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Robert T. Bess

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Robert Theophilus Bess Jr.(February 5, 1889 – after October 1958) was a British-Americanstockbroker,civil rights activist, public relations manager, and pharmacist.[1][2]He founded the R. T. Bess Company in New York City, a stock brokerage firm, which was the only black-owned stock brokerage on Wall Street in 1932.[3][4]He was also the only black stockbroker in New York City the early-1930s.[5][4]Bess founded the Anti-Discrimination Job League, Inc. in 1936, which worked to fight for law change in New York and nationally. Starting in 1947, he formed Robert T. Bess Assoc., a public relations firm.[1][6][7]

Biography[edit]

Bess was born a British subject inPlaisance,British Guiana(todayGuyana), one of three sons of parents Isabella Elizabeth (néeCappell) and Robert T. Bess.[8]One of his brothers, Dr. Edward E. Bess (1895–1956) became president of the localNAACPbranch from 1939 to 1940.[9]Bess worked as a pharmacist in his early career in British Guiana between 1911 and 1921.[8]In 1913, he married Ellen Maud Talbot, and together they had 4 children.[8]He was a Methodist and a member of the St. Mark's Methodist Episcopal Church (now St. Mark's United Methodist Church) in New York.[1][10]

From 1923 until 1933, he was the founding president of the R. T. Bess Company (also known as Robert T. Bess Corp.), a stock brokerage firm, initially located at 206-208 Broadway Street, New York City.[1][11][12][13]He became a naturalized American citizen in 1927.[14]

In 1931, he was taken to court onlarcenycharges related to the R. T. Bess Company, and he wasexoneratedof the charges a few months later.[4][5]In 1932, his company was the only Black-owned stock brokerage onWall Street,and he was reportedly the only black stockbroker.[3][5][4][15]The company was able to survive theWall Street Crash of 1929and the resulting economic turmoil by "sticking at the wheel". During this time, Bess employed 9 white and 6 black office workers, and "promoted the interests of theStandard Television and Electric Company",asserting that they" offered an opportunity to colored people to reap millions of dollars in profit ".[15]

Bess worked as an organizer for the Consolidated Tenants League, Inc. of Harlem.[when?][16][17]Starting in 1936, he was the founding president of the Anti-Discrimination Job League, Inc., and the National Anti-Discrimination Movement.[1][18]Bess and the Anti-Discrimination Job League, Inc. lectured and fought for many years for the passage of laws to protect people from discrimination by insurance companies and employment agencies.[18][19]The group supported the passage of theIves-Quinn Act(signed in 1945 by GovernorThomas E. Dewey).[20][21]

From 1943 to 1950, he worked as a pharmacist in New York City.[1][22]Starting in 1947, he formed Robert T. Bess Assoc., a public relations firm located at W. 125th Street inWest Harlem,New York City.[1][7][16]

He authored, "Ethiopia Shall Stretch Forth Her Hands to God" (1949).[1]Bess was the founding president of the Nannie C. Burden Book Lovers Club, Inc.[1][23]He eulogizedNannie C. BurdenonDecoration Dayin 1950 at theFrederick Douglass Memorial Parkcemetery.[23]In October 1958, he was noted to be scheduled to speak at a public meeting on responding to the possibility of ahydrogen bombattack.[24]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefghiWho's Who in Commerce and Industry.Marquis Who's Who. 1965. p. 100.
  2. ^"Ethiopian Federation Has Green Light; Maps Action".The New York Age.1949-08-27. p. 23.Retrieved2023-01-09.
  3. ^abJuliet E. K. Walker,Encyclopedia of African American Business History(Greenwood Press, 1999), p. 322, 630.
  4. ^abcd"Robert T. Bess, Stock Broker, Exonerated on Larceny Charge".The New York Age.1931-12-26. p. 10.Retrieved2023-01-09.
  5. ^abc"Negro Stockholder of Wall Street Faces $105 Larceny Charge".The Pittsburgh Courier.1931-11-07. p. 3.Retrieved2023-01-10.
  6. ^"Booker T. Washington Coins Cease Circulation This Year".The New York Age.1951-03-31. p. 9.Retrieved2023-01-09.
  7. ^ab"Public Relations Group Selects Robert T. Bess".The New York Age.1951-07-14. p. 2.Retrieved2023-01-09.
  8. ^abcWho's Who in Commerce and Industry.Marquis Who's Who. 1959. p. 108.
  9. ^"Dr. Bess, NAACP Leader, Is Dead",The New Rochelle Standard-Star(October 10, 1956), p. 2.
  10. ^"Manhattan and Bronx Newsettes".The New York Age.1934-02-17. p. 2.Retrieved2023-01-09.
  11. ^"Granny Branch Coal Company Pays Regular Dividends to Stockholders".The New York Age.1925-11-21. p. 10.Retrieved2023-01-09.
  12. ^"Robt. T. Bess Corporation".The New York Age.1926-09-18. p. 10.Retrieved2023-01-09.
  13. ^"Negro Needs Courage in Business, Says Broker".California Eagle.1931-06-12. p. 14.Retrieved2023-01-10.
  14. ^New York, U.S., Index to Petitions for Naturalization filed in New York City, 1792–1989
  15. ^ab"Juliet E. K. Walker,The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship(1998), p. 259.
  16. ^ab"Robert T. Bess Opens Public Relations Office".The New York Age.1948-06-12. p. 4.Retrieved2023-01-10.
  17. ^"Crowd Riots, Halts Harlem Relief Quiz".Daily News.1935-06-15. p. 133.Retrieved2023-01-10.
  18. ^ab"Seven Year Fight For Anti-Bias Bills Facing Success??".The New York Age.1950-02-25. p. 29.Retrieved2023-01-10.
  19. ^"Club to Hear Labor Talk".The Brooklyn Daily Eagle.1942-05-01. p. 4.Retrieved2023-01-10.
  20. ^"Leaders Plead For, Denounce Anti-Bias Bill".Press and Sun-Bulletin.1945-02-20. p. 1.Retrieved2023-01-10.
  21. ^"Anti-Bias Bill Battle Is On".Press and Sun-Bulletin.1945-02-20. p. 8.Retrieved2023-01-10.
  22. ^"Lyons Drug Co. Located on West 125th Street 35 Years".The New York Age.1950-03-25. p. 31.Retrieved2023-01-10.
  23. ^ab"Nannie C Burden 7 years president New York City Federation of Colored women's clubs".The New York Age.1950-06-17. p. 3.Retrieved2023-01-09.
  24. ^"If H-Bomb Falls",New York Daily News(October 12, 1958), p. 58.
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