Born on April 10, 1865, in Detroit, Michigan, Jesse Binga was the youngest of ten children. His father, William W. Binga, was a barber and a native of Ontario, Canada, while his mother, Adelphia Lewis Binga, was a savvy real estate entrepreneur who owned extensive properties in Detroit and Rochester, New York. Inspired by his mother’s business acumen, Binga dropped out of high school to assist her in collecting rents and maintaining properties. He also worked as a barber, apprenticed with his father, and briefly served in the office of Thomas Crispus, an African American attorney.
Seeking broader opportunities, Binga left Detroit in his early twenties. He traveled westward, working as a barber in cities like Seattle, Tacoma, and Oakland, and as a Pullman porter. During this period, he made a profitable real estate investment in Pocatello, Idaho, which bolstered his financial foundation. In 1893, Binga arrived in Chicago to attend the World’s Columbian Exposition, deciding to settle there permanently.
Binga arrived in Chicago with little more than $10, but his entrepreneurial drive and strategic timing propelled him to success. The city’s African American population was small at the turn of the century (about 2% of the total population), but the Great Migration, spurred by Jim Crow oppression and economic hardship in the South, brought thousands of Black migrants to Chicago. Binga capitalized on this demographic shift, entering the real estate business around 1896–1898.
He began modestly, purchasing dilapidated buildings in Chicago’s South Side “Black Belt,” a segregated neighborhood where most African Americans lived. Binga repaired and renovated these properties himself, renting them at a premium to Black migrants desperate for housing. His real estate ventures expanded rapidly, and by 1905, he leased the Bates apartment building, a move that prompted white tenants to leave—a practice later termed “blockbusting.” This strategy, while controversial, allowed Binga to provide housing for Black residents in previously white neighborhoods, challenging Chicago’s rigid racial boundaries.
In 1908, Binga married Eudora Johnson, a relative of John “Mushmouth” Johnson, Chicago’s gambling kingpin. When Johnson died in 1907, Eudora inherited $200,000, significantly boosting the couple’s wealth and social standing. That same year, Binga founded a private bank to serve African Americans, who were often excluded from white-owned financial institutions. This was the first Black-owned bank in the North, addressing a critical need for fair access to loans and financial services.
Recognizing the growing financial needs of Chicago’s Black community, Binga secured a state charter and opened the Binga State Bank in 1921, with initial deposits exceeding $200,000. Within three years, deposits grew to over $1.3 million. Located at 35th and State Streets, the bank became a cornerstone of Black economic development, offering loans to Black homebuyers and entrepreneurs who faced discrimination from white banks and predatory lenders. The bank also provided well-paying white-collar jobs for African Americans, fostering community pride and economic mobility.
Binga’s real estate portfolio grew to include around 1,200 leaseholds, and he became a leading philanthropist, supporting institutions like the YWCA, historically Black colleges (Fisk, Howard, and Atlanta University), and Catholic charities. He and Eudora, devout Catholics, hosted the Black Belt’s annual Christmas party, a major social event. Binga also established the Associated Business Club to mentor aspiring Black entrepreneurs and was an honorary member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
In 1929, Binga opened the Arcade Building, a lavish five-story office complex at 35th and South State Streets, symbolizing his entrepreneurial zenith. However, the building’s timing—completed just before the stock market crash—proved financially disastrous. Binga’s success came at a steep personal cost. His efforts to integrate Black families into white neighborhoods made him a target of racial violence. In 1917, he and Eudora moved to 5922 South Park Avenue (now King Drive), a white neighborhood, sparking outrage. Between 1917 and 1921, their home was bombed at least six times, and their businesses were attacked twice. Binga refused to leave, hiring 24-hour security and offering a $1,000 reward for the conviction of the perpetrators, who were never caught. He famously declared, “I will not run,” embodying defiance against racial intimidation.
Binga’s real estate practices, while empowering Black residents, drew criticism. Some accused him of “blockbusting” by exploiting white fears to buy properties cheaply and resell them at inflated prices to Black buyers. Others labeled him a harsh landlord, charging high rents to low-income tenants. Despite these controversies, Binga’s supporters, including Booker T. Washington, who praised him as “the most progressive and successful Afro-American banker and real estate broker” in 1909, viewed him as a champion of Black economic self-reliance. The Great Depression devastated Binga’s empire. The Binga State Bank, heavily reliant on real estate loans, faced dwindling reserves as the economy collapsed. In 1930, Binga sought support from the Chicago Clearinghouse, a cooperative of bankers to which he had paid dues for over a decade. The Clearinghouse refused to assist, and the bank closed, wiping out the savings of many Black depositors, including prominent community members. While other Clearinghouse banks survived, Binga’s was left to fail, raising questions of racial bias.
In 1933, Binga was convicted of embezzling $22,000 from bank funds, a charge many in the Black community believed was trumped up. Witnesses claimed they unknowingly signed blank documents that Binga used to inflate the bank’s assets. Sentenced to ten years in Stateville Prison, Binga served three years before being paroled in 1938, thanks to petitions from supporters, including Clarence Darrow and religious leaders. He was granted a full pardon by Governor Dwight Green in 1941. After his release, Binga, once a millionaire, lived in poverty. He worked as a handyman and usher at St. Anselm’s Catholic Church, earning $15 a week. He died on June 13, 1950, at age 85, largely forgotten by the city he helped shape.
Jesse Binga’s life encapsulates the promise and perils of the American Dream for African Americans in a deeply segregated society. His real estate and banking ventures provided critical opportunities for Black Chicagoans during the Great Migration, fostering economic empowerment and community pride. Yet his defiance of racial boundaries provoked violent backlash, and his financial ruin highlighted the systemic barriers Black entrepreneurs faced. Binga’s story has been revived through works like Don Hayner’s 2019 biography, Binga: The Rise and Fall of Chicago’s First Black Banker, which portrays him as a complex figure—both a visionary “missionary for Black wealth” and a pragmatic businessman navigating a hostile environment. His legacy endures in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, where the Binga State Bank once stood as a beacon of Black economic aspiration.