ———, ed. Leading Issues in Black Political Economy. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2002. Brown, Hallie Q. Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction. 1926. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. Brown, Irene, ed. Latinas and African American Women at Work: Race, Gender, and Economic Inequality. New York: Russell Sage, 1999. Butler, John Sibley. Entrepreneurship and Self-Help among Black Americans. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991. Cantor, Milton, ed. Black Labor in America. Westport, CT: Negro Universities Press, 1969. Coles, Flournoy A., Jr. Black Economic Development. Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1975. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 1– . Detroit: Gale Research, 1992– . Cross, Theodore L. Black Capitalism: Strategy for Business in the Ghetto. New York: Atheneum, 1969. ———. The Black Power Imperative: Racial Inequality and the Politics of Nonviolence. New York: Faulkner Books, 1987. Davis, John P. American Negro Reference Book. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966. Dingle, Derek T. Black Enterprise Titans of the B.E. 100s: Black CEOs Who Redefined and Conquered American Business. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1999.

Selected Bibliography Du Bois, W.E.B., ed. Economic Cooperation among Negro Americans. Atlanta, GA: Atlanta University Press, 1907. ———. The Negro Artisan. Atlanta, GA: N.p., 1902. ———, ed. The Negro in Business. Atlanta, GA: Atlanta University Press, 1899. Foner, Philip S. Organized Labor & the Black Worker 1619–1981. 2nd ed. New York: International Publishers, 1981. Franklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom. 6th ed. New York: Knopf, 1988. Freeman, Richard B., and Harry J. Holzer, eds. The Black Youth Employment Crisis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. Fuller, Thomas O. Pictorial History of the American Negro. Memphis, TN: Pictorial History, Inc., Publishers, 1933. Garraty, John A., and Mark C. Carnes, eds. American National Biography. 24 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. ———. American National Biography. Supplement 1. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, eds. African American Lives. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Gelber, Steven M. Black Men and Business: The Growing Awareness of Social Responsibility. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1974. Gilbert, Charlene, and Quinn Eli. Homecoming: The Story of African American Farmers. Boston: Beacon Press, 2000. Ginsberg, Eli, ed. Business Leadership and the Negro Crisis. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968. ———. The Negro Potential. New York: Columbia University Press, 1956. Green, Lorenzo, and Carter G. Woodson. The Negro Wage Earner. 1930. New York: AMS Press, 1970. Green, Shelley, and Paul Pryde. Black Entrepreneurship in America. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1990. Greenberg, Cheryl Lynn. Or Does It Explode? Black Harlem in the Great Depression. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Greenberg, Jonathan D. Staking a Claim: Jake Simmons and the Making of an African American Oil Dynasty. New York: Atheneum, 1990. Handy, John. An Analysis of Black Business Enterprises. New York: Garland, 1989. Harmon, J. H., Jr., Arnett G. Lindsay, and Carter G. Woodson. The Negro as a Business Man. Washington, DC: Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Inc., 1919. Reprint, College Park, MD: McGrath, 1929. Harris, Abram L. The Negro as Capitalist: A Study of Banking and Business among American Negroes. 1936. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969. Henderson, Alexa Benson. Atlanta Life Insurance Company: Guardian of Black Economic Dignity. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1990. Henderson, William L., and Larry C. Ledebur. Economic Disparity: Problems and Strategies for Black America. New York: Free Press, 1970. Hine, Darlene Clark, ed. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. 2 vols. Brooklyn: Carlson, 1993. ———, ed. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. 2nd ed. 3 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Honey, Michael. Southern Labor and Black Civil Rights: Organizing Memphis Workers. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993. Hunter, Tera W. To Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors after the Civil War. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.

856

Selected Bibliography Ingham, John N., and Lynne B. Feldman. African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Jenkins, Carol, and Elizabeth Gardner Hines. Black Titan: A. G. Gaston and the Making of a Black Millionaire. New York: Ballantine Books, 2004. Jones, Edward H. Blacks in Business. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1971. Jones, Jacqueline. American Work: Four Centuries of Black and White Labor. New York: W. W. Norton, 1998. ———. Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family from Slavery to the Present. New York: Basic Books, 1985. Kennedy, William J., Jr. The North Carolina Mutual Story. Durham: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, 1970. Kranz, Rachel. African-American Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs (A to Z of African Americans). New York: Facts on File, 2004. Lee, Roy F. The Setting for Black Business Development. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1972. Logan, Rayford W., and Michael R. Winston, eds. Dictionary of American Negro Biography. New York: W. W. Norton, 1982. Lovett, Bobby L. A Black Man’s Dream: The First 100 Years: Richard Henry Boyd and the National Baptist Publishing Board. Jacksonville, FL: Mega Corporation, 1993. Low, W. Augustus, and Virgil A. Clift, eds. Encyclopedia of Black America. New York: Da Capo Press, 1981. MacDonald, Stephen, ed. Business and Blacks: Minorities as Employers and Entrepreneurs. Princeton, NJ: Jones Books, 1970. Majors, Monroe A. Noted Negro Women: Their Triumphs and Activities. Chicago: Donohue and Henneberry, 1893. Marable, Manning. How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America. Boston: South End Press, 1983. Mason, Patrick L., ed. African Americans, Labor, and Society: Organizing for a New Agenda. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2001. Mather, Frank Lincoln. Who’s Who of the Colored Race. Chicago: Mather, 1915. Minchin, Timothy J. Hiring of the Black Worker: The Racial Integration of the Southern Textile Industry, 1960–1980. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. Murray, Florence, ed. The Negro Handbook, 1946–47. New York: Current Books, 1947. The Negro Handbook. Various editions, 1942–1966. The Negro Yearbook. Various editions, 1913–1952. Newman, Debra L., comp. Black History: A Guide to Civilian Records in the National Archives. Washington, DC: National Archives Trust Fund Board, General Services Administration, 1984. Oak, Vishnu V. The Negro’s Adventure in General Business. Yellow Springs, OH: Antioch Press, 1949. Obadele-Starks, Ernest. Black Unionism in the Industrial South. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2000. Pierce, Joseph A. Negro Business and Business Education: Their Present and Prospective Development. New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1947. Reprint, Westport, CT: Negro Universities Press, 1971. Puth, Robert C. Supreme Life: The History of a Negro Life Insurance Company. New York: Arno Press, 1976.

857

Selected Bibliography Rollins, Judith. Between Women Domestics and Their Employers. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 1985. Salzman, Jack, David Lionel Smith, and Cornel West, eds. Encyclopedia of AfricanAmerican Culture and History. New York: Macmillan Library Reference, 1996. ———, eds. Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Supplement. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1996. Seder, John, and Berkeley G. Burrell. Getting It Together: Black Businessmen in America. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971. Simmons, William J. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive, and Rising. Cleveland, OH: Geo. M. Rewell, 1887. Slevin, Kathleen F., and C. Ray Wingrove. From Stumbling Blocks to Stepping Stones: The Life Experiences of Fifty Professional African American Women. New York: New York University Press, 1998. Smith, Jessie Carney, ed. Notable Black American Men. Detroit: Gale Research, 1999. ———, ed. Notable Black American Women. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. ———, ed. Notable Black American Women. Book II. Detroit: Gale Research, 1996. ———, ed. Notable Black American Women. Book III. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Smith, Jessie Carney, and Joseph M. Palmisano, eds. The African American Almanac. 8th ed. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Spero, Sterling D., and Abram L. Harris. The Black Worker: The Negro and the Labor Movement. New York: Columbia University Press, 1931. Reissued, Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1966. Sterling, Dorothy. We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the Nineteenth Century. New York: W. W. Norton, 1984. Travis, Dempsey J. Racism: American Style—A Corporqte Gift. Chicago: Urban Research Press, 1991. Tucker, Susan. Telling Memories among Southern Women: Domestic Workers and Their Employers in the Segregated South. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988. U.S. Department of Commerce. Official Proceedings of the First Annual Conference on the Negro in Business, April 18–19, 1941. Washington, DC: GPO, 1941. ———. Official Proceedings of the Second Conference on the Negro in Business, October 17–19, 1946. Washington, DC: GPO, 1946. Walker, Juliet E. K., ed. Encyclopedia of African American Business History. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. ———. The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship. New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA, 1998. Wallace, Robert L. Black Wealth through Entrepreneurship. Edgewood, MD: Duncan and Duncan, 1993. Washington, Booker T. The Negro in Business. Boston: Hertel, Jenkins and Co., 1907. Weare, Walter B. Black Business in the New South: A Social History of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1973. Weems, Robert E., Jr. Desegregating the Dollar: African American Consumerism in the Twentieth Century. New York: University of New York Press, 1998. Wesley, Charles H. Negro Labor in the United States, 1850–1925. New York: Vanguard Press, 1927.

