African American Entrepreneurship

5 Pages 1162 Words

African-American Entrepreneurship

In a comparative light, there seems to be significant problems, or obstacles, for African American entrepreneurs. These problems are categorized by environmental factors, and issues related to capital. There is an effort to trace the development of African American entrepreneurship throughout American history, in the post reconstruction era to the present, in relationship to social conditions of discrimination. Uniquely, African American entrepreneurs are involved in the affirmation of a paradox of American ideology. African American entrepreneurs, in pursuit of the American dream, have been taught to stress individual success where what is needed is communal solidarity to foster access to the things that they have been categorically denied. A high concentration of African American entrepreneurs are focused in the service economy. Although these jobs provide viable service and profit for many individuals, they are not high-profit occupations. This accounts for an African American entrepreneurship without a high market share. The reasoning for this can partially be explained by the Great Migration, a period lasting from 1900-1930, in which millions of African Americans migrated from the south to northern cities. Upon arrival in the north, African Americans faced entrepreneurial opportunities and already established European communities. With the arrival of these masses of African Americans came radical changes in the moderate status of race relations in the north. In Cleveland, the influx of African Americans prompted white fears over residential encroachment and occupational competition, resulting in a sharp rise in racial tension and and increase in institutional discrimination. This caused a transformation in the services that already existing African American entrepreneurs were providing. The newly racialized environment now regulated African American businesses to servicing only African Americans...