Stephanie St. Clair was rolling in the dough in 1920s Harlem. Respected nationwide as an affluent entrepreneur, she was a big player in the underground gambling game, ‘The Numbers.’ But her coin wasn’t even the most impressive part of St. Clair’s story.
Don’t get it twisted. St. Clair wanted to get rich but moved with higher intentions. Harlemites respected her because she used her money and popularity to hire people from her community and to help fund small Black-owned businesses.
St. Clair viewed the numbers as a way to establish economic independence outside white control. White racketeers were losing money in their gambling ventures and tried to encroach on Harlem, but St. Clair wasn’t having it. She encouraged Black numbers players to conduct business only with each other.
When the NYPD locked her up for her role in the numbers, she made it her mission to expose their participation in the same game, leading to department suspensions. Using newspaper editorials, the queen articulated her views on policing, Black immigration, and other systemic inequalities that were harming our people.
We’ve always been each other’s business, so when one of us wins, we can all win. Like St. Clair, we must know that using our resources to help our community thrive is critical to our future liberation.