Black Americans Who Paved the Way

There once was a time when Black American men and women had to break through racial barriers to pursue careers as certified public accountants. Theresa Hammond, a professor of accounting at the College of Business at San Francisco State University, documented the stories of those paved the way for Black Americans to become a CPA in her book, "A White-Collar Profession: African American Certified Public Accountants since 1921."At the time Hammond published the book, in 2002, it was reported that less than 1 percent of CPAs were black. What you'll find in 'A White-Collar Profession' are interviews with approximately 100 groundbreaking black CPAs who shared the challenges they had to face to work in the profession. Here are 11 of those trailblazing CPAs who paved the way for black CPAs.