During Black History Month, we recognize that while the story of Black economic cooperation is not ours to tell, we have all benefitted from the powerful legacy of collective self-determination built by Black communities in the face of exclusion and violence. From mutual aid societies formed during Reconstruction to the work of leaders like Fannie Lou Hamer, who co-founded the Freedom Farm Cooperative, and scholars such as Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, who has documented this tradition in Collective Courage, Black cooperatives have long been tools of survival, dignity, and resistance. Below, we share some of that history. As white people, our role is not to speak over this history, but to listen, learn, and support cooperative movements today in ways that respect and amplify Black leadership. 

Throughout history, cooperatives have been autonomous, member-owned businesses and organizations formed to meet their members’ cultural, economic, and social needs through democratic control. African Americans have played an important role in shaping and developing cooperative principles. For the Black community, cooperative economics has been a vital part of resilience and survival, pooling together resources during times of systematic exclusion, discrimination, and crisis. The impact that Black people had on the formation of cooperatives has been obscured for generations, but many historical examples remain intact today.  

During slavery, Black people used the cooperative model to cook meals for one another, and those who could earn money would pool their money to buy each other’s freedom. This eventually led to the formation of mutual aid societies, which collected members’ dues for services such as health care, support for women and children, and burials. As more Black people gained freedom, mutual aid societies grew larger and provided more services to members. Eventually, these endeavors grew into mutual insurance, cooperative farming, land ownership, collective lending, housing co-ops, union formation, and grocery and marketing cooperatives. Many cooperatives were formed to address poverty, food insecurity, and even voter suppression to create a more equitable future. One of the most acclaimed contributors to this is Fannie Lou Hamer’s Freedom Farm Cooperative, formed in 1969 in Mississippi. 

Black-run co-ops faced severe retaliation and sabotage from former plantation owners and masters, financial institutions, freight services, White-run co-ops, and a range of even worse sabotage. Early on, many Black folks started distancing themselves from the co-op label for fear of it being sabotaged or shut down. As a co-op disbanded, others took their place at the helm. Black women were particularly significant in paving the way for Black-run co-ops. These women were not just doing menial tasks; they started and ran co-ops, they were leaders, economic teachers, and the architects behind the scenes, supporting and connecting communities. Figures such as Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Jo Baker, and Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Ph.D., have played pivotal roles in shaping cooperatives throughout history and today. 

Fannie Lou Hamer 

Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil rights leader, established the Freedom Farm Cooperative in Mississippi in 1969, which fed and employed thousands of families and pursued sustainable development for the people of Sunflower County. They focused on agriculture, education, and manufacturing, adapting to community needs through crisis and natural disasters. Throughout its history, the co-op purchased 700 acres of land for food production, raised 2,000 pigs, and coordinated FHA loans for several projects, including the development of other cooperatives. Hamer achieved all of this through robust fundraising and her connections, without the federal support that white farmers benefited from.  

Ella Jo Baker 

With about 45 years of cooperative organizing experience, Ella Jo Baker inspired grassroots cooperative leadership models and helped form many cooperatives, seeing a link between co-ops, self-sufficiency, economic and racial justice. As one of the founding members of the Young Negros’ Co-operative League, Baker used cooperative economics to help the Black community in Harlem address the economic devastation they faced. She co-led a multi-year plan to develop a multidisciplinary cooperative infrastructure and fueled the Black cooperative movement in the United States.  

“Cooperation means working together with mutual confidence and respect to achieve a common goal. It is the way we have always survived.” 

— Ella Jo Baker 

Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Ph.D. 

Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Ph.D., is the author of “Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice,” which is the culmination of 15 years of research on the cooperative movement within low-income and minority communities. She specializes in community economics and currently teaches Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Department of Africana Studies at John Jay College. Dr. Gordon Nembhard, who has provided extensive research and historical context on the link between cooperatives and social justice in Black communities, has had a significant impact on worker co-ops. Amongst her leadership achievements, Gordon Nembhard co-founded the U.S. Federation of Worker Co-ops and helped foster connections with civil rights and other cooperative organizations.  

References: 

Dubb, S., Gordon Nembhard, J. (2024, Dec. 11). The Past and Future of Black Co-ops: A Conversation with Jessica Gordon Nembhard. Nonprofit Quarterly.
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/the-past-and-future-of-black-co-ops-a-conversation-with-jessica-gordon-nembhard

Black Future Co-op Fund (2025, Apr. 29). Rooted in resistance: The legacy and power of Black cooperatives.
https://blackfuturewa.org/2025/04/rooted-in-resistance-the-legacy-and-power-of-black-cooperatives

Luna, M. (n.d.). A Brief History of Black Cooperatives in the United States. Civil Rights Teaching.
https://www.civilrightsteaching.org/resource/brief-history-of-black-cooperatives

Luna, M. (2014, Apr. 28). Interview: The Deep Roots of African American Cooperative Economics. Shareable.
https://www.shareable.net/interview-the-deep-roots-of-african-american-cooperative-economics

Cooperative Hall of Fame (2025, Nov. 24). Fannie Lou Hamer.
https://www.heroes.coop/post/fannie-lou-hamer

Cooperative Hall of Fame (2022, May 19). Ella Baker.
https://www.heroes.coop/post/ella-josephine-baker

Cooperative Hall of Fame (2016, Jan. 1). Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Ph.D.
https://www.heroes.coop/post/jessica-gordon-nembhard-ph-d