858

Selected Bibliography Who’s Who among African Americans. 10th ed.– . Detroit: Gale Research, 1997– . Who’s Who among Black Americans. 1st–5th eds. Northbrook, IL: Who’s Who among Black Americans, 1976–1988. 6th–9th eds. Detroit: Gale Research, 1990– 1996. Woodard, Michael D. Black Entrepreneurs in America: Stories of Struggle and Success. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997. Woodward, C. A. Savings Banks: Their Origin, Progress, and Utility, with a History of the National Savings Bank for Colored People. Cleveland, OH: Fairbanks, Benedict and Company, 1869. Woody, Bette. Black Women in the Workplace: Impacts of Structural Change in the Economy. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992. Work, John W. Race, Economics, and Corporate America. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1984. PERIODICALS (VARIOUS ISSUES) Afro-American Black Enterprise Chicago Defender Crisis Ebony Jet Norfolk Journal and Guide Opportunity Pittsburgh Courier Southern Workman

859

Index Note: Entries and page number in bold indicate main entry. Aaron, Henry ‘‘Hank,’’ 3–6, 73 Abbott, Robert Sengstacke, 6–8, 83, 436 Abbott’s Monthly (magazine), 7 abolitionists Frederick Douglass, 44, 240–243, 299, 426, 703, 714 James Forten, 316–319 John Jones, 425–426 David Ruggles, 701–704 Augustus Washington, 808–811 academic institutions business ownership in, 132–134 centers for entrepreneurship in, 146–150 See also specific institutions accountants Roland W. Burris, 128–130 Jesse Hill Jr., 383–385 Act-1 Group, 535 Advanced Resource Technologies, 533 advertising agencies, 8–11, 13–14 GlobalHue, 179–181 Mingo-Jones Advertising, 423

Starcom MediaVest, 504–507 UniWorld Group, 466–470 Zebra Associates, 423 advertising and marketing, 11–15 Thomas J, Burrell, 125–127 Donald Alvin Coleman, 179–182 impact of civil rights groups on, 12–13 Caroline R. Jones, 422–424 Byron Eugene Lewis, 466–470 niche marketing, 126 Barbara Gardner Proctor, 667–669 Paula A. Sneed, 738–741 affirmative action, 199–201 Africa, xxvii Africa Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, 279 African American business history records, 296–303 African-American Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs (Kranz), xxxii–xxxiii African-American Business Leaders (Ingham and Feldman), xxxii

African American consumers, advertising to, 11–15 African American culture, 31–33 African American Lives (Gates and Higginbotham), xxxv African Ancestry, 255–256 African heritage, 31 African Heritage Network (AHN), 514, 516–517 Afro-American League. See National Afro-American League Afro-American (newspapers), 81–82 Afro-American Realty Company, 650–651, 676 Aftermath Entertainment, 245 A. G. Gaston Building, 337 agriculture, 90–99 black education and, 91–93 slavery and, 90–91 in twentieth and twenty-first centuries, 93–99 See also farms/farmers AIDS crisis, 431, 554–555 Albright, Joseph, 567 Alexander, Archie Alphonso, 15–18

Index Alexander, William, 81 Alexander & Higbee, Inc., 16 Alexander & Repass, 16–17 Alexander Jr., Clifford Leopold, 18–21 Alford, John W., 42 Ali, Muhammad, 443–444 Allen, Clyde C., 569 Allen, Richard, 214, 279 Alves, Paget, 21–23 ambassadors Delano Eugene Lewis, 470–473 Barbara Mae Watson, 822–824 American Baptist Publication Society (ABPS), 104–105 American Black Film Festival (ABFF), 468–469 American Colonization Society (ACS), 317–318, 810 American Express Company, 160–163 American Product Distributors, 534 American Savings and Loan League (ASLL), 23–25 America’s Community Bankers (ACB), 24 Amos Jr., Wally ‘‘Famous Amos,’’ 25–28, 310 Anderson-DuBose Company, 531 antislavery movement. See abolitionists AOL Time Warner, 637 Apex Beauty Products Company, 820–821 Apollo Theater, 754 Aquarian Book Shop, 481–483 architecture, 71–72 Albert Irvin Cassell, 139–141 John Anderson Lankford, 453–455 Calvin McKissack, 510–514 McKissack and McKissack Architects and Engineers, Inc., 507–510

862

Moses McKissack, 510–514 Norma Merrick Sklarek, 733–735 Vertner W. Tandy Sr., 759–761 Paul Revere Williams, 826–829 David Augustus Williston, 829–832 archival records, 296–303 Ariel Capital Management, 76 Arista Records, 679–680 Arrington, Richard, 678 Arthur Bryant’s, 60 artists/artisans Thomas Day, 227–230 William Ellison, 270–272 James Conway Farley, 287–288 Augustus Washington, 808–811 Association for the Study of African American Life and History, xxx Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH), xxx Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs (ABWE), 28–30 athletes Hank Aaron, 3–6 Melvin Farr, 288–290 Earvin ‘‘Magic’’ Johnson Jr., 408–411 Atlanta, minority businesses in, 534 Atlanta Life Insurance Company, 68, 379, 383–385 Atlanta Negro Chamber of Commerce, 152–153 Atlanta University, xxix, xxxi, 192–193, 195 Attucks, Crispus, 716 Augustine, Peter, 143, 306 authors Wally ‘‘Famous Amos’’ Amos Jr., 25–28

Richard Henry Boyd, 103–111 Earl G. Graves, 348–351 O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson, 403–405 Thomas ‘‘T. D.’’ Jakes, 405–408 Julianne Malveaux, 493–494 Patricia Russell-McCloud, 707–709 Barbara ‘‘B’’ Smith, 736–738 Susan L. Taylor, 761–765 Gloria Toote, 770–772 Dempsey Jerome Travis, 772–774 automobile industry, 35–36, 61, 71, 72–73, 684–685 Nathan G. Conyers, 207–210 Edward Davis, 223–226 Ellenae Henry-Fairhurst, 369–374 Melvin Farr, 288–290 Elliott Sawyer Hall, 358–360 Darryl B. Hazel, 367–369 National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers (NAMAD), 781 Frederick Douglas Patterson, 645–647 Winston Pittman Sr., 660–661 Roy S. Roberts, 698–701 top auto dealers, 370–372 Axion Resource Management, 533 Babson College, 147–148 Baker, Ella, 204, 206 Baldwin Richardson Foods Company, 530 Baltimore Afro-American (newspaper), 68 Banks, Jeffrey, 293–294 banks/banking industry, xxviii, xxx, xxxi, 65, 68, 71, Binga State Bank, 39, 41

Index Citizens Savings Bank and Trust Company, 562 Citizens Trust Company, 326–328, 652, 654 Dime Savings Bank, 636 Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, xxviii Freedom National Bank, 485 Owen I. Funderburg, 326–328 Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker, 796–799 Mechanics and Farmer Bank of Durham, 521 One-Cent Savings Bank and Trust Company, 103, 106–107, 562 records, 298–299 Norman Blann Rice, 692–695 Solvent Savings Bank and Trust Company, 166–167, 629, 630 St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, 796, 798–799, 839–840 Urban Financial Services Coalition, 779–780 Baptiste, Eugene, 306 barbecue establishments, 31–34, 60 Barden, Don H., 34–37 Barden Communications Incorporated, 35, 36 Barden Companies Incorporated, 34, 531 Barker, Elizabeth Cardozo, 135–139 Barlow, William, 571 Barnett, Ferdinand L., 837–838 Baroons, Mary, 306 Bartech Group, 530 Baton Rouge Bus Boycitt, 260 Bearden, Bessye, 239 Beauchamp Distributing Company, 535 Beaufort Military Savings Bank, 42 beauty industry, xxvii, xxviii, 685

Cardozo sisters, 135–139 Joe L. Dudley Sr., 246–249 S. B. Fuller, 322–326 Edward R. Gardner, 329–332 Christine Moore Howell, 388–391 Marjorie Stewart Joyner, 435–438 Annie Turnbo Malone, 489–493, 839 Rose Morgan, 542–544, 840–841 Naomi Sims, 731–732 A’Lelia Walker, 785–789 Madame C. J. Walker, 791–796, 838–839 Sarah Spencer Washington, 819–822 Barbara Mae Watson, 822–824 See also fashion industry Bernoon, Emanuel, 835–836 Bernoon, Mary, 835–836 Berry, Edwin C., 37–39, 145 Berry O’Kelly School, 596–597 BET. See Black Entertainment Television (BET) Bethune, Mary McLeod, 840 ‘‘Bible Conference,’’ 406 Bickerstaff, Jennifer, 255 Binga, Eudora, 40 Binga, Jesse, 39–41, 68 Binga State Bank, 39, 41, 68, xxx Bing Group, 531 biographical sources, xxxiv–xxxvi black Americans, purchasing power of, 236–237 black banks, beginnings, 41–53 during Civil War, 42 founding of private, 44–53 Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, 42–44 See also banks/banking industry black business development, 346 conferences and studies on, xxix–xxxiii, 192–199 federal government and, 53–57

laws discouraging, xxviii in Missouri, 58–62 black businesses in large cities, 62–74 black business scholarship, xxix–xxxiv, 192–199 black community economic development of, xxviii–xxx in post-Civil War South, xxviii–xxix Black Corporate Directors Conference, 74–75 Black Economic Union, 61 Black Enterprise (Hughes), 57 Black Enterprise (magazine), xxxiv, 198, 346–347, 350, 439, 526 Black Enterprise Clubs, 439–440 Black Enterprise Web site, 440–441 Black Entertainment Television (BET), 419–421, 458–459, 844 Black Expo, 198 Black Family Technology Awareness, 252–253 black farmers. See farms/ farmers black fund managers, 75–79 Black History, 296 black ministers, 277–279, 283–286 Thomas ‘‘T. D.’’ Jakes, 405–408 H. Carl McCall, 502–504 Lightfoot Solomon Michaeux, 523–526 Leon Howard Sullivan, 748–752 black power movements, 61, 63–64, 216 black press, xxxiii–xxxiv development of, 80 newspapers in major cities, 79–88 records of the, 300–301 Black Quest, 253–254

863

Index Black Retail Action Group (BRAG), 88–90, 686 blacks in agriculture, 90–99 See also farms/farmers Black Star Steamship Line, 334–335, 717 Black Swan Phonograph Company, 629, 632 Blackwell Consulting Services, 530 black women discrimination against, 28–29 empowerment of, 500–502 millionaires, 60–61 See also specific women; women and business Black Women in America (Hine), xxxv black women’s biography, xxxv Black World (magazine), 416–417 Blaze (magazine), 433 ‘‘Bloody Sunday,’’ 263 Blount, Mildred, 292 Board of Beauty Culture Control, 389–390 boards of trade, 150–153 Bogle, Robert, 142, 306 Booker T. Washington Business Association, 99–101 Boston, Absalom, 716 Bowen, Ruth Jean, xxxix, 101–103, 841 Bowles, Barbara, 76 boxing promoters, 443–445 boycotts. See economic boycotts Boyd, Henry Allen, 110, 280–281 Boyd, John, 584 Boyd, Richard Henry, 103–111, 562 Boyd, T. B., III, 281 Boyland Auto Group, 535 Boynton v. Virginia, 262 Bradley, Roberta Palm, 843 Bragg, Fellow, 290 Breedlove, Sarah. See Walker, Madame C. J. (Sarah Breedlove) Bremond, Walter, 587

