Economic impact
Founded the Overton Hygienic Manufacturing Company in Kansas City in 1898, relocating it to Chicago's Bronzeville neighbourhood in 1911; by 1920, the company produced more than 250 personal-care and household products, generating revenues that made Overton one of the wealthiest Black businessmen in the United States at that date. Founded the Douglass National Bank in 1922 and the Victory Life Insurance Company in 1923, both headquartered in the Overton Building at 3619 S. State Street; combined financial-company assets reached approximately US$1.5 million by 1928, per contemporaneous banking examination records cited in Juliet Walker's 'The History of Black Business in America' (Macmillan, 1998). Victory Life was the first Black-owned insurance company to receive a licence to operate in the State of New York. In 1927, Overton received the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP in recognition of his business achievements.