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Urban Locations of Eminent Black Entrepreneurs in the United States

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  • Robert L. Boyd

    (Department of Sociology, Mississippi State University, 207 Bowen Hall, Hardy Road, Mississippi State, Mississippi, 39762-5503, USA, boyd@soc.msstate.edu)

Abstract

Extraordinarily successful Black entrepreneurs have received relatively little attention in the literature on Black socioeconomic progress in the US. The present study fills this gap by identifying the urban centres that have been the main locations of Black entrepreneurs who have been classified by scholars as ‘eminent’. Biographical data from highly regarded encyclopaedic sources show that these entrepreneurs have concentrated in a small number of urban centres and have a skewed spatial distribution that resembles the famous ‘Pareto curve’. These data also indicate that, over most of the 20th century, Black communities in the urban South produced a disproportionate share of the Black Americans whose business successes have been nationally recognised. However, the data suggest that, by the end of the century, the largest metropolitan areas outside the South—Chicago, New York and Los Angeles—were becoming the primary locations of eminent Black entrepreneurs in the US.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert L. Boyd, 2009. "Urban Locations of Eminent Black Entrepreneurs in the United States," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(10), pages 2061-2078, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:46:y:2009:i:10:p:2061-2078
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098009339434
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Walker, Juliet E. K., 1986. "Racism, Slavery, and Free Enterprise: Black Entrepreneurship in the United States before the Civil War," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 60(3), pages 343-382, October.
    2. Franklin Wilson, 1975. "The ecology of a black business district," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 353-375, June.
    3. Higgs, Robert, 1976. "Participation of blacks and immigrants in the American Merchant class, 1890-1910: Some demographic relations," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 153-164, April.
    4. Amos Hawley, 1972. "Population density and the city," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 9(4), pages 521-529, November.
    5. Boyd, Robert L., 2008. "Residential segregation by race in cities and the employment of blacks in insurance occupations during the early 20th century," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 757-766, April.
    6. Robert L. Boyd, 2006. "Transformation of the Black Business Elite," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 87(3), pages 602-617, September.
    7. Ingham, John N., 2003. "Building Businesses, Creating Communities: Residential Segregation and the Growth of African American Business in Southern Cities, 1880–1915," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(4), pages 639-665, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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