Black Owned Business

Black Owned Business 

The myth that people of African descent lack a historic tradition of business participation is contributed by the deliberate, systematic and institutionalized actions of whites almost 300 years ago that consciously excluded the whites from being part of the American business community. The roots of Black-owned businesses can be traced back to the days of slavery and even during the antebellum period. Black entrepreneurship has historically grown despite racism, white supremacy and even the civil wars however, why do we find the black business activity existing at practically the same level of industry participation as it did under slavery? This study focuses on analyzing black business ownership before and after the Civil War within the commercial grounds and social setting in the world where racial laws and several constitutional amendments were drafted that glorify equality. 

Africans lacked options for freedom and economic mobility before their populations increased in colonial America. The status of any individual in the community, especially black Americans was promogulated by their race and skin color and maintained by tyranny where white men occupied all the ranks and regions sanctioned and approved. Walker (XIV) notes that John Adams the second president of the United States argued that “power follows property”. However, for the wealthy antebellum blacks who owned plantations, the statement was just a dream for them since the properties and businesses they owned never translated to power. They had no power since they were limited by the racial consensus. A good example is William Leidesdorff one of the first black millionaires who after he died in 1848, was relegated to obscurity after his black origins were discovered. Historically, black businesses were small and have been sole proprietorships. 

In an attempt to build black business ownership. Tulsa, Oklahoma was once a place known as “Black Wall Street”, however in an attempt to strip away the black privilege in business, the Tulsa massacre 1921 that lasted over forty-eight hours has led to blacks not being denied entry to the place (Lahr, Darcelle, et al.462) The Tulsa massacre was as a result of a 19-year-old black man being accused of assaulting a white female who was an elevator operator an incident which most historians argue that he stepped accidentally. consequently, he was arrested, and tension in the area increased leading to the killing of more than 300 blacks in Tulsa. As a result, over 1200 blacks were burned and economic loss experienced more than one million US dollars. 

Lahr, Darcelle, et al (463) note that what makes Black communities lack economic mobility of their own business is the lack of access to growth capital, leadership education and market. As a result of economic inequality, the blacks find it hard to bypass any economic turmoil experienced in the country because they experience low profits in their business hence, they cannot pay rent nor take their children to good schools. The white business in America has succeeded because of the support from the government something that the black business lacks (Walker. XVI). The Government supports the white business through land grants, farm and oil subsidies and military contracts. 

In terms of employment, Black-owned firms tend to employ Blacks, the same as most whites who have higher chances of being employed in White-owned small firms (Wagner. 229). Wagner notes that many white employers plump for relatives and family members arguing that black employers do not have quality skills and hence will do poorly in the roles assigned. Bates, 1994.113 in Wagner.229 notes the contrast in the hiring trends between the black and the white enterprises. Bates notes that even when a white business is set up within minority communities, the most of their employees are whites, however, on the other hand, Black business enterprises will employ minority employees even when the business is located outside minority community. The latter research was noted a few years ago, sadly even today in this twentieth century the nonminority firms doing business in large urban areas have a handful or no minority workers. 

COVID-19 harshly impacted businesses around the world. To partially alleviate the deep economic toil caused by the pandemic, federal programs were enacted and put in place to provide financial support to small businesses and individuals affected (Atkins, et al.847). However, the programs tend to favor white-owned businesses structurally disadvantaging the blacks in terms of the loans they get, and what they do (Lahr, Darcelle.464). A major obstacle that black firms face is the white corporation's competition in capturing and controlling the black consumer market (Bartlett et, al.236). Bartlett et al note that the first time that the white market fully gained control of the black market was in the early 1950s with the Pepsi-Cola company. The majority of the Pepsi soft drinks were black. However, it is sad to note that no black nation in history has been able to acquire black economic growth by having a total black consumer market. The notion of “Equality” established by the civil rights movements, opened ways for the white private sector to develop creative ways of advertising to reap millions out of the black consumers hence leading to manipulation of the black culture and marginalization of the black entrepreneur even in today's world. 

Black-owned businesses are becoming more important to blacks since they provide employment opportunities to them because black individual unemployment is twice white unemployment (Ong, P. M., & Loukaitou-Sideris. 170). Black businesses are majorly located in the business neighborhoods thus serving a crucial role in economic development. However, despite the efforts and the marvelous contributions of the black business owners the racial system has disadvantaged the black business from accessing loans and entering the market the same way as white enterprises.

Work Cited

Atkins, Rachel, Lisa Cook, and Robert Seamans. "Discrimination in lending? Evidence from the paycheck protection program." 

Small Business Economics (2022): 1-23. file:///C:/Users/Admin/Videos/series/s11187-021-00533-1.pdf 

Bartlett, Robin L., and Lariece M. Brown. "African Americans in the US Economy, by Cecilia A. 

Conrad, John Whitehead, Patrick Mason and James Stewart." (2008): 410-412. https://sci-hub.hkvisa.net/10.1080/0194436060897 

Lahr, Darcelle, et al. "Where do we go from here? The survival and recovery of black-owned businesses post-COVID-19." Humanity & Society 46.3 (2022): 460-477. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/01605976211049243 

Ong, Paul M., and Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, eds. Jobs and economic development in minority communities. Temple University Press, 2006. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vkBzEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA161&dq=black+owned+businesses&ots=7pb4jwuSq2&sig=cKigauMXOpZIiTvOV-b3PCtqxdk&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=black%20owned%20businesses&f=false 

Wagner, Adam. Creating Place: Business, Community Development, and Neighborhood Identity In Shaw/U Street and Anacostia. 

Diss. 2019. https://sci-hub.hkvisa.net/10.1080/01944360608976741 Walker, Juliet EK. "Racism, slavery, and free enterprise: Black entrepreneurship in the United States before the Civil War." 

Business History Review 60.3 (1986): 343-382. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=mfiV6kQm2OYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=The+History+of+Black+Business+in+America:+Capitalism,+Race+...,+Volume+1+By+Juliet+E.+K.+Walker&ots=PXxe4ilsjG&sig=pFsaPbl_J1NxFjY5s2XGumL5xvM&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=The%20History%20of%20Black%20Business%20in%20America%3A%20Capitalism%2C%20Race%20...%2C%20Volume%201%20By%20Juliet%20E.%20K.%20Walker&f=false