Thomas Graves, Baron Graves

Earl Gilbert Graves, Jr.

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American publishing magnate Earl Graves (born 1935) launched his empire in 1972 with Black Enterprise magazine. Coming less than a decade after new U.S. federal civil rights legislation had been enacted, the magazine soon became the standard-bearer for upwardly mobile African Americans.

Working-Class Family Upbringing

Graves was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 9, 1935, and grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. His father worked as a shipping clerk in New York's garment district. Bedford-Stuyvesant, far from the nightclubs and jazz of Harlem, was home to many similar working-class black families. Many owned their own homes, as Graves later pointed out in an interview with Los Angeles Times writer Lee Romney. "I swept the sidewalk once a day and God forbid if I didn't bring the garbage cans in after the garbage had been collected," he recalled. "From that environment came the idea of wanting to do something of my own… ." Still, entrepreneurship seemed an unlikely avenue to success for a black man in that era; as Graves wrote in his book, How to Succeed in Business Without Being White: Straight Talk on Making It in America, "the concept of being black and in business was still considered to be almost seditious even when I was a student at Morgan State University in Baltimore from 1953 to 1957."

During his time at the historically black college in Baltimore, Maryland, Graves earned money by delivering flowers on campus, at a time when the local florists would not venture there. He earned a degree in economics in 1958 and served two years in the U.S. Army, leaving with the rank of captain in the elite Green Beret unit. Back home in New York City, he dabbled in real estate and worked for the Boy Scouts of America before joining the staff of New York's newly elected U.S. senator, Robert F. Kennedy, in 1964. Graves spent four years as Kennedy's administrative assistant and was in the Kennedy entourage the night the senator, campaigning to win the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in June 1968. As he told Romney in the Los Angeles Times interview 30 years later, "The enormity of his death stayed with me. When I went back a year later to Los Angeles, I sat up all night staring out the window thinking, 'What would it all have been had Kennedy lived?' I believe this would be a different country than we have today."

Empowerment Through Economic Success

Devastated, Graves sought a new direction in his life. While serving on an advisory board to the Small Business Administration, he launched his own management consulting firm. By the late 1960s, the civil rights movement had paved the way for black empowerment and the concept of "black capitalism." Proponents believed that a liberated American society would come only when minority communities thrived with their own businesses.

With this in mind, Graves founded Black Enterprise magazine in New York City in 1970. At the time, only the Johnson Company in Chicago issued magazines targeted at black readers in the United States: Ebony and Jet. Many believed Graves was too optimistic in starting a magazine aimed at African American businesspeople. At the time, there were only about 100,000 black-owned businesses in the United States, and most of them were small, family-run, neighborhood operations. Only three of the 3,000 business leaders who were serving on the boards of Fortune 500 companies were African Americans. "Lacking capital, managerial and technical knowledge and crippled by prejudice, the minority businessman has been effectively kept out of the marketplace. We want to help change this," Graves declared in Black Enterprise 's first issue in August 1970.

"The BE 100"

Graves's publication was a success within its first year, becoming profitable after just ten issues. In June 1973, the magazine started listing its Black Enterprise 100, ranking the top black-owned companies in America by revenues. At the time, Berry Gordy's music and entertainment company, Motown, was number one on the list, and it remained there for a record eleven years. In time, as black-owned businesses grew in both number and revenues, the magazine expanded its rankings to list banks and insurance companies, auto dealerships, and other enterprises; it also began to publish statistics on Fortune 500 and other companies that were positive places for African Americans to work or to join as franchisees.

Graves expanded his empire over the years. He acquired several radio stations, and in 1990, in a much-heralded deal, joined with Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson to acquire the distribution rights for Pepsi-Cola products in the Washington, D.C. area. It was a $60 million deal, and their venture became the largest minority-owned franchise in the United States at that time. It was all the more remarkable because Pepsi rarely allowed outsiders to acquire its lucrative local distribution franchises. "Pepsi-Cola made the conscious decision, to their credit, to identify a minority person who could be a successful bottler," Graves told Beverage World 's Tim Davis. "And I wanted Washington, DC. I looked at other areas that were not necessarily minority. The population here is 80 percent minority, but the fact of the matter is that this is the seat of government for western civilization. And the beverage of choice right now is Pepsi-Cola."

Wrote Autobiography

Graves later bought out Johnson's shares and sold the Pepsi franchise back to the company in 1998, taking a post as chairman of Pepsi's customer advisory and ethnic marketing committee. By this time he also sat on the boards of several Fortune 500 corporations, among them Chrysler Corporation, Aetna Inc., American Airlines, and Federated Department Stores. "Let's be frank: African Americans are not invited to join the boards of white-owned companies because the world has run out of smart white people," he wrote in How to Succeed in Business Without Being White. "We are expected to add a unique business perspective and a fresh dimension, just as women are. That is a strength to be leveraged, not a deficit to be hidden away."

