As we bring our Black History Month series to a close, we turn to a story often left out of the spotlight—the history of Black cooperation. In this compelling conversation, Vernon Oakes and Jessica Gordon Nembhard Ph.D. reflect on how the journey of Black co-ops offers a powerful lens for understanding African American history, resilience, resistance, and community wealth-building across generations.
Author of Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice (2014) and 2016 inductee into the U.S. Cooperative Hall of Fame, Jessica Gordon-Nembhard, Ph.D., is a Professor at John Jay College, City University of NY. She is a political economist specializing in cooperative economics, community economic development, racial wealth inequality, Black Political Economy. She is a member of the Cooperative Economics Council of NCBA/CLUSA; the ICA Committee on Co-operative Research; an affiliate scholar with the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, University of Saskatchewan; and past board member of Association of Cooperative Educators.