Alvin Boutte Sr., a Chicago businessman whose Independence Bank provided loans to Martin Luther King Jr. to support his civil rights efforts, died Sunday at age 82.
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From the Chicago Sun-Times:
Mr. Boutte learned perseverance from his father, who was routinely turned away when he tried to vote in the South, according to the book, African-American Business Leaders: a Biographical Dictionary.
โYou know, my father lived his entire life in America, and he never once voted,โ Mr. Boutte recalled in the book. โI can remember how heโd dress me up and weโd walk down to the voting place and theyโd tell him, โYou know you canโt vote.โ Heโd just walk back and try again the next time.โ
Mr. Boutte became part of the Great Migration that brought African Americans to Chicago and other northern cities to seek opportunity denied them in the South.
But unlike many of the transplanted arrivals, โBoutte had a number of advantages,โ according to African-American Business Leaders. โHe was educated, he had served as an officer in the U.S. Army, he was alert to business opportunity and success, and he was tremendously ambitious.โ
Mr. Boutte got his start owning and operating a Chicago drugstore. The drugstore expanded to a chain and Mr. Boutte became acquainted with black business leaders, including George Johnson, who became a powerhouse with his Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen hair-care products.
They helped found Independence Bank at 79th and Cottage Grove, which grew to be the nationโs largest minority-owned bank. Eventually, Independence Bank acquired Drexel National Bank. It was a watershed moment ยญโ the first time that a โblackโ bank had acquired a healthy โwhiteโ bank โฆ
When King was in need of funds to bankroll the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Mr. Boutte convened a meeting of Chicagoโs African-American business leaders and raised $55,000, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said.
Read more at the Chicago Sun-Times.
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