The Black Aristocracy of the USA Flourished in the 1800s

They are rarely discussed or even known about in everyday social circles of the United States, and that is the Black Aristocracy (of the USA).

The Black Aristocracy was the elite class of ethnic Black Americans who lived and thrived in the United States. They were a group of Black men and women who were wealthy, well educated and held power within Black America, so much power that they were a big part of what helped to build much of the success of Black America through businesses, schools, charity and much more.

The Black Americans that were a part of the Black Aristocracy included men and women of various professions such as lawyers and doctors by the dozens, politicians, and educators up through university level including very successful business people and real estate investors, and it was this group of people who helped shape one of the most successful Black American communities of its time, funding and building churches, schools, businesses and more.

As a matter of fact, because during that time, segregation was the law of the land, Black America had to lean on each other, and the Black Aristocracy was willing and able to be the people to assist in lifting their race up from the ashes. They were a very prestigious group of Black Americans indeed, and held themselves in high regard. Even though they were of the elite Black Americans and had their own separate events and affairs as most do in the class hierarchy of any racial and ethnic group, they made it crucial to uplift and build Black America with the success that they had.

One such very wealthy of the Black Aristocracy was the James Wormley who founded the most prestigious hotel in Washington D.C. – the Wormley Hotel. Patrons came from New York and New England, and the hotel was the highest priced in the entire city of Washington D.C. (Wormley was the of the Washington Colored Four Hundred, or the DC area Black Aristocracy.) Other notables of the Black Aristocracy were:

• Howard University’s Dr. Furman J. Shadd who participated in the building of the university’s medical department.
• John Francis Cook – one of the wealthiest civil rights leaders of the 1800s
• John R. Francis, M.D. – businessman and founder of a sanatorium, also associated with Howard University’s medical university
• Benjamin E. Tonsler – influential in the Charlottesville African American community as an educator
• Blanche K Bruce and John R. Lynch – politicians; Bruce being the first African American to serve in the Senate and Lynch being the first African American Speaker of the House for the state of Mississippi
• PBS Pinchback – first African American governor in Louisiana
• George F.T. Cook – superintendent of Black American schools

All of the Black Aristocracy were not in Washington D.C. Washington D.C. was the center of it all, but the Black Aristocracy was in multiple cities in the USA.

As seen in the short list above, the families who were part of the Black Aristocracy were very active in the success of the Black American community. It must be noted that the Black Aristocracy wasn’t a club or society, but they were well-to-do families who had much success and wealth in the nation, and of these particular families, they were indeed wealthier than most white Americans in the USA at the time.

Of the Black Aristocracy, the Washington Colored Four Hundred were some the wealthiest Black Americans in the nation, owning steamboat companies, insurance companies, heating companies, banks as well as employment agencies all within a ten year span of time, according to the City Journal.

This was all during segregation. What segregation created was a need that integration removed. Although most Black Americans didn’t have this type of wealth, the way businesses and employment through black ownership was flourishing, if integration never happened, the money would have remained in the black community and blossomed even faster. Many of the businesses that prospered in the Washington D.C. area of the Black Aristocracy also catered to white Americans, and as is known, the Black Americans were highly restricted as to what they could do in white America in a form of what is called de-facto segregation.

All in all, the Black Aristocracy made a significant impact in the lives of Black Americans, and that impact lives on today.