{{Short description|British Guiana-born American stockbroker}} '''Robert Theophilus Bess Jr.''' (February 5, 1889 – after October 1958) was a British Guiana-born American [[stockbroker]], civil rights activist, public relations manager, and pharmacist.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KM-7AAAAIAAJ&dq=Ellen+Maud+Talbot+Robert+Theophilus+Bess&pg=PA100 |title=Who's Who in Commerce and Industry |date=1965 |publisher=Marquis Who's Who |pages=100 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1949-08-27 |title=Ethiopian Federation Has Green Light; Maps Action |pages=23 |work=[[The New York Age]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116132675/ethiopian-federation-has-green-light/ |access-date=2023-01-09}}</ref> He founded the R. T. Bess Company in [[New York City]], a stock brokerage firm, which was the only black-owned stock brokerage on Wall Street in 1932.<ref name="EAABH">Juliet E. K. Walker, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=s4YYAQAAIAAJ&q=robert+t.+bess Encyclopedia of African American Business History]'' (Greenwood Press, 1999), p. 322, 630.</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=1931-12-26 |title=Robert T. Bess, Stock Broker, Exonerated on Larceny Charge |pages=10 |work=[[The New York Age]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116133231/robert-t-bess-stock-broker/ |access-date=2023-01-09}}</ref> He was also the only black stockbroker in New York City the early-1930s.<ref name=":7">{{Cite news |date=1931-11-07 |title=Negro Stockholder of Wall Street Faces $105 Larceny Charge |pages=3 |work=[[The Pittsburgh Courier]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116154412/negro-stockholder-of-wall-street-faces/ |access-date=2023-01-10}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> Bess founded the Anti-Discrimination Job League, Inc. in 1936, which worked to fight for law change in New York and nationally. Starting in 1947, he formed Robert T. Bess Assoc., a public relations firm.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1951-03-31 |title=Booker T. Washington Coins Cease Circulation This Year |pages=9 |work=[[The New York Age]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116132805/booker-t-washington-coins-cease/ |access-date=2023-01-09}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite news |date=1951-07-14 |title=Public Relations Group Selects Robert T. Bess |pages=2 |work=[[The New York Age]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116132957/public-relations-group-selects-robert/ |access-date=2023-01-09}}</ref>
== Biography == Bess was born a British subject in [[Plaisance, Guyana|Plaisance]], [[British Guiana]] (today [[Guyana]]), one of three sons of parents Isabella Elizabeth (''née'' Cappell) and Robert T. Bess.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-YdAQAAIAAJ |title=Who's Who in Commerce and Industry |date=1959 |publisher=Marquis Who's Who |pages=108 |language=en}}</ref> One of his brothers, Dr. Edward E. Bess (1895–1956) became president of the local [[NAACP]] branch from 1939 to 1940.<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-standard-star-obituary-for-edward-e/132148238/ Dr. Bess, NAACP Leader, Is Dead]", ''The New Rochelle Standard-Star'' (October 10, 1956), p. 2.</ref> Bess worked as a pharmacist in his early career in British Guiana between 1911 and 1921.<ref name=":1" /> In 1913, he married Ellen Maud Talbot, and together they had 4 children.<ref name=":1" /> He was a Methodist and a member of the St. Mark's Methodist Episcopal Church (now St. Mark's United Methodist Church) in New York.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1934-02-17 |title=Manhattan and Bronx Newsettes |pages=2 |work=[[The New York Age]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116133884/manhattan-and-bronx-newsettes/ |access-date=2023-01-09}}</ref>
From 1923 until 1933, he was the founding president of the R. T. Bess Company (also known as Robert T. Bess Corp.), a stock brokerage firm, initially located at 206-208 Broadway Street, New York City.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1925-11-21 |title=Granny Branch Coal Company Pays Regular Dividends to Stockholders |pages=10 |work=[[The New York Age]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116131463/granny-branch-coal-company-pays-regular/ |access-date=2023-01-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1926-09-18 |title=Robt. T. Bess Corporation |pages=10 |work=[[The New York Age]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116131561/robt-t-bess-corporation/ |access-date=2023-01-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1931-06-12 |title=Negro Needs Courage in Business, Says Broker |pages=14 |work=[[California Eagle]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116152137/negro-needs-courage-in-business-says/ |access-date=2023-01-10}}</ref> He became a naturalized American citizen in 1927.<ref>''New York, U.S., Index to Petitions for Naturalization filed in New York City, 1792–1989''</ref>
