Anthony Overton

Early years

Anthony Overton, the son of Anthony and Martha Overton, was born in Monroe, Louisiana. At some point after the Civil War ended, his family moved from Louisiana to Topeka Kansas. His father had been born into slavery, and was among the slaves emancipated by Abraham Lincoln. His father ultimately became a small business owner, and made sure young Anthony had greater opportunities. Anthony attended Washburn College in Topeka, and after graduating with a degree in Chemistry , he studied law, earning his legal degree from the University of Kansas in 1888. He briefly worked as a lawyer, and became a judge in Shawnee, KS.

Business Career

By the late 1890s, he had gone into business, opening his own grocery store in Kansas City, KS. In 1898, Anthony established the Hygienic Manufacturing Company, which produced a number of goods for drug stores and groceries. The products included the nationally known High Brown Face Powder, which was "the first market success in the sale of cosmetics for black women". In 1911, he moved his business from Kansas to Chicago , where in 1923 he established the Douglass National Bank, the second nationally chartered black-owned bank in the United States. He went on to develop a highly diverse conglomerate, including the Great Northern Realty Company, and the Victory Life Insurance Company. In 1925, he founded the Chicago Bee, a black newspaper known for its support of liberal causes. The newspaper was unusual because one of its managing editors was a woman, Olive M. Diggs. In 1927 The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) awarded him its Spingarn Medal for outstanding achievement by an African American. That same year, he was also given the prestigious Harmon award's first award and Gold medal in Business. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. In addition, there is an elementary school in Chicago that is named after him.