Tune into WOL 1450 AM, 95.9 FM or the WOL Livestream on Thursday, February 26 at 10:30 a.m. EST for Everything Co-op, hosted by Vernon Oakes.
As Everything Co-op closes out Black History Month, this week’s episode turns to a story often left out of the spotlight—the history of Black cooperation. In this compelling conversation, Vernon and Jessica 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 a 2016 inductee to the Cooperative Hall of Fame, Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Ph.D., is Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Department of Africana Studies at John Jay College, CUNY. She is a political economist specializing in cooperative economics, community economic development, racial wealth inequality and Black Political Economy. She is a member of NCBA CLUSA’s Cooperative Economics Council; the International Cooperative Alliance’s Committee on Co-operative Research; an affiliate scholar with the Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, University of Saskatchewan; and past board member of the Association of Cooperative Educators.