For 30 years, black enterprise has chronicled African American entrepreneurship, professional gains and wealth. Since 1973, the annual be 100 lists have served as a resource tool and barometer of the most successful black businesses in America. The be Board of Economists has given an annual economic outlook report since 1984, which reflects as far back as 1982. With the help of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Census Bureau, Brimmer and Co. Inc., an economic and financial consulting firm and other researchers, be has recorded the professional advances of African Americans for three decades.
The charts below detail how far African Americans have come. In some cases, as with the be 100 companies and income gains, blacks have quadrupled their success and then some. Blacks have moved more slowly up the corporate ladder, however, increasing their representation by only 60% since 1975.