COLLECTIVE COURAGE
JESSICA GORDON NEMBHARD
COLLECTIVE
COURAGE
A HISTORY OF
AFRICAN AMERICAN
COOPERATIVE
ECONOMIC THOUGHT
AND PRACTICE
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gordon Nembhard, Jessica, 1956– , author.
Collective courage : a history of African American cooperative economic thought and practice / Jessica Gordon Nembhard.
p. cm
Summary: “Chronicles the achievements and challenges of African American collective economic action and social entrepreneurship in the struggle for civil rights and economic equality”—Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-271-06216-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. African Americans—Economic conditions.
2. Cooperative societies—United States—History.
3. Cooperation—United States—History.
I. Title.
E185.8.G674 2014
330.90089’96073—dc23
2013042173
Copyright © 2014 The Pennsylvania State University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press,
University Park, PA 16802-1003
The Pennsylvania State University Press is a member of the Association of American University Presses.
It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Material, ANSI Z39.48–1992.
This book is printed on paper that contains 30% post-consumer waste.
To Curtis Haynes Jr.
for vision, pioneering work, collegiality, and friendship.
He asked some of the original questions and planted the seed.
And to my children,
Stephen Milete A. Nembhard and
Susan Rosa A. Gordon Nembhard,
for being genuinely interested, embracing the vision, and yet
again allowing me to be so distracted. Susan Rosa, also, for
designing several versions of a cover for this book.
Contents
Introduction: A Continuous and Hidden History of Economic Defense and Collective Well-Being
PART I: EARLY AFRICAN AMERICAN COOPERATIVE ROOTS
1 Early Black Economic Cooperation: Intentional Communities, Communes, and Mutual Aid
3 Expanding the Tradition: Early African American–Owned “Cooperative” Businesses
PART II: DELIBERATIVE COOPERATIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
4 Strategy, Advocacy, and Practice: Black Study Circles and Co-op Education on the Front Lines
5 The Young Negroes’ Co-operative League
6 Out of Necessity: The Great Depression and “Consumers’ Cooperation Among Negroes”
7 Continuing the Legacy: Nannie Helen Burroughs, Halena Wilson, and the Role of Black Women
8 Black Rural Cooperative Activity in the Early to Mid-Twentieth Century
PART III: TWENTIETH-CENTURY PRACTICES, TWENTY-FIRST-CENTURY SOLUTIONS
9 The Federation of Southern Cooperatives: The Legacy Lives On
10 Economic Solidarity in the African American Cooperative Movement: Connections, Cohesiveness, and Leadership Development
Time Line of African American Cooperative History, 1780–2012: Selected Events
Notes
References
Index
This has been more than a ten-year project and has taken up much of my academic career. Therefore, almost everyone in my life has had to hear about the book or wait on me while I reedited or submitted yet another version. Most of the public presentations I have made have been about the book, so many audiences have listened patiently as I talked about the project. Many people have expressed kind interest in this book, and I’ve received several offers of book parties. So there are many people to thank. If I have forgotten anyone, please blame it on aging and overwork, and not on intentional oversight. This has been a cooperative effort.
Heartfelt thanks—for faith and friendship and for always believing that the book would be finished and would be great—go out to many people in my life, especially the following:
J. JEROME HUGHES (“How can I help to make sure the book gets done?”)—for myriad
