Happy Black History Month!
It’s February already! Can you believe it? We have completed one month of 2022 and we officially have 11 more to go. And what’s any February without the mention of Black History Month on every social media site, commercial, and blog post? I want to properly and publicly acknowledge before moving forward that Black History is not only American history but it’s also World History. The oldest human remains are from where again? Oh, Africa, that’s right, not too far from the equator where the sun blesses God’s creations with all the melanin their hands and hearts can hold. So although Black History Month is acknowledged by the masses during the shortest month of the year, it is celebrated here 24/7/365, 366 during leap years.
Off my soapbox now and back to our regularly scheduled program. So what does Black History Month mean to me specifically as a Black Female Owned Business? Last week I shared on my social media stories that according to an economist at UCSC and a survey by Guidant Financial and SBTA respectively, there are 38% more black business owners in the United States today than February 2020 and as of December 2020, 46% of black small business owners are women. I am extremely proud to be a part of the growing population of black owned businesses and more specifically black female owned businesses. Personally, for me, being a black female business owner means continuing the legacy of my late grandfathers.
My paternal grandfather, Hosie Joshua, was born and raised on the remnants of a plantation in Mississippi in the late 1920s and only matriculated through the 6th grade. His tenacity and diligence pushed him to found his own cleaning company in the 1980s. His company supported his wife and 3 children and allowed him to own properties in California and Georgia in his lifetime. My maternal grandfather, Freddie Carter, was a Navy veteran in the Korean War at a time when black men were only allowed to serve in the kitchen of the ships. His perseverance and intuitiveness assisted him in starting his own wig company in the 1950s and supporting his wife and 8 children. Starting and running a nonprofit organization and a limited liability company have not been easy tasks for me, but reflecting on my grandfathers and what they endured without the education, access, or resources that have been afforded to me as an entrepreneur in 2022 keeps me motivated.
So, what about my grandmothers and the influence of black female owned businesses? Although my grandmothers served as tireless business partners to my grandfather’s businesses, they were rarely viewed as vice presidents or chief operating officers by clients but rather avid supporters and silent assistants. I grew up watching my grandmothers receiving money for their unmatched cosmetology and cooking skills but of course not under a corporate umbrella or above the table. So I knew as black women we had the talents and skills to be profitable, I just didn’t know how we were supposed to capitalize off of them within my family. Outside of the family thankfully, just right across the street, was my childcare provider and Pre-K teacher whom we affectionately called Mama Bertha. Mama Bertha ran her own successful childcare company for over 20 years from the den/remade garage in her home and this was not just a room where kids took naps. She had a curriculum that included bible study (I knew all of the books of the bible at 4), Spanish (I’m still not as good at it as I want to be), and dance (I did tap and ballet, might I add). I didn’t have the opportunity to ask her about the inner workings of her business before she passed away, but the evidence of the business acumen she had is proven in all of the college graduates whose formative education began right in her childcare center including six people including myself from my own family.
If I can make any suggestions or encourage you in any way as it relates to Black History, I would recommend these things:
Buy Black. What better way to support black owned businesses than to sow into them?
Learn a local Black History fact and share it with someone you know. Black History is much more than Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Harriet Tubman.
Have a conversation with a seasoned black person (70+) and ask them about their upbringing and experiences. We have to preserve history in order to share it and not repeat it.
“In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.” - Thurgood Marshall