Contributions of Black Entrepreneurs to the US Whaling Industry, Abolition, and Other Civil Rights

• Valerie Ellen Mock ^[1]
  1. [1] Suffolk University

     Suffolk University

     City of Boston, Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Essays in economic and business history: the journal of the economic and business historical society, ISSN 0896-226X, Vol. 41, Nº. 2, 2023, págs. 40-62
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The history of Blackentrepreneurs from colonial times through most of the nineteenthcentury in the US whaling industry providesan excellent opportunity for insights into how free Blacks and those who freed themselves became entrepreneurs and how they influenced the abolition movement and other civil rights. These industrious peoplebecame whalingcaptains, ship designers and builders, investors, suppliers, outfitters, and producers of whale-based items. This researchused Skip Finley’s Whaling Captains of Color: America’s First Meritocracy(2020a) asa dataset ofover 50 menwho became whalingcaptains. According to Tom Nicholasin VC: An American History(2020),these men should be considered entrepreneurs. By examining the history of whaling as a commercial industry and these entrepreneurs within it, the results showed that place of birthanddate of first captaincyin relationship to the 13thConstitutional Amendmentending slavery (1865) made a difference as to the type of additional entrepreneurial endeavors pursued and whether they were involved in abolition and civic responsibilities. To provide a more complete picture of Blackentrepreneursborn in North America who began their business prior to1865, three significant whaling captains and seven contemporary Blackentrepreneurs were chosen and brief biographies are provided.