T.R.M. Howard on Civil Rights and Economic Independence

Damon W. Root | June 10, 2009

Over at National Review, John J. Miller interviews historian David Beito about Beito's extraordinary new book Black Maverick: T.R.M. Howard’s Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power (co-authored with Linda Royster Beito). Howard was a wealthy Mississippi doctor, fraternal society leader, entrepreneur, and civil rights activist who championed mutual aid, private property, and armed self-defense and played an indispensable role in the pre-Martin Luther King civil rights struggle. Here's a snippet from the interview:

MILLER: How were Howard's views on civil rights and economics different from those embraced by today's self-proclaimed civil-rights leaders?

BEITO: Howard's eyes never strayed from the need to build a strong economic foundation through thrift and business ownership. He was a rare example of a leading civil-rights leader who was first and foremost a successful entrepreneur. During the 1940s and 1950s, he also led one of the leading mutual-aid organizations in Mississippi, which provided low-cost and high-quality hospitalization for blacks. Howard's RCNL [Regional Council of Negro Leadership] combined support for voting rights with an emphasis on the need for ordinary blacks to save and invest.

Howard always believed that it was essential for blacks to go into business for themselves. He pushed these goals while he served as chair of the board of directors of the National Negro Business League. His business enterprises included an insurance company, a home-construction firm, and a plantation of more than one thousand acres. He also built the first swimming pool (Olympic-sized) for blacks in Mississippi and even opened a small zoo. As the founder and head of one the largest black hospitals in Mississippi, he often gave his patients not only medical care but seed and tips on the latest business and agricultural techniques.

Read the rest here. Read my review of Black Maverick here.

Comments

The Reverend Jesse Jackson|6.10.09 @ 10:00AM|#

"He was a rare example of a leading civil-rights leader who was first and foremost a successful entrepreneur."

What? And I'm not?

The Reverend Jesse Jackson|6.10.09 @ 10:28AM|#

BTW, Love the Date Sexy Black Women banner ads.

Xeones|6.10.09 @ 10:39AM|#

Shit, here comes the interracial chat spambot. And this time it's not SugarFree's fault.

|6.10.09 @ 11:52AM|#

Howard always believed that it was essential for blacks to go into business for themselves.

Heresy.

creech|6.10.09 @ 12:11PM|#

The rednecks would have soon realized how much "green" they were losing as Negroes started to patronize businesses owned and operated by people who appreciated their patronage. Was it Sowell or Williams who documented how the black entreprenuers (and black community) suffered for LBJ's War on Poverty as rewarding irresponsbility destroyed much of the black community?

|6.10.09 @ 12:29PM|#

it was essential for blacks to go into business for themselves

Like Korean and Chinese immigrants, owning your own business is the quickest way to political, social and economic independence. You don't even have to restrict your clientele to just you own race/ethnicity and provide goods and services to whitey. And like the immigrant groups, with a little ethnic/racial solidarity and mutual aid and lead to dominance of certain trades and industries.

...or you could demand a government monopoly based on your vicimhood.

No Name Guy|6.10.09 @ 2:49PM|#

Hmmmm...what a novel concept. To be truly free, I have to be free of depending on handouts for my sustinance.

Now, if only the modern so called "civil rights leaders" would understand this simple concept.