By Ramona Grey-Harris
Discovering that my family business was started in 1925, is 100 years old, and is still in existence and thriving was very exciting to me. I wanted to find out everything I could about this achievement. Stepping up to run the business for several years along with my siblings, I needed to understand the beginning years and how the business came to be. I started interviewing and videotaping people who could tell me all about Harlem from a historical and business perspective. As my team started the interviews, we brainstormed questions that we thought would generate the memorable life experiences during those times.
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Researching the history of the business led by two of my women forbears, sisters Lucille Edwards and Millicent Bowen, led me to discover that there was a business that was started even before the Real Estate business in 1925 – an employment agency located on 34th Street and 6th Avenue. What a revelation to see that two black women could start two businesses in Manhattan in the 1920s!
According to Dr. Kevin McGruder, author of an excellent book, “Philip Payton: The Father of Black Harlem”, Harlem was opened to people of color in the early 1900s due to several factors. First, the Lenox Ave subway line was built, thereby providing the opportunity for ordinary working people to move more freely. With this addition, houses became more affordable and accessible to colored people, allowing them to move from lower Manhattan to areas like Harlem.
Secondly, the successful challenges to covenants in building deeds prohibiting sales to “colored” people and stopping housing discrimination in Harlem was launched. This enabled colored people to purchase houses and not be restricted to tenements. Finally, seller financing became more common. Sellers took mortgages back in part due to the fact that during those days colored people had no access to banks and therefore no access to bank mortgages.
According deed records, my aunt, Lucille purchased her first house on 139th Street – now Strivers Row – on January 5, 1929. That house became the family home to all family members coming from Guyana, South America. This research revealed that these sisters – Lucille and Millicent, over the 100 year period, had purchased and sold more than 60 houses.
In the summer of 1928, Lucille Edwards and Millicent Bowen attended the summer Olympics where their brother Phillip Edwards was participating as a representative of representing Canada. Unfortunately, my Aunt Millicent passed away in England after becoming sick in Amsterdam. In those days colored people were not allowed into Dutch hospitals to be treated and so she traveled to England and died in a botched operation when her condition was misdiagnosed. Fifty years later, a cousin would send me a clipping of the newspaper article on the inquest in England that their mother had saved.
Upon returning to the United States my aunt, Lucille decided to place her other sister, my mother, Sarah Edwards Grey, in charge of the Real Estate arm of the business while she, Lucille practiced Law. Thus, this resulted in 100 years that my family has weathered the changes that Harlem has seen. Politics played a large part with my family, having connections to both Democrats and Republicans; being a part of associations and organizations fighting social injustices along with Adam Clayton Powell as well as numerous lawyers and churches based in Harlem. Harlem represented a large voting block and Harlem, with its concentration of colored people set the stage for many events to take place: riots, sit-ins, drugs, changes to the housing guidelines and now the latest conundrum of methadone centers and shelters.
As a young child back in the 1960’s, I remember being in the office and observing my aunt cope with the racism that white and Jewish vendors subjected her to. Whether it was looking for an invoice to be paid or having work completed in a timely manner, she handled it with grace and wit ,often out-smarting them at their own game.
Lucille was a visionary. She purchased a home in Hastings-on-the Hudson, becoming the first “colored” family in the area. Sarah, as the real estate broker, introduced families to the idea of purchasing homes houses in Westchester, mainly in Hastings on the Hudson, the area called Pinecrest which became known infamously as “nigger hill” due to the numerous prominent Black families who settled there. Lucille would also have the vision to purchase seventeen acres from the Shinnecock Indian tribe and build a house on Long Island in what is now known as South Hampton. These women sponsored bus rides for employees and tenants, so that they would have a chance to go beyond Harlem. At the time, the only beach that colored people were allowed to go to was West Landing.
Lucille had foresight and would often say: “Harlem is the only place you can get to every major highway from”.
At 5’2” her ability to fight and represent the underdog, noting the injustices of the world towards people of color, made her “the go to” attorney. As the matriarch, family members would come to her with all manner of issues and she would always have a solution.
All of my four siblings joined the Real Estate family business leading different aspects of the business. My older sister, Juliette, led the sales division and even people who meet me today remember her fondly. My brother, Maurice, was the CEO of the business and had a specialty in building management. My sister, Janette, was the company lawyer. My specialty was management of non-corporate-owned houses and I became the specialist in managing Housing Development Fund Corporation.
Today, our company continues its storied work led by the next generation :my two nephews Maurice Russell Grey and Aden Seraile under the recently branded name ESRA (Edwards Sisters Real Estate Association).
During the 2025 year ,we have been celebrating the Centennial with signature events in Harlem. As we prepare for the culminating event – The ESRA Centennial Gala – we invite you to join us to mark this outstanding achievement on November 14, 2025 at the Alhambra Ballroom located in Harlem, 2116 Adam Clayton Blvd. and 126th Street. Come and celebrate Black family pride in business as we honor our ancestors while we look forward to yet another 100 years of service to our beloved Harlem Community .
For information re: Sponsorship and tickets for the Gala, go to ESRA100 Gala.eventbrite.com or call: 347-889-3756.
