Social Media and Employment Issues

Social Media and Employment Issues SOCIAL MEDIA TRANSPARENCY AND EMPLOYMENT Introduction One can apply the old saying, never judge a book by its cover to many applications in life, but today’s environment of instant social media updates provides personal transparency never experienced before. Social medias arrival on the scene has completely changed the way we interact as a society and technologies such as portable devices and wireless connectivity allows us to communicate faster and to a more massive crowd than we ever thought possible. Social media is the most significant difference in personal or business transparency and has merged into an indistinguishable haze of likes, links, and posts, making transparency an everyday issue. Complete strangers can now view someone’s daily activities without the context of knowing them personally. These strangers can easily be potential employers seeking employees to fill vacant positions. That is precisely what is occurring today; employers are examining beyond applicants resumes to make the best hiring decision by r eviewing prospective employees social media sites to learn more about their applicants and employees.  Alternatively, employers are experiencing legal issues with their new social media tool, and the courts are just beginning to unravel them. Correctly used, social media can be a powerful means of candidate identification, selection, and retention. However, employers must have comprehensive and compliant social media policies that are not overly broad, and which address privacy, lawful access, accuracy, equal protection, and conduct of employment practices. An analysis of the social media transparency regarding employment reveals an employers review of applicants and employees social media sites can be a valuable tool but must do such in a manner consistent with legal hiring and separation practices. This article is designed to review essential aspects employers should consider when using social media to make hiring or termination decisions for their company. Argument There has been an explosive growth in the use of social media over the past decade and has allowed a vast part of the worlds population instant, quick, and convenient communication to a broad network of people. According to Statista.com, known as the portal for statistics, Facebook had 100 million monthly active users in 2008, and that number has skyrocketed to 2.07 billion monthly active users as of the third quarter of 2017. LinkedIn has over 467 million members worldwide, and it is one of the most popular social networks regarding active users (Statista.com, 2017). These top growing websites allow their users to share lots of information about themselves and can give potential employers data in just a few clicks that would be impossible to know about someone decades ago. Social media has forged a path into our culture that has brought us all closer, but it has also opened many questions about the issues of modern expression and privacy. Getting at the center of this network involves untangling multiple layers of complex statutes, case law, and agency guidance in a way that balances the pillars of freedom of speech and the at-will employment doctrine. For edification, the employment-at-will doctrine states employees without a written employment contract and an indefinite term of employment, the employer can terminate the employee for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all (Ballam, 2000). Although a perfect application of the law on societys new technologies like social media is complicated, there are many considerations employers must make based on privacy, accuracy, and lawful access during the hiring, employment, and termination periods. Moreover, employers need to understand there is a potential negative impact with the use of social media when recruiting employees, and conversely, the termination of employees based on decisions issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Last, employers must relate legal guidelines to their company’s use of social media policies. The First Amendment to the Bill of Rights explains our rights as Americans very clearly: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.† The Bill of Rights, 2017 Strict libertarians or constitutionalists may notice, the words right to privacy are absent from the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights. Under the First Amendment, there is no right to privacy, but there are certain privacy protections afforded to every citizen. Pawel Laidler, author of Basic Cases in U.S. Constitutional Law: Rights and Liberties, references Griswold v. Connecticut and suggests, Specific guarantees of the Bill of Rights have penumbras of privacy extending to specific areas and situations (Laidler, 2009, p. 102). The courts have started to make their decision on what is the reasonable expectation of privacy for applicants or employees, but employers and the public at large are still making their own conclusions. Most social media websites include privacy settings and controls to allow users to reduce exposure to those whom they wish to exclude from seeing their social media information. However, specific information such as their name, profile picture, and networks is typically always publicly available, and social media sites often provide notice to users that they do not guarantee the privacy of the information (Facebook, 2016). LinkedIns privacy policy includes wording for users about their inability to ultimately secure any information submitted to their website, nor can they guarantee users information will not be accessed or disclosed by physical or electronic methods (LinkedIn, 2017). Despite these numerous warnings about privacy disclosure, users should expect a certain level of privacy when they correctly