Collective Courage: A History of the African American Cooperative Economic Thought & Practice

Description

Inspired by the work of such figures as W. E. B. Du Bois, Fannie Lou Hamer, and John Lewis, among many others, Jessica Gordon Nembhard’s Collective Courage quickly became the benchmark text for understanding the sweeping history of Black American cooperative business ownership. This long-awaited tenth-anniversary edition of Collective Courage features a substantial preface by the author that highlights the influence of the book on scholars and activists over the last decade, describes new research on the topic, and profiles some previously overlooked cooperative efforts, such as those developed in the 198os in Washington, DC, with the support of then mayor Marion Barry. In this new preface, Gordon Nembhard draws parallels between the first three waves of Black cooperative activity to the current and continuing promise of the Black co-op movement in the twenty-first century, suggesting that a fourth wave of “collective courage” may well be underway as the nation witnesses a rise in fascism and White supremacy, racial economic inequity, and the fortification of the Black Lives Matter movement.

JESSICA GORDON NEMBHARD is Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Department of Africana Studies at John Jay College, City University of New York.