Robert T. Bess

Robert Theophilus Bess Jr. (February 5, 1889 – after October 1958) was a British Guiana-born American stockbroker, 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

Bess was born on February 5, 1889, in British Guiana (today Guyana), one of three sons of parents Isabella Elizabeth (née Cappell) and Robert T. Bess.[8] One of his brothers, Dr. Edward E. Bess (1895–1956) became president of the local NAACP branch 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] In 1931, he was taken to court on larceny charges related to the R. T. Bess Company, and he was exonerated of the charges a few months later.[4][5] In 1932, his company was the only Black-owned stock brokerage on Wall Street, and he was reportedly the only black stockbroker.[3][5][4][14] The company was able to survive the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and 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 the Standard Television and Electric Company", asserting that they "offered an opportunity to colored people to reap millions of dollars in profit".[14]

Bess worked as an organizer for the Consolidated Tenants League, Inc. of Harlem.[15][16] Starting in 1936, he was the founding president of the Anti-Discrimination Job League, Inc., and the National Anti-Discrimination Movement.[1][17] 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.[17][18] The group supported the passage of the Ives-Quinn Act (signed in 1945 by Governor Thomas E. Dewey).[19][20]

From 1943 to 1950, he worked as a pharmacist in New York City.[1][21] Starting in 1947, he formed Robert T. Bess Assoc., a public relations firm located at W. 125th Street in West Harlem, New York City.[1][7][15]

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][22] He eulogized Nannie C. Burden on Decoration Day in 1950 at the Frederick Douglass Memorial Park cemetery.[22] In October 1958, he was noted to be scheduled to speak at a public meeting on responding to the possibility of a hydrogen bomb attack.[23]

References
  1. Who'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. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  3. Juliet E. K. Walker, Encyclopedia of African American Business History (Greenwood Press, 1999), p. 322, 630.
  4. "Robert T. Bess, Stock Broker, Exonerated on Larceny Charge". The New York Age. 1931-12-26. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  5. "Negro Stockholder of Wall Street Faces $105 Larceny Charge". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1931-11-07. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  6. "Booker T. Washington Coins Cease Circulation This Year". The New York Age. 1951-03-31. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  7. "Public Relations Group Selects Robert T. Bess". The New York Age. 1951-07-14. p. 2. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  8. Who'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. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  11. "Granny Branch Coal Company Pays Regular Dividends to Stockholders". The New York Age. 1925-11-21. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  12. "Robt. T. Bess Corporation". The New York Age. 1926-09-18. p. 10. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  13. "Negro Needs Courage in Business, Says Broker". California Eagle. 1931-06-12. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  14. "Juliet E. K. Walker, The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship (1998), p. 259.
  15. "Robert T. Bess Opens Public Relations Office". The New York Age. 1948-06-12. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  16. "Crowd Riots, Halts Harlem Relief Quiz". Daily News. 1935-06-15. p. 133. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  17. "Seven Year Fight For Anti-Bias Bills Facing Success??". The New York Age. 1950-02-25. p. 29. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  18. "Club to Hear Labor Talk". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1942-05-01. p. 4. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  19. "Leaders Plead For, Denounce Anti-Bias Bill". Press and Sun-Bulletin. 1945-02-20. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  20. "Anti-Bias Bill Battle Is On". Press and Sun-Bulletin. 1945-02-20. p. 8. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  21. "Lyons Drug Co. Located on West 125th Street 35 Years". The New York Age. 1950-03-25. p. 31. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  22. "Nannie C Burden 7 years president New York City Federation of Colored women's clubs". The New York Age. 1950-06-17. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  23. "If H-Bomb Falls", New York Daily News (October 12, 1958), p. 58.
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