Good News Stories From Communities of Color: A List of Brand New Black-Owned Businesses
Despite the racial barriers imposed on Black business owners, as well as the hardships of the pandemic that have effected everyone, Black entrepreneurs have risen to the challenge.
Before integration, Black-owned businesses existed in abundance because they had to.
As I learn about segregation, the legality of it all escapes me. I know factually that it was laws on the books that prohibited Black and white people from intermingling. If it was a question on a quiz I’d get an A+. But knowing this and actually sitting with it…processing what it means for this to be the law with consequences as severe as any other petty crime - it is near impossible to truly comprehend.
Segregation was not a suggestion.
It was not a bigoted belief.
It was not subconscious.
Segregation was the law of the land and you would be punished tremendously for moving and/or acting out of accordance with it.
So Black people did what we have always done in this country - we carved our humanity into a country that tried damn near everything to take it from us. Whether it was denying us entry at restaurants both fancy and plain, clothing stores both high end and not, movie theaters, swimming pools, playgrounds, schools - we started from scratch once again and built an empire from nothing.
But with the ending of Jim Crow laws, a necessary step in achieving civil liberties for people of color also came an end to a large number of Black-owned businesses. The racial tensions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were taut, but they at least remained at the forefront of the conversation. Segregation forced a certain level of representation that no longer exists, as white people quickly learned there was a market in Black consumerism that segregation did not allow them to tap into.
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