Graves's book appeared in 1997. Much of it was a summation of his magazine's editorial focus, with tips on dressing conservatively and how to define and assert personal career goals. A Publishers Weekly review found that "Graves's own reflections on the challenges faced by blacks in business" proved "more interesting" than the standard how-to fare in rest of it. True to form, Graves promoted the book tirelessly, and it enjoyed strong sales in many urban markets. When asked by Romney in the Los Angeles Times about what minorities needed to succeed in corporate America, Graves asserted that "a junkyard-dog mentality" was crucial, "that competitive spirit that comes from the culture in terms of having to be better, having to try harder, and having to be prepared to get up after you get knocked down."

Ardent Civil Rights Champion

Graves has often used the pages of Black Enterprise to call attention to unfinished civil rights business. He urged readers to support historically black colleges and to contribute to the United Negro College Fund. In one "Letter to My Grandchildren," Graves noted that many critical changes had taken place since his own childhood, opening the doors for unparalleled achievement for blacks in the United States. "It is important to remind ourselves from time to time that the entrepreneurial, professional, and economic strides and accomplishments that fill the pages of BE each month were unimaginable just a few short decades ago," he wrote. However, Graves noted, there was still work to be done, particularly with setbacks in affirmative action in the 1990s. " … [E]ven as we pause to congratulate ourselves, our celebration is tempered by deep concerns," he reflected. "I worry that the same legislation and policies that enabled the advances of my generation, and that of your parents' generation, will no longer exist for your generation."

For his longtime commitment to civil rights, Graves was awarded the 1999 Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, its highest honor. At the same time, he announced a new $1.23 million Earl G. Graves/NAACP Scholarship Fund. In 1995, he had given his alma mater, Morgan State University, $1 million, the largest alumni gift in the school's history. Morgan State named its business school in Graves's honor. Graves remained active in Democratic Party politics and supported the mayoral bid of Fernando Ferrer in the 2001 New York City race.

Magazine Entered Fourth Decade

Black Enterprise magazine continued to thrive. In 2001, the company, headquartered on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, enjoyed $5.7 million in sales, with four million readers. The company also included a book publishing arm, sponsored seminars for entrepreneurs, and ran a private equity investment fund. Washington Post writer Linton Weeks called its founder "one of the most influential black businesspeople in the country" and said Graves "has used Black Enterprise to tell the community how to: work together, dress smart, pull strings, borrow money, live revengefully well."

Graves, married in 1960, lived in the posh New York suburb of Scarsdale. Two of his three sons served as executives with his company, while the third held a post with Pepsi-Cola. In addition to the Spingarn Medal, Graves was also the recipient of numerous other awards, including the Entrepreneurial Excellence Award from Dow Jones & Co. in 1992, and the Ernst & Young New York City Entrepreneur of the Year Award three years later. In all, he held 53 honorary degrees, but as he wrote in the 30th anniversary issue of his magazine in 2000, "I have always said that these awards recognize the magazine's role in uplifting African Americans. By showcasing their achievements as well as gaining a forum to address the issues of the day, we helped fuel the aspirations of generations of black entrepreneurs and business people."

In the same issue, he wrote: "We wanted to show our readers a better way and, at the same time, communicate to the business world, from Madison Avenue to Wall Street, that there was a viable black consumer market. It was my vision to show a more positive side of African American participation in the business mainstream. Along the way, we would carve a path for future generations."

Books

Business Leader Profiles for Students, Volume 1, Gale, 1999.

Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 35, edited by Ashyia Henderson, Gale, 2002.

Periodicals

Beverage World, October 1992.

Black Enterprise, August 1995; February 1998; August 2000.

Booklist, April 1, 1997.

Changing Times, November 1990.

Directors & Boards, Spring 1997.

Jet, December 21, 1998.

Library Journal, April 15, 1997.

Los Angeles Times, October 14, 1998.

Publishers Weekly, April 7, 1997.

Washington Post, June 17, 1997.

Earl G. Graves

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Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > Black Biographies

periodical publisher; executive

Personal Information

Born Earl Gilbert Gravesin 1935 in Brooklyn, NY; son of Earl Godwin (a shipping clerk) and Winifred (Sealy) Graves; married Barbara Kydd, July 2, 1960; children: Earl Gilbert, John, Michael
Education: Morgan State College, B.A. (economics), 1958.
Politics: Democrat.
Religion: Episcopalian.
Military/Wartime Service: U.S. Army, 1958-60; became captain.

