Searles, Joseph L. III
1942-2000 · Contribution: 1970
First African American to do business on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
Became the first African American to conduct business on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in 1970, breaking a barrier nearly two centuries after Wall Street's founding, on a site that had itself once served as a slave market in the early 1700s.
Life & background
Searles became the first African American to do business on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in 1970, a milestone with particular historical weight given that the same Wall Street location had served as New York City's official slave market in 1711, before becoming the site of the Exchange itself in 1792.
Sources
- New York Stock Exchange; The New York Times
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