Warren Clay Coleman (May 25, 1849 – May 24, 1904) was an African-American businessman in south-central North Carolina known as a founder of the

Coleman Manufacturing Company The Coleman Manufacturing Company (1897–1904) had the first cotton mill in the United States owned and operated by African Americans. Organized in 1897 by Warren Clay Coleman and others, and operating under original leadership until 1904, it ...

, which built one of the first black-owned and operated

textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

s in the United States. The

Coleman-Franklin-Cannon Mill The Coleman-Franklin-Cannon Mill is a historic industrial complex at 625 Main Street SW in Concord, North Carolina. The recognized complex consists of ten buildings on , about west of downtown Concord. Another 4.4 acres are not included. The ol ...

still stands in

Concord, North Carolina Concord is the county seat and largest city in Cabarrus County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 105,186, with an estimated population in 2021 of 107,697. In terms of population, the cit ...

, and was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2015. Born into slavery, Coleman learned shoemaking and barbering before he came of age as a freedman. He had a white attorney father who took an interest in him, and the ambitious Coleman made use of his contacts and became known as a highly successful entrepreneur in and around

. He developed a substantial general store and other retail outlets, bought land, and developed and rented residential real estate, owned farms in several areas, and had other businesses in addition to the mill. In 1900 Coleman was the wealthiest man of color in the state.

Early life

Coleman was born into slavery in 1849 in

Cabarrus County Cabarrus County ( )
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

mixed race Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

and held by planter Daniel Coleman, Sr. and his wife Mary (Mahan) Coleman; she took their surname. His white father was Rufus Clay Barringer (1821–1895), then a young, unmarried attorney whose family lived near the Colemans. Barringer became a politician, and later a Confederate general during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. Warren and his older brother Thomas Clay, were both fathered by Barringer before the attorney married in 1854. Their mother had another illegitimate son, Joseph Smith, after breaking with Barringer. (Their father Barringer married three times - two wives died young - and had a total of three sons and a daughter from these marriages.) Coleman's mother married John F. Young, an enslaved skilled blacksmith who was held by another owner nearby. Generally the master of a slave husband would buy the wife so the family could be united on one plantation. But Daniel Coleman bought Young, who lived with his wife Roxanna and her children at his plantation. Warren Coleman is believed to have learned shoemaking and barbering skills while a youth on the Coleman plantation, both of which were considered good trades in those years. He later used these skills in his work for the Confederate Army as a boot and shoe maker. (White men who had

mixed-race Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

sons sometimes tried to prepare them through apprenticeships for such trades, by which they could support themselves as free men.)

Career

After the war, Warren Coleman was freed but bound in a two-year apprenticeship indenture to William M. Coleman until he came of age in 1867. (Coleman was a planter-lawyer in Cabarrus County, who later became the state attorney general, and he served as a patron of the younger man.) After that, Coleman moved to Alabama, seeking economic opportunities. He returned to Cabarrus County the next year, and established his first business; collecting rags, bones, and junk for resale and disposal. In 1873–1874, he went to Washington, DC, where he attended the Model School at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

to learn more about business, a period of study supported by William Coleman. After his return to Concord, Coleman was likely aided by his father Barringer, who had a law practice in Concord and Charlotte until 1871, and likely also by William Coleman. For instance, the younger Coleman bought land from the Barringer family. Over the next 25 years, Warren Clay Coleman became one of the richest merchants of color in the state. His first land purchase was a 130-acre wooded farm in Cabarrus. His business ventures later expanded to include a mercantile store located on Main Street in

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

, the county seat. In 1873, he married Jane E. Jones of Alabama in Cabarrus County. He also started a grocery store, specializing in teas, coffee, sugar, syrups, molasses, cakes, and candies. In 1879 Coleman combined his two stores, and his general store became one of the city's major shops. He built inexpensive worker housing for more than 100 rental houses in the African-American section of town over the following decades, and a residential rental company to manage them. They housed the numerous migrants to Concord from rural areas. Coleman's status as the son of Rufus Clay Barringer, who took an interest and advised the ambitious young man, and the relationships he established with other influential whites, are thought to have helped his making these initial investments. In the 1890s Coleman worked with black capitalists, African-American educator

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...

, and prominent white leaders, especially

Washington Duke Washington Duke (December 18, 1820 – May 8, 1905) was an American tobacco industrialist and philanthropist. During the American Civil War he enlisted in the Confederate States Navy. In 1865, Duke founded the "W. Duke, Sons & Co.", a tobacco ma ...

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

, to organize and build the nation's first African-American owned and operated textile factory. At the time, blacks were generally excluded as textile workers from white-owned mills, and Coleman and his partners wanted to create industrial opportunity for the black community. The company was incorporated in 1895/1896 and chartered by the state. At the height of its operations, the

employed more than 300 African-American workers in a 96,000-square foot three-story brick building. It had assets worth $100,000. Because of an increase in cotton prices and other factors, the mill struggled financially and was closed after Coleman's death in 1904. It was sold to other parties. Although the mill passed out of black ownership after Coleman's death, its operation with black workers opened doors for others. Superior Court Judge Clarence Horton of Cabarrus County has noted that when a hosiery factory opened in 1913, it employed black seamstresses and other workers, unlike many white-owned mills in the South. In 1900 Coleman was the richest person of color in the county and state. Historian Norman J. McCullough Sr., who is working on a biography of the businessman, contends he was the richest African American in the country, noting that other black men became millionaires ''after'' 1900. Coleman owned property along Concord's Depot Street (now Cabarrus Avenue) and on Lincoln and Spring streets. He established a church called Price Temple so that people working for him could have a church close by. He also donated money to other black churches: Rock Hill and Zion Hill

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churches in Concord. To encourage education among African Americans, Coleman subsidized tuition for students at Howard University,

Livingstone College Livingstone College is a private, historically black Christian college in Salisbury, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Livingstone College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Sout ...

, and Shaw University, all

historically black colleges Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

. He also helped support the African-American orphanage in Oxford, North Carolina.

Legacy

Today the mill is owned by Bill Bryant, who ran a large printing operation here for a time. He leases much of the mill to smaller businesses: several specialty auto body and auto parts shops, a pool company, and a distillery for "moonshine". *In 2001, the section of Highway 601 South near the mill was named "Warren C. Coleman Boulevard" in his honor. *In 2015 the

was listed on the

. *In 2018 Price Memorial

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Early life

Career

Legacy

References

Further reading