use the privacy controls. When social media was still in its infancy, employers would ask applicants or employees for their social media login information to allow the employer direct access. This practice quickly died as social media websites, legislators, and privacy rights activists alike actively discouraged the practice (Dame, 2014). Today, most states have passed laws preventing employers from requesting social media login credentials. For example, Vermont State Law (H.B. 462) prohibits an employer from requiring or requesting that an employee or applicant disclose personal social media account information (NCLS.org, 2018, para. 26). Overall, the only reasonable access employers should have to an applicant or employees social media is what they allow them to access via privacy controls. A social media user who selects open public access to their accounts or invites or accepts potential employers to friend or connect allow an additional level of access and substantially reduces the expectation of privacy with an employer or organization. Naturally, employers can take criminal actions such as hacking or using anothers authorized login credentials to gain access to personal social media pages fraudulently, but the courts would not view these tactics favorably if it were a part of a more significant case. Beyond the concern of personal privacy, employers must also ensure the information found on a private social networking site is accurate, and it is the correct person who applied for the position or the employee who works for the company. Employers must ensure the James Smith Facebook profile they find is the same James Smith who applied for the job and not one of the other 38,312 James Smiths in the United States (Chen, 2015). Employers must also consider whether the person portrayed on the social media site established the account himself or herself or if someone else created the page without their knowledge or permission. Employers can outsource an applicant or employees social media information review to a third party Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA) to help overcome some of the challenges listed above. The Consumer Fair Trade Commission (FTC) outlines particular information regarding the search of a persons character or reputation on a social media site. The FTCs stance is that when companies use a CRA to conduct a background check on an applicant or employees social media sites, that it complies with applicable provisions of the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection (FTC.gov, 2016). Additionally, Tony Rodriguez and Jessica Lyon from the FTC explain companies must be vigilant because a CRA may comply with all expressed provisions of the bureau and still violate other laws, such as equal employment opportunity violations (Rodriguez & Lyon, 2013). With the understanding of privacy and accuracy, employers have two significant concerns when deciding to use social media for recruitment. The first concern is the influence social media has on candidate sourcing and statistics and the second is the limitations of viewing candidate or employee information on a social media site. It is essential to understand that for the first time in the Pew Research Centers surveys history, the results in 2017 showed 55% of Americans ages 50 or older use social media sites for everyday tasks such as getting news updates. This increase in usage is a 10% spike over 2016 allows employers to see and contact a more substantial part of the population, but there is still a disconnect between race and between gender demographics use of social media (Shearer & Gottfried, 2017). The Pew Research Center shows employment social media websites such as LinkedIn have equal shares of whites (29%) and blacks (28%), but only 18% of Hispanics use the network. Gender has improved over the years, but there is still a gap of almost 10%. A staggering 72% of women in the United States use some sort social media contrasted with 66% of men. The most dramatic difference between demographics is in education. Only 59% of people with a high school education or less use social media, but 78% of college graduates use at least one social media website (Pew, 2017). Recognizing the disparities with using social media to decide employment is critical because the gaps could potentially fuel cases of discrimination even when the employers had no subjective intent to discriminate.  In addition to traditional avenues of attracting and finding diverse applicant pools, employers should use a variety of sourcing strategies across multiple social media outlets to avoid the potential statistical traps and pitfalls. The limitations of viewing candidate information on social media sites is also essential to consider when deciding hiring or during employment.  A social recruiting survey by Jobvite, a recruiting platform for the social web, reports from their survey of recruiters that 92% of U.S. companies are using social networking sites for hiring purposes (Jobvite 2012).  Employers should be forewarned and take reasonable steps to ascertain accurate information and to be aware a picture can be worth a thousand words, but it can paint an inaccurate picture. An employer using social media as a primary tool may be left with skewed data and a false narrative.  Knowing this and the above information, employers must understand that making decisions from viewing social media posts can unintentionally make those decisions appear demographic based rather than merit-based.  Unfortunately, these perceptions, true or false, may be enough to flag a particular hiring practice that could end in a cost ly course of litigation. Knowing the two primary concerns of using social media for employment decisions is essential, but so are the possible legal implications of using these methods.  