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OPOld money gets talked about constantly, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Astors. But almost no one talks about Black old money. No one talks about Black aristocrats.
One of them was Robert Reed Church, the South’s first Black millionaire. After the Civil War, he started in real estate and banking. He bought property in Memphis when prices were low, especially after yellow fever epidemics devastated the city. While others panicked, he accumulated land. He built an empire of rental properties and commercial buildings, and he financed Black-owned businesses.
In North Carolina, the Spaulding family helped lead North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance, which became the largest Black-owned financial institution in U.S. history. At a time when white-owned insurance companies refused to serve Black customers, they built their own system. They invested in schools, HBCUs, churches, and community projects. They funded education, professional development, and business growth when the government wouldn’t. They understood something critical: wealth is stronger when it builds institutions, not just individuals.
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