Earl G. Graves

Earl Gilbert Graves Sr. was born on 9 January 1935 in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Morgan State University, one of the historically Black colleges and universities, before serving in the US Army as a Green Beret and later working in real estate and as an administrative assistant to Senator Robert F. Kennedy during the 1960s.

Following Kennedy's assassination in 1968, Graves identified a significant gap in American business publishing: no major magazine existed specifically covering Black business ownership, entrepreneurship and professional advancement, despite the civil rights era's growing focus on Black economic empowerment as a crucial complement to legal and political equality.

In 1970 Graves founded Black Enterprise magazine, initially funded substantially through his own resources and a Ford Foundation loan, building a publication specifically covering Black entrepreneurship, corporate advancement and business strategy, filling a gap that mainstream business publications had consistently overlooked.

Black Enterprise grew into one of the most significant and influential Black-owned media companies in American history, and Graves used the platform to launch the annual 'BE 100s,' a ranking of the largest Black-owned businesses in America, providing crucial visibility and benchmarking for Black business achievement that had previously received minimal mainstream media attention or recognition.

Graves expanded beyond publishing into broader business ventures, including radio station ownership and a Pepsi-Cola bottling franchise, building substantial personal business success alongside his media company, and became a significant advocate for policies supporting Black business development, testifying before Congress and advising multiple presidential administrations on minority business policy.

Graves received numerous honours throughout his career recognising his contribution to Black business media and entrepreneurship advocacy, and died in 2020. He remains remembered as a foundational figure in Black business journalism, having built, from recognising a genuine gap in mainstream business media coverage, one of the most significant and enduring platforms documenting and celebrating Black entrepreneurial achievement in American history.