The Negro in Business was published by Hertel, Jenkins & Company in 1907. Washington compiled the volume as a comprehensive directory and analysis of Black entrepreneurship in the United States, cataloging businesses by type, region, and capitalization. The purpose was both documentary and polemical: by demonstrating the scale and diversity of Black economic activity, Washington made the case that his philosophy of economic self-help was not merely theoretical but was already producing results.
The book covers banks (there were over fifty Black-owned banks by 1907), insurance companies, real estate firms, retail establishments, and professional practices. Washington interviews proprietors, quotes balance sheets, and traces the growth of Black business districts in cities from Durham to Atlanta to Chicago. The tone is boosterish — Washington was not writing a critical analysis but building a case — but the data is real and, for historians of Black economic history, irreplaceable.
The underlying argument is Washington’s perennial one: economic power precedes political power, and the man who owns his business, employs his neighbors, and pays his taxes will earn the respect that no amount of political agitation can secure. The argument’s appeal to white audiences was its promise of stability; its appeal to Black audiences was its promise of independence.
Collecting The Negro in Business
First edition (Hertel, Jenkins & Co., Chicago, 1907): Cloth binding.
Market values:
- First edition, near fine: $200–$500
- Very good: $80–$200
- Good: $30–$80