Bronner Brothers Co-Founder Nathaniel H. Bronner Sr. Was a Member of Omega Psi Phi

Did you know that Nathaniel H. Bronner Sr., the co-founder of the Bronner Brothers hair-care empire, was a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.? The pioneering Atlanta entrepreneur is proudly claimed among the fraternity’s brothers.

Nathaniel H. Bronner Sr. was born on March 13, 1914, in Kelly, Georgia, and came of age against brutal odds. Twice, the Ku Klux Klan drove his family from land they owned, but Bronner remained determined. At 17, he arrived in Atlanta with only twenty dollars and took a job delivering newspapers while he finished his education, eventually graduating from Booker T. Washington High School and earning a business administration degree from Morehouse College.

Bronner found his calling in the Black beauty industry. Inspired by trailblazers like Madam C.J. Walker and Annie Malone, and noticing that the hair products he carried from his sister’s salon outsold the newspapers on his route, he enrolled at a local cosmetology school, where he was the only man in his class. In 1947, he and his brother Arthur E. Bronner Sr., with the help of their sister Emma, founded Bronner Brothers, beginning by teaching cosmetology at Atlanta’s Butler Street YMCA and hosting a small trade show that drew about 300 people.

From those humble beginnings grew an institution. Bronner Brothers became one of the largest Black-owned hair-care companies in the country, and its gathering blossomed into the Bronner Bros. International Beauty Show, now the largest multicultural beauty show in the world. Over the decades, Bronner brought speakers such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson, and Dr. Benjamin Mays to the event, using his platform to uplift and educate.

A devoted community man, Bronner launched the Black on Black Love Campaign to provide clothing and shoes for children in need and established a scholarship fund for young people pursuing careers in cosmetology. He and his wife, Robbie, raised six sons, all of whom carried the business forward. Nathaniel H. Bronner Sr. died in 1993, leaving a legacy that reflects the Omega Psi Phi cardinal principles of manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and uplift.