reader's choice: the 10 most important black business luminaries

Black Enterprise, August, 2000 by Tanisha Ann Sykes

ronald h. brown

(1941-1996) Born in Washington, D.C., Brown grew up in New York's Harlem, the son of Howard University graduates. He was appointed secretary of commerce in 1993 after his success with handling the Clinton campaign as well as in his role as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1989, making him the first African American to head a major American political party. Brown got his start in politics while working for the National Urban League in New York. He held various positions at the NUL, including those of general counsel, Washington spokesperson, and deputy executive director. He was elected district Leader of the Democratic party in 1971. Brown held various political positions Throughout his lifetime and served in the Army. He also held a law degree from St. John's University School of Law in New York. His greatest political achievement was to unify the Democratic Convention in 1988, which led to his position on the committee. Brown died in a plane crash in Croatia.

earl g. graves

(1935- ) Titan. As founder and publisher of BLACK ENTERPRISE magazine, the leading authority on black business in America, Graves is the voice of black business. He began his mission 30 years ago, in New York, with a group of business leaders that included Shirley Chisholm and John Lewis. Together, they wrote in the magazine's premier issue, "We feel that the health--indeed the survival--of this nation will depend upon the extent to which our ethnic minorities will participate and profit from its economic system." Today, BE has a circulation of more than 300,000 and the readership of 3.1 million. Graves is chairman and CEO of Earl G. Graves Ltd., the parent company of BE and many other company holdings. In recognition of his support for entrepreneurial education, including a $1 million gift to advance business education, Grave's alma mater, Morgan State University in Baltimore, renamed its school of business and management the Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management. Today, Graves continues to support black businesses by speaking out against racial injustice through speeches, protests, and lobbying.

percy sutton

(1921- ) Comunicator. As a descendant of entrepreneurs (both his father and grandfather were businessmen), Sutton took a mom-and-pop radio station and created Inner City Broadcasting Corp. in New York in 1972, a $39 million broadcasting and media giant. Today, Sutton is chairman emeritus of the company. Inner City's products include cable TV, TV production, and radio stations, among them New York City's WLIB-AM and WLIB-FM, later renamed WBLS, which hovers at the top of New York City's ratings. Education was key in Sutton's household, where he was schooled by his family as well as in the traditional classroom. A lawyer by trade, Sutton set up a law practice with his brother, Oliver, in Harlem. He and his family were also on the front lines of the civil rights movement, setting up protests, boycotts, and freedom rides--anything to advance the black cause in America. After 11 years of politicking, Sutton was elected to the New York Assembly, and in 1969 he was elected Manhattan borough president, one of the most powerful positions in the city.