Starting from the Bottom: The Downings Launch Their Business in Segregated New York
In 1819, the Downings relocated to New York City, where Thomas began his career in a rigidly segregated restaurant industry. He faced enormous obstacles—but also found opportunity. New York City in the early 1800s was a place of contradictions. Oysters were big business because city residents had a limitless appetite for them. African Americans dominated the ranks of New York's oystermen, bringing skills learned along the Atlantic coast. Yet racism restricted Black New Yorkers to the worst employment opportunities, neighborhoods, and health conditions. Urban poverty, segregation, and blocked political participation plagued the community.
Before 1821, New York City had been a slave society. By the middle of the century, segregation became the solution to dealing with abolition. Restaurant owners had to serve customers of European descent in separate spaces from customers of non-European descent. In mid-nineteenth century America, the most outspoken racial theorists insisted that Black and white people had been created separately—that they were different species entirely. By 1821, Manhattan hosted the biggest individual community of free African Americans in the Western Hemisphere. That same year, white supremacists organized to strip away Black voting rights, creating a caste system in New York State.
With years of experience growing up around oysters, Thomas Downing entered the oyster business. In 1825, he rented a place at 33 Pell Street to live and sell oysters from a basement eatery. He started small—but he started. Today, immigrant entrepreneurs face similar challenges. They navigate unfamiliar systems, face discrimination, and often start businesses in the only spaces available to them. Yet like Thomas Downing, they build. They find their niche. They serve their communities while dreaming bigger. The lesson? Don't wait for perfect conditions. Start where you are, with what you have.