What do you think?
Rate this book
Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice
In Collective Courage , Jessica Gordon Nembhard chronicles African American cooperative business ownership and its place in the movements for Black civil rights and economic equality. Not since W. E. B. Du Bois’s 1907 Economic Co-operation Among Negro Americans has there been a full-length, nationwide study of African American cooperatives. Collective Courage extends that story into the twenty-first century. Many of the players are well known in the history of the African American Du Bois, A. Philip Randolph and the Ladies' Auxiliary to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ella Jo Baker, George Schuyler and the Young Negroes’ Co-operative League, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Panther Party. Adding the cooperative movement to Black history results in a retelling of the African American experience, with an increased understanding of African American collective economic agency and grassroots economic organizing. To tell the story, Gordon Nembhard uses a variety of newspapers, period magazines, and journals; co-ops’ articles of incorporation, minutes from annual meetings, newsletters, budgets, and income statements; and scholarly books, memoirs, and biographies. These sources reveal the achievements and challenges of Black co-ops, collective economic action, and social entrepreneurship. Gordon Nembhard finds that African Americans, as well as other people of color and low-income people, have benefitted greatly from cooperative ownership and democratic economic participation throughout the nation’s history.
328 pages, Hardcover
First published March 3, 2014
93 people are currently reading
1845 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 30, 2017
dr. gordon nembhard has done a thorough excavation of the history of cooperatives & cooperative-like structures among african americans from ~1900-2000. in this, she challenges that mainstream notion/popular perception that cooperatives are (and have always been) white. by showing how black folks have needed and used cooperative economics to survive, gordon nembhard has opened new doors for understanding today's socioeconomic thinkers and doers to understand, learn from, and build on the history of folks working together to get their basic needs met.
note: i read this book as a part of the collective courage book club that nene igietseme and i ran: https://collectivecouragebookclub.wor....
note: i read this book as a part of the collective courage book club that nene igietseme and i ran: https://collectivecouragebookclub.wor....
September 9, 2020
This is a dynamic account of the history of the African American cooperative economics movement. Put simply, there is no period in American history where Black people were not involved in economic cooperation, whether formally or informally. Put another way and in the words of author Jessica Gordon Nembhard, cooperative economics is natural and continuous among Black Americans. This book provides a comprehensive and detailed account of the various organizations and people that made up the African American cooperative economics movement. From the days of mutual aid organizations during chattel slavery up to the worker-owned cooperatives of the present, Black people have always been compelled to organize their socioeconomic lives in a collaborative and economic manner.
This book specifically details the ways that African Americans used consumer, producer, and worker cooperatives to combat the stiff white supremacist-capitalist oppression that is life in the United States. Nembhard depicts the rise and fall of various cooperative endeavors throughout specific eras in Black American history (pre-Civil war, post-reconstruction, pre-WWI, Depression Era, Post WWII, Civil Rights Era, and the present). She tells the story of the many organizations and federations that sought to provide an alternative form of economics that served the basic needs of average Black people, put power and ownership in the collective hands of the community, and provided an answer to the excesses of capitalism.
It is telling that some many of the most famous names in Black American history dealt with and actively organized and encouraged cooperative economics among Black Americans (W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, A. Phillip Randolph, Ella Jo Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, and John Lewis, to name a few). Further, some of the largest Black organizations in distinct periods of American history were--at their core--rooted in the push for cooperative economics (Garvey's UNIA is once such example).
At its core, this book is a call to action. It makes clear that Black people have always cooperated with each other and engaged in "group economics," further driving home the point that capitalist individualism is contrary to the natural tendencies of marginalized and oppressed people. This book is extremely inspiring in that it demonstrates that in the face of overwhelming odds (enslavement, white supremacist violence, exploitation, and deliberate and perpetual underdevelopment), Black cooperative economics has continuously reinvented itself and provided a way for Black Americans to survive and thrive. I highly recommend this book.
