Affirmative Action and Black Entrepreneurship

129 Pages·1998·1.153 MB·English

by  Thomas D Boston

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND
BLACK ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The Century Foundation/Twentieth Century Fund sponsors and
supervises timely analyses of economic policy, foreign affairs, and
domestic political issues. Not-for-profit and nonpartisan, the Fund
was founded in 1919 and endowed by Edward A.Filene.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE CENTURY FOUNDATION/TWENTIETH
CENTURY FUND
Morris B.Abram James A.Leach
H.Brandt Ayers Richard C.Leone
Peter A.A.Berle Alicia H.Munnell
Alan Brinkley P.Michael Pitfield
José A.Cabranes Richard Ravitch
Joseph A.Califano, Jr. Arthur M.Schlesinger, Jr.
Alexander Morgan Capron Harvey I.Sloane, M.D.
Hodding Carter III Theodore C.Sorensen, Chairman
Edward E.David, Jr. Kathleen M.Sullivan
Brewster C.Denny James Tobin
Charles V.Hamilton David B.Truman
Matina S.Horner Shirley Williams
Lewis B.Kaden William Julius Wilson
Richard C.Leone, President
AFFIRMATIVE
ACTION AND BLACK
ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Thomas D.Boston
A Century Foundation Book

London and New York
First published 1999
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

© 1999 The Century Foundation
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0-203-42296-1 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-73120-4 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-09594-8 (Print Edition)
TO MY SON LINJE AND DAUGHTER
SHANI

CONTENTS

List of tables ix
Foreword xi
Acknowledgments xiv
Introduction 1
1 Opportunity matters 10
2 Strict scrutiny is “strict in theory and fatal in fact” 33
3 Recent trends among black-owned businesses
in Atlanta 49
4 A snapshot of the past when equal business
opportunity did not exist 63
5 What causes the lag in black entrepreneurship? 73
6 A judicial commission on strict scrutiny is needed 83
7 “Twenty by Ten”: a strategy for black business and
employment growth in the next century 89
Appendix 101
Notes 102
Bibliography 108
Index 112

vii

TABLES

1.1a Selected changes in twenty-five metropolitan areas
with the largest number of black-owned firms,
1982–92 19
1.1b Statistics for urban black-owned businesses, 1982–92 20
1.2 Twenty detailed industries with the largest percentage
of minority and women-owned firms, Atlanta
metropolitan area, 1994 26
1.3 Legal form of organization by revenue, 1992–3 27
1.4 Financial data on successful black-owned firms in
Atlanta, 1992–3 28
1.5 Average revenue by Standard Industrial Classification,
1992 28
1.6 Educational attainment of successful black
entrepreneurs in Atlanta, 1992–3 29
1.7 Revenue and educational characteristics of owners in
Atlanta, 1992–3 29
1.8 Industry distribution of African-American business by
neighborhood characteristics, Atlanta metropolitan area,
1993 30
1.9 Distribution of African-American businesses by income
characteristics of zip codes where they are located 31
3.1 Industry distribution of minority and women-owned
businesses registered with various business assistance
programs in the eighteen-county Atlanta metropolitan
area, 1995 52
3.2 Ethnic distribution of business owners responding to
survey 53
3.3 Industry distribution of black-owned businesses in the
Atlanta metropolitan area 53
3.4 Factors affecting black-owned business location
ix