Expands the Colored Merchants' Association

Following the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling in 1896, African Americans were subjected to escalating racial discrimination. To develop economic self-help opportunities for blacks, Booker T. Washington founded the National Negro Business League (NNBL) in 1900. Similarly, in 1928, A. C. Brown of Montgomery, Alabama established the Colored Merchants’ Association (CMA), a cooperative organization of black grocery stores. The purpose of the organization was to reduce the operating costs of black retailers through cooperative buying. The CMA model was markedly successful. Associated stores reported increases in business and profits. The CMA in Montgomery was affiliated with the NNBL. Holsey, secretary of the NNBL, led the effort to expand the CMA into a national organization. Holsey believed that if the purchasing power of the black community could be channeled through black-owned wholesale and retail business, thousands of jobs would be created for African Americans. He also realized that in order for black businesses to succeed, they had to offer competitive pricing and service. In addition, Holsey was concerned that black college graduates had insufficient employment opportunities, except in overcrowded professions or in limited fields in industry and welfare. The association spread, and eventually there was a CMA store in nearly eighteen cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Nashville, and New York. The CMA built its national headquarters in New York City in October 1929, a time of apparent prosperity and favorable economic environment. Unfortunately, it was also the same month as the stock market crash.

Similar to franchise ownership in the early 2000s, CMA members paid a weekly fee to the headquarters and were required to meet designated standards. In return, members received support services from the association. The association recognized that the grocers needed intensive training in merchandising techniques. CMA provided sales training, advertising, and management resources such as market analysis, inventory and bookkeeping systems, and collection and credit procedures. Holsey arranged frequent instructional sessions that incorporated speakers such as James A. Jackson, the African American advisor on Negro affairs in the U. S. Department of Commerce, who discussed waste elimination and cost control. Other discussants included Gorton Jones, editor of Business Week ; F. R. Snapp, assistant sales manager at Royal Baking Company; and George Loomis, cashier at Dunbar National Bank. As CMA store purchases increased, grocery wholesalers began to hire African American workers. With the cooperation of the NNBL and the New York Urban League, a group of black women organized the Housewives’ League. The purpose of the group was to support black businesses and to give preference in their buying to the CMA stores and other businesses that employed blacks. Although the CMA flourished for a time, several internal and external factors during the 1930s negatively affected the organization. The Great Depression, which began in 1929, limited the amount of capital available for spending and operating. Holsey explained that perspective CMA members were in debt to wholesalers. In addition, Holsey stated that the members did not attend the training sessions that were designed to help them effectively manage their businesses. Though there were many contributing factors for its demise, the CMA could not continue its work because the grocers could no longer pay the membership dues. As a result, the organization failed around 1934.

The Harmon Foundation, established in 1922, held competitions for black achievement awards in nine fields. Holsey’s significance in the business arena can be inferred from the fact that in 1930 or 1931, he received the Harmon Award for achievement in business. Other historical giants who, at various times, had been considered for the award include labor leader A. Philip Randolph, banker Maggie L. Walker, and insurance executive Charles C. Spaulding. According to The Colored Situation , Eugene Gordon, a black journalist at the Boston Globe , rated Holsey as one of the thirteen most important and gifted African Americans in the United States.