In the week Major League Baseball takes time out to honor Jackie Robinson for breaking the color barrier in professional baseball, I would like to take a moment to pay respect to one of the men responsible for doing the same in business. His name is Arthur George Gaston. Known by many as one of the first black millionaires in the United States, he was one of the most successful black businessmen ever in the United States. Called the “dean of black business”, Gaston was named “Entrepreneur of the Century” by Black Enterprise in 1992. This is his story.
Born on July 4, 1892, Gaston grew up in a rural community in Demopolis, Alabama. Growing up in the South during this period, Gaston was exposed to lynchings and other forms of racial injustices at an early age. A.G Gaston did not let these injustices destroy his dream of one day owning his own business and becoming his own man. He once told the story in Ebony of how as a youth he used to charge the neighborhood kids admission (pins and buttons) to his grandmother’s yard to play on the swing. It is this same entrepreneurial spirit that would lead him to become a well respected businessman by all races. One of Gaston’s most famous quotes was: “Money has no color. If you can build a better mousetrap, it won’t matter if you are black or white. People will buy it.”
When Gaston was eight his family moved to Birmingham, where he attended the Tuggle Institute for black children. It was there he heard Booker T. Washington speak. Booker T. Washington was a “black leader who favored economic achievement and education over social and political change as means of alleviating the conditions of blacks in the segregated South.” Booker T. Washington would come to have a great impact on his life.
Gaston decided to enter the Army in 1910. He served with an all black unit during World War I in a segregated Army. While in the Army, Gaston used the teachings of Booker T. Washington to help deal with the attitude the Army had towards black men.
When A.G Gaston returned home from the war the teachings of Booker T. Washington once again served to guide his young life. He was now determined to make his fortune. Gaston started working as a laborer for $3.10 a day at the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company in Birmingham. Saving most of his paychecks, Gaston earned extra money buy selling box lunches and peanuts to fellow workers. He also loaned them money and charged 25 cents interest on every dollar. Once again Gaston was proving to be the ultimate businessman.
Gaston started his first business in 1923 as he saw an opportunity to service a growing need in the black community. Noticing that when his friends and neighbors died they did not have enough money to pay for their own funerals, Gaston stepped in and started “collecting money each week from people and guaranteeing them a decent burial.” This company would be called the Booker T. Washington Burial Society. His partner in this business venture was his father-in-law A.L Smith. Shortly after, the two created Smith and Gaston Funeral Directors.
In 1932, Gaston incorporated the funeral home as Booker T. Washington Burial Insurance Co. With money from this new corporation Gaston started the BTW Business College in 1939. The purpose of the college was to train black clerical workers. He bought New Grace Hill Cemeteries in 1947, and in 1954, he opened Gaston Motel in downtown Birmingham. The motel was started to service black travelers that were not allowed in white only motels. The motel was also the headquarters for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders of the time, despite many threats.
When blacks were having a hard time getting loans from banks, Gaston started the Citizens Federal Savings and Loan Association in 1957. Through Citizens Federal he was able to help blacks, among other things, realize the American Dream of home ownership by approving their mortgage loans. Another of Gaston’s famous quotes is “Find a need and fill it. Successful businesses are founded on the needs of people.” Those same words can be heard today from Russell Simmons, one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the hip-hop generation.
Rounding out the most profitable business ventures of A.G Gaston were the radio stations he purchased in 1975 and the construction company he started in 1986. The radio stations WENN- FM and WAGG- AM played rhythm and blues and gospel music respectively. The construction company was named the A.G Gaston Construction Company.
The business models and philosophies of A.G Gaston should be studied by anyone looking to become successful in business. He continued to work and play a very active role in the nine companies he owned or controlled, which included communications, real estate and insurance, even after his 100th birthday. Companies that at the time of his death in 1996 had assets of more than $35 million. At the time of his death he was reported to be the wealthiest black man in America. Black Enterprise’s publisher Earl Graves said, “Every black entrepreneur and businessperson in America should be made aware that if not for the groundbreaking achievements of A.G Gaston, we would not have been able to succeed in the business world.” A pioneering entrepreneur, that is the legacy of A.G Gaston.
