The HistoryMakers® Video Oral History Interview with Barbara Bowles

Biographical Note

Financier Barbara Bowles was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 17, 1947. Growing up in racially segregated Nashville, Bowles was an excellent student. She received her B.A. in mathematics with honors from Fisk University in 1968 and then accepted an offer from First National Bank of Chicago to fund her M.B.A. in finance, which she received in 1971 from the University of Chicago, while working as a management trainee. She was the first African American in the program. Bowles spent more than a decade in the investment management division of First National Bank (now Bank One) after she graduated, becoming the first African American woman vice president. Bowles moved on to head the investor relations departments at Beatrice Companies from 1981 to 1984 and Kraft from 1984 to 1989.

In 1989, Bowles became the first African American female equity manager in Chicago when she established the Kenwood Group. It took six months to win her firm's first client, Quaker Oats. Since then, the Kenwood Group has attracted many other high-profile clients, including Abbott Laboratories, the Field Museum and the Chicago Transit Authority. Bowles' firm manages pension, endowment and public funds; is 100 percent minority-owned; and manages assets of nearly $500 million. In 1996, Bowles became the first African American woman to launch a mutual fund with the debut of the Kenwood Growth and Income Fund. Her company has been featured in Crain's Chicago Business, Black Enterprise and various other media.

Bowles serves as a director of Black & Decker Corporation, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Wisconsin Energy Corporation, Hyde Park Bank and Trust Company of Chicago, the Chicago Urban League, Children's Memorial Hospital and Fisk University.

She is married to Earl Bowles and has one son.

Biographical Note by The HistoryMakers®

Scope and Contents

This life oral history interview with Barbara Bowles was conducted by Larry Crowe on 2002-07-16 in Chicago, Illinois and is recorded on 3 30-minute Betacam SP videocassettes. Access copies exist on Betacam SP, VHS, DVD and MPEG-1. The interview contains information on (COMPLETE ONE SENTENCE DESCRIPTION OF INTERVIEW). Accompanying materials in the collection include Barbara Bowles's correspondence with The HistoryMakers® related to the interview; a copy of the signed release form and the production report; the biographical information used by the interviewer to prepare for the interview (DETAILS); paper copies of the interview transcripts, 3 1/2" floppy disks with electronic copies of the transcripts; selected quotes for video clips; photocopies of photographs captured on video; XML files with metadata created in editing and cataloguing the interview for The HistoryMakers Digital Video Library; and paper copies of these XML files.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Access to paper records is restricted. Other restrictions may be applied on a case-by-case basis.

Restrictions on Use

All use of materials must be pre-approved by The HistoryMakers® and appropriate credit must be given. All use credits must be pre-approved by The HistoryMakers®. Copyright is held by The HistoryMakers®.

Related Material

Accompanying materials: Accompanying materials are filed in (NUMBER) folders in a half-Hollinger box and shelved at The HistoryMakers® Archives and Collection Library by accession number, separately from the videos.

Administrative Information

Location of Originals

Betacam, VHS, DVD and MPEG-1 access copies are held for in-house use at The HistoryMakers®; Betacam SP, VHS and DVD playback hardware is provided for in-house viewing of the access copies; MPEG-1 copies are searchable and viewable via a digital video database.

Preferred Citation

The HistoryMakers® Video Oral History Interview with Barbara Bowles, July 16, 2002. The HistoryMakers® African American Video Oral History Collection, 1900 S. Michigan Avenue Chicago, Illinois.

Detailed Description/Tape Listings