This book specifically details the ways that African Americans used consumer, producer, and worker cooperatives to combat the stiff white supremacist-capitalist oppression that is life in the United States. Nembhard depicts the rise and fall of various cooperative endeavors throughout specific eras in Black American history (pre-Civil war, post-reconstruction, pre-WWI, Depression Era, Post WWII, Civil Rights Era, and the present). She tells the story of the many organizations and federations that sought to provide an alternative form of economics that served the basic needs of average Black people, put power and ownership in the collective hands of the community, and provided an answer to the excesses of capitalism.
It is telling that some many of the most famous names in Black American history dealt with and actively organized and encouraged cooperative economics among Black Americans (W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, A. Phillip Randolph, Ella Jo Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, and John Lewis, to name a few). Further, some of the largest Black organizations in distinct periods of American history were--at their core--rooted in the push for cooperative economics (Garvey's UNIA is once such example).
At its core, this book is a call to action. It makes clear that Black people have always cooperated with each other and engaged in "group economics," further driving home the point that capitalist individualism is contrary to the natural tendencies of marginalized and oppressed people. This book is extremely inspiring in that it demonstrates that in the face of overwhelming odds (enslavement, white supremacist violence, exploitation, and deliberate and perpetual underdevelopment), Black cooperative economics has continuously reinvented itself and provided a way for Black Americans to survive and thrive. I highly recommend this book.
January 26, 2021
When I asked one of the leaders of the local chapter of Black Lives Matter how they were organized, she told me they had tried several organizational structures before they settled on a collective model, which works well for them. She said they all read Collective Courage before adopting the model and she recommended the book to me.
A history of African American cooperative economic thought and practice, the book explores evolving Black cooperative economic collectives from the late 18th century to the present.
I was very surprised to discover that the book seemed to describe almost all the local groups I worked with in Haïti when I was the Executive Director of the Lambi Fund of Haiti. Every community in rural Haiti has a local peasant association that manages several projects ranging from farmer’s cooperatives, to women’s alternative credit funds to ox plowing services to pig and goat banks. All while practicing democratic principles and civic participation. Exactly as described in the book.
Most economic cooperatives pre-civil war were in the Northern US but after the Civil War, most were formed in the Southern US as Black farmers and merchants united in order to protect themselves from the repercussions of white supremacy and Jim Crow laws. Today there are still Black cooperatives, whether it’s farmers or BLM chapters, coming together for the common good of all.
The book can be dry at times but this is such an important concept. Black organizations exploring organizational models should read this.
A history of African American cooperative economic thought and practice, the book explores evolving Black cooperative economic collectives from the late 18th century to the present.
I was very surprised to discover that the book seemed to describe almost all the local groups I worked with in Haïti when I was the Executive Director of the Lambi Fund of Haiti. Every community in rural Haiti has a local peasant association that manages several projects ranging from farmer’s cooperatives, to women’s alternative credit funds to ox plowing services to pig and goat banks. All while practicing democratic principles and civic participation. Exactly as described in the book.
Most economic cooperatives pre-civil war were in the Northern US but after the Civil War, most were formed in the Southern US as Black farmers and merchants united in order to protect themselves from the repercussions of white supremacy and Jim Crow laws. Today there are still Black cooperatives, whether it’s farmers or BLM chapters, coming together for the common good of all.
The book can be dry at times but this is such an important concept. Black organizations exploring organizational models should read this.
March 28, 2019
Jessica Gordon Nembhard uncovers Black cooperative thought and practice in the United States: Cooperative in farming, land, housing and grocery stores; these along with burial societies are the shared labor and economies that have been overlooked by historians but vibrant in the experience and oral traditions in many black communities. Collective economic organizing has contributed to the survival and prosperity of African Americans and their poor neighbors, but these have often been met with lynchings and death threats -- as in the case of the murdered owners of the Memphis grocery cooperative, and the accompanying death threat to Ida. B. Wells who left subsequently fled the city. Their collectiveity has been a courageous threat to the U.S. capitalistic economy that uses black labor and economic servitude to bolster profits. Rooted in collective experience, African Americans have also significantly contributed to visioning, theorizing and thinking about cooperative economies. And important book not only for history but also because black collective practices and theories are increasingly modifying, and may eventually help to replace, the present economic system.
