20th century was , in part , practiced by The Brown Fellowship Society . Fraternal organizations established in the early 19th century composed of white employees like firemen , brick masons and other skilled laborers were precursors to modern day life insurance companies regarding the benefits of membership . Similarly , the Browns would pay beneficiaries annuity stipends and absorb the burial costs of its members ; in essence , acting as de facto insurers .
Under its motto of “ Charity and Benevolence ,” members could claim sickness benefits of $ 1.50 per week , have a “ horse , hearse and [ pallbearers ] for a cost of four dollars ,” and would make relief payments to indigent Black non-members . In hopes of abiding social norms in order to maintain their presence as an integral body to Charleston ’ s freed Blacks without invoking the ire of whites , the Browns prohibited discussions concerning religion or politics at its meetings .
The Humane Brotherhood , also of Charleston and organized in 1791 , accepted “ free dark men ” who were excluded by the Browns . It , too , acted similarly for its membership regarding burial and annuity type benefits . Unlike the Browns , however , membership consisted of carpenters and tradesmen , not mulatto businessmen operating large-scale enterprises .
Alluded to earlier , like many whites , some FPCs also owned slaves . The dichotomy of Blacks , whether mixed blood , mulatto or of direct African ancestry , owning those of their ethnicity has given rise to the questions of “ why ” and “ how ” they were treated . The “ why ”— excluding the morality of slavery — is , to some extent , attributable to the scarcity of “ free labor ” available in the American South . The fact that personal service trades might have required a labor force necessary to the scale of the operation , to some extent explains the demand for slaves .
Historians examining the “ how ” have drawn dissimilar conclusions . The late African American historian and cofounder of Black History Month , Dr . Carter G . Woodson , surmised that Blacks held one another for the purposes of buying a loved one out of slavery . To some extent , this adheres with the practice of trusteeship employed ( and discussed ) by several Black families in South Carolina . Recent scholarship examining whether these Black masters were “ Benevolent or Exploitative ” has somewhat refuted Woodson ’ s thesis .
For instance , William Ellison ( South Carolina ) is rumored to have treated at least some of his 63 slaves harshly , and records indicate he freed none . Sarah Johnson , a Charleston seamstress , advertised for the return of her runaway slave in 1839 . Apparently , even less arduous tasks were not enough to keep slaves from desiring their freedom . October 1857 editions of the New Orleans Daily Picayune and Daily Crescent described how a “ recently freed ” slave named Kate Parker had been charged for “ nearly beating her slave to death with a cowhide .”
Andrew Durnford , a sugarcane planter residing in Plaquemines Parish outside of New Orleans , remarked how when he recaptured his runaway slaved named Jackson , he would “ fix him so the dogs would not bark at him .” When Jackson successfully escaped a few months later , Durnford , seemingly not very inclined as to his whereabouts or rationale for escape , commented , “ He had the audacity to go away with all the irons I had put on him .” It seems the complexities behind the treatment of bondspersons , irrespective of the owners ’ color , may have something to do with the enigmatic , historical inclination of humans toward cruelty .
Several years after the race riot which engulfed New Orleans in July of 1900 , benefactors rebuilt the Thomy Lafon School at a different location ; the last of the Lafon schools would be demolished in the wake of Hurricane Katrina . The Brown Fellowship Society survived until 1945 , but by that time it had changed its name to the Century Fellowship Society . Until its conclusion , Century continued its philanthropic activities toward Charleston ’ s African Americans .
Black business leaders in New Orleans sustained their commitment to free enterprise , receiving nationwide recognition in the mid-20th century . Fortune spotlighted several prominent members of this exclusive group in a November 1949 article entitled “ Negro Businessmen of New Orleans .” Noting that all observed were large-scale businesses with a predominately white clientele , the publication made several observations for their continued success . According to the writer , “ education , capital and a sense of community amongst ‘ Negroes ’ ( Blacks )” would allow for greater participation in the American economy . These principles are indispensable to the success of all people , regardless of skin color .
Ramon Vasconcellos is a history professor and lecturer in Accounting and Economics at Barstow Community College in Barstow , CA . He has published numerous biographical and topical articles on the history of the West , particularly related to finance . Ramon has also taught Economics and History at the University of London .
Sources
Francis , Hannah J . Investing in Citizenship : Free Men of Color and the Case Against Citizen ’ s Bank . MA Thesis . University of New Orleans . 2011 .
Hair , William Ivy . Carnival of Fury : Robert Charles and the New Orleans Race Riot of 1900 . Louisiana State University Press : Baton Rouge , LA . 1976 .
Hanger , Kimberly S . Bounded Lives , Bounded Places : Free Black Society in Colonial New Orleans , 1769 – 1803 . Duke University Press : Durham and London . 1997 .
Harris , Robert L ., Jr . “ Charleston ’ s Free Afro- American Elite : The Brown Fellowship Society and The Humane Brotherhood .” The South Carolina Historical Magazine . Vol . 82 , No . 4 . October 1981 .
Johnson , Michael P . and James L . Roark . Black Masters : A Free Family of Color in the Old South . W . W . Norton and Company . 1984 .
Lightner , David L . and Alexander M . Ragan . “ Were African American Slaveholders Benevolent or Exploitative ? A Quantitative Approach .” The Journal of Southern History . Vol . LXXI , No . 3 . August 2005 .
“ Negro Businessmen in New Orleans .” Fortune . November 1949 .
Powers , Bernard E , Jr . Black Charlestonians : A Social History , 1822 – 1885 . The University of Arkansas Press : Fayetteville . 1994 .
Walker , Juliet K . The History of Black Business in America : Capitalism , Race , Entrepreneurship . Macmillan Library Reference USA , An Import of Simon and Schuster Macmillan : New York . 1998 .
Wikramanayake , Marina . A World in Shadow : The Free Black in Antebellum South Carolina . Columbia , SC . 1973 .
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