ABSTRACT
Historical examination of opportunities for women and African-Americans in the advertising business is a study of slow improvement and persistent inequalities. In order to appreciate the history of African-American women in the advertising profession, it is useful to first understand how the advertising industry evolved and how cultures within advertising workplaces developed. This chapter summarizes an extensive body of existing literature to provide context which explains how white women, African-Americans, and African-American women, respectively, came to participate in the advertising profession, with emphasis on advertising agencies from the mid-1800s into the early 2000s. Numerous books and articles concerning the history of advertising, advertising agencies, and practitioners have been written by historians, marketing scholars, industry journalists, and biographers, although few have addressed African-American adwomen.