April 25, 2016
Academic work, dry at times, BUT important information never documented before in a comprehensive way that shows that AA people have worked mightily to improve their economic well-being in a hostile white culture. It's part of the dominant white culture history to oppose the well-being of black people. As a white person, this book is another part of my ongoing self-education about the effects of racism.
This book helped me to think more broadly about how white people need to listen carefully to the black community and their experience while working to dismantle racism which continues to operate to benefit whites while oppressing people of color.
This book helped me to think more broadly about how white people need to listen carefully to the black community and their experience while working to dismantle racism which continues to operate to benefit whites while oppressing people of color.
May 3, 2020
A huge survey of African American Cooperatives through the 19c and 20c, emphasizing solidarity, interconnection in community, education and training, and worker empowerment. WEB DuBois, Ella Jo Baker, and Fannie Lou Hamer provide personal anchors along the way. Because the author covers so many examples that otherwise would be footnotes, short-lived or ill-documented, there's a fragmentary feel to the whole thing, but the overall story is positive and forward looking.
April 13, 2020
Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard's Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative
Economic Thought and Practice is a breakthrough work that is helping change conversations around economic development throughout the United States.
When Dr. Nembhard Gordon first got interested in using cooperative models in community economic development, she was constantly met with the response that, as she puts it, “black people don't do co-ops.” And when she went to a co-op meeting she was usually the only African American.
However, it is widely known that WEB DuBois was a proponent of cooperatives for black economic self-determination, writing about it for years as editor of the NAACP magazine, The Crisis. And so her historical excavation began. In her interviews with colleagues, friends and relatives, people gradually uncovered memories of cooperatives.
And what an incredible story. Collective Courage provides a litany of black cooperative initiatives
dating back to the late 19th century; some enticing short snippets derived from brief mentions in articles, while others are better documented and more fleshed out.
Equally interesting is her description, in an interview with Grassroots Economic Organizing, of how she uncovered some of the connections. National Council of Negro Women President Dorothy Height mentioned in her autobiography that she helped fund the first purchase of pigs for Fannie Lou Hamer's Freedom Farm, an initiative that was less formal cooperative than firmly rooted economic self-determination. Dr. Gordon Nembhard used this lead to then find more information in Fannie Lou Hamer's personal papers.
In his autobiography, John Lewis briefly mentioned that one of his first jobs was a co-op developer in the early 1960's. Lewis, of course, chaired the Southern Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), working with legendary organizer Ella Baker, who was the Director of the Young Negro Cooperative League in the 1930's. Dr. Gordon Nembhard insightfully points out that Baker's SNCC organizing, deeply democratic and focused on women's full participation, was informed by her formative experience organizing cooperatives during the Great Depression.
The book's title, Collective Courage, is a frame for the stories of cooperative struggle that grew out of racist economic exclusion in the reconstruction era and beyond. However, any attempt at economic self-determination on the part of recently emancipated Blacks was frequently met with furious brutality and economic retribution. Cooperatives were a survival strategy with no certainty of success.
Dr. Gordon Nembhard eschews personal stories and focuses instead on recurring themes, underlying values and shared strategies. Collective Courage highlights the critical role that mutual aid societies played as a precursor to formal co-ops.
Frequently, these fraternal organizations provided insurance, funeral benefits, care for orphans, shared farming equipment and pooled capital. The Knights of Labor also supported cooperative interracial economic initiatives. These groups came together under the Colored Farmers National Alliance and Co-operative Union, the largest black organization of its time. However, formal Black cooperatives, based on the Rochdale cooperative principles, picked up momentum in the 1930s. Study circles also emerge as a strategy running through most Black cooperative start-ups in the 20 th century.
