Building Capital for Legitimacy: J. B. Blayton's Path to Success in Segregated Atlanta

Abstract

In the first part of the twentieth century, the Black community in Atlanta, Georgia, operated in an environment of suppressed capital. That environment, along with other factors, contributed to low legitimacy for Black entrepreneurs. However, we still read success stories like that of Jesse Bee Blayton (known as J.B.). Blayton was an outsider in Atlanta who, within a decade, became one of its most successful Black entrepreneurs, respected by the white and Black communities alike. This article examines how Blayton accumulated cultural, social, economic, and symbolic capital to earn the legitimacy that was necessary for his eventual success. This capital was accumulated within the white and Black communities, depending on the type of capital. Each form of capital also contributed to different strategies of earning legitimacy.