Co-op News March 2023

Co-operatives and USA Black History Month:
‘Co-op history is Black history’
by Rebecca Harvey
Black History Month is an annual observance in
the United States that takes place in February – a
month-long celebration of the achievements and
contributions of African Americans to the nation’s
past, culture, and society.
Like the UK celebration, which takes place in
October, Black History Month sees events and
activities held to honour the legacies of notable
African American figures, and explore the
experiences and struggles of African Americans
throughout history. Co-ops have played an
important role in the history of African Americans
and their pursuit of economic and social justice;
during the early 20th century, co-ops were used
as a means of economic empowerment and
community building among African Americans,
who were often excluded from mainstream
financial institutions and faced discrimination in
the labour market.
The Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union (STFU),
for example, was established in the 1930s to
represent the interests of sharecroppers and
tenant farmers in the Southern United States,
many of whom were African American. The
STFU established a network of co-operatives that
provided access to credit, technical assistance,
and marketing support to its members, helping
them to improve their economic conditions and
gain greater control over their lives. That tradition
continues today with the Federation of Southern
Cooperatives, which provides resources and
technical assistance to limited-resource Black
farmers and landowners.
In more recent years, US co-ops have also
focused on promoting economic development and
building wealth, providing access to affordable
housing, healthy food, and other essential services
in underserved neighbourhoods. But, as the New
Economy Coalition (NEC) reminds us, whatever the
sector, “Co-op History is Black History”.
“​From mutual aid societies to freedom farms
and credit unions, Black communities have
been using co-operative economics as a tool for
collective liberation, self-determination, and
to resist the violence of racial capitalism for
centuries. What we call the ‘solidarity economy’
wouldn’t exist without this history and practice.
We honour these legacies, and celebrate the
radical Black co-operators in our network and
around the world who continue to lead the
solidarity economy movement and make new and
liberatory worlds possible every day.”
NEC is a membership-based network
representing the solidarity economy movement in
the United States. It recently published a resource
list for anyone wanting to learn more about Black
co-op history – and between December 2022 and
January 2023, its Black Solidarity Economy Fund
working group redistributed US$300,000 to 51
Black-led solidarity economy projects.
“Black co-operative economics has delivered
justice, prosperity, and security when it has been
systematically denied to Black communities. All
this has occurred despite a system that denies
Black communities critical access in the realm
of funding, ideas, leadership, and capacitybuilding,”
says NEC, describing the fund.
“Guided by our Black-led member organisations
and a sincere desire to take immediate concrete
steps towards rectifying this inequity, we are
acting to redistribute the power of money and
ideas by investing a portion of our budget to
support the power of Black-led organisations,
organisers, and ideas – which are too often
ignored, silenced, and appropriated.”
To access the NEC’s ‘Co-op History is
Black History’ resource list, visit bit.ly/3Y5umly
MARCH 2023 | 35