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MIDWESTERN STATES
Henry Boyd, inventor. Boyd was a Ken
tucky freedman. He settled in Cincin
nati. There, he invented a corded bed. It
came to be in great demand throughout
the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. Boyd
employed twenty-five men. The opera
tion helped to diminish racial prejudice
against black mechanics in the city.
Robert Gordon, merchant. He was
born a slave in Richmond, Virginia, As a
young man, he was placed in charge of
the coal yard on the plantation. To
reward his efficiency, he was given all
the slack from the coal which he sold to
local manufacturers. After accumulat
ing several thousands of dollars, he
purchased his freedom in 1846. He went
to Cincinnati and entered the coal busi
ness. His success incurred the envy of
white competitors. They conspired to
squeeze out Gordon by lowering prices
to a point at which he could not compete.
Soon the Ohio River froze, making it
impossible to transport coal into the
city. Gordon then sold out of his supply
at a higher price. He increased his
wealth sufficiently to invest heavily in
United States bonds and in real estate.
John Jones (1816-1879), tailor. Jones
came to Chicago as a young man with a
pittance of money, but the tailoring
business made him wealthy. He helped
to finance the underground railroad
and fought against racial discrimina
tion in Illinois. One of the victories was
getting repeal of the , "Black Laws"
which denied legal equality. He was also
instrumental in securing passage of a
law that admitted black children to
Chicago schools. The city's first public
library was located in one of his build
ingsamong the best in the city. After
the Civil War, he was twice elected Cook
County Commissioner.
NORTHWESTERN STATES
James P. Beckwourth (1798-1867),
frontiersman, fur trader, innkeeper.
Beckwourth was born in Virginia, a
mulatto son of an officer in the Revolu
tionary War. The family relocated to a
settlement near present-day St. Louis.
At eighteen, Beckwourth was appren
ticed jto a blacksmith, but he ran away,
refusing to live as a slave. He joined a
Rocky Mountains expedition and found
that on the frontier a man is a man,
regardless of color. With this satisfac
' tion, he became a man of the mountains,
James Beckwourth,
frontiersman and In
dian fighter. The
picture is from' his
1856 story of his
life and adventures.
NEW ENGLAND STATES
Lewis Temple, a blacksmith in New
Bedford, Massachusetts, invented the
toggle harpoon in 1848. It became the .
standard instrument in whaling, and
was regarded as the most important
invention in the industry. The fact that
it did not. slip out of a whale's mouth
made it possible to capture more whales.
David Walker (1785-1830), clothier.
Born in Wilmington, North Carolina,
Walker migrated to Boston. He estab
lished a used clothes business there in
1827. Having an abhorrence to slavery
and impatient over the slow progress to
freedom, he published three issues in
1829 of Walker's Appeal in Four Ar
ticles, Together with a Preamble to the
Colored Citizens of the World but in
Particular and very Expressly to Those
of the United States of America. In
uncompromising language, he appealed
to blacks to use force, if necessary, to
gain freedom. This publication was
considered incendiary' by slaveholders,
and untimely by many abolitionists.
Slaves were forbidden to obtain it,
under threat of punishment and,, in
some cases, death. Shortly after publi
cation, Walker died under mysterious
circumstances. 7
MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES
Cato Alexander (1771-1858), caterer.,
Alexander was an ex-slave. He estab
lished a tavern on the Old Poet Road;'
way uptown in New York at that time. It
was a favorite resort for aristocracy for .
48 years. They had special parties there.
One writer stated, "those who tasted his
terrapin, fried chicken, curried oysters,
roast duck, or drank, his Virginia egg- ,
nog-wondered how anyone wn0 owned
him could sell him 'even to himself."
Another writer wrote, "not to know
Cato's is not to know the world." Alex
ander made a fortune. .
Robert Bogle (7-1837), caterer. It is
not known precisely when Bogle estab
lished his business in Philadelphia. It is
a matter of record, however, that early
in the 19th century he was conducting a
& prosperous enterprise. Bogle started 1
out as a waiter, then went into business
professionalizing catering to affluent
and prominent families. He acquired
considerable wealth.
