African-American Contributions to Missouri's Economy
African-Americans have made invaluable
contributions to the state’s economy. To wrap up Black History
Month, MERIC presents statistics highlighting this population and
their accomplishments:
- 11.75 percent/12.12 percent
Percentage of individuals identifying themselves as "Black or African-American alone" in Missouri and in the U.S., 2005
- 16,750
Number of African-American firms in Missouri in 2002; up 22 percent from 1997
-
$1.34 billion
Total sales and receipts, African-American firms in Missouri, 2002
- St. Louis
County with highest concentration of African-American owned firms, 35 percent in 2002; Jackson County was second at over 25 percent and St. Louis City third at 21 percent
- Health
care and social assistance
The top African-American-owned industry sector in Missouri, at 23 percent; other services was 18 percent; and retail trade 9 percent
African-American Economic History Timeline
Represents highlights only and not
meant to be an inclusive look at African-American economic history.
Click here for an timeline of African-Americans in Missouri.
1619
African slaves arrive in Jamestown; backbone of Southern economy
for centuries
1720
Slavery introduced to Missouri
1773
Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable, pioneer and
explorer, builds Lake Michigan trading post that becomes Chicago
1810
Afro-American Insurance Company founded in Philadelphia;
first known insurance firm owned and managed by African-Americans
1821
Thomas L. Jennings,
first known African-American patent holder, for a dry-cleaning process. Sarah E. Goode, 1885, first
African-American woman to receive patent, folding bed
1837
Frank Johnson’s dance orchestra of Philadelphia
tours England; believed to be first American band of any color to do
so
1845
Macon B. Allen becomes first licensed African-American lawyer when
admitted to the bar in Massachusetts. Shortly thereafter, Allen
becomes first African-American justice of the peace
1848
William Liedesdorff, shipping magnate, San
Francisco, believed first African-American millionaire
1862
Slavery abolished in Washington, D.C.
1865
Slavery abolished in Missouri
1866
Lincoln Institute founded in
Jefferson City by members of the 62nd and 65th United States Colored
Infantry
1867
Augusta Institute, later Morehouse College, founded in Atlanta;
Howard University in Washington, D.C.
1881
Tuskegee Institute, home to new generation
of entrepreneurs and educators, founded by Booker
T. Washington
1891
Provident Hospital, first true
African-American
hospital, founded in Chicago by Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (later,
Provident Hospital School of Nursing); foundation for Midwestern African-American healthcare.
Dr. Williams conducts first known successful open-heart surgery
there in 1893
Late 1800s- 1920s
Elijah McCoy has 57 patents for products (especially heavy
machinery) so reliable they are origin of term "the
real McCoy"
1900-1920
Golden age of African-American entrepreneurship
in Kansas City
http://www.blackarchives.org/time/mohistory.htm
go to "Kansas City's Entrepreneurship 1900-1920"
Early 1900s-1930s
George Washington Carver, born in Newton County in
1864 or 1865, develops hundreds of industrial uses for peanuts,
sweet potatoes, soybeans; new type of cotton; credited with
first true biofuel and for introducing crop rotation to farmers in the South
1900
Harlem Renaissance poet James Weldon Johnson composes lyrics to
"Lift
Ev'ry Voice and Sing", commonly known as "Negro (or Black)
National Anthem"
1905
Niagara Movement founded by W.E.B. Dubois, others, to promote full
civil liberties and an end to racial discrimination; group becomes NAACP
in 1909
1905
Chicago Defender, largest and most influential
African-American newspaper of early 20th century, founded
1910
National Urban League founded
1912
St. Louis Argus founded by Joseph E. Mitchell and George
Vaughan; still published today
1915
Lincoln Motion Picture Company, believed to be
first African-American production company, founded in Los Angeles
1918
African-American architect Vertner Woodson Tandy,
believed to be first African-American architect licensed in New York
State, designs mansion for African-American cosmetics magnate Madame
C. J. Walker, believed to be first African-American female
millionaire (hair straightening products), Hudson River north of New
York City
1919
Kansas City Call founded by Chester A. Franklin; also
still published
1923
Businessman/inventor Garrett A. Morgan patents
the traffic signal
1925
A. Phillip Randolph organizes Brotherhood of Sleeping Porters;
considered first true African-American union
1932
James W. Ford, first
African-American on a presidential ticket, Communist Party USA, vice
president
1944
United Negro College Fund founded
1948
President Truman orders integration of all U.S. armed forces
1954
Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka (Kan.): U.S. Supreme
Court
outlaws racial segregation of public
education. Separate but equal legal doctrine dead
1956
"The Nat King Cole Show" debuts, first
African-American-hosted network television show
1982
John Harold Johnson (Ebony, Jet),
first African-American on Forbes 400 list
of richest Americans
1986
"The Oprah Winfrey Show" debuts in Chicago. Forbes
says the queen
of all media is now worth $1.3 billion
2001
Robert Johnson (Black Entertainment Television
network) declared first African-American
billionaire
2007
Year of the African-American CEO: Kenneth Chenault, American Express; E.
Stanley O'Neal, Merrill Lynch; Richard
Parsons, AOL Time Warner -- and Ephren Taylor,
24, youngest
African-American
CEO ever, City Capital Corporation and AmoroCorp
Sources: US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2005 and 2002 Survey of Business Owners; Missouri Secretary of State Archives; historymakers.com; Black Archives of Mid-America; African American Odyssey; wikipedia; yahoo news; forbes.com
