The Merchant Prince of Black Chicago

Anthony Overton and the Building of a Financial Empire

Robert E. Weems Jr. (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

248 Seiten

2020
University of Illinois Press (Verlag)
978-0-252-08493-5 (ISBN)

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Born to enslaved parents, Anthony Overton became one of the leading African American entrepreneurs of the twentieth century. Overton's Chicago-based empire ranged from personal care products and media properties to insurance and finance. Yet, despite success and acclaim as the first business figure to win the NAACP's Spingarn Medal, Overton remains an enigma.Robert E. Weems Jr. restores Overton to his rightful place in American business history. Dispelling stubborn myths, he traces Overton's rise from mentorship by Booker T. Washington, through early failures, to a fateful move to Chicago in 1911. There, Overton started a popular magazine aimed at African American women that helped him dramatically grow his cosmetics firm. Overton went on to become the first African American to head a major business conglomerate, only to lose significant parts of his businesses—and his public persona as ”the merchant prince of his race”—in the Depression, before rebounding once again in the early 1940s.

Revealing and panoramic, The Merchant Prince of Black Chicago weaves the fascinating life story of an African American trailblazer through the eventful history of his times.

Robert E. Weems Jr. is the Willard W. Garvey Distinguished Professor of Business History at Wichita State University. His books include Business in Black and White: American Presidents and Black Entrepreneurs in the Twentieth Century and Building the Black Metropolis: African American Entrepreneurship in Chicago.

CoverCopyrightContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Anthony Overton’s Early Life: Myth versus Reality2. A Star Is Born: Initial Years in Chicago3. The Half-Century Magazine: 1916–19254. Business Titan: The Douglass National Bank and the Victory Life Insurance Company5. What Goes Up Must Come Down: The Impact of the Great DepressionEpilogue: Final Years and LegacyAppendix A: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance CompanyAppendix B: Atlanta Life Insurance CompanyAppendix C: Liberty Life Insurance CompanyAppendix D: Victory Life Insurance CompanyNotesSelected BibliographyIndex

Erscheinungsdatum	11.03.2020
Zusatzinfo	18 black & white photographs, 5 tables
Verlagsort	Baltimore
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	340 g
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Beruf / Finanzen / Recht / Wirtschaft ► Wirtschaft
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-10	0-252-08493-4 / 0252084934
ISBN-13	978-0-252-08493-5 / 9780252084935
Zustand	Neuware