Black History, Business, Firsts, Other
John W Cromwell
In 1921, John W. Cromwell, Jr., became the first African-American to earn the designation of CPA, some 25 years after the first CPA certificate was granted in the United States. Cromwell was a member of one of the leading African-American families in the country. His father was a teacher, political activist, attorney, and chief examiner for the U.S. Post Office. Cromwell’s older sister, Otelia, was the first African-American alumna of Smith College and went on to earn a Ph.D. in English at Yale. Cromwell was exceptional himself. He graduated from Dartmouth as the best student in science in the class of 1906. A year later he completed his master’s degree there.
The profession most open to African-Americans at the time was teaching. After finishing at Dartmouth, Cromwell returned home to Washington, D.C., and became a mathematics teacher at the Dunbar School, the most prestigious black high school in the country.
Fifteen years passed before John Cromwell became a CPA. He was not allowed to sit for the CPA exam in Washington, D.C., Virginia, or Maryland. In addition, all those places had experience requirements. The biggest barrier to African-Americans in becoming CPAs has always been the experience requirement: In order to become a CPA you have to work for a CPA, and for the first two-thirds of the last century, most firms would not hire African-Americans. (more…)
Black History, Business
Macon Bolling Allen
Macon Bolling Allen is believed to be the first black man in the United States who was licensed to practice law. Born Allen Macon Bolling in 1816 in Indiana, he grew up a free man. Bolling learned to read and write on his on his own and eventually landed his first a job as a schoolteacher where he further refined his skills.
In the early 1840s Bolling moved from Indiana to Portland, Maine. There he changed his name to Macon Bolling Allen and became friends with local anti-slavery leader General Samuel Fessenden, who had recently began a law practice. Fessenden took on Allen as an apprentice/law clerk. By 1844 Allen had acquired enough proficiency that Fessenden introduced him to the Portland District court and stated that he thought Allen should be able to practice as a lawyer. He was refused on the grounds that he was not a citizen, though according to Maine law anyone “of good moral character� could be admitted to the bar. He then decided to apply for admission by examination. After passing the exam and earning his recommendation he was declared a citizen of Maine and given his license to practice law on July 3, 1844.
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Black History, Business, Medicine
Captain Paul Cuffee
A man of great energy and resolve, Paul Cuffee was born on the tiny island of Cuttyhunk, eleven miles offshore of New Bedford, MA. He was the seventh of ten children of Kofi Slocum, a freed African slave, and Ruth Moses, a Wampanoag Indian. His father took the name Slocum out of respect for the man who had freed him, John Slocum, a Quaker whose family owned Cuttyhunk.
His mother was descended from a long line of Wampanoags who had been friendly to the early white settlers. They were a hardworking, devout couple. Quakers themselves, they raised their children to be contributing citizens. They were free and ambitious, and they prospered. (more…)
Business
1810-1848
Born in the Virgin Islands, William A. Leidesdorff moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, at age twenty-nine. In 1841, he relocated to Yerba Buena, a settlement that later became San Francisco. Over the next four years, Leidesdorff sailed ships with trade goods between San Francisco and Hawaii, and he operated the first steamer to pass through the Golden Gate. After piloting a schooner from New York to California by way of the southern tip of South America, he turned to civic matters.
As a business and educational leader, Leidesdorff built San Francisco’s first hotel (City Hotel), served as city treasurer, and established the city’s first public school. Leidesdorff’s body lies beneath the stone floor of the Mission Dolores in San Francisco. Leidesdorff Street, which runs through San Francisco’s financial district in the shadow of the Transamerica Building, pays tribute to him.
Business
1911 – 1999
In 1940, became the first African-American to own a new motor vehicle franchise, a Studebaker dealership
Established a Chrysler dealership in 1963, becoming the first African-American owner of a ?Big Three? dealership
Chronicled his own struggle against racism in the book ?One Man?s Way?
Edward Davis was a trailblazer who paved the way for minority business owners in the automotive industry.
Leaving his Louisiana birthplace, Davis took a risk in the hope of a better future in Detroit, where he moved in with his uncle. After graduating from Cass Technical High School, Davis worked as a mechanic and eventually became employed at a Dodge Motor Company plant. Impressed with Davis? hard work, the plant supervisor?s son offered Davis a job selling cars in a Detroit dealership. Davis succeeded as an auto salesman in spite of racial harassment, and he decided to establish a dealership of his own.
Davis opened a Studebaker dealership in 1940 and operated it until 1956, when Studebaker entered bankruptcy. Davis then operated a service and used car business until 1963, when he was awarded a Chrysler-Plymouth franchise.
Successful with customers of all races, Davis promoted civic awareness through his dealership, whose slogan was: ?Good citizenship is our business, too.?
Business
1876-1934. Walker, the daughter of former slaves, worked from a young age. When her father died, Walker helped her mother run her laundry business. She joined the Independent Order of St. Luke (IOSL) at age 14. The organization was a fraternal order that provided health care for ailing African Americans and helped families make burial arrangements. It also promoted racial solidarity.
Walker graduated from Richmond’s Armstrong Normal School in 1883 and took a teaching job at the Lancaster School. In 1886 she married Armistead Walker, Jr., a building contractor.
She took a position as the executive secretary-treasurer of the debt-ridden IOSL in 1889. In 1902 Walker began publishing the St. Luke Herald, a newsletter to publicize the group’s mission. Under her guidance the IOSL prospered, and she established the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in 1903. She served as president of the bank, which made loans to members of the black community. By 1920, the bank had financed the purchase of about 600 homes. The St. Luke Penny Savings Bank merged with the Second Street Savings Bank and became the Consolidated Bank and Trust Company in 1930. Walker served as its chairman of the board.
Walker was also a founder and president of the Richmond Council of Colored Women, a member of the National Association of Wage Earners, the National Urban League, and a cofounder of the Richmond branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
She had three sons, one of whom died in infancy. In 1915, her son Russell mistook his father for an intruder and shot and killed him.