864

Bridges, Sheila, 111–114 Brimmer, Andrew Felton, 114–116 broadcasting industry, 70, 417 Brunson Communications, 123–124 Catherine Hughes, 391–394 ICBC Broadcast Holding, 754–755 National Association of Black Owned Broadcaster, 571–573 See also media industry; radio industry; television industry Broadnax, Louise Hoskins, 275 Bronner Brothers, 534 Brooks Food Group, 533 Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, 116–120, 198, 204 Brown, Eddie, 76 Brown, Hallie Q., xxxv Brown, Ron, 376 Brown, Todd C., 120–122 Brown Capital Management, 76 Brown v. Board of Education, 466, 838 Brunson, Dorothy E., 122–125, 841 Brunson Communications, 123–124 Bryant, Arthur, 33 Bryant’s, 33 Bud Billiken Parade, 436 Bull City Drug Company, 521–522 Burrell, Berkeley G., xxxi Burrell, Thomas J., 125–127, 667 Burrell Communications Group, 8–9, 125–127 Burris, Roland W., 128–130 Burroughs, Nannie Helen, 840 Bush, George W., 286 Bush, John Edward, 130–132 Bush, Mary K., 75 business associations. See specific associations business ownership in select academic institutions, 132–134 Bustill, Cyrus, 306

cable television industry. See television industry Calhoun Enterprise, 534 California, minority businesses in, 535–536 California Civil Rights Initiative, 199 CAMAC International, 535 Capital Savings Bank, 48, 65 Capsonic Group, LLC, 530 Cardozo sisters, 135–139 Carmichael, Stokely, 216 Carter, Beverly, 324 Carter, Jimmy, 376 Carver, George Washington, 93 casino gambling, 35, 36 Cassell, Albert Irvin, 139–141, 299, 524, 831 catering industry, xxvii, xxviii, 141–146, 212–213, 306–307, 835–836 See also food service industry C. D. Moody Construction Company, 534 census records, 296–298 centers for entrepreneurship in academic institutions, 146–150 chambers of commerce, 150–153 Charles, Ray, 427, 430 Chase, Debra Martin, 153–156 Chase, Edgar ‘‘Dooky,’’ 308 Chase, Emily, 308 Chase, Leah, 156–160, 308 Chase-Com, L. P., 535 Chenault, Kenneth Irvine, 160–164 Chicago, minority businesses in, 530 Chicago Crusader (newspaper), 456–457 Chicago Defender (newspaper), 6–8, 83–84 Children’s Entrepreneurial Opportunities (CEO) Academy, 441 C. H. James 7 Co., 307–308

Index Christine Moore Corporation, 389 Chrysler Corporation, 373 Church, Robert Reed, Sr., 164–167, 630 churches credit unions and, 217–219 faith-based entrepreneurship and, 277–287 involvement of, in civil rights movement, 217 Church of God, 523–524 Churh Park and Auditorium, 165–166 Cimmarron Express, 531 cities black businesses in large, 62–74 minority business in major, 526–536 Citizens’ League for Fair Play (CLFP), 167–170 Citizens Savings Bank and Trust Company, 103, 107, 562 Citizens Trust Company, 326–328, 652, 654 Civil Rights Act (1875), 53 Civil Rights Act (1957), 70 Civil Rights Act (1964), 19, 70, 263 Civil Rights Act (1968), 263–264 civil rights groups, 12–13 civil rights legislation, 262–265 civil rights movement, 54, 63–64, 70, 94 boycotts and protests during, 258–265 involvement of churches in, 217 Clamorgan, Cyprian, 58 Clark, Alexander G., 170–171 Clark Atlanta University, 133, 148, 807 Clinton, Bill, 251, 376, 434, 501, 583 Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), 171–173

Coca-Cola Bottling Company, 485, 532, 805, 806–807 Cochran, Daniel C., 173–174 Coffin, Levu, 43 Coincoin, Marie Therese, 174–176, 836 Colbert, Virgis William, 176–179 Cold War, 258 Cole, Nat King, 11–12 Coleman, Donald Alvin, 179–182 Coleman, Kenneth L., 182–185 Colored Caulkers’ Trade Union, 551 Colored Merchants’ Association (CMA), xxxi, 185–190, 354 Colored National Labor Union (CNLU), 551 Color Purple (film), 432–433 Combs, Sean ‘‘Diddy,’’ 190–192, 295, 312, 679, 680, 686 Commodities Management Exchange, 530 Communications Technologies, 533 Community Action Program (CAP), 303 community development corporations (CDCs), 678 Community Pride Food Stores, 355, 533 computer industry. See technology industry Concordis Real Estate LLC, 72 conferences and studies on African American business, 196–199 on the negro in business, early years, 192–196 Congressional Black Caucus, 233–234, 772 Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), 259–260, 262, 263 Connecticut, minority businesses in, 531–532 Conner, Steve, 126 Connerly, Ward, 199–201

Construction, Inc., 527 construction industry, 705–706 consumer cooperatives, 202–207, 215, 304 Converge, 531 Conyers, Nathan G., 207–210 Cooper, Edith W., 211–212 cooperative movement Colored Merchants’ Association, 185–190 consumer cooperatives, 202–207 credit unions, 213–219 Cornish, Damuel E., 79 Corporation of Caterers, 212–213 Cosby, Bill, 71 Council, Mildred, 311 Cox, Minnie, 840 credit unions, 213–219, 304 Creole society, 175–176 Criss, Fanny, 291 Crummell, Boston, 144 Crump, William, 567 Cuffe, Paul, 713 Daly, William, 81 Daniels-Carter, Valerie, 311 Dantzler, Fatin, 685 Darden, Calvin, 221–223 Darden Restaurants, 623–624 Dash, Darien, 251–252 David, Edward, 223–226 Davis, Erroll B., Jr., 226–227 Day, Thomas, 227–230 DBM Technologies, 530 Dean, Simpson P., 214 Death Row Records, 245 Department of Commerce, 297–298, 536, 578 Department of Labor, 299–300, 376 de Passe, Suzanne, 230–233, 348, 842 Depression. See Great Depression designers. See fashion industry Detroit, minority businesses in, 531

865

Index Detroit Heading, 531 Dick Griffey Productions, 535 Dictionary of American Negro Biography (Logan and Winston), xxxv Diddy. See Combs, Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Diggs, Charles, Jr., 233–236 digital divide, 251–253 Digital Mafia Entertainment (DME), 252 Dimensions International, 533 Dime Savings Bank, 636 displaced workers, 610 Division of Negro Affairs, xxxiii Doing Business by the Good Book (Steward), 62 Doley, Harold, 77 ‘‘Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work’’ movement, 168, 236–240, 254, 259, 683 Dooky Chase’s, 158–159 Dorsey, Thomas, 142, 307 Dorsey, William Henry, 142 Dortch, Thomas W., Jr., 605 Do the Right Thing (film), 462 Douglass, Frederick, xxxiv, 44, 426, 703, 714 business enterprises of, 240–243 Freedman’s Bank and, 299 Douglass, Grace Bustill, 291 Douglass National Bank, 68 Downing, George L., 144, 306 Downing, Thomas, 144, 306 Dr. Dre (Andre Young), 244–246, 403 dressmakers, 290–292, 837 Du Bois, W.E.B., xxix, 63, 630–631, 815 on cooperatives, 203–204, 206–207 at Fourth Atlanta Conference, 196 National Business League and, 588–589 Niagra Movement of, 566 philosophy of, 92, 150, 280 Dudley, Joe L., Sr., 246–249 Dudley Products, Inc., 246–249

866

Dunham, Katherine, 840 Durham Textile Mill, 522 Dutrieuille, Albert, 306 Dutrieuille, Peter, 306 Earl G. Graves, Ltd., 532 eBay, 255 Eblon, Homer, 60 Ebony (magazine), xxxiv, 69, 412, 414, 416–417, 689–690 e-commerce and the African American community, 251–257 economic boycotts and protests, 257–265, 353, 355, 562, 683 Economic Development Corporation, 579 economists Andrew Felton Brimmer, 114–116 Julianne Malveaux, 493–494 Eddy, Sarah, 290–291 Edmonds, Kenneth ‘‘Babyface,’’ 265–268, 680, 681 Edmonds, Tracey, 265–268 Edmonds Entertainment Group, 267 Edwards, Nelson, 171 E. E. Ward Transfer and Storage Company, 799–800 E. G. Bowman Company, 664–667, 841 EGG Limited, 70 Eldridge, Elleanor, xxxv, 268–270 Elektra Entertainment Group (EEG), 688 Elie, Lolis, 31 Ellison, William, 270–272 Emancipation Proclamation, 91 Emanuel (slave), 142 Eminem, 245 employment leaders, 64 employment statistics, 610–622, 750–751 Encyclopedia of African American Business History (Walker), xxxii, 54

Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, 31, 33 Endsley, Jane Johnson, 840 Engineered Plastic Products, 530 entertainment industry Ruth Jean Bowen, 101–103 Debra Martin Chase, 153–156 Suzanne de Passe, 230–233 O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson, 403–405 Eddie Murphy, 547–550 Theater Owners Booking Association, 765–768 UniWorld Entertainment, 468–469 Damon Wayans, 825–826 Oprah Winfrey, 832–835 See also film industry; music industry; television industry entrepreunership programs, in academic institutions, 146–150 Epps, Evern Cooper, 272–274 Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, 18, 19–20 Espy, Michael, 94 Essence Communications Partners, 532 Essence (magazine), 761–764 Eta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., 274–276 e2value, Inc., 351–352 Facility Interiors, Inc., 535 Fairhurst, Ellenae. See Henry-Fairhurst, Ellenea fair-lending laws, 24 faith-based credit unions, 217–219 faith-based entrepreneurship, 277–287 Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Company, 26–28, 310 Farley, James Conway, 287–288 farms/farmers, 94–99 average wages of, 95

