Our second Black History Month post is brought to you by Spark's Director of Learning and Development, Angel Starks. As a REALTOR® herself, Angel chose to honor Alphonso Wilson and James S. Bryant, the owners/partners of the real estate firm, Wilson & Bryant.
Both Wilson and Bryant were African American activists in the late 1800s and served alongside each in various organizations. Both were delegates of the National Afro-American League, preceding the foundation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the organization dedicated itself to racial solidarity and self-help. Wilson was elected the Chairman of the Bureau of Immigration of the Nebraska branch of the League. They also were members of the national building, loan, and protective union organized to assist Omaha blacks to buy or build a home.
Wilson served as treasurer and a founding member of the Omaha Union League club, a social club, and lyceum, formed in 1895.
Bryant was a journalist and was admitted to the district court in Omaha in April 1890, becoming the second African American among 340 total who served in that capacity. In 1894 he was an officer of the Afro-American Fair association in Omaha. He was also an officer of the Union League club.
Local Black professional and real estate groups began forming in northern and southern communities in the 1880s. Most became members of the National Business League (NBL), founded by Booker T. Washington in the early 1900s. The NBL became the first advocacy association for Black national business trade organizations. From this many other organizations were created, including the REALTIST© organizations founded in the 1920s in Harlem (NYC) and Dearborn (Chicago), the oldest, continuously active REALTIST© organizations that came out of the NBL and predate NAREB.
The National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Inc. (NAREB) was founded in Tampa, Florida, in 1947 as an equal opportunity and civil rights advocacy organization for African American real estate professionals, consumers, and communities in America.
It wasn't until 1961 that the National Association of REALTOR® finally overturned the policies that prevented black real estate professionals from joining their local boards of REALTORS®. Even after the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, some local Boards continued to prevent or discourage black real estate brokers from becoming REALTOR® members.
For these men to be successful real estate agents in the late 1800s is phenomenal and their advocacy for black homeownership will be remembered.