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Chapter 1 The Rise of Black Consumer Marketing I am an invisible man. . . . I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. —Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man In the first decades of the twentieth century African Americans were emerging from what one historian described as their ‘‘nadir’’: the period following Reconstruction in which blacks were betrayed by the promises of the government and left to defend themselves against the violence and depredations waged against them. It was in these first years that blacks, especially in the urban North, began organizing themselves to wage what would be a century-long fight for equality. Blacks and liberal whites formed key organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909 and the Urban League in 1911. And, while these two were among the largest and most easily recognized organizations, a host of smaller, but no less important ones, formed as well. A variety of business, fraternal, and religious organizations, with a multitude of purposes ranging from developing black business enterprises to organizing for local community development to providing information and news, were the backbone of more widely recognized groups like the NAACP.1 By the second decade of the century blacks also experienced growing opportunities for advancement through their racially segregated institutions . While some of these separate entities appeared before the turn of the century many found their fullest development during the First World War as millions of African Americans moved from the countryside to the cities in search of work and opportunity. Regionally, they migrated from the South to the North to take up residence in many of the nation’s great urban centers and cities like Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Cleveland saw their black populations skyrocket. Once there, racial segregation combined with group affinity; many migrants sought The Rise of Black Consumer Marketing 21 to live near relatives, and they created visible and distinct black neighborhoods or sections. A portion of this affinity was that due to the natural affiliation of individuals of similar background or outlook. Much of it, though, emerged from the separate facilities in which blacks were forced to congregate. Prior to the turn of the century the Supreme Court had codified what was an already ongoing practice—separate facilities for blacks and whites—into law with the Plessy v. Ferguson decision . Racism and segregation forced blacks to establish something of a separate society outside the mainstream with facilities and services that met needs not met elsewhere. Blacks neighborhoods were, as one writer described them, a ‘‘city within a city.’’ Certainly blacks were not always physically separate from their white fellow citizens, but they operated and patronized their own churches, banks, stores, barbershops, and newspapers. Such facilities eased the transition from a rural to an urban population and helped transform this group into a compact, measurable , consumer population.2 One key African American institution was comprised of the hundreds of independent newspapers that made up the black press. In the field of journalism, blacks had a history of operating their own periodicals. Long accustomed to having the events in the ‘‘darker nation’’ overlooked by the mainstream press, African Americans began operating their first newspaper in 1827 with Freedom’s Journal. Alongside newspapers, blacks eventually founded and maintained successful magazines as well. While many of these organs remained small or local in terms of circulation, they nonetheless provided an important outlet for black writers and journalists, and they served as a source of pride and information for their readers.3 However, unlike other separate businesses operated by blacks, newspapers were unique in that, while they needed readers, the bulk of their possible revenue came from advertisers. Consequently, it is here that our story begins. The entry of African Americans into the advertising industry business has its beginnings in the related field of journalism. It was black publishers who, beginning in the second decade of the century, were the first to vocally and publicly press American corporations to recognize and patronize the black consumer market. Black publishers were key figures in the chain of events leading to an African American presence in the advertising industry. Some pressed for corporate recognition of black consumers in the interests of increasing revenue to their own newspapers. Others did so, though, while still recognizing the need for revenue, out of a belief that consumer goods were one additional aspect of full equality for African Americans. In other words, having blacks recognized...

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