Business

The Antebellum Period

The general view of the plight of black business during the period before the Civil War in both the North and South is that blacks were unable to develop businesses because of legal and societal restrictions. There were, however, many surprising exceptions, and several black business owners in the North and South were able to establish successful businesses despite the almost impossible conditions.

One extraordinary example was the case of Aaron Ashworth of Jefferson County, Texas. By 1850, Ashworth had amassed more than 4,500 acres of land and almost 2,500 head of cattle, making him the wealthiest man, black or white, in the entire county. In the North, meanwhile, there were several examples of black manufacturers of ship sails, beds, and lumber processors—all owned and managed by free blacks who employed both black and white workers.

Strides in Opportunity and Achievement

From the end of the Civil War to the mid-twentieth century, African Americans made slow strides in business opportunity and achievement. While the great majority of blacks faced enormous obstacles in the struggle to achieve, a few managed to succeed and thrive in business and other endeavors.

Just before the start of the twentieth century, black educator Booker T. Washington wrote in the Atlantic Monthly (November 1899), “I do not believe that the world ever takes a race seriously, in its desire to share in the government of a nation, until a large number of individual members of that race have demonstrated beyond question their ability to control and develop their own business enterprises.” The going would be difficult for African Americans, but a few would indeed realize Washington's ambitions for the group.

Madam C. J. Walker (1867–1919) is often credited as being the first black woman millionaire in the United States. Walker built a cosmetics and hair care empire during a time when more and more black workers were migrating north, creating a market for hair care products that Walker exploited with marketing genius. At the time of her death in 1919, it was estimated that Walker had more than 3,000 employees and agents selling her hair care products around the country in one of the first successful multilevel marketing companies.

A. G. Gaston (1892–1996) was another early black millionaire who made his money in business enterprises established in the segregated South. Gaston started his business empire in the early 1900s by selling food to his fellow coal mine workers. From this humble beginning, he then developed a niche in funeral insurance, which soon developed into a funeral home empire in the Birmingham, Alabama, area. Gaston later added cemeteries, radio stations, and a bank to his business empire. All of his business enterprises were centered in what was often considered the most racist city in the United States. Gaston was the richest black man in Birmingham during the civil rights struggle and was also one of the biggest financial supporters of the movement.

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