Index William Ellison, 270–272 Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund for, 303–305 National Black Farmers Association, 583–585 owned by blacks, 97, 98 by race, 96 Augustus Washington, 808–811 See also agriculture Farr, Melvin, 288–290 Farrakhan, Louis, 283 Fashion Fair Cosmetics, 69 fashion industry, 290–295, 685–686 Eunice Walker Johnson, 411–413 John Jones, 424–426 Reginald F. Lewis, 473–477 Russell Simmons, 729 Naomi Sims, 731–732 fast-food franchises, 308, 311 Fedco Foods, 484–485 federal government, black business development and, 53–57 Federal Home Loan Back of Boston (FHLBB), 23–24 federal records for African American business history, xxxiii, 296–303 Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund (FSCLAF), 216–217, 303–305 Feintuch, Burt, 31 Feldman, Lynne B., xxxii feminist movement, 501 film industry, 153–156, 361, 431–432 Suzanne de Passe, 230–233 O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson, 403–405 Spike Lee, 460–464 Eddie Murphy, 547–550 Damon Wayans, 825–826 Russell Simmons, 729

First African Baptist Church (FABC), 797 Fisher, Emily, 58 Fisk University, 601 Fitzhugh, H. Naylor, 566–567 Flake, Floyd, 285 Flavor Unit Records, 842 Fletcher Jr., Alphonse ‘‘Buddy,’’ 77 Florida, minority businesses in, 534 Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), 148 food service industry, 305–313 Todd C. Brown, 120–122 Lowell Hawthorne, 365–366 Reginald F. Lewis, 473–477 James Bruce Llewellyn, 485 Henry Green Parks, 634–635 Paula A. Sneed, 738–741 Regynald G. Washington, 816–819 See also restaurant industry Ford, Barney Launcelot, 313–316 Ford, Gary D., 33 Ford Mercury, Inc., 531 Ford Motor Company, 367–369 Foreman, George, 444 Forten, James, 316–319, 713 Fortune, 565–566 Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks, 461 Foster, Andrew, 60 Foster, George W., 677 Fox, Vincente, 584 franchises, 842 Franklin, Ada Crogman, 87 Franklin, Chester A., 87 fraternal societies, xxviii Fraunces, Samuel, 306 Free Africa Society, 214, 279 free blacks, 62, 196, xxvii See also specific individuals Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, xxviii, xxxiv, 42–44, 299 Freedom National Bank, 71, 485

Freedom’s Journal (newspaper), xxxiii, 79 Freehold Chevrolet, 532 Free Labor Bank, 42 French-Hubbard, Marilyn, 29, 573–574 Fudge, Ann M., 319–322, 843 Fuller, S. B., 247, 322–326, 684 Fuller Products Company, 247, 323–325, 684 Funderburg, I. Owen, 326–328 fund managers, 75–79 furniture industry, 227–230 Gandhi, Mohandas, 257–258 gansta rap, 403–404 Gardner, Edward G., 329–332 Gardner, Eliza Ann, 290 Gardner, Teri, 844 Garrison, William Lloyd, 318, 704 Garvey, Marcus, 168, 282, 354, 717 Black Star Steamship Line of, 334–335 government surveillance of, 300–301 UNIA and, 332–335 Gaston, A. G., 336–338 Gates, George W., 33, 60 Gates, Henry Louis Jr., xxxv Gates, Jacquelyn, 579 Gayle v. Browder, 261 General Electric (GE), 775–776 General Motors, 603, 698–699 Georgia, minority businesses in, 534 Getting It Together (Seder and Burrell), xxxi Gibbs, Karen Patricia, 338–340 Gibson, John Trusty, 340–343 Gibson, Vivian, 311 Gidron, Richard D., 685 Gilbert, Allison, 256 Gilreath, Inc., 530 Global Automotive, 531 GlobalGue, 179–181 Globe Publishing Company, 108–109

867

Index Glory Foods, 310 Golden Krust Bakery, 365–366 ‘‘Golden Years,’’ 69 Golman Sachs, 211–212 Gomez, Cornelia, 144 Goodall, N. H., 291 Goode, Sarah E., 837 Goodwin, Bernice, 482 Goodwin, C. Kim, 77 Gordon, Bruce S., 343–346 Gordy, Berry, Jr., 69–70, 231, 346–348 Gourmet Companies, 534 government officials Roland W. Burris, 128–130 Ronald N. Langston, 451–453 Hazel R. O’Leary, 598–602 Norman Blann Rice, 692–695 Grace, ‘‘Sweet Daddy,’’ 282 Granite Broadcasting Corporation, 532 Grant, Gary, 97 Granville Academy, 441 Graves, Earl G., 70, 198, 348–351 Gray, April, 580 Graydon, Aja, 685 Great Depression, 94, 167–168, 683 ‘‘Great Northern Drive’’ campaign, 6–7 Green, Sylvester, 351–353 Greene, Robert L., 577 Griot, The, 254–255 grocery store enterprises, 353–356, 686, 702 growth leaders, 65 GVA Worldwide, LLC, 545–546 Haddon, James Francis, 357–358 hairstyling industry. See beauty industry Half-Century (magazine), 625–626 Hall, Elliott Sawyer, 358–360 Hamid, Abdul, 169, 238 Hampton, Gladys, 841 Hampton, Lionel, 428

868

Hampton Normal Agricultural Institute, 197 Hampton University, 132–133 Handy, John W., 54 Hank Aaron Automotive Group, 5 Hank Aaron Chasing the Dream Foundation, 5 Hannah, Marc C., 360–362 Harlem, 238–239 Harlem Housewives League, 239 Harlem Labor Union Incorporated (HLUI), 169 Harlem Renaissance, 651 Harlem Riots, 238 Harper, William V., 567 Harrell Companies, 534 Harris, Abram L., xxxi Harris, Carla Ann, 362–364 Hartley, Gloria, 89 Hartsfield Airport, 399, 401 Harvey, William R., 133 Hatcher, Richard, 677 Hawthorne, Lowell, 364–367 Hayes, Charles, 171 Haynes, George Edmund, 214 Hazel, Darryl B., 367–369 health care industry, 553–556 Health Resources, Inc., 533 Henry-Fairhurst, Ellenae, 73, 369–374, 842 Herman, Alexis M., 374–378 Herndon, Alonzo Franklin, 68, 378–380 Herndon, Alonzo Franklin, 630 Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks, xxxv higher education, 92–93, 201 See also Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Hightower, Dennis Fowler, 380–383 Hill, Gus, 766 Hill, Jesse, Jr., 383–385 Hine, Darlene Clark, xxxv hip-hop movement, 8, 14, 403–404, 420, 727, 728–729

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), xxxiii, 132–134, 567, 601–602 churches and, 279 entrepreneurship programs in, 146–150 See also specific institutions History of Black Business in America, The (Walker), xxxii H. J. Russell & Company, 534, 678, 704–707 H.L.W. Fast Track, 531 Holland, Jerome Heartwell, 75 Holmes, Hamilton, 434 Holmes, Margaret Cardozo, 135–139 Holsey, Albon L., 186–189 Holstein, Casper A., 385–388 Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction (Brown), xxxv Hoosier Radio and TV, 498 Hope, John, 193 hotel industry, 38, 59, 841 Housing Act (1968), 263–264 housing market, 40 See also real estate industry Howard, Janice, 574 Howard University, 133–134, 140, 147, 455, 578 Howell, Christine Moore, 388–391 Hubbard, Reginald T., 72–73 Hughes, Alex, 57 Hughes, Catherine ‘‘Cathy,’’ 391–394, 842 Hunt, James, Jr., 686 Hunter, Charlayne, 434 Hurley, Emmeta Cardozo, 135–139 IBM, 851–852 ICBC Broadcast Holding, 754–755 Illinois, minority businesses in, 530

Index Indianapolis Recorder (newpaper), 498 industrial age, xxix industrial/service companies, 66–67 Ingham, John N., xxxii insurance industry, xxxii, xxx–xxxi, 68, 351–353, 520, 676, Atlanta Life Insurance Company, 379, 383–385 E. G. Bowman Company, 664–667 Alonzo Franklin Herndon, 378–380 Jess Hill Jr., 383–385 North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, 519, 521, 538–540, 741–745 records, 298–299 Standard Life Insurance Company, 629, 631, 652–653 Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company, 632–633 Universal Life Insurance Company, 789–790 Antonio Maceo Walker, 789–791 integrated marketing, 14 Integrated Packaging Corporation, 532 interior designers Sheila Bridges, 111–114 Lucious Switzer, 755–758 International Black Women’s Congress (IBWC), 395–397 International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and Maids. See Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters interviews, xxx investment bankers/companies, 53 Edith W. Cooper, 211–212 James Francis Haddon, 357–358

Carla Ann Harris, 362–364 William M. Lewis, 478–481 National Association of Investment Companies, 575–577 E. Stanley O’Neal, 602–605 Savage Holdings, LLC, 718–719 Wall Street Strategies Corporation, 647–648 See also banks/banking industry Irving, Julius W. ‘‘Dr. J.,’’ 75 Island Def Jam Records, 679, 681–682 ITM Software, 182, 183–184 Jackson, Jesse, 76, 284, 286, 584, 585 Jackson, Maynard Holbrook, Jr., 399–402, 678, 706 Jackson, Michael, 431 Jackson, O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube,’’ 403–405 Jackson Securities, 534 Jakes, Thomas ‘‘T. D.,’’ 285, 405–408 James, Charles Howell, 307–308 James, Edward Lawrence, 308 James Group, 531 Jemison, T. J., 260 Jenkins, Marlo, 575 Jet (magazine), xxxiv, 689–690 Jim Crow laws, 4, 59, 110, 562, 838 job discrimination, 19–20 Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop (film), 461 Johnson, Albert W., 685 Johnson, Earvin ‘‘Magic,’’ Jr., 70, 312, 408–411 Johnson, Eudora, 40 Johnson, Eunice Walker, 411–413, 415 Johnson, John H., 69, 75, 263, 325, 412, 414–418 Johnson, Jonathan F., 355