Halena Wilson, President of the Chicago Ladies Auxiliary of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was instrumental in getting A. Phillip Randolph on board. Randolph spoke on behalf of cooperative initiatives, wrote about cooperatives in national publications and attended meetings. Wilson got study groups off the ground in over a dozen cities.
Cooperatives such as the Brotherhood Consumer Cooperative in Chicago grew out of the study groups. This study group strategy was also followed by the Young Negro Cooperative League, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, historical black colleges and universities, Negro Cooperative Guild and many smaller initiatives, operating outside of any support from a national organization.
Collective Courage reveals a riveting history that is particularly relevant today.
Economic Thought and Practice is a breakthrough work that is helping change conversations around economic development throughout the United States.
When Dr. Nembhard Gordon first got interested in using cooperative models in community economic development, she was constantly met with the response that, as she puts it, “black people don't do co-ops.” And when she went to a co-op meeting she was usually the only African American.
However, it is widely known that WEB DuBois was a proponent of cooperatives for black economic self-determination, writing about it for years as editor of the NAACP magazine, The Crisis. And so her historical excavation began. In her interviews with colleagues, friends and relatives, people gradually uncovered memories of cooperatives.
And what an incredible story. Collective Courage provides a litany of black cooperative initiatives
dating back to the late 19th century; some enticing short snippets derived from brief mentions in articles, while others are better documented and more fleshed out.
Equally interesting is her description, in an interview with Grassroots Economic Organizing, of how she uncovered some of the connections. National Council of Negro Women President Dorothy Height mentioned in her autobiography that she helped fund the first purchase of pigs for Fannie Lou Hamer's Freedom Farm, an initiative that was less formal cooperative than firmly rooted economic self-determination. Dr. Gordon Nembhard used this lead to then find more information in Fannie Lou Hamer's personal papers.
In his autobiography, John Lewis briefly mentioned that one of his first jobs was a co-op developer in the early 1960's. Lewis, of course, chaired the Southern Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), working with legendary organizer Ella Baker, who was the Director of the Young Negro Cooperative League in the 1930's. Dr. Gordon Nembhard insightfully points out that Baker's SNCC organizing, deeply democratic and focused on women's full participation, was informed by her formative experience organizing cooperatives during the Great Depression.
The book's title, Collective Courage, is a frame for the stories of cooperative struggle that grew out of racist economic exclusion in the reconstruction era and beyond. However, any attempt at economic self-determination on the part of recently emancipated Blacks was frequently met with furious brutality and economic retribution. Cooperatives were a survival strategy with no certainty of success.
Dr. Gordon Nembhard eschews personal stories and focuses instead on recurring themes, underlying values and shared strategies. Collective Courage highlights the critical role that mutual aid societies played as a precursor to formal co-ops.
Frequently, these fraternal organizations provided insurance, funeral benefits, care for orphans, shared farming equipment and pooled capital. The Knights of Labor also supported cooperative interracial economic initiatives. These groups came together under the Colored Farmers National Alliance and Co-operative Union, the largest black organization of its time. However, formal Black cooperatives, based on the Rochdale cooperative principles, picked up momentum in the 1930s. Study circles also emerge as a strategy running through most Black cooperative start-ups in the 20 th century.
Halena Wilson, President of the Chicago Ladies Auxiliary of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was instrumental in getting A. Phillip Randolph on board. Randolph spoke on behalf of cooperative initiatives, wrote about cooperatives in national publications and attended meetings. Wilson got study groups off the ground in over a dozen cities.
Cooperatives such as the Brotherhood Consumer Cooperative in Chicago grew out of the study groups. This study group strategy was also followed by the Young Negro Cooperative League, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, historical black colleges and universities, Negro Cooperative Guild and many smaller initiatives, operating outside of any support from a national organization.
Collective Courage reveals a riveting history that is particularly relevant today.
