Slidecast final

By: Matt Buckley

Blacks in business go as far back as 1780

Northern blacks had catering jobs, which made some a lot of money

(Edward H. Jones, Blacks in Business)

• After civil war, 8 barriers blacks faced according to Abram L. Harris:

• Difficulty of obtaining capital and credit

• Low Wages, competition for job, and immigration

• Mob violence

• Occupational restrictions

• Prohibitions against owning certain properties

• Restrictions against settlement in the west

• Denial of the right to sue

• Civil and educational handicaps


• In 1860, nearly 97% of black population was illiterate; no public schools for blacks

• In 1870, 2700 public schools were established

• In 1900, only 44.5% of black population was illiterate


• By 1900, blacks had successfully operated businesses such as: • Blacksmithing • Plumbing • Shoemaking • Barbering/hairdressing • Painting • Catering • Tailoring • Hat- making • Potting • Cleaning services • dyeing


• “There are moments in history when nations and societies must radically alter their institutions if they are to survive. New Conditions, new needs, newly conscious and articulate groups call for new kinds of responses and responsiveness from the institutions that make society run.” –James M. Gavin, Chairman, Arthur D. Little, Inc.

• “It is beneficial for businessmen to indulge in introspection and, in the words of Robert Burns, ‘see ourselves as others see us.’ It seems ironically fitting that the line should be from Burns’ poem ‘To a Louse,’ because that is precisely how some people do see businessmen.” –George R. Vila, chairman and president, Uniroyal Inc.

(S. Prakash Sethi, Business Corporations and the Black Man)

• “Negro Business Boom “1913-1929”

• 1923, 73 black banks in America

• Got involved through saving their earnings


• Blacks usually got involved with the business world with money they earned and placed in their savings

• Some started by borrowing or given by relatives.

• Small percentage were allowed to borrow from a financial institution(average loan was about $500)

• Another smaller percentage started in business by raising their initial capital through subscription of stocks


• 1929 when stock market crashed

• 1925, 73 black banks in America

• By 1943, only 11 black banks remained


(Robert E. Weems, Jr., Black business in the Black Metropolis)

• Rochester, at the time, was a magnet especially to poor black southerners due to good job opportunities, liberal health, welfare, and unemployment provisions.

• In 1960, southern region granted assistance to 48% of applicants vs. 63% in the Northeastern region

• Rochester, at the time, was a magnet especially to poor black southerners due to good job opportunities, liberal health, welfare, and unemployment provisions.


• After Rochester’s first riots during July, 1964 the local clergy in Rochester felt that what was needed “was an awakening of consciousness among the blacks, together with a viable black organization to provide a dialogue between the minorities and the rest of the community.”

• This organization was FIGHT (Freedom, Integration, God, Honor-Today)


• June 11, 1965 1000 delegates met at the first FIGHT convention and adopted a constitution, set policy goals, and elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt Florence as president

• “The establishment feels it can plan for us and not with us. The only thing the white paternalists want to know about Negroes is whether they will riot again this year. And that all depends on how soon the whites learn black men are human beings. They are not their simple children.”


• 1966, approximately 41,000 blacks populated the city of Rochester; ¾ of these were non-native.

• While 10,000 job openings exceeded black unemployment of 2,000, 60% of these jobs required a high school education and a college education for 15%.

• Of the 2,000 unemployed blacks, 54% had less than a 9th grade education


• Saul Alinsky’s Chicago-based IAF (Industrial Areas Foundation) was sought after by the Rochester Ministers’ Conference

• Early, FIGHT was very successful. FIGHT organized a recruitment and training program with Xerox.

• Shortly after, FIGHT claimed to represent three-quarters of Rochester’s black community




• Over the last few decades the black business community has begun to enter the business mainstream

• Many black entrepreneurs who run large business firms have college degrees

• These entrepreneurs are very good at acquiring higher volume of mean annual sales, diversified clientele, and the business of other firms and the government

(Timothy Bates, Banking on Black Enterprise)

• Data from US Census Bureau (2010), African American businesses grew 60.5% between 2002-2007

• Approximately 107,000 African American-owned firms generated $98.8 billion in annual revenue in 2007

Delmonize A. Smith Zhi Tang, The Growth Performance of top African American Business