In honor of Black History Month, Vanderbilt Financial Group wanted to highlight 10 important figures who broke the racial barriers of Wall Street and other financial institutions. These stories bring these little known pioneers in the industry into the spotlight and show the importance of African-Americans in finance.
O.W. Gurley
Founder of Black Wallstreet
Gurley grew up in Pine Bluff Arkansas, the son of two freed slaves. In 1905, he went on to purchase 40 acres of property in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which would become the Greenwood district.
Between 1910 and 1920 the black population of the area grew from 2,000 to 8,000, with many being doctors, lawyers, and black business owners, who were initially backed by Gurley. This area would become to be known as "Black Wall Street."
Gurley lost nearly all of his fortune as a result of the Tulsa Massacre and lived out the rest of his days with his wife in Los Angeles, where they ran a small hotel.
resource: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/o-w-gurley-1868-1935/
Maggie Lena Walker
First African American Woman to Found a Bank in the United States
Born in 1864, Maggie Walker was a prominent businesswoman and community leader.
She became the first African American woman to establish and become president of a bank in United States history when she founded St. Luke Penny Savings Bank. Walker also was dedicated to improving the lives of African Americans and women post-Civil War, as seen by her joining the boards/councils of the National Association of Colored Women, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Independent Order of St. Luke.
resource: https://www.nps.gov/mawa/learn/historyculture/maggie-lena-walker.htm
Reginald F. Lewis
Owner of the First Black-Owned Business to Generate $1 Billion in Annual Revenue
Lewis was born on December 7, 1942, in East Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Harvard Law School and graduated in 1968. Two years later he, along with a few others, set up Wall Street’s first African American law firm.
In 1992, as Chairman and CEO of TLC Beatrice International, Lewis repositioned the company, paid down their debt, and vastly increased its worth. This resulted in the company having sales of over $1.8 billion annually, making it the first black-owned business to generate a billion dollars in annual sales.
Unfortunately, Reginald F. Lewis's life was cut short by his untimely death after a short illness in January 1993.
resource: https://reginaldflewis.com/bio/
William Washington Browne
Chartered The Nations First Black Financial Institution
Born in 1849, William Washington Browne was a former slave, Union soldier, methodist preacher, and teacher.
Browne founded the African American fraternal organization the Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers.
In 1882, Browne started the True Reformer's bank in Richmond, Virginia, which was the nation’s first black-owned and black-operated bank, and did so until his death in 1897.
resource: https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/browne-william-washington-1849-1897/
Joseph L. Searles III
First African American Floor Member and Floor Broker on the New York Stock Exchange
Joseph Searles III was born in 1942 and was a football player, lawyer, businessman, and community leader.
Searles went on the graduate from George Washington University with a degree in law but went on to play professional football for the New York Giants.
After football, he became the first African American floor member and floor broker on the New York Stock Exchange in 1970.
Additionally, he had two gubernatorial appointments as Chairman and Director of the State of New York Mortgage Agency.
resources: https://aaregistry.org/story/joseph-searles-iii-born/
Lilla St. John
First African American Woman to Pass the New York Stock Exchange Exam
In 1953, Lilla St. John became the first African American woman to pass the New York Stock Exchange exam for financial advisors. The 25-year-old, mother of two studied for two months in order the pass the exam. When asked stated that she "finds capital investments utterly fascinating."
Prior to this, Lilla hosted her own music television show in Milwaukee.
source: https://cupblog.org/2019/03/20/five-african-american-women-pioneers-in-u-s-finance/
John Wesley Cromwell Jr.
The Nation's First African American CPA
John W. Cromwell Jr., born in 1883 in Washington D.C., was the son of a former slave that went on to become the nation's first African American CPA. This took 15 years of persistence, after he graduated, to do so.
A graduate of Howard and Dartmouth Universities, he went on to become a teacher at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, a prestigious Black high school.
source: https://www.icpas.org/BlackCPAcentennial/stories/john-w-cromwell-jr-cpa
Norman L. McGhee Sr.
Founded the First Black-Owned Brokerage Firm in the United States
Norman L. McGhee Sr. was born in Austell, Georgia in 1897. he worked as a railway porter to earn his way through Howard University where he earned his law degree.
In 1952 he established McGhee & Co., founding the first black-owned brokerage firm in the United States. McGhee was also the first African American licensed stock dealer in the Midwest.
In addition to his work in finance, McGhee practiced law, was a real estate businessman, newspaper editor, and community leader and organizer.
resource: https://case.edu/ech/articles/m/mcghee-norman-l-sr
Ernesta Procope
First African American to Own a Business on Wall Street
Ernesta Procope was born in 1923, in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of two immigrants.
In 1953 she founded the insurance company E.G. Bowman and in 1979 moved the company to 97 Wall Street. This move made Ernesta the first African American to own a business in the center of New York’s financial district.
In Addition to this Procope was the broker of record for the New York City Housing Authority and the principal insurance broker for the construction of the United States section of the Alaska Pipeline.
She was inducted into the African American Hall of Fame in 2003 and in 2006, she was inducted into the Minority Business Hall of Fame and Museum.
By the 2000s, she was known as “The First Lady of Wall Street.”
resources: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/ernesta-procope-1923-2021/
June Middleton
First Black Woman Stock Broker
June Middleton became the first Black woman stock broker working for the New York Stock Exchange firm Merrill Lynch in the early 1960s.
She is a graduate of Columbia University, majoring in economics and managerial accounting, and Touro Law School where she received her Juris Doctor degree.
Middleton started her career advising small businesses on all aspects of operations and helped create business plans and budgets. After, she worked for Hornblower & Weeks and where she reportedly learned to interpret the stock market tables while attending a Manhattan public school.
resources: https://www.abepmpls.org/blog/black-figures-in-finance
https://www.fia.org/marketvoice/articles/black-americans-who-broke-through-barriers-finance