Breaking Wall Street's Color Barrier: Echoes
By Kristin Aguilera
This article was originally
published on February 13, 2012.
Feb. 12, 1970, was a historic day on
Wall Street. For the first time in the 178-year history of the New York Stock
Exchange, a black man joined the trading community on the exchange floor.
Joseph L. Searles III, the Newburger,
Loeb & Co. partner who achieved this milestone, took a meandering route
to the Street. He had been a professional football player for the New York
Giants and later made a name for himself in politics as an aide to New York
City Mayor John Lindsay. But Searles's experience in finance was extremely
limited.
The New York Times article announcing
his proposed membership on Jan. 31, 1970, read, "The poised and assured
Mr. Searles said that he had never owned any stocks or bonds and that his
modest stake in the Newburger, Loeb partnership represented his first
investment."
Although Searles was the first black
trader on the exchange's floor, he was technically not its first black member.
That distinction goes to Clarence B. Jones -- counsel and speechwriter to
Martin Luther King Jr. -- who became an allied member of the exchange in 1967
when he was named a partner at Carter, Berlind & Weill Inc. As an
allied member, Jones had voting stock in a member firm, but he didn't have
floor access.
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Source: Bloomberg
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