Atlanta Daily World

First Negro Stock Broker To Open Wall Street Office

NEW YORK - This week marked the opening of H. L. Wright and Company, Inc. at 99 Wall Street the first Negro-owned brokerage firm with offices on the street internationally famous as the heart of the financial district.

The company, headed by Harry L. Wright, was chartered by New York State in January, registered by the Federal Securities Exchange Commission in February as a broker-dealer to engage in a general investment business, and has obtained membership with the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc.

The firm's operations will be directed toward the development of a substantial wholesale bond business with insurance companies and other institutions owned and operated by Negroes and will also engage in the retailing of select issues and the underwriting of securities. In its underwriting activities, the company plans to devote the major portion of its efforts in spearheading private American investments in underdeveloped countries, particularly the newly independent African nations. The staff of the firm is interracial.

6-YEAR ACTIVITY

Harry L. Wright, President of the company, has been engaged in investment activities for the past six years. The 44-year-old stock broker rose from the ranks to become manager of the institutional investment department of a large Wall Street firm.

In addition, he has managed a branch office of a New York Stock Exchange member firm.

Mr. Wright, a native of Mississippi, received his B. S. degree in Business Administration from Tuskegee Institute and took graduate work at Columbia University and the New York Institute of Finance.

The stock broker's career includes the following positions: fiscal officer with the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the Navy Department, research analyst with the U. S. Department of Justice and the New York State Banking Department, race relations officer with the Southern Regional Council under the sponsorship of the Julius Rosenwald Fund, and comptroller of the United Negro College Fund.

Mr. Wright is author of a number of published articles on the education and employment of Negro World War II veterans in the South and several studies on the Negro market and the securities business. He was Sergeant-Major in the U. S. Marine Corps during World War II. Mr. Wright and his wife, the former Dolores Mitchell, live in New York City.