Black History: Special Delivery!!
Joseph Searles became the first African American member of the New York Stock Exchange on February 13, 1970, when he was employed as a floor trader and partner of Newburger, Loeb and Co. Searles grew up in Ft. Hood, TX. In college he was a stand-out football player at Kansas University. After KSU, he graduated from George Washington University Law School. He then played for the New York Giants in the 1960’s. There were only a few black players in the league at the time. His success bothered many people. He was asked to cut his afro and hide his car (a green Jaguar) when coming to practices. He played for the Giants until 1967.
Searles played for the Giants until 1967. Soon after, he entered politics, working for Mayor John Lindsey. Searles also had two gubernatorial appointments as Chairman and Director of the State of New York Mortgage Agency where he was responsible for municipal housing issues totaling more than $600 million. It was after this time working in government that he took the job working on the NY Stock Exchange as its first black floor trader.
************************************************************************************************************
Did you check out our trivia question posted earlier today? Click the link and take the trivia quiz! Answers will be posted at 6pm EST.
Black Mail Blog 
November 6, 2015 at 11:53 am
I knew Joe Searles in Killeen High School and have always remembered him. He singlehandedly integrated Killeen High School in 1959 because of his football playing. I will always remember him running, probably because the other teams were literally trying to kill him. He was a wonderful kid, and he reminds me a lot of Michael Strahan, another New York Giant Army kid. Congratulations Joe, I finally found you and I’m so glad you’ve had a good life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
November 6, 2015 at 12:02 pm
That is AMAZING!! Thank you for sharing! It truly is a small world!
LikeLike