Black Business Activism in the Great Depression

2019 ◽  
pp. 31-73
Author(s):  
Brandon K. Winford
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Black Community ◽  
Black Business ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
The Great Depression

Chapter 2 pivots away from NC Mutual by more closely examining M&F Bank after its establishment and its survival amid the catastrophic collapse that precipitated the Great Depression decade. The chapter argues that because M&F Bank followed an ethos that engendered a deep commitment to the overall prosperity of the black community, it was in a much better position than most black-owned banks to advocate a return to political participation for the black community. In this way, Durham’s black businesspeople served as stalwart community leaders, which provided a training ground for a younger cadre of well-educated and ready activists. Moreover, they embraced a multidimensional strategy of reciprocity—complicated by gender, class, and intergenerational tensions.

Entrepreneurship and Labor Absorption: Blacks and Whites in Northern U.S. Cities During the Great Depression

2021 ◽  
pp. 003464462110605
Author(s):  
Robert L. Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Great Depression ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Black Business ◽  
The United States ◽  
Absorption Capacity ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Blacks And Whites ◽  
Social Scientific

An extensive literature on newly developing societies shows that the urban economy's entrepreneurial sector can absorb a sizable share of persons who are unemployed and searching for work. Surprisingly, however, little research on the United States has examined entrepreneurship's labor absorption capacity. The present study fills this gap by analyzing Blacks and Whites in northern U.S. cities during the Great Depression, a time of widespread joblessness, particularly among Blacks. The results suggest that, if not for Blacks’ uniquely severe resource deprivation, Black entrepreneurship could have absorbed a large number of jobless Blacks. Labor absorption estimates, calculated with 1940 Census data, indicate that one-third of the Black-White unemployment difference is attributable to racial inequality of entrepreneurial outcomes. This historical evidence advances social-scientific understanding of racial inequality during the Great Depression and informs a longstanding debate about the merits of promoting Black business ownership as a strategy for improving Blacks’ labor market prospects.

Remaking the Heartland

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wuthnow
Keyword(s):  
Great Depression ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Objective Observer ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Changing Times ◽  
Middle West

For many Americans, the Middle West is a vast unknown. This book sets out to rectify this. It shows how the region has undergone extraordinary social transformations over the past half-century and proven itself surprisingly resilient in the face of such hardships as the Great Depression and the movement of residents to other parts of the country. It examines the heartland's reinvention throughout the decades and traces the social and economic factors that have helped it to survive and prosper. The book points to the critical strength of the region's social institutions established between 1870 and 1950—the market towns, farmsteads, one-room schoolhouses, townships, rural cooperatives, and manufacturing centers that have adapted with the changing times. It focuses on farmers' struggles to recover from the Great Depression well into the 1950s, the cultural redefinition and modernization of the region's image that occurred during the 1950s and 1960s, the growth of secondary and higher education, the decline of small towns, the redeployment of agribusiness, and the rapid expansion of edge cities. Drawing arguments from extensive interviews and evidence from the towns and counties of the Midwest, the book provides a unique perspective as both an objective observer and someone who grew up there. It offers an accessible look at the humble yet strong foundations that have allowed the region to endure undiminished.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document