Corporate profit and race in central African copper mining, 1946-1958

Abstract

The focus in the literature on the political outcomes of decolonization has resulted in neglect of the business activities that took place from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s. Missing from existing accounts are the occasions when business turned impending political change to economic advantage. One such shift occurred in the central African copper-mining industry as, first, the promise of racial “partnership” during the shortlived Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and then the prospect of African majority rule in Northern Rhodesia redefined the political context within which businesses operated. Rather than emphasizing the ethical considerations that influenced business attitudes, this study describes how corporate policies toward the job color bar were shaped by the copper industry’s changing cost structure and profitability.