In 1931, he was taken to court on [[larceny]] charges related to the R. T. Bess Company, and he was [[Exoneration|exonerated]] of the charges a few months later.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7" /> In 1932, his company was the only Black-owned stock brokerage on [[Wall Street]], and he was reportedly the only black stockbroker.<ref name="EAABH" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name="HBB">"Juliet E. K. Walker, ''The History of Black Business in America: Capitalism, Race, Entrepreneurship'' (1998), p. 259.</ref> The company was able to survive the [[Wall Street crash of 1929]] and the resulting economic turmoil by "sticking at the wheel". During this time, Bess employed 9 white and 6 black office workers, and "promoted the interests of the [[Standard Television and Electric Company]]", asserting that they "offered an opportunity to colored people to reap millions of dollars in profit".<ref name="HBB"/>
Bess worked as an organizer for the Consolidated Tenants League, Inc. of Harlem.{{When|date=January 2023}}<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1935-06-15 |title=Crowd Riots, Halts Harlem Relief Quiz |pages=133 |work=Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116137105/crowd-riots-halts-harlem-relief-quiz/ |access-date=2023-01-10}}</ref> Starting in 1936, he was the founding president of the Anti-Discrimination Job League, Inc., and the National Anti-Discrimination Movement.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite news |date=1950-02-25 |title=Seven Year Fight For Anti-Bias Bills Facing Success?? |pages=29 |work=[[The New York Age]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116137274/seven-year-fight-for-anti-bias-bills/ |access-date=2023-01-10}}</ref> Bess and the Anti-Discrimination Job League, Inc. lectured and fought for many years for the passage of laws to protect people from discrimination by insurance companies and employment agencies.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1942-05-01 |title=Club to Hear Labor Talk |pages=4 |work=[[The Brooklyn Daily Eagle]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116152264/club-to-hear-labor-talk/ |access-date=2023-01-10}}</ref> The group supported the passage of the [[Ives-Quinn Act]] (signed in 1945 by Governor [[Thomas E. Dewey]]).<ref>{{Cite news |date=1945-02-20 |title=Leaders Plead For, Denounce Anti-Bias Bill |pages=1 |work=Press and Sun-Bulletin |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116137977/leaders-plead-for-denounce-anti-bias/ |access-date=2023-01-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1945-02-20 |title=Anti-Bias Bill Battle Is On |pages=8 |work=Press and Sun-Bulletin |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116137854/anti-bias-bill-battle-is-on/ |access-date=2023-01-10}}</ref>
From 1943 to 1950, he worked as a pharmacist in New York City.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1950-03-25 |title=Lyons Drug Co. Located on West 125th Street 35 Years |pages=31 |work=The New York Age |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116152362/lyons-drug-co-located-on-west-125th/ |access-date=2023-01-10}}</ref> Starting in 1947, he formed Robert T. Bess Assoc., a public relations firm located at W. 125th Street in [[Manhattanville, Manhattan|West Harlem]], New York City.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite news |date=1948-06-12 |title=Robert T. Bess Opens Public Relations Office |pages=4 |work=[[The New York Age]] |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116152505/robert-t-bess-opens-public-relations/ |access-date=2023-01-10}}</ref>
He authored, "Ethiopia Shall Stretch Forth Her Hands to God" (1949).<ref name=":0" /> Bess was the founding president of the Nannie C. Burden Book Lovers Club, Inc.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=1950-06-17 |title=Nannie C Burden 7 years president New York City Federation of Colored women's clubs |pages=3 |work=The New York Age |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29663706/nannie-c-burden-7-years-president-new/ |access-date=2023-01-09}}</ref> He eulogized [[Nannie C. Burden]] on [[Decoration Day]] in 1950 at the [[Frederick Douglass Memorial Park]] cemetery.<ref name=":2" /> In October 1958, he was noted to be scheduled to speak at a public meeting on responding to the possibility of a [[hydrogen bomb]] attack.<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-if-h-bomb-falls/132147615/ If H-Bomb Falls]", ''New York Daily News'' (October 12, 1958), p. 58.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bess, Robert T.}} [[Category:1889 births]] [[Category:20th-century deaths]] [[Category:Year of death missing]] [[Category:American people of Guyanese descent]] [[Category:African-American businesspeople]] [[Category:American stockbrokers]] [[Category:American public relations people]] [[Category:Activists for African-American civil rights]] [[Category:Civil rights activists from New York (state)]] [[Category:Businesspeople from Manhattan]] [[Category:African-American pharmacists]] [[Category:20th-century American pharmacists]] [[Category:Pharmacists from New York City]] [[Category:Emigrants from British Guiana]]