The Road Ahead

Black entrepreneurs are seeking freedom. 

In America, business along with home ownership are the most common paths to wealth creation. 

However, most black businesses today cannot recreate the “double-duty dollar” of Black Wall Street. They do not have access to the resources and opportunities required to grow. Only four percent of black businesses employ more than one person. Dollars continue to flow one way—out—of black communities.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Durham, April 1958. On the right is John S. Stewart of Mutual Savings and Loan and the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs.

Courtesy The State Archives of North Carolina.

Carolina Times article on the Mutual Savings and Loan Association, 1954. Founder Richard L. McDougald started the business to help African Americans afford to buy their own homes. Through access to trust-worthy loans, black financial institutions increased wealth for black families in Durham. Black families today face discrimination by white home lenders.

Courtesy The Carolina Times

Mechanics and Farmers Bank, with bank founders John Merrick (left) and Dr. Aaron M. Moore (right), 1915. Early on, the bank stated its mission to provide what was needed in the community: “no large loans to a few profiteers, but rather conservative sums to needy farmers and laborers.” This trend continues today, putting black banks in jeopardy. They do not have access to the kind of profit that has allowed mainstream white banks to dominate the market.

Courtesy The Carolina Times

Having employees is a sign of business success and wealth creation. Due to a shrinking customer base and a lack of needed capital, the per capita number of black employers in the US declined by twelve percent between 1997 and 2014 alone.

Notice the racial disparity of start-up capital between black and white-owned employer businesses. Access to capital and reliable credit is essential for successful business ownership.

This is one optional background image that customers can choose from among a series of #BankBlack-themed debit cards from OneUnited Bank. OneUnited is the largest black-owned bank in the US. It encourages consumers to move their money to support black banks, stating on their website: “Black Lives Matter. Black Money Matters.”

Courtesy Circle of One Marketing/OneUnited Bank

North Carolina touts increasing numbers of “minority-owned businesses.” Yet, to address the racial wealth gap, these businesses must be able to fully participate in the US economy.

To support the success of this and future generations of entrepreneurs, we must: 

  • Provide access to capital and to reliable credit. 
  • Have the courage to invest in and support black economic and political power.
  • Connect entrepreneurs to the people and opportunities they need to succeed.

People will do business with people they like, and if we don’t go to the same church, if we’re not sitting in the same row, we’re not building the relationships—we don’t even know each other.

Andrea Harris, Co-founder, The North Carolina Institute of Minority Economic Development