Peter Augustine took over Bogle's
business in 1818, and within a few years
the business became known throughout
the nation; His clients were among the
best families in. the city, distinguished
foreign visitors, and the prominent
among American officialdom. James
Prosser and his son, He n ry Jones, He n ry
Mintim and Thomas Dorsey followed as
the leading caterers between 1845 and
1875.
George T. Downing (1819-1903), ca
terer. At 26 years of age, Downey's
restaurant at 690 Broadway in New
York, was already a popular place for
high society. He had other places in
Newport and in Providence, Rhode Is
land. By 1860, he had earned enough
money to finance construction of a
. block of buildings in New York. In 1865,
he was asked to manage the restaurant
of the House of Representatives. He
accepted.
Thomas Jennings (1791-1859), tailor,
inventor. Jennings invented a process
for cleaning clothes. He patented it and
became wealthy. He was an activist and
benefactor in the anti-slavery move-
ment.
Stephen Smith (1795-1873), mer
chant, realtor, philanthropist. Smith
was born a slave and was brought to
Columbia, Pennsylvania, in 1804. His
mother escaped and followed him to
Columbia. His master took her in and
refused to give her up to her mistress.
Smith grew up to become a business
man, forming a partnership with Wil
liam Whipper, an activist in the under
ground railroad and an intellectual.
They operated a coal and lumber busi
ness and became very successful, ac
cumulating stock in several thousand
bushels of coal, 2,250,000 feet of lumber,
22 railway cars on the Baltimore to
Philadelphia route, $9,000 of stock in the ;;
Columbia Bridge, and $18,000 of stock f
in the Columbia Bank-Smith was re- Afj
color in the United States. In 18D)a n . v .
contributed property and cash amount- t
ing to $250,000 for establishment of a ' -home
in Philadelphia for the aged, the
first home in the United States for
black aged people. The home bears his
name.
William Still (1821-1902), "abolition
ist, merchant, philanthropist. Still was
born free and came to Philadelphia in
1841. In 1847, he became a clerk in the.
office of the Pennsylvania Society for
the Abolition of Slavery. Between 1851
and 1861, he was chairman and corre
sponding secretary of the Philadelphia
branch of underground railroad. Then,
he started his own business-a new and
used stove operation. It was successful
and enabled him to construct an office
building and enter the coal business
from which he amassed a fortune. He
also constructed the largest black
owned public hall in the country. He is
best known for his book, "The Under
ground Railroad", published in 1873. It
recorded the stories told to him by
fugitive slaves whom he interviewed
when they reached Philadelphia for
further instructions about their flight.
Still founded the first black YMCA.
NEW ENGLAND STATES
A. C. Howard (1863-?), Mississippi,
manufacturer. -Mr. Howard went to
school only briefly before he went to
work at the age of ten in order to help
support his-mother. They finally settled
in Boston where he worked first as a
steward on a yacht, and then as a porter "
for the Pullman Company. He observed
- that there was a need for improving the
blacking used for polishing shoes, and
he began to experiment in making a
more satisfactory shoe polish. He suc
ceeded in doing so and started a busi
ness with $180. By 1907, he was produc
ing 7,200 cans of polish a day, with his
picture on it, and shipments were made
all over the United States.
J H. Lewis, Heathsville, North Caro
lina, merchant tailor. Mr. Lewis spent
the first eighteen years of his life on a
farm. In 1875 or 1876, he went ,to Con
cord, New Hampshire. There he learned
tailoring, after which time he settled in
. . Boston and opened his own shop with a '
capital of $100. By 1896, the business
was grossing $150,000 a year. He be-
- .- - came the second largest merchant tailor
in Massachusetts,-and the fourth larg
est of the business in the United States.
