Christian, Chauncey Lewis
(born: 1896 - died: 1991)Chauncey Christian was a bookkeeper and stenographer in Louisville, KY. Most of his work was for Samuel Plato's construction firm. It was Plato who encouraged Christian to study for the CPA exam through a correspondence course. Christian became the third African American to become a Certified Public Accountant in the United States when he passed the Kentucky CPA exam in 1926, though African Americans were not allowed to take the CPA exam. Christian was fair-skinned, and those giving the exam thought that he was white. Of the 50 men taking the exam, Christian was one of seven who passed. Kentucky would not have another African American CPA for another 34 years [Gary B. Lewis, Jr.]. In the 1940s Christian moved his family from Kentucky to New York, where he became an accountant in the show business industry. Christian was born in New York, the son of Clara Cross Christian. For more see "Deferred Assets," Boston College Magazine, Spring 2003; and A White-collar Profession: African American Certified Public Accountants Since 1921, by T. A. Hammond.