During the early 20th century, blacks were extremely segregated and had limited rights due to the Jim Crow Laws. Interestingly, these segregated black communities led to a rapid proliferation of business and entrepreneurship within the black communities since they were large enough to support many black businesses.
A major leader of black entrepreneurship in this time period was Booker T. Washington, who in his well-known Atlanta Compromise, called for an abandonment of the fight for social equality and instead advocated for a focus on promoting black education and entrepreneurship. He promoted the racial uplift, which was the idea that educated blacks would lead other African Americans and promote them in society.
Booker T. Washington was one of the founders of the National Negro Business League. The League had over 600 chapters in its peak, and was located in every city with a large black population. It’s purpose was to support black businesses, and numerous other African American leagues for various professions were created, such as the National Negro Bankers Association and the National Negro Press Association.
Historian Juliet E. K. Walker calls the period of 1900 - 1930 the “golden age of black business.” Black businesses doubled from 20,000 in 1900 to 40,000 in 1914. Most businesses were small, however, there were several national insurance companies headed by African Americans. The largest black entrepreneur during this time period was Charles Clinton Spaulding, creating the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, which was valued at $40 million when he died in 1952.
Some black women were even entrepreneurs. Beauty cosmetics became an extremely large market for African American women. In fact, the first recorded black millionaire in America was Annie Malone, who created both a manufacturing plant for cosmetics. Another prominent female African American woman was Sarah Breedlove, also known as Madam C. J. Walker, who was the richest self-made woman in America at the time of her death in 1919. She created the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, with her invention of the first successful hair straightening process.
Of course, black businesses operated in essentially disjoint market spaces as the white businesses, but the huge growth in business allowed blacks to become more self-sufficient within their largely racially homogenous communities.
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I enjoyed reading your blog post as it expanded my knowledge on how black people took advantage of the situation and bettered themselves during the era of segregation. I also found it interesting on how this connected to some other aspects of life in the black community that we discussed in class such as The Green Book. The Green Book helped out black families but also people who needed to travel and conduct business. This book helped them figure out which places were good to stop at as they traveled on the newly built roads of the time. In case you don't remember what The Green Book was, I found this website really helpful: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/02/real-green-book-preserving-stories-of-jim-crow-era-travel/583294/
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting how Booker T. Washington, alone, was capable of founding the National Negro Business League (NNBL) in 1900, to become formally incorporated in 1901. After doing some further research on the NNBL and how it exists in the modern-day, I found that the influence of the league was highest during the early 20th century and is now known as The National Business League. This league exists today to advocate for the economic enterprise and financial literacy for African Americans, including international trade with the Africa Diaspora.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/national-negro-business-league/