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Abstract

Black business owners in 1896 Philadelphia are compared to black business owners in 2022 Hampton Road in Virginia. Data gathered by W.E.B. Du Bois on the 7th Ward in Philadelphia published in his 1899 classic The Philadelphia Negro is compared to data from 53 survey interviews of black business owners in Hampton Roads in 2022. Du Bois notes the second largest birthplace of Black Pennsylvanians was Virginia, with 18.5%. In fact, Du Bois stated to properly study the 7th Ward one had to also study Virginia, which he did in his 1898 "The Negroes of Farmville, Virginia." What similarities and differences can be found in comparing Black