Johnson, Katherine, 842 Johnson, Lyndon B., 19 Johnson, Robert L., 419–422, 458 Johnson, Sheila, 844 Johnson Publishing Company, 69, 412, 414–418, 530, 689–692, 844 Jones, Absalom, 214, 279 Jones, Caroline R., 422–424 Jones, Henry, 307 Jones, James Francis Marion, 282 Jones, Jehu, 145, 306 Jones, John, 424–426 Jones, Quincy, 426–432 Jordan, Michael, 311 Jordan, Vernon Eulion, 433–435 journalism, xxxiii–xxxiv journals. See magazines Journey of Reconciliation, 260 Joyner, Marjorie Stewart, 435–438 Junior Achievement ( JA), 441–442 Kani, Karl, 295 Kansas City, Missouri, 59–60 Kansas City Call (newspaper), 61, 87–88 Karl Kani Infinity, 536 Keckley, Elizabeth, 59, 291, 837 Kelly, Patrick, 293 Kemp, Ira, 169 Kendrix, Moss, 566–567 Kennedy, John F., 19, 88, 262–263 Kentucky, minority businesses in, 531 Kenwood Group, 76 kid/teenpreneurs, 439–443 King, Don, 443–445 King, Martin Luther, Jr., 260, 263, 264, 283, 525, 706, 806 Kittles, Rick, 255 Kmart, 686 Knight, Gladys, 311 Kraft Foods, 120–122, 739 Kranz, Rachel, xxxii–xxxiii

869

Index labor force participation rate, 610 labor unions. See unions Lacy, William, 171, 173 Ladies Auxiliary to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. See Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters LaFace Records, 680 Lafon, Thomy, 447–449 Lancaster, Emmer M., 194, 297–298 Lane, Lunsford, xxxiv, 449–451 Langston, Ronald N., 451–453 Lankford, John Anderson, 453–455, 831 Larry C. McCrae, Inc., 532 Lars, Byron, 294 LaVan Hawkins Food & Entertainment Group LLC, 531 Lay, Mark D., 77 Leavell, Dorothy R., 456–458 Lee, Debra Louise, 421, 458–460 Lee, Joseph, 144 Lee, Spike, 9, 460–464 Legacy Automotive Group, 534 Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDEF), 465–466 LESCO, 534 Lewis, Aylwin, 686 Lewis, Byron Eugene, 466–470 Lewis, Catherine Cardozo, 135–139 Lewis, Delano Eugene, 470–473 Lewis, Loida, 476 Lewis, Reginald F., 71, 311, 473–477, 684 Lewis, William M., 478–481 libraries, 539, 541 Ligon, Alfred M., 481–483 Lincoln Hospital, 541 Lindsey, D. L., 33 Lindsey’s, 33 Llewellyn, James Bruce, 70–71, 483–486, 686 Logan, Adele, 21 Logan, Rayford W., xxxv Loop Capital Markets, 530 Los Angeles, 536

870

Los Angeles Eagle (newspaper), 68 Louis, Joe, 543 Lowe, Ann, 291–292 Lundy Enterprises, 534 LYNK Capital Corporation, 499 Lyon, Abro, 714 Madison, Paula, 487–489 Madison Reseach Corporation, 534 magazines, xxxiv Abbott’s Monthly, 7 Black Enterprise, 198, 346–347, 350, 439, 526 Black World, 416–417 Blaze, 433 Ebony, 412, 414, 416–417, 689–690 Essence, 761–764 Half-Century, 625–626 Jet, 689–690 Negro Digest, 415–416 Vibe, 433 Magic Johnson. See Johnson, Earvin ‘‘Magic,’’ Jr. Magill, Nathan K., 7 Majestic Star (riverboat), 35 Majors, Monroe A., xxxv Malcolm X, 283 Malcolm X (film), 462 Mallet, Laurie, 293 Malone, Aaron Eugene, 492 Malone, Annie Turnbo, 61, 69, 489–493, 793, 839 Malone, Maurice, 294 Malveaux, Julianne, 493–494, 580 Manley, Effa, 168, 169 Manna, Emanuel, 306 Manna, Inc., 531 Manufacturers Industrial Group, 534 Marable, Manning, 69 marketing. See advertising and marketing Marshall, Thurgood, 433, 434, 465 Martell’s, 32–33 Martin Automotive Group, 531

Maryland, minority businesses in, 532–533 Mason, Bridget ‘‘Biddy,’’ 494–496, 836 Massachusetts minority businesses in, 531–532 Maxwell, Henry C., 696 Mayfair Mansions, 524–525 Mays, William G., 496–500 Mays Chemical Company, 496–500 McAlpine, William H., 411 McCabe, Jewell Jackson, 500–502 McCall, H. Carl, 502–504 McCann, Renetta, 504–507 McCarty, Cecee, 836 Mccrae, Jack, 145 McFeely, William S., 44 McKee, John, 143 McKenzie, Fayette Avery, 151–152 McKenzie, Vashti Murphy, 285–286 McKissack, Calvin, 508, 509, 510–514 McKissack, Leatrice Buchanan, 509 McKissack, Moses, 507, 507–509, 510–514 McKissack, Perri (Pebbles), 680–681 McKissack, William DeBerry, 509 McKissack and McKissack Architects and Engineers, Inc., 507–510, 510–514 McKissak, Eric, 77 McNeil Technologies, 533 Meachum, John Berry, 58, 62 Mechanics and Farmer Bank of Durham, 521 media. See black press; broadcasting industry; newspapers megachurches, 284–286, 405–408 Melrose Plantation, 175 Memphis, Tennessee, 164–165

Index Men of Mark (Simmons), xxxv Mercardo-Valdes, Frank, 514–517 merchant mariners. See sailors and merchant mariners Merck, 661, 663 Mercury Records, 429–430 mergers, 8–10, 14 Merrick, John, 517–522, 538, 539, 742 Merrill Lynch, 173–174, 604 Michaeux, Lightfoot Solomon, 299, 523–526 Michigan, minority businesses in, 530 midwestern businesses, 526–531 Midwest Stamping, 531 Millennium Digital Media, 530 Miller Brewing Company, 178 Mingo-Jones Advertising, 423 Minority Angel Investor Network (MAIN), 576–577 Minority Business Development Agency (MDBA), 198, 578 minority business in major cities, 526–536 Minority Business Resource Center, 385 Minority Enterprise Development Week, 198, 536–538 minority enterprise small business investment companies (MESBICs), 575–576 Minton, Henry, 307 ‘‘Miss Collegiate Black American’’ Pageant, 515–516 Mississippi Association of Cooperatives (MAC), 217 Missouri black business development in, 58–62 minority businesses in, 530 Mobley, Sybil Collins, 75, 844 Montgomery Bus Boycott, 257, 260, 261 Moore, Aaron McDuffe, 519, 742, 744

Moore, Aaron McDuffie, 538–542 Morgan, Rose, 542–544, 840–841 Morgan Stanley Group, 478–480 Morgan v. Virginia, 260 Morrill Act, 92 Moss, Elizabeth Murphy, 82 Motown Records, 69–70, 230, 346–348, 687, 688, 842 Moultrie, Francis J., 144–145 Mowatt, Cecilia Antonietta, 544–547 MPS Group, 531 MTS Technologies, 533 MTV, 420 Mugabe, Robert, 173 Muhammad, Elijah, 282–283 Mulzac, Hugh, 717–718 Murphy, Carl, 81–82 Murphy, Eddie, 547–550, 825 Murphy, Frances L., II, 82 Murphy, John H., 81 Muse, J. Melving, 10 music industry, 69–70 Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Combs, 190–192 Dr. Dre (Andre Young), 244–246 Kenneth and Tracey Edmonds, 265–268 Berry Gordy Jr., 346–348 Galdys Hampton, 841 O’Shea ‘‘Ice Cube’’ Jackson, 403–405 Quincy Jones, 426–432 Harry, H. Pace, 629–633 Antonio Reid, 679–682 Sylvia Rhones, 687–689 Russell Simmons, 727–730 Gloria Toote, 771–772 MUSIC program, 721–722 Mutual Bank and Trust Company of Chattanooga, 48 MV Transportation, Inc., 535 Mxchange.com, 701 Myers, Isaac, 551–553 Myers, Woodrow Augustus, Jr., 553–556

NAACP Reginald F. Lewis Youth Entrepreneurial Institute, 441–442 Nail, John E. ‘‘Jack,’’ 557–559 Nail and Parker Real Estate, 558–559 Nannie Helen Burroughs School, 840 Napier, James Carroll, 151, 281, 354, 559–564 Nashville, Tennessee, 261–262 Nashville Digital Magazine, 255 Nashville Globe, 108–109, 281 Nashville Negro Board of Trade, 150–152 National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, 579–581 National Afro-American League, 564–566 National Alliance of Market Developers (NAMD), 566–569 National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), xxxiii, 296 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 4, 197, 259, 284, 433, 434 Legal Defense and Education Fund and, 465 National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), 569–571 National Association of Black Owned Broadcaster (NABOB), 571–573 National Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs (NABWE), 29, 573–575 National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC), 575–577 National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers (NAMAD), 781

871

Index National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC), 577–579 National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, 197, 500 National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), 677 National Association of Realtors (NAR), 677 National Association of Urban Bankers (NAUB), 779 National Baptist Publishing Board (NBPB), 105–106, 110, 280–281 National Benefit Life Insurance Company, 68 National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), 456, 581–583 National Black Farmers Association (NBFA), 96, 583–585 National Black MBA Association, 585–587 National Black United Fund (NBUF), 587–588 National Business League. See National Negro Business League (NNBL) National Coalition of 100 Black Women (NCBW), 500 National Doll Company, 105, 106 National Labor Union (NLU), 551 National Maritime Union, 717 National Negro Business League (NNBL), xxix, 40, 76, 104, 150, 354, 455, 588–594, 811, 814–815 conferences held by, 194–195 establishment of, 561–562 purpose of, 196–197 Washington and, 279–280 National Negro Convention Movement (NNCM), 196 National Negro Finance Corporation (NNFC), 76

