Jeremiah Hamilton: America's First Black Millionaire

Jeremiah Hamilton was a man Wall Street didn’t know what to do with. Born free in New

York in the early 1800s, he rose to become America’s first Black millionaire

at a time when Black men were expected to have no power at all—especially in finance.

Hamilton wasn’t a banker by pedigree; he was a speculator, a risk-taker, and a master of

market psychology. His specialty was gold. Hamilton understood supply,

demand, and fear better than most white financiers of his era.

By buying aggressively and then releasing assets strategically, he could influence prices and force

rivals into bad positions. Newspapers labeled him the “Prince of Darkness,” a