No one could have imagined that in 1922 the fifth Black Certified Public Accountant would hail from NYU, one of the two top business schools, but as many of the first Black CPAs General Wilmer F. Lucas, CPA was above average!
In 1929, Mr. Lucas became the first African American Certified Public Accountant in New York. The State of New York required experience of working under a CPA. Mr. Lucas gained experience by working for Daniel Levy & Company, a Jewish firm. In 1938, Wilmer F. Lucas, CPA, and Alfred Tucker, CPA, formed Lucas, Tucker & Co. Their accounting firm provided the required experience for more than 25 percent of all the Black CPAs who have obtained their licenses in New York.
During his impressive career as a CPA, General Lucas served with distinction in World War II, earning the Legion of Merit.
Opportunity, Journal of Negro Life published in April 1932 by the National Urban League, included the article “Educating the Negro for Business – An Investment Loss” authored by Mr. Lucas; he states, “The Negro trained for business has already been deprived...”.
The National Society of Black CPAs’ members embrace our past and present challenges; hence we have banned together to address them as a society, one Black CPA at a time!
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