A walk down wall street: a modern history of black achievement in the financial markets.

For decades, African Americans have worked on Wall Street--the center of high finance--and gained wealth and power while overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds. Here's a 100k back at more than 50 years of milestones achieved by African Americans on The Street.

1949: Thorvald McGregor and Lawrence L. Lewis are considered the first blacks to become registered stockbrokers.

1950: Brokerage house F. L. Salomon opens a branch at Harlem's legendary Hotel Theresa and hires black stockbrokers in an attempt to attract investments from African American lawyers. doctors and professionals.

1952: Norman McGhee launches his investment firm. McGhee & Co., which is believed to be the first black-owned firm to obtain a National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) license.

1953: Lilia St. John becomes the first black woman to pass the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) exam to work for Openheimer & Co.

1955: Philip Jenkins co-founds Special Markets Inc., the first black-owned and operated brokerage located in the Wall Street financial district. His reputation was held in such high regard that the black press dubbed him "The Wizard of Wall Street." [1]

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1967: Investment pioneer Norman McGhee launches what is believed to be the first black-owned mutual fund, the Everyman Fund.

1968: Russell Goings becomes the first black branch manager for Shearson Hammill Inc.'s Harlem branch. He eventually buys the branch from the firm and renames it First Harlem Securities. [2]

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1970: Joseph L. Searles III becomes the first black floor member of the NYSE. However, because of a downturn in the market, Searles would have to relinquish his seat in less than a year.

1970: Henry Parks becomes the first African American CEO to take his company, Parks Sausage, public. The food manufacturer was listed on NASDAQ. [3]

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1971: Johnson Products Co., the nation's largest black haircare products manufacturer, becomes the first black-owned company to be traded on the American Stock Exchange. [4]

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1971: Daniels & Bell becomes the first black firm to purchase a seat on the NYSE. Later that year, black-owned First Harlem Securities would also become a NYSE member firm. [5]

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1973: Maynard Jackson is elected mayor of Atlanta. Through the implementation of his minority business set-aside program, several black investment banks are tapped to underwrite municipal bonds and establish national reputations. Jackson's model is replicated by other big-city mayors and federal agencies. [6]

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1974: Henry Parker is elected the state treasurer of Connecticut. He is responsible for enabling black firms to manage a significant portion of $800 million in pension funds.

1979: After 26 years in business, Ernesta Procope's insurance brokerage moves to an address on Wall Street, the first business in the financial district owned by a black woman. She becomes known as the "First Lady of Wall Street," [7]

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1983: John Rogers launches Ariel Capital Management Inc., the first black-owned asset manager. More than 20 years later, the firm grows to manage more than $19 billion in assets. [8]

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1984: Aulana Peters is named the first black member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal body charged with regulating the securities industry. [9]

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1985: Franklin Raines is named a partner of the global investment bank Lazard Freres, making him the first African American to achieve that level at a majority-owned investment bank. (In 1999, Raines would become the first black CEO of one of the nation's 500 largest corporations when he assumes the helm of Fannie Mae.)

1987: Reginald Lewis' investment firm TLC Group Inc. acquires Beatrice International Food Co, for $985 million in a leveraged buyout. Renamed TLC Beatrice International, the company becomes the first black-owned company to generate more than 1 billion in revenues. [10]

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1987: Clifton becomes chairman of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF), a $70 billion pension fund, making him the first black to head one of the 1,000 largest publicly-traded companies.

1991: BET Holdings CEO Bob Johnson completes the landmark initial public offering that makes his business the first black-owned company traded on the NYSE. [11]

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1993" Grigsby Brandford senior manages the refund of $502; million in leased revenue bonds issued by the Los Angeles Convention Center--at the time, the largest deal of its kind and the largest bond transaction of any kind for Los Angeles. His firm beats out Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

2002: Stanley O'Neal becomes CEO of Merrill Lynch, the first African American to lead a major Wall Street powerhouse. [12]

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For more information on black achievement of Wall Street, read In The Black: A History of African Americans on Wall Street by Gregory S. Bell (a BLACK ENTERPRISE Series book), available at www.blackenterprise.com/books. Also, look for the upcoming documentary Wall Street in the Black. To learn more about this documentary, whose supporters include Ariel Capital Management and Lehman Brothers, go to www.WallStreetBlacks.com.