Communication at work and home has transformed dramatically over the years, but the legal theories behind established employment policies have not changed.  Todays challenge is to apply traditional laws to todays instant, casual, broadcast style of social media communication and activities.  For many years, courts were not concerned with how many likes an employees Facebook work-related comment received.  Moreover, the courts did not have to consider the average employee might have the ability to convey their opinions to an average of 634 people with one click of a button on Twitter (Leonardi, 2017).  Social media transparency can easily create situations where employers terminate employees because of posts or comments employers find on their social media pages. Employers must look carefully to both an employees conduct as well as their company policies in determining whether circumstances legally warrant termination.  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is a long-standing government agency that is inexplicably involved ensuring the correct implementation of the law to social media caused terminations (NLRB.gov, n.d.). Employers need to be aware of protected activity on social media before taking any adverse action against employees who post on a social media website.  For example, the federal whistleblower protection law provides legal remedies for employees or job applicants who face retaliation for making protected disclosures of fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, or substantial and specific danger to public safety or health (OPM.gov, n.d. para. 2).  Outside of protected reporting, using social media for collective dialog and shared concerns about essential terms and conditions of employment are also protected activities (NLRB.gov, n.d.). An employee, however, otherwise engaged in a protected activity, can lose that protection by abusive conduct (Stewart, 2017).  Michael Greens journal article titled, Protecting Unhappy Worker Outbursts from Discriminatory Treatment, does a great job of explaining the method used for determining if the employees conduct is enough to cause them to lose protection.  Green (2017) explains, the NLRBs Atlantic Steel doctrine to assess the inappropriateness of an employees angry outburst by first analyzing four factors before deciding the employees actions warrant discipline (para. 5).  The four factors include where the discussion occurred, the subject matter of the discussion, the nature of the employees outburst, and whether the outburst was, in any way, provoked by the employers unfair labor practice.  Green does caveat the Atlantic Steel doctrine does have its limits.  Employees who engage in threatening behavior or conduct acts exceeding what a reasonable employer should tol erate can lose their protections under the law (Green, 2017).  Social media compounds these issues because its reach has far more impact than the typical breakroom outbursts and is immediately heard by everyone on ones feed. Recommendations A business’ decision to use social media as a tool among many when choosing employees is a good idea.  The best way to properly use social media for hiring, employment, and termination is to set clear company policy and guidance.  A companys social media policies will not protect employers if they are overly broad or restricts employees constitutional rights.  When limiting an employees right to communicate on social media (or otherwise), the terms and conditions regulating their comments to being professional or appropriate need to be clearly defined in the policy. Employers should specify in their policies about what constitutes appropriate manners in which employees are allowed to discuss subjects to include criticism of labor policies, treatment of employees, and terms and conditions of employment.  (SHRM.org, 2016).  Employers should specifically articulate their definition of actions that constitute insubordinate actions, inappropriate conversation, or other disrespectful conduct.  Additionally, the policy should include their plan of disciplinary action when employees engage in such actions.  Companies should carefully draft their social media policies to avoid broad or ambiguous terms.  A court can easily deem policies unlawful if employees reasonably believe the policy prohibits constitution freedoms. Conclusion All employers should take their time when deciding to terminate current employees employment due to their conduct or comments in general, but especially when considering social media websites.  This article reviewed relevant aspects employers should consider when using social media as part of the hiring or termination process.  Protected activity and overly broad social media policies can create liabilities for employers and employers who recruit and select employees through social media sites should carefully monitor their processes and outcomes for disparate impacts. Employers should take care when using information gained from social media and establish a process by which applicants, candidates, and employee have an opportunity to dispute potentially inaccurate information published online.  Adhering to statutory, regulatory, and agency guidance allows employers to use social media anywhere along the employment timeline to maximize information about applicants and current em ployees while protecting them from the potential social media use pitfalls. References Ballam, D. A. (2000). Employment-At-Will: The Impending Death of a Doctrine. American Business Law Journal, 37(4), 653-687. doi:10.1111/j.1744-1714.2000.tb00281.x Background Checks. (2016, November). Retrieved January 28, 2018, from https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0157-background-checks Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2007, December 17). