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More than a footnote: Baton Rouge bus boycott launched a journey of change in America; one man reflects on its legacy - Business History - Horatio Thompson

It got little national attention at the time, but the Baton Rouge bus boycott served as the road map for Martin Luther King Jr.'s march to change a nation.

In 1953 the Rev. T.J. Jemison and tailor Raymond Scott organized the bus boycott after Louisiana's attorney general struck down a city ordinance that abolished reserved bus seating for whites.

The boycott was announced on June 19 and by the end of the following day no black passengers rode the buses, instead using free ride vehicles or walking.

Four days later the protest ended in a compromise, though blacks still had to board from the back and they could not sit with or in front of any white passengers.

The settlement wasn't universally accepted; many blacks argued the boycott didn't go far enough. But it was the first of its kind and became the model for King's 1955 demonstration in Montgomery, Ala.

This month, for the protest's 50th anniversary, scholars will gather in Baton Rouge to celebrate the event's role in history and to gauge the boycott's success. Though the settlement preserved the notion of Jim Crow laws, historian Doug Brinkley says it "opened up a kind of can of worms" by showing blacks that they could challenge whites.

"We seem to want to begin everything in 1954 with Brown v. Topeka when really the discontent of the people of Baton Rouge is the starting point," Brinkley told Newsweek.

The question a half-decade later is how much has changed for blacks in Baton Rouge, especially in the business community?

To find out, Business Report sat down with long-time businessman Horatio Thompson to discuss how much progress has been made and what remains to be done.

Thompson, 88, has been an entrepreneur since his days as a student at Southern University when he worked out a deal with a Scotlandville drug store owner to sell personal items out of his dorm room. Before graduating Thompson had launched a taxi service and was on his way to an incredibly successful business career.

His many accomplishments include opening the first local service station owned by a black man, developing one of the first major black subdivisions--Southern Heights--in Baton Rouge, owning and operating appliance stores and automotive franchises, and staunchly reigning over a diverse dominion of residential and commercial real estate. In 1997, he was inducted into the Baton Rouge Business Hall of Fame.

Business Report: What was your role in the bus boycott of 1953?

Thompson: The chairman (of the boycott), Raymond Scott, called me and asked me what kind of support I could give. I told them I'd be happy to let all the people who were providing transportation have gasoline at a discount, which was really my cost.

I wasn't real active in all the meetings because I had just finished construction on a new (Esso gas) station, was trying to get it going and was in heavy debt. But I had to do something to show the black community that I supported them.

They just left it to me to figure out who should get the discount. When taxis and cars came by with passengers in the car I felt obliged to give them the discount. I'm sure some of them clipped me (laughing).

I was on Government Street (and 17th Street) and that was one of the routes that they used. There was always a crowd of people waiting on the corner for transportation.

Did you still have the taxi business in 1953?

Yeah, I had that, the two stations, and in 1954 I built another station in Scotlandville.

I had a fleet of taxicabs and was doing well, but the drivers got tired of making money for me and started to branch out and go into business for themselves.

Were you using your cabs to help transport people during the boycott?

Oh yes, but I couldn't use all of them because I had to pay those drivers. They weren't donating their services.

What was the lasting result of what happened in 1953?

They came to a compromise settlement. I just think it was the best thing that could happen to Baton Rouge. I don't know really what it changed; we weren't worried about that, it was about getting seats on a bus.

Believe it or not, I had a lot of white customers--of course the fact they didn't mind doing business with a black man says something--but not once did I receive any unfavorable comments from them.

I had fears for some time that somebody would retaliate against me, but it never happened.

How did you manage to get a $200,000 loan in 1953 to finance the construction of your A. Hays Town-designed station and appliance store on Government?

It was the first time that it ever happened. Mr. Leroy Ward Sr. was the president of Fidelity Bank at the time, and he happened to be a regular customer at my first station, which was on South Boulevard. That was the route taken by most of the people living on Lakeshore Drive to downtown.

Mr. Ward was so pleased with the service that I gave that when I went to negotiate for the loan, he took me over to the counter and told them to give me the money. Of course they had to have security; which was the lease with Esso.

From a business perspective, what was the climate like for a black business owner?

It was tough when I started, but it's slowly started to loosen up. I think my experience helped the white financial world see the possibilities of doing business with blacks. Believe it or not, some of my managers opened up stations of their own and got financed, so my experience must have made a difference.

I developed the Southern Heights subdivision in the mid-1950s, and that was a time when the financial institutions were reluctant to finance homes.

We were able to get the credit union at Southern to finance the unimproved land for people to purchase. The fact that blacks were doing this to help themselves served as a wake-up call for the financial community. The building and loans began financing the construction of a lot of those houses.

Black business leaders still complain about the difficulties of gaining access to financial capital.

It has improved a lot, though there are still some shortcomings. You've got these at-risk groups that specialize in helping somebody with a good idea. In fact, I served on the board of one of them and they were just as happy to interview blacks as whites. If the idea had merit they would risk it, regardless of who was making the proposal.

Will the white conununity support. black-owned businesses?

It's still an issue, though some black-owned restaurants have been successful. I've found that if you've got something to offer and it's attractive enough you can get white support.

When I opened my place (service station) in Scotlandville, I wanted to get some of the white business, so I hired a white salesman. He was one of my top salesmen and he sold to both blacks and whites.

My deliveryman would make the delivery and the customer didn't know if it was a black-owned business or not. Some would ask if it was a blackowned business and when they found out it was they said, "I don't give a damn what color he is as long as he's got good prices and good service."

It hasn't gotten to the' point of perfection yet; I guess I can say that.

What needs to change for Baton Rouge to become a more business-friendly place for black businessmen and entrepreneurs?

There's got to be some encouragement. I sense there's discouragement amongst black entrepreneurs about doing business in a desegregated community. There needs to be a group or an organization that works to help change those opinions.

Is the American Dream as viewed by the white community the same in the black community?

No, I think a lot of them feel like they don't have a chance. They think there's a better chance to make it by joining a big, diversified corporation and working their way up the ladder, like that lady (Jacqui Vines) at Cox Communications. They see more opportunity in doing that than by owning their own business.

There's a lot of risk in being an entrepreneur, and a lot of blacks haven't learned how to come up with an idea, develop a business plan and then be able to convince the people with money to invest in their idea.

How do you encourage entrepreneurial aspirations in-the black community?

People are out there with the entrepreneurial dream, and we've got to find them. Something has to be set up, like an incubator, to help nourish the good ideas and to arrange financing.

The problem is blacks don't believe they can get financing. Now what would be a wonderful thing is if we could get white people to think in terms of going out to help black entrepreneurs.