Jan Earnest Matzeliger (1852-1889),
Paramaribo, Surinam (Dutch Guiana),
inventor. Matzeliger's father was a
Dutch engineer and his mother, was
black. Around the age of ten, he became -ah
apprentice in the government ma
chine shop; and at nineteen became a
sailor for two years. He quit the ship in
Philadelphia, worked on odd jobs, in
cluding one on which he learned to put .
shoe parts together. Tiring of Philadel
phia, he went to Boston and then to
T Lynn, the largest shoe manufacturing
center in the country. There he worked
in several of the factories and familiar
ized himself with most of the machine
i ry. His English was halting and he was'
subjected to racial discrimination, even
in churches. He carefully studied the
technique employed in connecting
"uppers" to the soles of shoes, and went
to evening school to improve his English
and to learn something about physics
and related subjects. Convinced that a
machine could make the whole shoe, he
worked diligently for six months to
produce his first model, for which he
was offered, but declined $50. Several
years passed before he produced the
second model, for which hie was offered,
but refused $1500.
Matzeliger, was in poor health and
needed financial assistance to begin the
third model. This was obtained in re
turn for two-thirds interest in the un
dertaking. In 1883, he succeeded, to his
satisfaction, in producing a machine
that would produce the whole shoe in a
matter of minutes. The machine revolu
tionized the industry. Production cost
was drastically reduced and this ena
bled most people in the civilized world to
buy and wear shoes. Matzeliger contin
ued to improve the machine and 're
ceived four additional patents. He ac
quired very little compensation for his
ingenious effort that resulted in the
formation of the United Shoe Machine
ry Corporation which had a capitaliza
tion of over fifty million dollars in 1955.
Civil War and worked in various cater-
ing establishments before settling in
Yonkers. There he started a catering ,
business from his home and sold dishes A
for social affairs. The latter business
prospered faster than the catering end,
so he opened a store to sell these dishes
to support the catering venture. The
idea worked and, in due course, he rent
ed and later purchased a building in the
downtown section of the city and com"
bined the two businesses. The building
housed a concert hall, the post office and
other public, offices. His clientele of
wealthy people extended to New York
City. He became one of the largest
tax-payers in Yonkers; the proprietor' of
,the largest apartment house in the city;,
a stockholder in several banks; an im
portant factor in the commercial life of
the city; and the spokesman for the
black population.
Christopher J. Perry, Sr, (1864-1921),
Baltimore, Maryland, newspaper pub
lisher. Mr. Perry was free-born. He has
the distinction of founding The Phila
delphia Tribune- in 1884, the oldest
black-oriented newspaper still in exis
tence. He availed himself of the meager
schooling provided black children in
Baltimore. As a young man, he went to
Philadelphia, attended evening school
and worked in private homes where he
had access to books. As early asl867, he
began writing newsy and interesting
letters to newspapers. In 1881, he was
engaged by one of the daily newspapers
I Q .VS
MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES
Mrs. Henrietta S. Duterte, (7-1903),
Philadelphia, mortician. Mrs. Duterte
succeeded her husband, Francis, who
established the business in 1852. He died
in 1858. She was, reportedly, the first
practicing female mortician in the
United States, if not in the world.
Lewis Howard Latimer, (1848-1928),
Chelsea, Massachusetts, inventor. Lati
mer was free born. When he was ten
years old, he went to work to support
himself and to assist his mother and the
four other children. During the Civil
War, he served in the Navy. After dis
charge, he became an office boy for a
Boston company of patent lawyers.
There he taught himself drafting and
was reluctantly upgraded to that posi
tion. In due course, he was made chief
draftsman. Latimer married in 1893.
He made the drawings and assisted
Alexander Graham Bell to prepare the
application for patenting the telephone
which was granted in 1876. In 1874,
Latimer, received a patent for his in
vention of the "Water Closets for
Railroad Cars".
As a draftsman for the United States
Electric Company in Bridgeport, Con
necticut, he improved ways in which the
carbon f ilaments were made and set
into the incandescent lamp. It came into
wide use. In 1881, together with Joseph
V. Nichols, Latimer was granted a pa
tent for an electric lamp, and in 1882, he
received a patent for his "Process of
Manufacturing Carbons", a superior
filament to the one produced earlier.
