From Builders to Bankers

The notion of business development as a partial cure to the economic condition of blacks is not a new one, but black leaders have never unanimously agreed that business ownership is an effective instrument of economic success. The violence and civil disorders of the 1960s, however, spurred strong interest in programs to develop and promote both urban black business and black-owned and controlled financial institutions that attracted members of all points on the political spectrum. The goals of these programs, broadly stated, were to integrate the ghettos into the economic mainstream of American life, to raise the living standard of ghetto residents, and to give blacks greater economic self-determination.