In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

chapter 3 The Golden Decade of Black Business Measure the Negro. But not by the standard of the splendid civilization of the Caucasian. Bend down and measure him—measure him from the depths out of which he has risen. —Frederick Douglass, World’s Columbian Exposition, 1893 The condition of the Negro business man in Chicago today would be a warning to every Race-loving Negro in the United States TO GET TOGETHER . . . [now] every Negro must be found cemented together “ONE FOR ALL, AND ALL FOR ONE.” —Liberty Life Insurance Company, 1920 Chicago has become in the last decade one of the great business centers of the Negro race, surpassing New York’s Negro community, which is larger in population. . . . The banks and the seven insurance companies having headquarters in this city have Negro stockholders, Negro officers and Negro personnel. —Carroll Binder, Chicago Daily News, 1927 The complementary wing to politics within the Chicago political economy— the business sector—claimed as its leadership the triumvirate of black Chicago commercial enterprise: Robert S. Abbott, Jesse Binga, and Anthony Overton. These men dominated the business activities of the Black Metropolis with their control over finance and information like no others in their community and very much like the business titans found throughout other major Chicago economic enclaves. Business was national king at this time and their collective presence provided a significant part of the foundation of making the Black Metropolis a reality. The economic influence of the 1920s built to such a crescendo that other interests and activities were virtually submerged to it as an epicenter. One internal memorandum of the NAACP analyzed the temper of the times and concluded the following: “There are so many diversified interests in Chicago that the N.A.A.C.P. really suffers greatly from indifference on the part of the people.”1 These were diversified interests related to economics and the emergence of a consumers’ society—working for extra money from which to increase spending and buying; spending for recreation and leisure rather than just for necessity; buying property, automobiles, and the new technological devices such as the refrigerator, clothes washer, and record player; and investing in oil exploration, stocks, bonds, and real estate.2 Although the Chicago NAACP was the vanguard organization in the fight for advancement of civil rights, it was suffering because of other interests; no organized body or activity could fully attract the attention of the mass of the people during this decade with the exception of business, and in particular, business success. Indicative of this point was Charles S. Johnson writing in 1923 of there being 1,800 business establishments in operation.3 Robert S. Abbott’s role as owner and publisher of the Chicago Defender newspaper has already been highlighted. Along with Anthony Overton and Jesse Binga, these men—whose stature reached that of titans—influenced and directed the business affairs of the Black Metropolis as no other force. Overton reigned absolutely as one outstanding figure over black Chicago during this period while operating his economic empire, from the Overton Building near the epicenter of the Black Metropolis at 3639 South State Street to his proposed Chicago Bee Building at 3647–3655 South State Street. His multifaceted business operations ranged from manufacturing to finance (in banking and insurance) to publishing. Peering through the fourth-floor windows of the Overton Building, Anthony Overton had truly become the proverbial “master of all he surveyed.”4 The Overton Hygienic Building was originally proposed and architecturally conceived as a six-story, multifunctional structure, but construction costs led to temporary modifications in this structure, leaving the building as an impressive feat nonetheless.5 Overly ambitious, Overton revised his plans and the exceedingly expensive Overton Building emerged as a four-storied, multipurpose structure . An elevator trip down from the fourth floor to the third floor (the journey being a rarity in a South Side structure) allowed him to see how well his core enterprise—the Overton Hygienic Company, which manufactured toilet and cosmetic products—was performing. While on the third floor, he saw the sales, accounting, and advertising operations of the company. Descending again and alighting on the second floor, he could see the workday routines of the Victory Insurance Company as well as other, disparate professional activities. Once on the first floor he encountered the nationally known financial giant he controlled—the Douglass National Bank—along with a rarity, an enterprise he did not own: a fully functional drugstore.6 Publishing of the Chicago...

Share