Philip A. Payton Jr.

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Philip A. Payton Jr.

Philip Anthony Payton Jr. (February 27, 1876-August 1917), known as the "Father of Harlem", was an African-American real estate developer, who rented properties in Harlem, New York City, to African Americans. [1]

Philip A. Payton, Jr., was born on February 27, 1876, in Westfield, Massachusetts, the second of four. His dad was a stylist, and his mom was a beautician. His father demanded all of the children to know know. He made sure that all of the children was educated in the family profession twice a week after school. By the age of fifteen, Payton appeared to be a full-fledged barber. [2]

Discrimination in Housing

Harlem is considered the "Black Capital of America," a sanctuary for Black people around the world. It was the nexus of African American culture and home to the biggest African American community outside of Africa. It was all the result of the desires of one man – Philip A. Payton, Jr. [3]

Housing inequality has gotten more articulated since the end of slavery, usually as part of the Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation. The government chose to make strides against these limitations in 1917 when the Supreme Court decided that blacks should be forbidden from leasing or purchasing houses in the majority-white communities of Buchanan v. Warley. Nonetheless, after the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both the central government and city regions had all the earmarks of being responsible for the isolation of housing by reclassifying and race-restricted treaties. [4]

Payton’s Work and Contribution

Payton moved to New York in 1899 to make his own fortune. He attempted to live as a barber, a handyman, and in the long run as a steward in the real estate office. Before long he figured out his investment funds, opened an office and advertised, “Colored man makes a speciality of managing colored tenements.” [5]

"My first chance came as a result of a dispute between two landlords in West 134th Street," he said in an interview with The New York Age, a black publication. "To 'get' one of them handed his house over to me to load with vibrant tenants. I was effective in renting and maintaining this property, after a while, I was able to persuade other landlords to... give me their houses to operate." The landowner expected that having a building loaded with black tenants would prevent his rival's renting endeavors.

At the point when more black people came, whites left, discouraging land costs and providing more jobs. Soon after, Payton turned into the owner of the structure himself. Furthermore, by 1904, the year the metro entered Harlem, it incorporated the Afro-American Realty Company to help remake Harlem as a refuge for black people who faced discrimination in housing. [6]

On June 15, 1904, with the help of other black people, Payton contracted the Afro-American Realty Company, giving 50,000 offers at $10 eachHe engaged  black investors explicitly, both to their social equity and benefit intentions, with a promotion expressing: “Today is the time to buy, if you want to be numbered among those of the race who are doing something toward trying to solve the so-called ‘'Race Problem.” and the prospectus writing: “The very prejudice that has heretofore worked against us can be turned and used to our profit.

In 1905, a white-owned real estate company, the Hudson Realty Company, had purchased a lot of land on West 135th Street close to Lenox Avenue, in the core of Harlem, for residential development. To make the advancement property more appealing to forthcoming manufacturers, it additionally purchased three adjoining tenement buildings from the Afro-American Realty Co., and removed their black inhabitants, supplanting them with white ones. The Hudson’s only rent their properties to white people. Accordingly, the Afro-American Realty Company purchased two adjoining flats, removed their white inhabitants, and moved in the seized back residents. In the long run, Hudson surrendered and sold the first three structures back to the Afro-American at a huge misfortune. The occurrence acquired Payton notoriety and investors. While reporting this incident The New York Times called it a “Real Estate Race War”.

Despite facing a lot of challenges, Payton proceeded to procure and run Harlem land for black residents and afterward established Philip A. Payton Jr. Company, notable for its PAP logo.

By 1914, The Outlook wrote that three-quarters of the black population in New York City, including all blacks of renown, was living in Harlem; it called Payton "the father of his Black community." The popularity of Payton's company could be seen in the 13th West 131st Street neighbourhood, house he had bought for himself and his significant other Maggie in 1903. The whole road was white in 1900; according to 1915 New York State Census, the square was solely populated by black people. The Phillip A. Payton, Jr. Company survived after Payton and his more younger sibling passed away in 1917 and 1912, and the company was still managing various African-American apartments until 1922.[7]

Reference

  1. Philip A. Payton Jr.. en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  2. Carolyn. Philip A. Payton Jr., Harlem Real Estate Visionary. Feb 26, 2018. harlemworldmagazine.com. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  3. Walks of New York. Philip A. Payton: the Father of Harlem. Feb 11, 2012. warlkofnewyork.com. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  4. Housing discrimination in the United States. en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  5. Walks of New York. Philip A. Payton: the Father of Harlem. Feb 11, 2012. warlkofnewyork.com. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  6. Walks of New York. Philip A. Payton Jr.: A real estate magnate who turned Harlem into a black mecca. nytimes.com. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  7. Carolyn. Philip A. Payton Jr., Harlem Real Estate Visionary. Feb 26, 2018. harlemworldmagazine.com. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.