Throughout history, white supremacy has shown that it cannot stand the advancement and success of Black communities. When we thrive, they step in to ruin us.
Believing that the way to true liberation was through economic success and entrepreneurship, Booker T. Washington created The National Negro Business League in 1900. The organization aimed to push Black economic development for African American businesses.
Even with 16 chapters across the nation, it never became a united entity.
Over time, the power of the National Negro Business League began to diminish - brought on by the Civil Rights struggle. Instead the League sparked the idea for National Black Chamber of Commerce.
It wouldn't be until 1989 when Harry C. Alford realized that we needed a unified organization. He used his time As Deputy Commissioner Of Minority Business in Indiana to bolster Black business and leveraged that into creating the National Black Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., four years later.
Where we succeed, there will always be supremacist systems trying to tear us down. Knowing that our community continues to find ways for our excellence to shine by building upon our ancestor's successes can further sustain us.