It is co-operating with the National Negro Business League.
As this enterprise was only begun in 1924, it is too soon to
estimate its contribution to the development of the middle
class economic outlook among Negroes, but it promises a new
era in the development of Negro business enterprise.
In interpreting the advent of the new middle class in Negro life, it will be interesting to cast a glance at the educational influences responsible. The men responsible for this phenomenal development in Negro business did not in the majority of instances come up from the uneducated ranks. In the case of Mr. Merrick, we have, it is true, the same story of most Americans who without education have built fortunes in the last century. But Mr. Spaulding was more fortunate. He had a high school education. Probably a more important part of his education for business was his experience as manager of a grocery store. Many have brought the charge against the so-called higher education that it was impractical and did not prepare Negroes for life, for practical success. Yet the promoters of these concerns were for the most part men who had received education in the schools of higher education. Avery, Pearson, and Moore were all from such schools. A factor that must not be overlooked in considering the preparation of the Negro for economic activities, is that Negroes_scarcely ever have an opportunity for apprenticeship in business concerns, which is the most valuable form of business education. Consequently it was necessary for men with a larger education who understood the mechanism of credit to establish such businesses as we are considering. They had acquired the true spirit of the modern promoter and a knowledge of his methods. Young Negroes leaving colleges to-day who would ordinarily enter some business institution and work their way up, go to schools to acquire business technique. When a young Negro says he is going into business, he is usually one who has acquired a college education and intends after a business course to get a managerial position. He has little faith in the acquisition of wealth by thrift and the sweat of his brow. Thus we see the colored middle class growing not out of shopkeepers, but from men who have a larger outlook.
