Jessica Gordon-Nembhard: The 1930s and 1940s were similar….there was an economic crisis that was even worse than in the 1880s. There was also this connection again back to the progressive movement, as the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt was becoming more and more interventionist and progressive. Even the federal government [was] pushing what they called self-help co-ops.
There are also again some Black organizations promoting cooperatives, such as the Young Negroes’ Cooperative League and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Their Ladies’ Auxiliary is teaching about co-ops and doing co-op study groups and starting co-ops, with Black labor members and their families. And Black colleges actually have some courses in co-op development along with consumer economics—and helping surrounding communities to develop some co-ops.
Then you get to the 1960s and the 1970s—the economy in the sixties isn’t so bad. But now you have strong Black organizations arguing for liberation, civil rights, economic rights. The push for cooperative development is connected to this movement for civil rights, political rights, racial justice.
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