Gilbert C. Harris

Gilbert C. Harris (1853 – 1921) was an American businessperson, community leader and wig maker in Boston, Massachusetts. He served as treasurer of the National Negro Business League.[1]

Life and career

Gilbert C. Harris was born in c. 1853, in Petersburg, Virginia.[2][3] He moved from Virginia to Boston in 1892.[4][5] A 1918 book documented him as being "mulatto".[6]

He acquired and continued to operate Frenchman M. Alphonse Gilbert's Gilbert & Co. wig business at 732 Washington Street.[2] He supplied wigs to theater companies including via a mail order business.[7] Henry Wilson Savage was among his clients.[4] Charlotte Cushman and Henry Irving were among his clients.[2]

He co-founded a Colored Odd Fellows Lodge in Boston.[7]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gilbert C. Harris.
  • Mary L. Johnson, maker of the Johnson Hair Food pomade and a wig maker, scientific scalp specialist, and hair "culturist"
  • L. C. Parrish, wig maker and hair weaver in Boston
  • T. J. Jones (businessman), Boston manufacturer of Lusterine

References

  1. ^ "Negro Year Book and Annual Encyclopedia of the Negro". Monroe N. Work. November 18, 1922 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ a b c N.Y.), Mercantile Illustrating Company (New York (November 18, 1894). "Boston with Its Points of Interest: With Illustrations from Original Photographs". Mercantile Illustrating Company – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Miller, Melvin B. (July 20, 2018). Boston's Banner Years: 1965–2015: A Saga of Black Success. Archway Publishing. p. 244. ISBN 978-1-4808-6253-1.
  4. ^ a b Daniels, John (November 18, 1914). "In Freedom's Birthplace: A Study of the Boston Negroes. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1914". Johnson Reprint Corporation – via Google Books.
  5. ^ "A noble history". The Bay State Banner. February 14, 2012.
  6. ^ The Mulatto in the United States. Ardent Media.
  7. ^ a b History, Black Entrepreneur (November 9, 2022). "Gilbert C. Harris - African American Wig Manufacturer".


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