Anthony Overton built a group of businesses that reached into several parts of everyday life: products for the home, cosmetics, newspapers, banking and insurance. Harvard Business School records him as an African American business leader and traces a wide enterprise back to the Hygienic Manufacturing Company.
Overton came from Monroe, Louisiana, and spent part of his early life in Kansas. A University of Chicago archival exhibit describes his studies in Topeka and Lawrence, his marriage to Clara Gregg in 1888, and the couple's years in Oklahoma Territory, where Clara served as postmaster while Anthony ran a store.
In 1898, Overton established Hygienic Manufacturing. Its products included baking powder, flavoring extracts and toiletries. Later came cosmetics and perfumes sold under the High Brown name.
He moved the business to Chicago in 1911. WTTW's history of Black enterprise describes the company's expanding product line, its international distribution and its place in the South Side's commercial life. Overton also moved into publishing, launching *The Half-Century Magazine* in 1916 and later the *Chicago Bee*. His holdings grew to include Douglass National Bank and Victory Life Insurance Company. He led the manufacturing company until his death in 1946.