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. Retrieved January 21, 2018, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x/full Chen, S. A. (2015, February 07). Calling James Smith! 10 Most Common First and Surname Combinations. Retrieved January 16, 2018, from https://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/calling-james-smith-10-most-common-first-and-surname-combinations/ Dame, J. (2014, January 10). Will employers still ask for Facebook passwords in 2014? Retrieved January 15, 2018, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/01/10/facebook-passwords-employers/4327739/ Facebook Data Policy. (2016, September 29). Retrieved January 15, 2018, from https://www.facebook.com/full_data_use_policy Green, M. Z. (2017, February 13). Protecting Unhappy Worker Outbursts from Discriminatory Treatment. Retrieved January 25, 2018, from https://worklaw.jotwell.com/protecting-unhappy-worker-outbursts-from-discriminatory-treatment/ Jobvite. (2014). Social Recruiting Survey.  Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://www.jobvite.com/wp-content/ uploads/ 2014/10/Jobvite_SocialRecruiting_Survey2014.pdf Laidler, P. (2009). Basic Cases in U.S. Constitutional Law: Rights and Liberties. Krakà ³w: Jagiellonian University Press. Leonardi, P. M. (2017). The Social Media Revolution: Sharing and Learning in the Age of Leaky Knowledge. Information and Organization, 27(1), 47-59. doi:10.1016/j.infoandorg.2017.01.004 LinkedIn Privacy Policy. (2017, June 7). Retrieved January 15, 2018, from https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy Managing and Leveraging Workplace Use of Social Media. (2016, January 19). Retrieved January 26, 2018, from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/managingsocialmedia.aspx National Conference of State Legislatures. (2018, January 2). Access to Social Media Usernames and Passwords. Retrieved January 16, 2018, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/employer-access-to-social-media-passwords-2013.aspx NLRB.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved January 21, 2018, from https://www.nlrb.gov/ Our Inspector General Whistleblower Protection Information. (n.d.). Retrieved January 28, 2018, from https://www.opm.gov/our-inspector-general/whistleblower-protection-information/ Pew Research Center. Social Media Fact Sheet. (2017, January 12). Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/ Rodriguez, T., & Lyon, J. (2013, January 10). Background Screening Reports and the FCRA: Just Saying Youre Not a Consumer Reporting Agency Isnt Enough. Retrieved January 16, 2018, from https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2013/01/background-screening-reports-fcra-just-saying-youre-not Shearer, E., & Gottfried, J. (2017, September 07). News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2017. Retrieved January 20, 2018, from http://www.journalism.org/2017/09/07/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2017/ Statista.com. Number of Facebook Users Worldwide 2008-2017. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15, 2018, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ Stewart, D. R. (2017). Social Media and the Law: A Guidebook for Communication Students and Professionals. New York, NY: Routledge. The Bill of Rights: A Transcription. (2017, June 26). Retrieved January 15, 2018, from https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript#toc-amendment-i

First Communion Toast Essay

Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a real pleasure to have you all here to share and celebrate in this very important occasion of her life, the FHC of our darling Anishka D’ Souza. I feel privileged to be the uncle of such a lively and smart child Anishka. Anishka has waited a long time for this day. Today is one day Anishka will cherish and remember for the rest of her life. It is a day when we all celebrate Anishka’s commitment to our Catholic Faith in the presence of those who care most about her. So let us congratulate Anishka on this very special day, when she has received our Lord for the first time in communion and let us wish her all happiness in her Catholic life from this day forward. Ladies and gentlemen, please rise and raise your glasses to join us in toasting to Anishka. Dear Anishka, from the bottom of the hearts of all who are present here and those who could not make it and those who are not here to make it, especially your late abba Oswald, Aunty Rosemarie, Uncle Arun who are joining this graceful occasion and sending their blessings upon you from heaven: For Your First Holy Communion, dear Anishka May God grant you always, A sunbeam to warm you A moonbeam to charm you A sheltering angel so nothing can harm you Laughter to cheer you Faithful friends to surround you loving parents to protect you And when you pray, Heavens listen to you. We love you, Anishka! God bless you mightily. A whole new world unfolds before you from this day on. Let the faith in your heart, always be your guide. Congratulations on the most sacred of new beginnings

Of Mice and Men and Oliver Twist Essay

