Robert J. Brown

Robert J. Brown built a career in public relations after working in local and federal law enforcement. Born in High Point, North Carolina, in 1935, he became one of the city's first Black police officers in 1956. Two years later, he joined the Treasury Department as a narcotics agent in New York. He then returned to High Point to establish B&C Associates, a consulting and public relations business.

Accounts place the firm's beginnings around 1960 to 1961. In a 2020 interview, Brown described early work helping businesses respond to civil rights issues, then contracts with larger corporations. A sales approach to Woolworth's public relations firm helped expand the work. His clients eventually included Coca-Cola, General Motors and Michelin: commercial consulting at a time when protests and changing expectations were forcing companies to confront their treatment of Black Americans.

Brown also took part in the civil rights movement. He recalled traveling with Martin Luther King Jr. and raising money for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He later worked on Richard Nixon's presidential campaign and became a special assistant in the Nixon White House, describing work on minority-business programs and support for historically Black colleges. The Nixon Library independently identifies his Domestic Council work in civil rights.

He continued to receive professional recognition. In April 2023, he joined the North Carolina Media & Journalism Hall of Fame, honoring a career that extended well beyond any single political appointment.