Business in Black and White: American Presidents and Black Entrepreneurs in the Twentieth Century

by Robert E. Weems, Lewis A. Randolph (With)

Overview

Business in Black and White provides a panoramic discussion of various initiatives that American presidents have supported to promote black business development in the United States. Many assume that U.S. government interest in promoting black entrepreneurship began with Richard Nixon's establishment of the Office of Minority Business Enterprise (OMBE) in 1969. Drawn from a variety of sources, Robert E. Weems, Jr.'s comprehensive work extends the chronology back to the Coolidge Administration with a compelling discussion of the Commerce Departmen's “Division of Negro Affairs.”

Weems deftly illustrates how every administration since Coolidge has addressed the subject of black business development, from campaign promises to initiatives to downright roadblocks. Although the governmen's influence on black business dwindled during the Eisenhower Administration, Weems points out that the subject was reinvigorated during the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations and, in fact, during the early-to-mid 1960s, when “civil rights” included the right to own and operate commercial enterprises. After Nixon's resignation, support for black business development remained intact, though it met resistance and continues to do so even today. As a historical text with contemporary significance, Business in Black and White is an original contribution to the realms of African American history, the American presidency, and American business history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814795408
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	02/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Lewis A. Randolph is professor of Political Science at Ohio University and co-editor, with Gayle T. Tate, of Dimensions of Black Conservatives in the United States: Made in America.

Robert E. Weems, Jr., is Professor of History at the University of Missouri-Columbia and author of Desegregating the Dollar: African American Consumerism in the Twentieth Century (NYU Press).

Table of Contents

List of TablesAcknowledgments Introduction: The Initiatives Leading to Black Capitalism  1 The Origins of the Commerce Department’s Division of Negro Affairs, 1925–1940 2 Emmer Lancaster and the Ascendancy and Fall of the Commerce Department’s Division of Negro Affairs, 1940–1960 3 More Than Civil Rights: The Kennedy and Johnson Administrations and African American Enterprise 4 The Democratic Party and Black Capitalism during the Presidential Election of 1968 5 Nixon and the “Militants”: The GOP and Black Capitalism during the Presidential Election of 1968 6 The National Response to Richard M. Nixon’s Black Capitalism Initiative 7 The Ford Administration and Black Capitalism  8 The Carter Administration and African American Enterprise Epilogue: Whatever Happened to Black Capitalism? Appendix NotesBibliography IndexAbout the Author