May 4, 2022
Jessica Gordon-Nembhard wrote about the history of cooperatives, mutual aid societies, and credit unions. She explained that co-ops were born out of necessity for the African American community. In a white supremacist society where any type of upward movement is incredibly difficult and sometimes almost impossible for an individual, it is most beneficial to combine resources with as many people as possible. The history of co-ops has been largely hidden and Gordon-Nembhard repeatedly wrote that they were written off as something that black people did not do.
Co-ops work to bring democracy outside of the voting booth and into the workplace and community. They function because of the collective efforts of people to achieve a common goal. Gordon-Nembhard discussed the history of co-ops and talked about which ones were failures and successes. However, she explained in an interview that using that type of definitive language does not tell the whole story. From every single co-op that was attempted, valuable knowledge was gained and that is what should be focused on. She also highlighted the characteristics that are necessary to cultivate successful co-op solidarity, concern for community, helping others, and lifting as you climb. Other important elements that increased the success of co-ops were when members had stable incomes and a strong organization at both the local level and the national level.
Gordon-Nembhard also revealed how co-ops helped women and also encouraged multiracial solidarity. When people see each other as human beings who struggle and are just trying to create meaning and find purpose this is what can bring groups together and encourage solidarity. I learned a lot from this book. Prior to reading this, I had never even heard of co-ops, and while I am part of a credit union I had no idea what that meant. One of the most important things this book showed was that there are ways in which society can be structured better and that people can work together to help and protect each other. Initially, I thought that co-ops were a threat to capitalism but now I understand them more as a way to democratize the system. That is my biggest critique of this book co-ops offer an alternative however Gordon-Nembhard did not completely address the issue of capitalism as a system.
Co-ops work to bring democracy outside of the voting booth and into the workplace and community. They function because of the collective efforts of people to achieve a common goal. Gordon-Nembhard discussed the history of co-ops and talked about which ones were failures and successes. However, she explained in an interview that using that type of definitive language does not tell the whole story. From every single co-op that was attempted, valuable knowledge was gained and that is what should be focused on. She also highlighted the characteristics that are necessary to cultivate successful co-op solidarity, concern for community, helping others, and lifting as you climb. Other important elements that increased the success of co-ops were when members had stable incomes and a strong organization at both the local level and the national level.
Gordon-Nembhard also revealed how co-ops helped women and also encouraged multiracial solidarity. When people see each other as human beings who struggle and are just trying to create meaning and find purpose this is what can bring groups together and encourage solidarity. I learned a lot from this book. Prior to reading this, I had never even heard of co-ops, and while I am part of a credit union I had no idea what that meant. One of the most important things this book showed was that there are ways in which society can be structured better and that people can work together to help and protect each other. Initially, I thought that co-ops were a threat to capitalism but now I understand them more as a way to democratize the system. That is my biggest critique of this book co-ops offer an alternative however Gordon-Nembhard did not completely address the issue of capitalism as a system.
April 23, 2023
5 stars for content/information, 3 stars for writing style.
This is a book to keep on a shelf and refer back to as a comprehensive listing of past African American cooperative business efforts in the US. Normally I like the academic style of summarizing the contents of an article at the start, but this book did that both at the beginning and at the start of every chapter. Probably adding 20 pages of repetitive text. The writing itself was somewhat dry, and again I think this will serve as an excellent reference and source of information, but I wouldn't recommend it as someone's first foray into learning about co-ops.
One lesson emphasized throughout is how intertwined economics and politics are. Many African American co-ops faced racism and social and political pressure as well as economic pressure. Railroad companies united to stop providing service to a co-op that was helping unionized railworkers. The FBI investigated another co-op in what seems to be a coordinated pressure campaign to delegitimize them, and then never brought any cases against them. Both monopolies and elite-captured government will continue to serve the needs of capital over the needs of regular people in the absence of struggle for political change. This book highlights that cooperative businesses are a strong political-economic force, since participation in politics generally requires at least stable living conditions and employment.
This is a book to keep on a shelf and refer back to as a comprehensive listing of past African American cooperative business efforts in the US. Normally I like the academic style of summarizing the contents of an article at the start, but this book did that both at the beginning and at the start of every chapter. Probably adding 20 pages of repetitive text. The writing itself was somewhat dry, and again I think this will serve as an excellent reference and source of information, but I wouldn't recommend it as someone's first foray into learning about co-ops.