872

National Negro League, 60, 168 National Negro Publications Association, 7 National Negro Retail Advisory Group (NNRAG), 88 National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), 456 National Order of Mosaic Templars of America, 131 National Public Radio (NPR), 472 National Urban League, xxxi, 197, 284, 433, 434 Nation of Islam (NOI), 282–283 Navy, 715–716 Negro as a Business Man, The (Harmon et al.), xxx, xxxi Negro as Capitalist (Harris), xxxi Negro Business and Business Education (Pierce), xxxi, 658 Negro Digest (magazine), 415–416 Negro Entrepreneur (Oak), xxxi ‘‘Negro in Business, The’’ (conference), xxix Negro in Business, The (Washington), xxix, 38 Negro Industrial Clerical Alliance (NICA), 169 Negro Insurance and Banking (Oak), xxxi Negro League, 4, 60 Negro Newspaper, The (Oak), xxxi Negro’s Adventure in General Business (Oak), xxxi Negro Seamen Acts, 713 Negro Yearbook, The, xxix–xxx New Jersey, minority businesses in, 532 New South, 94 newspapers, xxxiii–xxxiv, xxxiv, 68–69 Afro-American, 81–82 Chicago Crusader, 456–457 Chicago Defender, 6–8, 83–84 by Frederick Douglass, 242–243

Indianapolis Recorder, 498 Kansas City Call, 87 in major cities, 79–88 in Missouri, 61 Nashville Globe, 108–109 Norfolk Journal and Guide, 85–87 Pittsburgh Courier, 84–85 New Ventures, Inc., 374 New York, minority businesses in, 532 Niagra Movement, 566 niche marketing, 126 Niebuhr, Reinhold, 258 Nixon, Richard, 575–576 Norfolk Journal and Guide (newspaper), 85–87 Norris, S. H., 840 North, migration of blacks to, 93–94 North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, 253 North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, xxxi, 68, 517, 519, 521, 538–540, 741–745 Northeastern Life Insurance Company, 632 Notable Black American Men (Smith), xxxv Notable Black American Women (Smith), xxxv Noted Negro Women (Majors), xxxv Oak, Vishnu, xxxi OEM-Erie, Inc., 532 Office of Censorship, 301 Office of Government Reports (OGR), 301 Office of War Information (OWI), 302 Ohio, minority businesses in, 531 O’Kelly, Berry, 595–597 O’Leary, Hazel R., 598–602 O’Leary, John Francis, 599 Omniplex World Services Corporation, 533

Index O’Neal, E. Stanley, 602–605 One-Cent Savings Bank and Trust Company, 103, 106–107, 562 100 Black Men of America, 484, 486, 605–607 Onley, Cheryl, 255 online searches, xxxvi OPeck, Fannie B., 206 Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America, 178, 284, 607–610, 749 Opportunity Capital Partners, 535 Oracle Corporation, 656–657 Oregon, 535 Otis, Clarence, Jr., 623–624 Overton, Anthony, 68, 69, 624–627 Owen, Chandler, 118 Ozanne Construction Company, 531 Pace, Harry H., 415, 629–633 Paige, Gina, 255 Paradigm Solutions Corporation, 533 Parks, Henry Green, Jr., 310, 634–635 Parks, Herman, 70 Parks, Lillian Rogers, 292 Parks, Rosa, 261 Park Sausage Company, 70, 310, 634–635 Parsons, Richard Dean, 636–638 Paschal, James, 133, 309, 638–641, 641–645 Paschal, Robert, 309, 638–641, 641–645 Paschal’s family business, 641–645 Paschal’s restaurant, 638–641 Pashcal’s Hotel and Restaurant, 133 Patterson, Frederick Douglas, 645–647 Payne, Charles V., 647–648 Payne Memorial AME Church, 285–286

Payton, Philip A., Jr., 558, 648–652, 676 P. Diddy. See Combs, Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Peck, William H., 99–100 Peebles, R. Donahue, 72 Peebles Atlantic Development Corporation, 534, 536 Pennington, J.W.C., 703 Pennsylvania, minority businesses in, 532 Perry, Heman Edward, 326, 631, 652–656 Perry, Henry, 60 personal services enterprises, 62 pharmaceutical industry, 661–664 Philadelphia Tribune (newspaper), 68 Phillippe, Gereald, 609 Phillips, Charles E., Jr., 656–658 Pierce, Joseph Alphonso, xxxi, 32, 195, 354–355, 658–660, 723 Pierce Jr., Samuel R., 74 Pittman, Winston, Sr., 660–661 Pittman Enterprises, 660–661 Pittsburg Courier (newspaper), 84–85 Planter (ship), 715 Plessy v. Ferguson, 54, 93, 107, 110 policy bankers, 385–388 politicians John Edward Bush, 130–132 Charles Diggs Jr., 233–236, 233–236 Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr., 399–402 John Jones, 424–426 H. Carl McCall, 502–504 Percy Ellis Sutton, 752–755 Gloria Toote, 770–772 Augustus Washington, 808–811 Booker T. Washington, 811–816 Poro Company, 489, 491–492 Poston, Theodore, 302

post-Reconstruction era, 63 Potter, Myrtle Stephens, 661–664 Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr., 238, 259, 429 Powell, William P., 713–714 press. See black press Prestige Automotive, 531 Price, Lisa, 685 primary sources, xxxvi Prince, Mary Gardner, 837 private equity firms, 52 Procope, Ernesta G., 664–667, 841 Proctor, Barbara Gardner, 667–669, 841 Profit, Eugene, 77 Progress Investment Associates, 749 protests. See economic boycotts and protests public officials Andrew Felton Brimmer, 114–116 Alexis M. Herman, 374–378, 374–378 Ronald N. Langston, 451–453 Delano Eugene Lewis, 470–473 Norman Blann Rice, 692–695 Joseph Jacob Simmons, 725–727 Barbara Mae Watson, 822–824 Public Waiters Association, 213 publishing industry Robert Sengstacke Abbott, 6–8 Johnson Publishing Company, 412, 414–418, 689–692 Dorothy R. Leavell, 456–458 National Baptist Publishing Board (NBPB), 105–106, 110 Susan L. Taylor, 761–764 See also newspapers Puff Daddy. See Combs, Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Puffy. See Combs, Sean ‘‘Diddy’’ Pulliam, Betty, 100 Pullman Company, 116–117, 119 Purvis, Robert, 316 Putnam, Rod, 255

873

Index Q3 Industries, 531 Quamino, xxxv, 142, 836 Queen Booking Agency, 102, 841 Queen Latifah, 842 raced-based admissions, 201 radio industry, 391–394, 472, 498, 841–842 See also broadcasting industry Radio One, 392–393, 533, 842 Rainbow/PUSH coalition, 585 Raines, Franklin Delano, 671–674 Randle, Curley, 724 Randolph, A. Philip, 116, 118–119, 259, 749 Randolph, Lucille Campbell Greene, 119, 239 Ratcliffe, Dolores C., 29, 30 Raven Transport Company, 534 Reagan, Ronald, 376 real estate industry, xxx, 71, 72, 524–525, 545–546, 674–679 Jesse Binga, 40–41 colonial period, 674–675 early national period, 675 H. J. Russell & Company, 704–707 John E. Nail, 557–559 Philip A. Payton Jr., 648–652 Reconstruction era, 675–676 Travis Realty, 772 twentieth century, 676–677 Reconstruction era, 63, 675–676, 837–838 Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), 299 recording industry. See music industry Rector, Sarah, 60–61 Reddix, Jacob L., 206 Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, 477 Reid, Antonio ‘‘L. A.,’’ 266, 679–682 Reid, Arthur, 169 religious organizations, 277–287 See also churches

874

restaurant industry, 308–309, 311, 737 Edwin C. Berry, 38 Leah Chase, 156–160 Clarence Otis Jr., 623–624 Paschal’s restaurant, 638–641, 641–645 Regynald G. Washington, 816–819 Sylvia P. Woods, 846–848 See also food service industry Restoration period, 91–92 retail industry, 88–90, 682–687 Colored Merchants’ Association, 185–190 See also grocery store enterprises Rhones, Sylvia, 687–689 Rice, Linda Johnson, 290, 418, 689–692, 844 Rice, Norman Blann, 692–695 RJL Development, 533 roadside and street vending, 695–698 Roberts, Homer B., 61 Roberts, Roy S., 698–701 Robinson, Cleveland, 171 Robinson, Hilyard R., 831 Robinson, Jackie, 3–4, 71, 485 Rodgers-Rose, LaFrancis, 395 Rogers, John W., Jr., 74, 76 Rogers, Vando, 255 Romar Group, 536 Rooney, James E., 578–579 Roosevelt, Eleanor, 436 Roosevelt, Franklin, 259 Rose Meta House of Beauty, 542–543 Rose Morgan’s House of Beauty, 840–841 RS Information Systems, 533 Ruggles, David, 701–704 Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, 730 Russell, Herman Jerome, 148, 309, 311, 327, 384, 678, 704–707 Russell-McCloud, Patricia, 707–709

Russwurm, John B., 79 Rutherfors, Samuel W., 68 sailors and merchant mariners, 711–718 Navy, 715–716 origins, 711–712 post–Civil War, 717–718 through Civil War, 712–714 whaling industry, 716–717 Sanders, Steven, 77 Savage, Frank, 718–720 Savage Holdings, LLC, 718, 719 savings and loan associations, 23–25, xxx Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain, 45–46 SBK Brooks Investment Corporation, 531 School Daze (film), 462 Scottsboro case, 86 seamstresses, 290–292 Seattle, Washington, 64 Second Morrill Act, 93 Secretary of Agriculture, 299 Seder, John, xxxi segregation, xxviii–xxix, xxx affect of end of, on black businesses, 355 benefits of, to black businesses, 64, 70 boycotts in protest of, 257–267 in education, 93 See also Jim Crow laws Sengstacke, John H. H., 7–8, 83–84, 85 SENTEL Corporation, 533 ‘‘separate but equal’’ doctrine, 107–108, 110 SET Enterprises, 530 755 Restaurant Corporation, 5 share croppers, 91 Sharpton, Al, 578 Shaw, Alan, 721–723 Shaw, Earl, 721 Shepherd, Sam, 58 She’s Gotta Have It (film), 461–462