Another of his inventions was the
"Globe Supporter for Electric Lamps".
Latimer installed some of the incandes
cent electric light plants in New York,
Philadelphia, Canada and London.
In 1884, he was invited to join the
Engineering Department of Edison
Electric Company in New York. This he
did and in 1890, he was transferred to
the Legal Department of the company.
His work there led to appointment as
chief draftsman for the consortium of
General Electric and the Westinghouse
Companies to protect their patents
against encroachments. This operation
was discontinued in 1911 and Latimer
became an associate with the engineer
ing firm of Hammer and Schwarz.
While with Edison, Latimer became
one of the Edison Pioneers, an associa
tion of scientists who worked with Edi
son in development of his electrical
inventions. Latimer wrote a book in
1890 entitled Incandencent Electric
Lighting: A Practical Description of the
Edison Syxtem.
Hi law ;
ratus for Cooling and Disinfecting", in . r :
1896 and, in the same year a contraption
for a "Locking Rack for Hats, Coats and
Umbrellas", and in ,1905, another con- , . .
traption "Book Supports", r V : ''''&) r
A school in Brooklyn, New York, was
named after him in 1968. Latimer is also i ' '
the author of several poems.
Francis J. Moultrie, (1842-7),
Charleston, South Carolina, caterer. Mr.
Moultrie went to school in his home
town. He came to New York after the . .
Jan Matzeliger, inventor of the machine
that revolutionized the shoe industry and
made Lynn, Massachusetts the shoe
capital of the world. Government ex
perts, baffled by his patent drawings,
sent a specialist to examine the machine. ,
Matzeliger died young and poor after
working ten years to develop his device.
to write a colum about the social events
and activities of blacks in the city. Later,
he became editor of the Colored De-.
partment of the Sunday Mirror. The
editorial experience acquired led to his
establishing The Tribune. In addition
to operating the newspaper, he served
the city as deputy sheriff, and a
member of the Common Council.
James C. Thomas, (1864-?), Harris
bury, Texas, mortician. Mr. Thomas re
ceived very little education. His parents
died when he was nine years old and, as
soon as he was able, he went to work to
contribute to the support of his six
sisters. Thomas drifted to Galveston :
and did odd jobs until he was engaged
as a cabin boy on a steam boat. He did
this work on several boats shipping out
of New Orleans until he was seventeen
years old. The boat on which he last
worked could not dock in New Orleans
because of the yellow fever epidemic.
Instead, it came to New York and
Thomas remained in the city. Here, he
worked as a steward and in similar jobs
in Boston and Saratoga from 1881 to
1897. He saved his money and married
in 1884.
After learning the rudiments of the
-undertaking business, he opened his
establishment. At the time, there were
two other blacks in the business-One in
Manhattan and the other in Brooklyn.
White undertakers had most of the'
burials of blacks. Because of the quality
of Thomas' servi.ee, the economical,
careful and conscientious dealings with
people, he not only obtained more busi
ness than the other black undertakers,
but became the second largest under
taker in the city, getting business in
greater New York and adjoining towns ''
in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. From y
1897 to 1907, Mr. Thomas superintended
some 3,500 burials. He became a stock
holder in the Chelsea National Bank,
and a director and the heaviest stock
holder in the Afro-American Realty
Company.
John S. Trower, (1849-?), Northamp
ton,. Virginia, caterer. From sixteen
yeers old to twenty-one, Mr. Trower
worked on a farm. After finishing pay
ments on it for his family, he went to
Baltimore worked as an oyster-opener
and saved his money to come North. He
settled in Germantown, a suburb of
Philadelphia, and opened a restaurant.
From the very beginning he prospered
and added a catering service, appealing
to the wealthy and fashionable resi
dents. They responded and Mr. Trower
purchased a three-story building., He
made it into the most complete business
of its kind in the country, employing
some twenty-odd people. He became
wealthy and conducted a lucrative real
estate operation as an avocation.
BLACK PIONEERS IN BUSINESS
WILL BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK