How Black businesses thrived in 1925 Baltimore—and what entrepreneurs can learn today

By Victoria Mejicanos
AFRO Intern
vmejicanos@afro.com

As the AFRO celebrates 133 years, the publication reflects on the history of Black businesses in Baltimore, and examines what it meant to be a Black business owner in 1925 and challenges faced by Black business owners in 2025. 

Despite the obstacles that came with the Jim Crow era,  business ownership was not impossible for Black Americans in 1925, and had actually started long before then. According to author and historian Philip J. Merrill, even if certain spaces for Black people couldn’t exist legally, they made their own. Merrill himself is a business owner, founding Nanny Jack and Company, an African-American heritage consulting firm with thousands of artifacts from the 1700s to present day.

Merrill called old West Baltimore a “hidden Black Wall Street.” 

“It’s been under researched, underappreciated and undervalued,” said Merrill. “It was a sustainable community during Jim Crow that was producing quite a bit of wealth, financial [and] economic impact.” 

One of the major reasons Black businesses were able to thrive in the area was the influence of Black benevolent and fraternal societies. According to Merrill, they offered services like sick benefits, death benefits and –most importantly– camaraderie. 

“It allowed the level of inclusivity that mainstream America was not providing. And many of the talented entrepreneurs were involved in various groups, so reach was tremendous. You see the same power brokers network and create all kinds of success.” 

Over a century ago, colored business directories gave people a guide of where to shop and who owned each business in Baltimore. Published yearly by R.W. Coleman from 1913-1946, it allowed Black people to shop and potentially work where it would be appreciated. According to Merrill, the directories were the precursor to the Green Book, which helped Black Americans travel safely during the Jim Crow era. 

One entrepreneur fondly remembered was Harry O. Wilson Sr., who ran the Mutual Benefit Society and was the developer of the historic Wilson Park, a northeast Baltimore enclave that was one of the first African-American communities in the city. 

Wilson’s business acumen afforded him the opportunity to employ thousands and provide families with stability for generations. Additionally, the services he provided through his businesses – providing loans and insurance, and selling and developing real estate – allowed Black people to build their own homes, worship in their own churches and care for their sick, among other pursuits. According to Merrill, Wilson Sr. was quite the philanthropist, even helping finance a southern White hotel that he could not set foot inside of. A 1926 article by the AFRO called Wilson Sr. a “financial genius.” 

There were several other genius entrepreneurs who owned hotels, baseball teams, bars, theatres and microenterprises that allowed Black Baltimore to thrive, according to Merrill. 

Today, Black business directories like BuyBlack.org can be found online. On social media, there are Buy Black Networking groups for multiple cities and states, including Baltimore City, Washington, D.C. and the state of Pennsylvania.

David Armenti, vice president of Education and Engagement at the Maryland Center for History and Culture, shared that although there are no longer clear legal obstacles to business ownership in 2025, there are negative attitudes that persist and are shared by the media about Black businesses and Black people– especially in Baltimore. 

“We still do suffer as we see in a variety of ways from the negative and frankly racist attitudes of community members that may not want to support these businesses or feel there’s going to be something less quality about those industries,” said Armenti. 

 According to Merrill, what today’s Black entrepreneurs can learn from their predecessors in terms of surviving and thriving is the importance of community. 

“If you want a blueprint for success just look at your history,” Merrill said. “We’re in troubled times right now in America but if you look at your history, Black folks have been in troubled times before, and we survived because we found a way to work together, to collaborate.”