Post-slavery, Black entrepreneurs have navigated economic systems built to keep an entire race of freed Africans and Black Americans disenfranchised. Even with the odds stacked against them, resilient business owners like Maggie Walker, the first African American woman to own a bank, and Booker T. Washington, who founded Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (Tuskegee University) and strategically pushed through systemic racism and adversity in his own way, found ways to build Black economies. At the core of many Black communities exists Black businesses. When Jim Crow kept Black consumers at a distance, it was Black businesses that facilitated Black needs.

As the Black populous grew away from the cotton fields and established their own neighborhoods and societies, entrepreneurship soon followed. Black businesses operated in a multitude of industries, providing goods and services, and became the anchor and proverbial glue for these communities. Today, this still holds true, albeit—many—under the threat of imminent gentrification.

Eighty percent of the business pool is made up primarily of white business owners. Five percent of the market consists of Black businesses, which pales in comparison. Nonetheless, 3.5 million Black-owned businesses employ over 1.2 million individuals compensated with a $40.5 billion annual payroll. That is nothing to sneeze at. As purveyors of Black excellence and upliftment, BLACK ENTERPRISE shines a light on local, national, and global entrepreneurs, business owners, and wealth builders during Black Business Month in August.