Sublime

than be slaves to market forces (Du Bois 1933b).

for one’s children.” Norton provided no empirical evidence to substantiate her position that certain “ghetto” Blacks were deficient in any of these values.

the case that what we called Du Bois’s theory of racial cooperative economic development,7 combined with Hogan’s theory of Black self-help and the model of Mondragon Cooperative Corporation among the Basque people in northern Spain,

Du Bois argued that cooperatives would provide the economic opportunities denied to African Americans, and would allow Blacks to serve the common good rather

cooperative economic thought was integral to many major African American leaders and thinkers throughout history. These

However, he continues, over the last 50 years the need for people to be “legible” and fit into a standard model of work has merely become “industrially preferable.” This puts government and institutional leaders in a position where they are incentivized to convince people that following rigid paths in their institutions is the correct path for

African American co-op movement. I consider the various organizations’ agendas and strategies over time, as well as the kinds of impact cooperative practices have had on Black communities. There are lessons to be learned from the history of cooperative economic models that can be applied to future discussions about community economic development in

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act