There are many reasons why African Americans do not have the legacy of success enjoyed by other racial groups and emigrants to America. In celebration of Black History Month here are some financial American History facts from our Did You Know section that have created the America we know today.
Did You Know: The slave trade from 1600 to 1827 was primarily responsible for making New York the richest city in the world.
Slavery was not just about the southern plantation. It was big business in New York. During the period 1 out of every 5 New Yorkers was enslaved. At its peak the margin of profit for selling a slave was just above 369 percent. At its low point the profit margin was still 94 percent. For example, in 1675, a slave could be purchased in Africa for today’s equivalent of $355 and later sold in New York for $3,793.
To read more:
http://peoplesworld.org/slavery-in-new-yor... Did You Know: The name of New York’s famed “Wall Street” came from the wall built to protect from “marauding” Native Americans and to separate “civilized folks” from the slave trading done on the wall’s other side.
There are many (often conflicting) historical accounts describing the origination of the name “Wall Street”. What is not in dispute is what used to happen at Wall Street.
Did you know there was a “Black Wall Street” in Tulsa Oklahoma in the 1920s? It was arguably the most financially successful black community in America until in 1921 it was burned down by KKK racists, killing over 300 black people and destroying over 1,200 homes and 600 businesses.
mong the businesses and institutions lost were 21 churches, 21 restaurants and 30 grocery stores. Also destroyed were the bank, post office, hospital, law office, library, the bus system, six private airplanes and all the schools. Find this excellent book about Black Wall Street “Death in a Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921” in the AfroStore. For more information on this topic, check out the following links:
Photos/Eyewitness Account:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20010820/1921... Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Tu... Did You Know: The rise in the crack epidemic of the 80’s was largely fueled by drugs supplied by Central American drug dealers at the behest of the CIA.
Cocaine from Nicaragua was brought into the US by the planeload in the 1980s and then turned into crack by the infamous “Freeway Ricky Ross” of LA drug dealing fame. By receiving cocaine shipments at bargain basement prices and then turning it into even cheaper crack, Ross undercut his competition and was able to make at times over $3 million a day while spreading crack throughout inner cities / black communities across the US. Profits from drug sales were sent back to Nicaragua as part of the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s. Stay tuned for our feature blog posts on the CIAs involvement in the great crack epidemic. Until then, check out this excellent feature film by Kevin Booth - American Drug War: The Last White Hope.
Posted By: DAVID JOHNSON
Wednesday, April 13th 2011 at 4:57PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
