User:Adjoajo/PWChavers

P.W. Chavers born Pearl William Chavers was a banker, entrepreneur, industrialist, philanthropist, African-American journalist, real estate developer in Chicago, Illinois. He was a philanthropist in Chicago's Black Belt in the 1920s. Which is a historic district in Chicago known as the Black Metropolis-Bronzeville District. The area has been noted as a symbol of African American rise in business and the professions. Businesses grew and consumerism grew from the expanding Black working class. P.W. Chavers was a part of the growing "black metropolis", in Chicago. The Chicago Black Metropolis grew within the twenty years between the close of the First World War and the beginning of the Second World War.

Before moving to Chicago Chavers was a business man in Cleveland, Ohio. He played a key role the the rise of the African American political economy in Chicago's Black Belt which later become known as the Black Metropolis. This was during the Roaring Twenties, and the Chicago Jazz Age. The Black Metropolis was a period of history of racial consciousness, solidarity and economic prosperity for African Americans in Chicago. As noted in the book "The Rise of Chicago's Black Metropolis, 1920-1929", by Christopher Robert Reed.

Chavers was originally from Columbus, Ohio. He devoted his life to the establishment of a black economy in Chicago, Illinois and in Columbus, Ohio. He founded and operated a ladies garment factory in Columbus, Ohio which he later moved to Chicago. He was active within the National Bank Movement. He founded the first nationally chartered Black bank, the Douglass National Bank receiving the charter on June 27, 1922 in Chicago. The bank opened on June 29, 1922. In 1987 Madrue Chavers-Wright his daughter wrote a family biography called The Guarantee which documents the life of her father and family. His most noted achievement along with starting a National Bank in Chicago for African Americans called the Douglass Bank was the authorship of a Congressional Bill introduced in 1924 to provide Federal guarantee of bank deposits. Which is today known as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This guarantee became the title of Madrue Chavers-Wrights book. P.W. Chavers contribute to the development of a Federal Law to protect the safety deposits to protect depositors' bank accounts.

Early life
P.W.'s father died when he was a young boy, and at an early age he became an entrepreneur. He worked to help his mother and family financially. He was known to be an ambitious young man. He invested in newspapers by purchasing large supplies of newspapers and set up routes for other boys and make a profit from his investment. He attended Hudson College a business school in Columbus, Ohio. Where he learned how to structure a business, how to form a corporation, and how to market and use stocks and bonds. In 1900 he attended the 1900 Republican National Convention. At the convention he met Booker T. Washington.

Career
P.W.'s first enterprise after graduation from Hudson College was the founding the Columbia Standard newspaper. He was the founder and editor. He advocated for black business development, black voting power, self-help, and industry. The Columbia Standard newspaper was latter renamed The Ohio Standard World.

In 1905 Chavers started a women's garment factory in Columbus, Ohio. In 1917 he moved his garment factory to Chicago, Illinois. In 1907 he organized the Lincoln Ohio Industrial Training School for Colored Youth. There were other Black owned banks in Chicago at the time. Jesse Binga was a prominent African-American businessman. He founded the first privately owned African-American bank in Chicago in 1908. Which later became the Binga State Bank in 1921.

Chavers founded the first National Black Bank in 1922 the Douglass National Bank. The bank along with the Binga State Bank because the two most prominent Black banks owned by and servicing the Black Belt of Chicago before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

Although Chavers founded and started the Douglas National Bank in Chicago after going to Washington, D.C. to secure the charter the board selected Anthony Overton gained power, and became the President of the Bank and the Board. There were other Black owned banks in Chicago at the time. Jesse Binga was a prominent African-American businessman. He founded the first privately owned African-American bank in Chicago which later became a State bank. Chavers became trustee for the R.W. Woodfolk Bank an African American Bank that was having financial difficulties. Chavers founded the first National Black Bank the Douglass National Bank. The Douglass National Bank was organized to serve the needs of the African American population of Chicago. It was organized after the Red Summer of 1919 and a part of the growing bank movement within the African American community. The Douglass bank was an outgrowth of the Woodfolk Bank. The other major African American bank was the R.W. Hunter & Company that started in 1918. The Hunter bank experienced a Bank run after the 1919 riots, and went into bankruptcy.

In 1908 he wrote, "Conditions that Confront the Colored Race".