Responding to calls for “black capitalism” from civil rights and Black Power leaders, the Small Business Administration (SBA) launched the Minority Small Business/Capital Ownership Development Program (1969). It soon pledged “that a certain percentage of government contracts would go to minority-owned businesses” (Walker, 1998, p. 276).

It was needed. Two dozen race riots (1966–67), which conservatives blamed on black radicals, fed white backlash. The Nixon administration winked affirmative action regulations for contractors, but it allowed SBA to assist some inner-city businesses. Nathan Wright, leader of the Black Power Conference in Newark, New Jersey (1967), called for immediate government and corporate assistance, including opportunities for “high management positions.” Endorsing the idea of a “separate black economy,” former Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) national director Floyd McKissick organized a venture capital firm and sought federal loan guarantees. Black economist and Federal Reserve Board member Andrew Brimmer, however, insisted that African Americans prioritize education, training, and full employment.