Abstract
In the spirit of further expanding the heretofore unsung contributions of African American economists, we present two unpublished works from the 1930s of Joseph Roosevelt Houchins. They focus on Black business development and strategy. Biographical information and historical context for Houchins’s life experiences during the twentieth century are included in an introduction. Houchins was a member of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Black Cabinet, a leader of the Division of Negro Affairs in the U.S. Department of Commerce, and a chair and professor of economics at Howard University. These two writings reflect a strategic effort to strengthen the efficiency and impact of Black business as an engine of Black progress. The first document presented here analyzes the high failure rate of Black-owned insurance companies, a mainstay of Black business especially in the 1920s and 30s. Houchins determined that their failure was due to several factors: lack of business knowledge; lack of access to capital; a tendency towards over-expenditure on office furnishings; and an over-identification with the clients, paying unjustified claims and failing to collect premiums on policies. The second document reports the results of a national survey that Houchins conducted to create a complete listing of Black chambers of commerce that could be used for intra-racial communication and mutual support. Both documents resonate today as the struggle for Black progress continues.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Armfield FL. Eugene Kinckle Jones: the National Urban League and black social work, 1910–1940. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press; 2012.
Betsey CL. Black-white differences in consumption: an update and some policy implications. Rev Black Polit Econ. 2014;41:259–70.
Boston TD, editor. A different vision: African American economic thought, volume 1. London and NY: Routledge; 1996.
Boston TD, editor. A different vision: race and public policy, volume 2. London and NY: Routledge; 1997.
Brimmer A. Preamble: blacks in the American economy: summary of selected research. In: Boston T, editor. (1997). A Different Vision: African American Economic Thought. New York: Routledge; 1997.
Brimmer A. Economic prospects for African Americans, 2001–2010: politics and promises. Washington: Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; 2000.
Chambers J. Madison Avenue and the color line: African Americans in the advertising industry. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press; 2008.
Darity WA Jr. A direct route to full employment. Rev Black Polit Econ. 2010;37:179–81. doi:10.1007/s12114-010-9075-x.
Darity WA Jr, editor. Race, radicalism and reform: selected papers of Abram L. Harris. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers; 1988.
Du Bois WEB. Dusk of dawn: an essay toward an autobiography of a race concept. New York, NY: Schocken Books; 1968 [1940].
Fulgham, Rhonda Gail to Rodney Green. 2016. E-mail. August 16.
Gordon Nembhard J. Community-based asset building and community wealth. Rev Black Polit Econ. 2014;41(June):101. doi:10.1007/s12114-014-9184-z.
Gordon Nembhard J. Community development credit unions: securing and protecting assets in black communities. Rev Black Polit Econ. 2013;40(4):459–90.
Gordon Nembhard J. Principles and strategies for reconstruction: models of African American community-based cooperative economic development. Harvard J African Am Publ Policy. 2006;12:39–55.
Hamilton D, Darity WA Jr. The political economy of education, financial literacy, and the racial wealth gap. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Rev, First Quart 2017. 2017;99(1):59–76. doi:10.20955/r.2017.59-76.
Harris J, Abram L. The Negro as capitalist: a study of banking and business among American Negroes. New York: Negro Universities Press, a Division of Greenwood Press, Inc.; 1969 [1936].
Holloway J. Confronting the Veil: Abram Harris Jr., E. Franklin Frazier, and Ralph Bunche, 1919-1941. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press; 2002.
Houchins JR. Significant facts concerning the Negro population (Population--special reports-P-1943). U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census; 1943.
Houchins JR. Causes of Negro insurance company failures (Bulletin of the United States Department of Commerce); 1937.
Houchins JR. Negro Chambers of Commerce. (Bulletin of the United States Department of Commerce); 1936.
Houchins JR. The Negro worker and organized labor. Master’s Thesis. Kroch Library Rare & Manuscripts. H835. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Library; 1930.
Houchins JR. The protection of racial minorities and certain excluding practices of organized labor. Cornell University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing 0120847; 1934.
Houchins JR. The Negro in professional occupations in the United States: the relative status of the Negro population in the United States (Summer) J Negro Educ. 1953;22:3.
Houchins, S. to Rodney Green. 2016a. E-mail. July 10.
Houchins, S. to Rodney Green. 2016b E-mail. July 26.
Ithaca Journal. 1950. Statistics compiled by former Ithacan, June 9.
Ithaca Journal. 1955. Cornell grad gets federal post, April 6.
Kouassi M, Green R. “Abram Harris”. In Darity, William, ed., International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd edition; 2008.
Jet, August 27, 1960 “Labor: probe job bias in 2 dixie shipyards”.
Jet, October 8, 1953, “Emmer Lancaster fired, commerce post abolished”.
Kammen C. Part and apart: the black experience at Cornell, 1865–1945. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Library; 2009.
Kashian R, McGregory R, Lockwood N. Do minority-owned banks pay higher interest rates on CDs? Rev Black Polit Econ 41 (March): 1, pp 13–24; 2014. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12114-013-9169-3.
Lewis DL. W.E.B. Du Bois: the fight for equality and the American century, 1919–1963. New York, NY: Henry Holt Co.; 2000.
McDonald, Vincent R. to Rodney Green. 2016. E-mail. October 20.
Miller E. Born along the color line: the 1933 Amenia conference and the rise of a national civil rights movement. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2012.
Naison M. Communists in Harlem in the great depression. Chicago: University of Illinois Press; 1983.
National Urban League, 2016. Mission & History, http://nul.iamempowered.com/who-we-are/mission-and-history, viewed 7/25/2016.
Palmer, Ransford to Rodney Green. 2016. E-mail. August 25.
Reuben L, Queen P. Capital constraints and industry mix implications for African-American businesses. The Review of Black Political Economy. 2015;42(4) 355. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12114-015-9210-9.
Robb AM, Fairlie RW. Access to financial capital among U.S. businesses: the case of African American firms. Ann Am Acad Polit Social Sci 613, (Sept); 2007. pp. 47–72.
U.S. Civil Service Commission. Official Register of the United States. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office; 1952.
Venkatachalam P, Green R. “Andrew Brimmer.” In William A. Darity, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition, pp 371–3; 2008.
Weems Jr. RE, Lewis AR. Business in black and white: American presidents and black entrepreneurs in the twentieth century. New York and London: New York University Press; 2009.
Acknowledgements
Research assistance from Ms. Lacoya Theus in preparing this work is gratefully acknowledged.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Green, R.D., Houchins, S.E. Black Progress Through Business Improvement: Two Articles by Joseph R. Houchins, 1900-1989. Rev Black Polit Econ 44, 393–401 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12114-017-9253-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12114-017-9253-1