A great deal of literature confirms the fact that small family-owned businesses rarely extend beyond the founder of the business. This study explored and identified factors that helped to create a successful family business transition for two African American family-owned businesses in the San Antonio area. One family experienced working through a well thought-out succession plan that successfully passed the mantel from one generation to the next, while the other family experienced going through an unexpected, unplanned business succession that was also successful. Understanding the factors that help create a successful family business transition is difficult because there is very little scholarly research that has an in-depth focus on the African American family business. The research design used was a Phenomenological Qualitative Historical Case Study. The findings revealed that both families' success may be attributed to factors such as being raised by both of their parents and...