Anthony Overton
Anthony Overton Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | Error: Invalid birth date for calculating age Monroe, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Died | July 2, 1946 (aged 82) |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, financier |
| Known for | First African American to head a major business conglomerate |
Anthony Overton Jr. (March 18, 1864 – July 2, 1946) was an American entrepreneur and financier, distinguished as the first African American to head a significant business conglomerate.
Overton was the proprietor of Overton Hygienic Company, a prosperous manufacturer specializing in household and cosmetic products. Additionally, he was the publisher of Half Century Magazine and the Chicago Bee, and held ownership of the Great Northern Realty Company along with Victory Life Insurance Company.
Early life
Born in Monroe, Louisiana to parents Anthony and Martha DeBerry Overton, his father ran a grocery business and served as a legislator in Louisiana from 1871 to 1874. Prior to 1880, the family relocated to Topeka, Kansas. His father had been born into slavery and freed through Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation, later becoming a small business owner, which supported Anthony's pursuit of advanced education. Overton completed a degree in Chemistry at Washburn College and obtained a law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1888. He briefly practiced law and held a judicial position in Shawnee, Kansas.
Professional career
In 1898, Overton established the Hygienic Manufacturing Company, which produced items for drugstores and grocery outlets, including High Brown Face Powder, recognized as the first widely successful cosmetic product designed for black women. He moved his operations to Chicago in 1911. By the late 1890s, he had also opened a grocery store in Kansas City, Kansas.
In 1916, Overton launched Half-Century Magazine. Seven years later, in 1923, he founded the Douglass National Bank, noted as the second nationally chartered African American-owned bank in the United States. His business interests further expanded to include ownership of the Great Northern Realty Company and Victory Life Insurance Company. In 1925, he started the Chicago Bee, a black newspaper known for its progressive editorial stance and managed by Olive M. Diggs.
Overton’s accomplishments earned him the NAACP's Spingarn Medal in 1927 as well as the first-ever Harmon Award Gold Medal in Business that same year. He was also affiliated with the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. The city of Chicago commemorates his impact by naming an elementary school after him.
Following Overton’s passing in 1946, his sons briefly continued publishing the Bee as a tabloid until it ceased operations in 1947.
See also
References
- "Anthony Overton". The Journal of Negro History (July 1947), Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 394–396.
- "Anthony Overton: Born Entrepreneur"
- Grant, Carl A.; Grant, Shelby J. The Moment: Barack Obama, Jeremiah Wright, and the Firestorm at Trinity United Church of Christ. Rowman & Littlefield, 2013. ISBN 978-1442219977.
- Lash, Nicholas A. (2005), "Black-owned banks: A survey of the issues", Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 187–202.
- Mahoney, Olivia. Douglas/Grand Boulevard: A Chicago Neighborhood. Arcadia, 2001. ISBN 0738518557.
- "Thirteenth Annual Conference and Awards Banquet" The Herstorian Newsletter, Volume 3, Issue 2.
- Trodd, Zoe. Writers of the Black Chicago Renaissance. University of Illinois Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0252093425.
- Walker, Juliet E. K. (2010). "African American Women Business Enterprises: Since the Civil War to Civil Rights, 1865–1964".