Hidden Gems in Black History: Black Wall Street

During the early 20th century, African Americans established thriving economic and commercial hubs in several cities, including Chicago, Tulsa, and Durham. Each neighborhood had its own nickname reflecting its prominence as a financial boomtown, but Black Wall Street is widely used to characterize these historic Black concentrations of wealth and success. The Origins of Black Wall Street Hayti in Durham, Bronzeville in Chicago, Sweet Auburn in Atlanta, West Ninth Street in Little Rock, Arkansas, Farish Street in Jackson, Mississippi, and Jackson Ward in Richmond, Virginia, were among the nation’s most prosperous African American communities in the early 1900s, with thriving business and economic ecosystems.  Black Wall Street communities may be best familiar with Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood. Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Institute, dubbed Greenwood “Negro Wall Street” for its significant concentration of Black professionals within 40 square blocks.  Black people and families from throughout the nation moved to Tulsa after Washington’s proclamation and the oil boom to start companies and raise money to develop a self-sufficient, wealthy society. Post-Civil War America was segregated, but Black Wall Street allowed Black entrepreneurs to sell to their neighbors as many white-owned firms wouldn’t serve Black clients. African Americans founded insurance firms,...