John E. Nail (August 22, 1883March 6, 1947) was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

real estate agent A real estate agent or real estate broker is a person who represents sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and agen ...

in New York City, significant for developing

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

. His sister was

Grace Nail Johnson Grace Nail Johnson (February 27, 1885 – November 1, 1976) was an African-American civil rights activist and patron of the arts associated with the Harlem Renaissance, and wife of the writer and politician James Weldon Johnson. Johnson was the ...

, wife of James Weldon Johnson, both civil rights activists. Nail got his start in the real estate business working for Philip A. Payton, Jr.'s Afro-American Realty Company, another real estate firm catering to African American customers in New York City. In 1905, he founded the Nail-Parker Company with Henry G. Parker. In 1911, Nail, together with his pastor, Rev. Hutchens C. Bishop of St. Philip's Episcopal Church, bought over a million dollars' worth of real estate in the

area of New York City. Starting in the late nineteenth-century, African Americans began moving from the

southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

into the New York City area. Nail realized that most of these new arrivals were not financially able to purchase homes, and began converting or constructing apartments on his land purchases. By 1925, Nail's business owned around fifty apartment buildings in the Harlem area. Nail became the most important Black real estate agent in New York City, and sat on the

Real Estate Board of New York The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) is "the leading trade group advocating on policy changes in the real estate industry," a trade association for the real estate industry in New York City. Formed in 1896, its current president is James W ...

and the Housing Committee of New York; in each case he was the only African-American member. After the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

struck, Nail's business entered bankruptcy in 1933. Nail attempted to restart successor businesses but was unable to get them off the ground. Nail died in 1947. His work left Harlem a community of renters rather than owners, and led ultimately to the area being populated by working-class tenements.

Negro Silent Protest Parade

John Nail served on the planning committee for the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

's historic 1917 Negro Silent Protest Parade. He walked with

W.E.B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...

, his pastor Hutchens C. Bishop, and others in the Parade.

Negro Silent Protest Parade

References

Further reading