Career

Worked in real estate and as national commissioner of scouting for Boy Scouts of America, New York City, early 1960s; administrative assistant to Senator Robert F. Kennedy, 1965-68; owned management consulting firm, 1968-70; publisher of Black Enterprise, New York City, 1970-; co-owner of Pepsi-Cola distributorship, Washington, D.C., 1990-98; president and chief executive officer, Earl G. Graves., Ltd.; president:: Earl G. Graves Publishing Co., Inc., Earl G. Graves Marketing and Research Co., Earl G. Graves Development Co., and EGG Dallas Broadcasting Co.; member of board of directors: Rohm & Haas Corp., New York State Urban Development Corp., Chrysler Corp., National Supplier Development Council, and Magazine Publishers Association; chairman, Black Business Council.

Life's Work

A highly respected and nationally known authority on black business development, Earl G. Graves is the founder and publisher of Black Enterprise, a magazine that focuses on issues and news relating to black-owned businesses in the United States. Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 1990, Black Enterprise--to which Graves contributes a monthly publisher's column--boasts a circulation of over 230,000 and annual revenues of more than $15 million. A key communicator and spokesman within his field, Graves was once described by the Reverend Jesse Jackson in the Washington Post as the "primary educator in the country on black business--on trends and opportunities and the like."

Graves himself is a prosperous businessman; as Margaret K. Webb noted in the Washington Post, "Graves's success extends beyond the pages of his magazine." Black Enterprise is published by the Earl G. Graves Publishing Company, the parent corporation of which, Earl G. Graves, Ltd., is directed by Graves in his capacities as president and chief executive officer. In addition to these responsibilities Graves serves on the board of directors of several corporations, including the Chrysler Corporation, and is chairman of the Black Business Council. In 1990 Graves made national business headlines when he purchased the rights for Pepsi-Cola's Washington, D.C., distribution operations. Graves's partner in the venture is Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who serves as the partnership's executive vice-president and spokesperson, while Graves acts as chief executive officer. The franchise, which distributes over four million cases of Pepsi annually in the District of Columbia and parts of Maryland, has been estimated to be worth about $60 million and makes Graves and Johnson Pepsi's largest minority franchisees.

Although the Pepsi deal has consumed much of Graves's energy, he remains committed to the concerns of Black Enterprise. In his monthly publisher's column Graves often comments on matters important to greater economic power for blacks. In a 1990 essay for the magazine he expressed a stern warning that the publication's annual survey of the top 100 black-owned businesses in the United States showed virtually no growth occurring in the year 1989. As Webb quoted, Graves wrote that black business was threatened not only by a slow economy but "the Reagan administration's legacy of exclusion ... realized with the subsequent retrenchment of affirmative action plans and minority business set-aside programs." Graves noted that black businesses will survive if they get "leaner, stronger, better," and urged his readers to "be selective where we spend our money and do business with companies that do business with us."

Graves has always been vocal on the subject of racial discrimination in business. In 1990 he praised the United Way of his hometown, Scarsdale, New York, for moving their kick-off dinner from a club that traditionally excluded blacks from membership. In a speech quoted by James Ferron in the New York Times Graves stated that the United Way's action sent "an important signal of equal opportunity," and that a primary cause of human suffering was the "lack of equal economic opportunity in our minority communities." He later commented to Ferron on racial bias: "It is a national problem ... and the point I was making in this speech is that if there were jobs, people would not have some of the problems they have. If they had equal opportunity, quality schools, all of the above, then people would not have time to get sidetracked by those things that are detrimental to their well-being."

Black Enterprise, the premier business magazine for African Americans, "is committed to the task of educating, inspiring and uplifting its readers--showing them how to thrive professionally, economically and as proactive, empowered citizens," said Graves in a 1996 article in the magazine. As the man behind the magazine, Graves has long represented those sentiments personally. As his own success has continued to inspire would-be entrepreneurs well into the new millennium, Graves has taken steps to reach out to young African Americans through the creation of scholarships and programs to encourage entrepreneurship.