Index shipbuilding industry, 316–319 shoe shine establishments, 723–725 ShopRite, 531 Short, Haywood Douglass, 724 Siebert Bradford Shank & Company, 535 Silicon Graphics Inc. (SG), 360–361 Simeus Foods International, 535 Simmons, Joseph Jacob III, 725–727 Simmons, Russell, 295, 727–730 Simmons, William J., xxxv, 171 Simons, Kimora Lee, 295 Sims, Allen, 33 Sims, Naomi R., 731–732 Sim’s Barbecue, 33 sit-ins, 261 Sklarek, Norma Merrick, 733–735 slave culture, 31 slave narratives, xxxiv, 241–242 slave preachers, 277–278 slavery, 90–91 slavery-induced psychosis, 169 slaves, xxvii businesses of, 62 in fashion industry, 291 women, 835–837 See also specific individuals slave society, xxviii Small Business Administration (SBA) programs, 55–56, 536 Smiley, Charles H., 145 Smiley, Tavis, 421 Smith, Alphia Minor, 58 Smith, Barbara ‘‘B,’’ 309–310, 736–738 Smith, Willie Donnell, 292–293 Smokestack Lightning (Elie), 31 Smokey Bones, 623–624 Sneed, Paula A., 738–741 Snoop Doggy Dogg, 245 Snowden, Gail, 779 Soft Sheen Products, 329–332, 844 Solvent Savings Bank and Trust Company, 166–167, 629, 630

soul food, 308, 311 Souls of Black Folks, The (Du Bois), 92 South economic boycotts in, 261–262 minority businesses in, 532–535 Restoration period in, 91–92 segregated economy of, xxviii–xxix Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), 259, 263, 284 Spaulding, Asa T., 74–75 Spaulding, Charles Clinton, 519, 538, 540, 741–745 Specialized Packaging Group, 531 Specialized Services, Inc., 530 Spencer, Sarah Washington, 69 Spike DDB, 9 Spinelli, Nick, 32 Spiral, Inc., 533, 535 stall-ins, 263 Standard Life Insurance Company, xxxi, 629, 631, 652–653 Starcom MediaVest, 504–507 Steele, Lawrence Dion, 294–295 Steward, David L., 61–62, 745–748 St. Louis, Missouri, 59–60 St. Louis Argus (newspaper), 61 St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, 796, 798–799, 839–840 Stokes, Carl, 677 Strategies In Site, Inc. (SIS), 546 Street Hotel, 59 street vending. See roadside and street vending strikes, 264 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), 216, 259 studies. See conferences and studies Sullivan, Leon Howard, 75, 284, 607–608, 610, 748–752 Sullivan Principles, 749, 751

Sun State International Trucks, 534 Supreme Liberty Life Insurance Company, 632–633 Sutton, Percy Ellis, 70, 752–755 Switzer, Lucious (Lou), 755–758 Switzer Group, 755–758 S. Woods Enterprises, 534 Symantec, 768–770 SYNCOM, 533 TAG Holdings, 530 Tandy, Vertner W., Sr., 677, 759–761 Taylor, Susan L., 761–765 technology industry Marc R. Hannah, 360–362 Charles E. Philips Jr., 656–658 Alan Shaw, 721–723 David L. Steward, 745–748 John W. Thompson, 768–770 Alfred W. Zollar, 851–853 teen entrepreneurs, 439–443 Teenpreneur Resource Guide, 441 Telecommunication Systems, Inc., 533 television commercials, 463–464, 468 television industry, 35 Robert L. Johnson, 419–421 Debra Louise Lee, 458–459 James Bruce Llewellyn, 485–486 Paula Madison, 487–489 William G. Mays, 498 Frank Mercado-Valdes, 514–517 Oprah Winfrey, 832–835 Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State University, 566 Tennessee State University, 149 Terry, Clark, 427 Terry, Jesse A., 292 Texas, minority businesses in, 535 theater owners, 59–60, 340–343

875

Index Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA), 340, 765–768 Thomas, Kermit, 582 Thompson, Anna, 307 Thompson, John W., 768–770 Thompson Hospitality, 533 thrift organizations. See savings and loan associations Thriller (film), 432 Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, 178 Tidal Basin Bridge, 17 Time Warner, 637 TLC Beatrice International, 71, 474, 476, 684 TLC Group, 474, 475 Toote, Frederick Augustus, 771 Toote, Gloria E. A., 770–772 Total Premier Services, 535 Totten, Ashley, 118 Town Sound Studios, 771 trade unions. See unions Trans-Bay Federal, 24 Travis, Dempsey Jerome, 772–774 Travis Realty, 772 Tribbett, Charles A., III, 74 Trotter, Lloyd G., 775–777 Trower, John S., 143 True Reformers’ Bank of Richmond, xxx, 44, 48, 65, 68 Trumka, Richard, 172 Truth, Sojourner, 257, 704 Ture, Kwame. See Carmichael, Stokely Turner, Carmen Elizabeth Pawley, 843 Turner, Nat, 277 Turpin, Charles, 59–60 Turpin, Tom, 59–60 Tuskegee Institute, 92, 93, 133, 148–149, 279, 354, 813, 830 Tyco International Limited, 344 Underground Railroad, 313–314, 424, 425–426, 703 unemployment statistics, 750–751

876

unions, 169 Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, 116–120 Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, 171–173 Colored National Labor Union (CNLU), 551 Isaac Myers, 551–553 National Maritime Union, 717 Union Transportation Company, 108, 562–563 UNITECH, 533 United Energy, Inc., 535 United Negro College Fund (UNCF), 253, 433, 434 United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), 168, 771 United Parcel Service (UPS), 221–223, 272–273 Universal Life Insurance Company, 789–790 Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), 197, 282, 332–335, 354 Universal Records, 687, 688 UniWorld Entertainment, 468–469 UniWorld Group, 13, 466–470 Up From Slavery (Washington), 812–813 Urban Financial Services Coalition, 779–780 U.S. Census Bureau, 296–298 U.S. Department of Agriculture, 96 U.S. firms, ownership by race and Hispanic origin, 529 U.S. Navy, 715–716 U.S. Olympic Committee, 804 U.S. Postal Service, 300–301 U.S. Treasury, 563 Vaden-William, Sheila, 781–783 V&J Foods, 311 V and J Holding Companies, 526 Van Dyke, Peter, 144 Vanguard Holding, 534

Vann, Robert Lee, 84–85 Vee Jay Records, 841 vending. See roadside and street vending Vesey, Denmark, 277 Viacom, 421 Vibe (magazine), 433 Victory Life Insurance Company, 68 Ville district, St. Louis, 59 Vine district, Kansas City, 59 Virginia, minority businesses in, 532–533 Voting Rights Act (1965), 263 Wages, of farmworkers, 95 Walker, A’Leila, 197, 785–789, 793 Walker, Antonio Maceo, 789–791 Walker, Eunice. See Johnson, Eunice Walker Walker, Juliet E. K., xxx, 68 Walker, Leroy, Jr., 606 Walker, Madame C. J. (Sarah Breedlove), 69, 197–198, 333, 436, 490–491, 558, 677, 785–788, 791–796, 838–839 Walker, Maggie Lena Mitchell, xxxv, 68, 796–799, 839–840 Walker Company, 436 Wall Street Project, 585 Wall Street Strategies Corporation, 647–648 Walt Disney Company, 380, 381–382 Warbasse, James Peter, 204 Ward, Felker W., 384 Ward, John T., 799–800 Ward, Lloyd David, 801–805 Ware, Carl H., 805–808 Warren Funeral Chapel, 61 Washington, Augustus, 808–811 Washington, Booker T., xxix, 38, 63, 561, 811–816, 830

Index Afro-American League and, 566 as faith-based entrepreneur, 279–280 as head of NNBL, 197, 354 National Business League and, 589–590, 593 NNBL and, 814–815 philosophy of, 92, 105, 150, 196–197, 257, 561–562 Washington, Oliver III, 696–697 Washington, Oliver IV, 697 Washington, Oliver Jr., 696 Washington, Regynald G., 311, 816–819 Washington, Roberta, 71–72 Washington, Sarah Spencer, 819–822, 841 Watkins, John, 59 Watkins, Theron B., 59 Watson, Barbara Mae, 822–824 Wayans, Damon, 825–826 Waycor Development Incorporated, 34–35 W. C. Handy Blues and Barbecue Festival, 33 ‘‘We Are the World,’’ 431

Weems, Robert, 204 Wells, Ida B., 837–838 whaling industry, 716–717 Wharton, Dolores Duncan, 75, 844 William, V. J., 59 Williams, Margo, 100 Williams, Paul Revere, 677, 826–829 Williams, Willie Mae, 353 WillieWear, 293 Williston, David Augustus, 829–832 Wilson, Barbara, 842 Wilson, William J., 43 Wilson Office Interiors, 535 Winans, Ron, 311 Winfrey, Oprah, 71, 432–433, 832–835, 842 Winston, Michael R., xxxv Woman’s Political Council (WPC), 261 women and business, 57, 835–846 in corporate America, 843–845 early twentieth century, 838–841

International Black Women’s Congress (IBWC), 395–397 late twentieth century, 841–843 Reconstruction era, 837–838 See also specific individuals Women’s Industrial Club, 840 Woods, Sylvia P., 309, 817, 846–848 Woodson, Carter G., 297 Workplace Integrators, 530 World Wide Technology, 61–62, 530, 745–748 Wormley, James, 143–144, 307 Wright, Letitia, 29–30 Wyatt, Rasheed, 779 YMCA movement, 109 Young, Andre. See Dr. Dre (Andre Young) Young, Hiram, 58 Young Sr., P. B., 85–86 Zebra Associates, 423 Zion Nonprofit Charitable Trust, 749 Zollar, Alfred W., 851–853

877

About the Contributors Glenda Marie Alvin is assistant director for collection management and administration for Tennessee State University. She has published articles in Against the Grain and other professional library journals and was a contributor to Understanding the Business of Library Acquisitions (2nd ed., 1999). Nkechi Amadife is the head of reference and information services at Kentucky State University. She also coordinates the Library Instruction program at the institution. She has contributed essays to several books, including Notable Black American Men (1999), and has written chapters for Instruction and Training for Enhanced Reference Services: Using Hands-on Active Learning Techniques, Vol. 1, Active Learning Series No. 3 (1998); and Instruction and Training for Enhanced Reference Service: Using Hands-on Active Learning Techniques, Vol. 2, pt. 1, Reference Resources for the Disciplines, Active Learning Series No. 3 (1998). Virginia D. Bailey is a reference librarian at the Margaret and Herman Brown Library, Abilene Christian University, where she is liaison to the Sociology and Psychology Departments. She writes book reviews for Lorgnette, a publication of Heart of Texas Literature Center. Gabriella R. Beckles is the assistant director of academic enrichment for the Office of Residence Life at Morgan State University. She holds degrees from Morgan State University and completed a program at the Institute in Education in London, England. Kathleen E. Bethel is the African studies librarian at Northwestern University. She chairs the Bibliography Committee for the Toni Morrison Society, and she is a member of the Advisory Board for the Project on the History of Black Writing. She has contributed articles to numerous reference books.

