Madison Avenue and the Color Line: African Americans in the Advertising Industry

by Jason P. Chambers

Until now, most works on the history of African Americans in advertising have focused on the depiction of blacks in advertisements. As the first comprehensive examination of African American participation in the industry, Madison Avenue and the Color Line breaks new ground by examining the history of black advertising employees and agency owners.For much of the twentieth century, even as advertisers chased African American consumer dollars, the doors to most advertising agencies were firmly closed to African American professionals. Over time, black participation in the industry resulted from the combined efforts of black media, civil rights groups, black consumers, government organizations, and black advertising and marketing professionals working outside white agencies. Blacks positioned themselves for jobs within the advertising industry, especially as experts on the black consumer market, and then used their status to alter stereotypical perceptions of black co

328 pages, Hardcover

First published December 5, 2007

About the author

Jason P. Chambers is a Professor in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts on the history of advertising and the African American consumer market, he is the author of An Advertising Revolutionary: The Life and Work of Tom Burrell (forthcoming in February 2024).

A graduate of The Ohio State University, Dr. Chambers has presented his research into the story of African Americans in advertising both nationally and internationally. His work has been published in books and both academic and trade journals in the United States, Asia, and Europe. At the University of Illinois, he currently teaches courses on diversity in advertising, advertising history, classic advertising campaigns.

A sought after keynote speaker, he has been invited to speak to gatherings of practitioners and academics throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia. He has also appeared on The History Channel discussing advertising history. His opinions have been sought by various media sources including Advertising Age, Adweek, Black Enterprise, CNN, Forbes, The Guardian, National Public Radio, The New York Times, Newsweek, and the Washington Post. Dr. Chambers has also consulted on advertising history programs appearing on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). In addition, he has consulted with national non-profit organizations, Fortune 100 companies, and advertising agencies on matters of African American history, diversity, stereotyping and various consumer issues.

The University of Pennsylvania Press published his first book, Madison Avenue and the Color Line: African Americans in the Advertising Industry. It was called “A major contribution to the history of advertising, consumption, and African American history,” by historian Lizabeth Cohen of Harvard University. His second book, co-edited with Dr. Robert Weems, Jr., Building the Black Metropolis: African American Entrepreneurship in Chicago was published with the University of Illinois Press in 2017. Historian Quincy T. Mills of Vassar College described it as “A major contribution on the black metropolis as a black business movement, a black public sphere, and visions of freedom in the city.”