Of mice and men written by John Steinbeck is set in 1930 during the economic depression caused by the stock market crash of 1929. Unlike Oliver Twist, Of mice and men is set in USA, near the Salinas River, in the hot and beautiful state of California. On the other hand, Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist is set in the powerful and the majestic city of London, over-ruled with darkness and murky pollution brought about by what was the industrial revolution in 1870, when the novel was set. The Industrial revolution really puts the whole evil and darkness of London into a shadow which adds to the sinister acts that unveil themselves as the novel progresses. The two main characters of of mice and men are two migrant agricultural labourers, George Milton and Lennie Smalls. George, ‘Small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp strong features. Every part of him †¦ defined : small, strong hands, slender arms and a thin bony face.’ The second part of an unlikely relationship between these two friends is Lennie, who is a ‘large man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders.’ George is Lennies’ guardian, because of his ‘mental immaturity’ he is totally reliant on Georges leadership and commanding power, over of which he follows. In my opinion, without George, Lennie would either be dead or locked up in jail, as a result of him doing stupid acts. It is ironic that Lennies’ surname is Small, because of his huge size, ‘Bear’ like as the author describes. In the time of which of mice and men is set, there is lots of tension. Social classes, women, people who suffer from racism all suffer at the same expense during this period. Crooks is the only black man In this novel, and it is through him that we can see the position of blacks in America. Crooks, is crippled because he got kicked by a horse, he has his own little room, away from the rest of the ‘hands’. The other hands openly refer to Crooks as ‘Nigger’, this example directly amplifies the life and times of the Black Americans at this time. Women are also represented through Curleys’ wife. Curleys’ wife is one quarter of an unhappy marriage. The other three quarters of the marriage is Curley, the bosses sun, who has full power of his wife and tells her what to do constantly. Steinbeck deliberately doesn’t give Curleys’ wife a name, this representing the insignificance and illustrates ownership over women at this time. Curleys’ Wife doesn’t really love Curley, and didn’t really marry him because of love. She married him to prove a point to her mother, who destroyed the relationship she did have with the one she did love. She admitted, that marrying him was a Way Out. Curley’s wife is an ambitious, flirtatious, good looking, young women, who the ranch hands try to ignore and avoid. She is trapped in loneliness, in Curleys’ wrath, she is where she isn’t loved, and her only alternative is to make the most out of what she has got. ‘Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody? Whatta they think I am, anyways? You’re a nice guy. I don’t know why I can’t talk to you – I ain’t doin’ no harm to you.’ Previous to the murder, in the barn. There, in my opinion, is a hierarchy at the ranch, and at the bottom lies Curleys’ wife and Crooks, two characters treated insignificantly and are discriminated due to their social classes, a women and a black. In California, the setting for this novel, the atmosphere and the surroundings is very harsh and tough for the workers. The attitude and behaviour of the workers in the novel reflect this well. For the workers, there was no cash benefit for the workers, so If they lose their job then they have to do without and mainly starve. The law, I learned is enforced well, but strangely enough, without any force as we never see any police during the novel. California is described extremely well, it is very interestingly described too, this appeals to the reader and gives the novel a very bright and happy start. The first few pages focus on the setting and commentate on all the happenings that go on, this builds a sense of reality. Steinbeck was born and raised in California, near Salinas, so he had an advantage when attempting to describe it as he can relate to it very well. Oliver Twist is almost exactly the opposite in comparison. It is a very dark novel. London at this time set the scene for the monstrosities that happened and the events that took place. You could almost guess what was to expect when reading the first few pages of Oliver Twist, but to do the same with Of mice and men would be completely different. Of Mice and Men starts on a high, very bright and colourful, but it changes contrasts and horrible happenings crowd the last few chapters of the novel. The two main characters in Oliver Twist are Oliver and Fagin. Oliver is a young orphan, brought into the then cruel world by an unknown mother. Fagin, is an ‘Un-human’ man, whose features are aged and ugly. He is a ring leader of a gang of thieves that rob the city of London of valuable possessions, such as money, watches and gold. The Artful Dodger is Fagins’ keen apprentice, willing to learn, who knows all the tricks of the trade, a master of theft and scams. Bill Sikes, Fagins’ second man, is a ruthless cut throat man, whose large size and aggressive attributes add to the murder later on in the novel. The two murderers, Lennie and Sikes have many similarities. Firstly Sikes and Lennie are two large and intimidating men, who’s leader is considerably smaller than them. Secondly, they both receive orders and are followers to their two leaders. Although Sikes doesn’t receive commands off Fagin to an extent where he cannot survive without him, like Lennie, one part of the story he does. This is the main event that leads up to the murder of Nancy. In the early hours of the morning, when all the human and civilised world is asleep, London is awake. Fagin is awake in his chair. Waiting. Sikes enters with the loot that he has stolen from peoples houses. Fagin starts to talk about Nancy, Sikes’ girlfriend. He goes on and explains that Nancy could be a leak and could tell on them to the police. Fagin, knowing that Sikes has the mordacity and the capability of murder, begins to perform reverse psychology. He knows that if he pulls the right strings that Sikes could do anything for him. Sikes quite easily falls into Fagins’ mastermind trap, as if he had been brainwashed or hypnotised, he is now going to commit Fagins’ murder for him. Sikes goes to where Nancy is sleeping and severely shouts and screams at her. This traumatises her, to the extent where she doesn’t know what is going on. This makes Nancy vulnerable, and this is where Sikes commits his brutal and sick attack on her. We can tell, just by reading these several lines of the story, the evil and cunningness of Sikes. He continuously beats Nancy to death with a wooden stick. Leaning up top the murder of Curleys’ wife, which was by far not as hellacious and as horrific as this, Lennie was minding his own business and was in the barn, calmly stroking one of Slims pups. Not knowing his own strength Lennie accidentally killed the pup. Lennie began to become sad and at the same time, angry. He repeatedly thought about George not letting him tend the rabbits, at the home of which the whole is dream is based around. â€Å"An’ he’ll say : â€Å"Now just for that you ain’t gunna tend no rabbits.