12019-03-12T23:57:35+00:00Stanford University Pressaf84c3e11fe030c51c61bbd190fa82a3a1a1282413plainpublished2019-08-21T10:38:59+00:00Production Editor7a3dce28be212b1ba5b4a7a50f3d6a8d76b58c74On June 26, 1909, the Baltimore Afro-American reported that the Mississippi Negro Business League was holding their fifth annual session in Okolona, Mississippi. “Extensive preparations are being made to entertain the more than three hundred delegates expected,” the Afro-American reported. “The program as arranged embraces almost every phase of business, including farming, oil industry, insurance and fraternal organizations, and the doctor and the lawyer.” The group was led by Charles Banks who founded the Mound Bayou Bank and Mound Bayou Cotton Oil Mill in Mississippi. Booker T.Washington called Banks “the most influential Negro businessman in the United States.”