About the Contributors

Rosa Bobia is director of the Program of African and African Diaspora Studies and professor of French at Kennesaw State University. She has contributed articles to Notable Black American Women, Book I (1992), and Notable Black American Men, Book I (1999). She is co-contributor to The Critical Reception of African-American Literature: From the Beginning to 1970— An Annotated Bibliography (1995) and author of The Critical Reception of James Baldwin in France (1997, 1998). Orella R. Brazile has served as university librarian at Southern University at Shreveport. She is now interim vice chancellor for academic affairs at the university. She has contributed an article to the Louisiana Library Association Journal. Sharon D. Brooks is media services librarian at the Frederick Douglass Library, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. Linda M. Carter, an associate professor of English at Morgan State University, has co-edited four books: James Baldwin: In Memoriam (1992), Images of the Black Male in Literature and Film: Essays in Criticism (1994), Humanities in the Ancient and Pre-Modern World: An Africana Emphasis (1999), and Humanities in the Modern World: An Africana Emphasis (2001). She has published more than fifty articles on African American literature and culture. Alma E. Dawson is Russell B. Long Professor of Library and Information Science at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. She is co-editor of African American Literature: A Guide to Reading Interests (2004). She writes on diversity issues in library and information science and has written articles and chapters on African American libraries. Crystal Anne deGregory is a doctoral student in the Department of History at Vanderbilt University. Her research as a 2002 fellow of the Washington, D.C.–based National Visionary Leadership Project was included in the 2004 publication A Wealth of Wisdom: Legendary African American Elders Speak. Rebecca Dixon is an assistant professor in the Department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy at Tennessee State University. She teaches African literature, African American literature, and Caribbean literature. Anne K. Driscoll is a reference librarian at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. She has contributed articles to Notable Black American Men, Book II (2006). Elizabeth Sandidge Evans is a reference librarian at the William R. and Norma B. Harvey Library at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. Marie Garrett is English studies and theater librarian at the John C. Hodges Library, University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She has written entries for Notable Black American Women, Books I and II (1992, 1996) and for Notable Black American Men, Books I and II (1999, 2006).

880

About the Contributors

Delia C. Gillis is an associate professor in history and Africana studies coordinator at Central Missouri State University. Her publications include Kansas City: A Photographic History of the African American Community (2006) and Henry Ossawa Tanner: An African American Influence in Greater Kansas City (2001). Debra Newman Ham, professor of history at Morgan State University, served as black history specialist at the National Archives from 1972 to 1986 and as specialist in African American history and culture at the Library of Congress from 1986 to 1995. She compiled Black History: A Guide to Civilian Records in the National Archives (1984) and edited African American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture (1993). She has published numerous articles on African American women and men. Cheryl Jones Hamberg is assistant librarian for technical services at Fisk University. She was previously library director at Meharry Medical College in Nashville. Gloria Hamilton is an acquisitions librarian at the University of Chicago and has served on the library staff at Northwestern University. Dantrea Hampton is periodicals librarian and instructor at Paul Blazer Library, Kentucky State University. Linda Combs Hayden is associate professor and access services/interlibrary loan librarian at Kentucky State University. She holds degrees from the College of William and Mary, Spalding University, and the University of Kentucky. Alicia Henry is an associate professor in the humanities and fine arts division and chairperson of the Department of Art at Fisk University. Henry has received numerous grants and awards from such agencies and institutions as the Ford Foundation, Hillwood Museum, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Exhibitions of her work have been shown at numerous galleries, including Cheekwood Museum and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. Helen R. Houston is professor of English at Tennessee State University in Nashville. She is the author of The Afro-American Novel, 1965–1975 (1977), coauthor of the teacher’s guide to the Norton Anthology of African American Literature (1997), coauthor of the instructor’s resource manual for Call and Response (1998), and contributor to Notable Black American Women (Books I and II, 1992, 1996), Notable Black American Men (1999), and Oxford Companion to African American Literature (1997). Robert L. Johns, a retired faculty member, continues to work part-time in Fisk University’s John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library. He has written extensively for reference works in African American history and culture.

881

About the Contributors

Edwin T. Johnson is director of admissions, adjunct professor in the Department of Communication Studies, and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History at Morgan State University. He is also adjunct professor at Baltimore City Community College. Melissa D. Johnson is electronic services and serials librarian at Margaret and Herman Brown Library, Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas. La Loria Konata is policy studies and political science liaison librarian at Georgia State University Library. Her writings include essays in Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy (2003) and an article in Urban Library Journal (2001). Kevin C. Kretschmer is a substitute librarian at the Des Moines Public Library and the West Des Moines Public Library. He has contributed to several reference books, among them Notable Black American Women, Book III (1996), Notable Black American Men (1999), The African American Almanac (2000), and Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, Supplement (2001). Millicent Gray Lownes-Jackson is the associate dean of the College of Business at Tennessee State University. Her publications include Savvy Leadership (2005), Starting a Child Care Business (2004), Starting a Flower and Gift Shop (2004), and Starting a Craft Business (2005). Thura Mack is training librarian and associate professor at the John C. Hodges Library, University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She has contributed articles to Notable Black American Women, Books II and III (1996, 2003) and Notable Black American Men (1999). Shannon L. Mathis is coordinator of electronic services for the John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library and a graduate psychology student at Fisk University. Mark L. McCallon is associate professor and assistant director of the Margaret and Herman Brown Library at Abilene Christian University. His writings include entries in African American National Biography (forthcoming 2008) and Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History. Sharon McGee is a university librarian at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky. Her writings include entries in Notable Black American Men, Book II (2006), African American National Biography (forthcoming 2008), and Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky (forthcoming 2007). Kevin McGruder is a doctoral candidate in the history program at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Mattie L. McHollin is archives assistant at Fisk University. She was previously associate library director and director of archives and special collections at Meharry Medical College.

882

About the Contributors

LaVerne L. McLaughlin is library director and associate professor at Albany State University in Albany, Georgia. Her writings include ‘‘New Beginnings: Freshman Seminar & Service to Leadership’’; ‘‘New Beginnings: Challenges, Changes & Choices’’; ‘‘Reflections on Albany State University’’; ‘‘What the OCLC Interlibrary Service Means to Me: ‘‘A Collection of Essays’’; and ‘‘What the OCLC Online Union Catalog Means to Me: A Collection of Essays.’’ Uzoma O. Miller is archives assistant at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. He is studying toward a Ph.D. in public history at Middle Tennessee State University. Fletcher F. Moon is assistant professor and head reference librarian at Tennessee State University. He has also contributed entries to the forthcoming Notable Black American Men, Book II (2006), and remains active in research, editing, music/ministry, and other creative pursuits. Baiyina W. Muhammad has completed research on the black press and PanAfrican consciousness among African diaspora communities. She currently teaches in the Department of History and Geography at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Clarissa Myrick-Harris is a history professor at Clark Atlanta University and vice president of OneWorldArchives, a research and education institution. Her publications include a Smithsonian Magazine article (2002) on Ida B. Wells-Barnett and ‘‘Behind the Scenes: Doris Derby, Denise Nicholas and the Free Southern Theater’’ in Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trail Blazers and Torchbearers, 1941–1965 (2003). Shelhea Owens is adjunct faculty professor at Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland. She also published with the Maryland Historic Society’s online encyclopedia. Annie Malessia Payton is director of the library at Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena. Lois A. Peterson is special collections librarian at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. Janette Prescod is government documents coordinator at the John C. Hodges Library, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Marvella Rounds is catalog librarian of the library staff at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. Allison L. Sharp is a librarian at the John C. Hodges Library and a doctoral student in information science at the University of Tennessee. Frederick D. Smith is a consultant in digital imaging. He was previously electronic services librarian at Fisk University. His writings are included in Notable Black American Women, Books I and II (1992, 1996), Notable Black

883

About the Contributors

American Men (1999), and Encyclopedia of African-American History and Culture, Supplement (2001). Jessie Carney Smith is university librarian and William and Camille Cosby Professor in the Humanities at Fisk University. She is author or editor of numerous publications, including Black Academic Libraries and Research Collections (1977), Ethnic Genealogy (1983), Black Firsts (1994, 2003), Images of Blacks in American Culture (1988), Notable Black American Women, Books I–III (1992, 1996, 2003), and Notable Black American Men, Books I and II (1999, 2006). Sheila A. Stuckey is interim director of libraries at Kentucky State University. She has written articles for Notable Black American Women, Book III (1996), Notable Black American Men (1999), and the upcoming African American National Biographical Dictionary (forthcoming 2008). Althea Tait is a writer who teaches English and African American literature in Baltimore. She is also a doctoral student at Morgan State University. Darius L. Thieme is an ethnomusicologist and a retired professor of music from Fisk University. He has written essays for Notable Black American Women, Books I–III (1992, 1996, 2003), Notable Black American Men (1999), and African-American Culture and History, Supplement (2001). Girija Venkat is the coordinator of government documents and reference librarian at Harvey Library, Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia. She is also an adjunct professor in the Department of English at Hampton. Janet Walsh is assistant librarian for access services at the John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library at Fisk University. She is completing a series of short stories for children. John W. Wood III teaches history at McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland. He is also a doctoral student at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Linda T. Wynn is the assistant director for state programs at the Tennessee Historical Commission and visiting lecturer in the Department of History at Fisk University. Editor of Journey to Our Past: A Guide to Historical Markers in Tennessee (1999), her work has been included in such publications as the Tennessee Historical Quarterly, Notable Black American Women, Books I–III (1992, 1996, 2003), Notable Black American Men, Books I and II (1999, 2006), and the African American Almanac (2000).

884