Black Entrepreneurs in America: Stories of Struggle and Success

This concise study of recent trends in black entrepreneurship, with its excellent historical summary, asks two questions: ""Why has it taken so long?"" and ""Why is it still so hard?"" Indeed, even in antebellum America, blacks owned prosperous businesses serving predominantly white clientele, while industrious slaves maintained small businesses in their free time (time for which they had to pay their masters). Between 1820 and 1830, Philadelphia's sail-making industry was controlled by African Americans, as was Cincinnati's largest provisions dealer in 1850. All might have progressed nicely had not the Supreme Court ruled for racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. Woodard, who was educated as a sociologist, is president and CEO of Woodard and Associates, a national consulting firm, a position that affords him a good perspective on corporate America. Through his interviews, 12 black business owners outline their struggles to success--sagas which will undoubtedly resonate with women and other minorities, as well. Frustrating, senseless and demeaning obstacles recur in each story, most notably unequal access to financing and the unapproachable domain of white-dominated bondsmen. The businesspeople here also display an admirable combination of characteristics including pragmatism, dedication to quality, social concern and an obsessive drive for knowledge. Each interviewee is so sympathetic and each struggle so affecting that it will be a hard-hearted reader who doesn't feel a thrill at their eventual successes. More than just a business book, this is an affecting, inspiring book for any nascent entrepreneur. (Feb.) FYI: Black Corporate Executives: The Making and Breaking of a Black Middle Class is reviewed on page 67 of this issue.