Throughout his career he has been cited numerous times for his achievements--from dozens of honorary degrees to various medals and citations. This trend has continued. He was awarded the Free Enterprise Award from the International Franchise Association in 1991, the Entrepreneurial Excellence Award from Dow Jones & Co. in 1992, the New York City Entrepreneur of the Year from Ernst & Young in 1995, and the Caribbean Tourism Organization's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. In 2000 he was inducted as a fellow into the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

One of the most prestigious honors Graves received was the Spingarn Medal in 1999 from the NAACP. The organization's highest honor, the medal was created in 1914 to recognize the merit and achievement of African Americans. It was awarded during the NAACP's 90th anniversary gala in New York City. NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume was quoted by Jet as saying during the event, "Earl G. Graves is being honored for his success as a businessman, publisher, dedicated advocate of education, passionate crusader for civil and human rights, conscientious civic leader, groundbreaking entrepreneur, and devoted family man." He continued, "I am proud to present Earl with our biggest honor." Graves immediately repaid the honor, announcing at the awards ceremony that he and other business leaders had established a $1.23 million Earl G. Graves/NAACP Scholarship Fund. "The scholarship fund with be a vehicle to help others to dream and to succeed," Graves was quoted as saying at the event by Jet.

The NAACP scholarship was the second major gift Graves made to higher education in the 1990s. In May of 1995 Graves pledged $1 million to his alma mater Morgan State University. It was the largest alumni gift the school had ever received. Graves attributed his generosity to a desire to thank the school for providing him with an invaluable learning experience. Black Enterprise quoted him as saying, "I remember how it felt to be a student on a campus with brilliant and dedicated professors demanding the best from us, while also being very supportive of us." He also raised the profile of the historically black college by dedicating Black Enterprise's silver anniversary party in New York City to the school. At the gala, the university's president announced that Morgan would rename its business school the Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management. He told Black Enterprise, "Earl Graves had been one of Morgan's most loyal and generous supporters over the years. He and I have worked to chart a vision for the growth of the School of Business and Management, and this gift of $1 million will go far to ensure the future success of African Americans in business."

Graves knows quite a bit about success himself and in 1997 published a book to share his knowledge. How to Succeed in Business Without Being White: Straight Talk on Making It in America offers advice to African Americans who hope to make it in a white-dominated corporate world. As if to prove his own point, Graves's own success in business continued to flourish. By 1998 Black Enterprise had a readership of 3.1 million people. Its parent company, Earl G. Graves Publishing, and its sister company, Black Enterprise Unlimited were doing very well. The Pepsi-Cola distributorship he purchased in 1990 won Bottler of the Year award three times and by 1998 was worth $60 million and covered a 400 square mile territory. It was at this point that Graves decided to sell it to the Pepsi-Cola company. "My decision to sell my Pepsi franchise is undoubtedly a sound business decision," Graves told Jet. "Not only has Pepsi made me an attractive offer, they have asked me to continue on with them as a powerful voice within the company as it relates to their national sales and marketing efforts." The position he took on was Chairman of Pepsi's Customer Advisory and Ethnic Marketing Committee. His job was to help Pepsi management in their efforts to reach ethnic consumers.

As the 1990s came to a close Graves not only continued to experience phenomenal success as a businessman, but he also continued to try and share the path to that success with African Americans. In 1998 he premiered the Kidpreneur Konference in conjunction with the annual Entrepreneurs Conference sponsored by Black Enterprise. It was designed specifically to encourage African American youth to pursue business ownership. For the grown-ups, Graves partnered with Sandy Weill, co-chairman of Citigroup to form the Black Enterprise/Greenwich Street Corporate Growth Partners. The private equity fund was created to help minority and women controlled businesses with a minimum annual revenue of $10 million.

In a 1995 interview in Black Enterprise Graves said, "It was probably [the fifth year of publication] when it became clear that we were going to make a contribution far greater than what I might have envisioned with starting out--that we were, in fact, going to make an enormous difference." Considering the many ventures designed to encourage entrepreneurship among African Americans that he has undertaken, Graves and Black Enterprise will continue to make enormous differences in the lives of minority business owners in particular and American business in general for a long time to come.

Awards

National Award of Excellence, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1972; Black Achiever Award, Talk (magazine), 1972; presidential citation, One of [the] Ten Most Outstanding Minority Businessmen in the United States, 1973; Outstanding Citizen of the Year, Omega Psi Phi, 1974; one of 200 Future Leaders of the Country, Time; Outstanding Black Businessman, National Business League; one of 100 Influential Blacks,Ebony; Poynter fellow, Yale University, 1978; numerous awards from the Boy Scouts of America.

Earl G. Graves

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Graves, Thomas Graves, Baron, 1725?-1802, British admiral. During the American Revolution his fleet was routed (1781) by the comte de Grasse at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, a defeat that led directly to Lord Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown (see Yorktown campaign). In the French Revolutionary Wars, Graves was second in command to Admiral Richard Howe in the victory over the French in 1794 and was subsequently raised to the peerage.

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