† Lennie put the pup in the straw, and began to talk to himself, moaning the death of the pup. Curleys wife enters and begins to flirt with Lennie, who confesses to her liking for stroking nice things. She invites him to stroke her long soft hair, but as the stroking becomes harder, she panics; the harder he strokes the more she panics and then Lennie accidentally breaks her neck. He half-buries the body in the hay and runs off to the brush. As you can tell, both the two murders are of a totally different nature. In of mice and men, the murder was unexpected, and didn’t really fit into the surrounding story, On the other hand, In Oliver Twist, a murder was almost inevitable. Sikes’ was a premeditated murder, as he had thought it out and planned the whereabouts etc. Lennies was out of the blue, an accident neither him or anyone else could of prevented. The setting of the two murders, also are totally different. The murder of Curleys wife was in the barn, in the sunny and hot state of California. The murder of Nancy was in the grimy claustrophobic city of London. The descriptions in the stories of the murders, are again totally opposite. In Oliver Twist, Dickens almost runs a post-mortem on the body, and describes Sikes’ moves in detail after the murderer. In of mice and men, however, Steinbeck runs a bleak vague synopsis on the happenings.

Harry Pace and Black Swan Records

Overview In 1921, entrepreneur Harry Herbert Pace established Pace Phonograph Corporation and the record label, Black Swan Records. As the first African-American owned record company, Black Swan was known for its ability to produce â€Å"race records.† And the company proudly stamped its slogan on every album cover â€Å"The Only Genuine Colored Records--Others are Only Passing for Colored.† Recording the likes of Ethel Waters, James P. Johnson, as well as Gus and Bud Aikens.   Achievements Published the first African-American illustrated journal, The Moon Illustrated Weekly. Established the first African-American owned record company, Pace Phonograph Corporation and sold recordings as Black Swan Records. Fast Facts Born: January 6, 1884 in Covington, Ga. Parents: Charles and Nancy Francis Pace Spouse: Ethelyne Bibb Death: July 19, 1943 in Chicago Harry Pace and the Birth of Black Swan Records   After graduating from Atlanta University, Pace moved to Memphis where he worked a variety of jobs in banking and insurance. By 1903, Pace   launched a printing business with his mentor, W.E.B. Du Bois. Within two years, the duo collaborated to publish the magazine The Moon Illustrated Weekly. Although the publication was short-lived, it allowed Pace a taste of entrepreneurship.   In 1912, Pace met musician W.C. Handy. The pair began writing songs together, relocated to New York City, and established the Pace and Handy Music Company. Pace and Handy published sheet music that was sold to white-owned record companies. Yet as the Harlem Renaissance picked up steam, Pace was inspired to expand his business. After ending his partnership with Handy, Pace establish the Pace Phonograph Corporation and the Black Swan Record Label in 1921. The company was named for performer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield who was called â€Å"The Black Swan.† Famed composer William Grant Still was hired as the company’s musical director. Fletcher Henderson became Pace Phonograph’s bandleader and recording manager. Working out of the basement of Pace’s home, Black Swan Records played an important role making jazz and blues mainstream musical genres. Recording and marketing music specifically to African-American consumers, Black Swan recorded the likes of Mamie Smith, Ethel Waters and many others. In its first year of business, the company made an estimated $100,000. The following year, Pace purchased a building to house the business, hired regional district managers in cities throughout the United States and an estimated 1,000 salespeople. Soon after, Pace joined forces with white business owner John Fletcher to buy a pressing plant and recording studio. Yet Pace’s expansion was also the beginning of his downfall. As other record companies realized that African-American consumerism was powerful, they also began hiring African-American musicians.   By 1923, Pace had to close the doors of Black Swan. After losing to major recording companies that could record for lower prices and the arrival of radio broadcasting, Black Swan went from selling 7000 records to 3000 daily. Pace filed for bankruptcy, sold his pressing plant in Chicago and finally, he sold Black Swan   to Paramount Records.   Life After Black Swan Records   Although Pace was disappointed by the quick rise and fall of Black Swan Records, he was not deterred from being a businessman. Pace opened the Northeastern Life Insurance Company. Pace’s company went on to become one of the most prominent African-American owned businesses in the northern United States. Before his death in 1943, Pace graduated from law school and practiced as an attorney for several years.