One lesson emphasized throughout is how intertwined economics and politics are. Many African American co-ops faced racism and social and political pressure as well as economic pressure. Railroad companies united to stop providing service to a co-op that was helping unionized railworkers. The FBI investigated another co-op in what seems to be a coordinated pressure campaign to delegitimize them, and then never brought any cases against them. Both monopolies and elite-captured government will continue to serve the needs of capital over the needs of regular people in the absence of struggle for political change. This book highlights that cooperative businesses are a strong political-economic force, since participation in politics generally requires at least stable living conditions and employment.
September 27, 2020
I'm very glad I picked up this book, it has a lot of good information about how African Americans have organized themselves throughout American history. In the US, white culture tells a story of how unions and cooperatives have succeeded in getting us a 5-day workweek and paid vacations, but we seldom hear or see of the contributions of people of color in these movements. This book really opened my eyes to the myriad ways Blacks have used such structures as cooperative ownership and cohousing to defend themselves from unjust economic, housing and labor practices. My only complaint about the book is it is written in a highly academic way, making it not exactly inaccessible, but certainly a little more of a slog than some other recent bestsellers chronicling the Black experience in America. Still, I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in the history of cooperatives.
June 10, 2018
Interesting and inspiring look at how cooperative principles have been used by African Americans throughout history to survive economic and social exclusion and to build their own sense of community and identity.
February 2, 2023
A bit difficult to read due to the structure and large amount of facts, but overall an excellent tome offering lots of examples of cooperatives and cooperative like structures all throughout African American history.
June 30, 2025
Seminal account of the history of African American cooperativism; for me, it would have been probably better to review cases one by one over the longer term (than to read the entirety of the book in one go).
Read
January 25, 2022Recommended by Dr Lilia Giugni
A lovingly written history of the black cooperative movement, which explores matters of race, social innovation, and critical approaches to entrepreneurship.
A lovingly written history of the black cooperative movement, which explores matters of race, social innovation, and critical approaches to entrepreneurship.
June 5, 2015
I think this book is really important as it shows how African Americans dealt through cooperation to deal with slavery, lynchings and Jim Crow, to economic segregation nowadays. Black cooperation has clearly been and is a strain of thought and action in the black power movements. From before W.E.B. Du Bois and his publications in 'Crisis', in autonomous communities, and through the founding of such organisations as the NAACP, the Federation of Southern Cooperatives etc., and beyond in the civil rights movement and today. The work of incredible black women shines through. Some good critiques of prominent figures for black capitalism such as Marcus Garvey.
The creation of means to get by through cooperation and ways to create a new world beyond capitalism.
I would agree with Erica's review (below) - it is an academic book that chronicles the history of a movement. But I think it is a necessary book. I gather this is a work of many years if not decades
Here is the review by Erica: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The creation of means to get by through cooperation and ways to create a new world beyond capitalism.
I would agree with Erica's review (below) - it is an academic book that chronicles the history of a movement. But I think it is a necessary book. I gather this is a work of many years if not decades
Here is the review by Erica: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
April 7, 2016
I will warn you that this book is crammed full of research and is an intense amount of information - though it clearly still only skims the surface of solidarity economics in communities of color in the US. Luckily for me, I got to read it with a group of incredibly thoughtful people. I suspect this will stay on my reference shelf for some time to come.
April 11, 2015
Thorough and compelling account of a history that has been largely erased from discussions of the cooperative movement. Definitely a valuable resource for anyone who approaches cooperative development from economic justice perspective. The book is very dense and feels like more of a catalogue at times, but has interesting commentary spread throughout.
November 14, 2024
A must read for worker owners in the US! It’s a dense read but holds a lot of lessons and history you would never learn otherwise!
Read
October 10, 2014330.90089 G6644 2014
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews