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You start with those who make up the majority of those living in poor communities— women—and respond to their self-defined problems. The major problem for poor women is control of income, that is, gaining access to income in ways that give women ultimate freedom in how it gets used. —johnson (1997, 3) Addressing the status of women in cooperatives does not result in just identifying a set of “women’s issues,” but rather, ways of thinking about a range of issues vital to cooperatives and their placement in the economy and the community. In other words, thinking about equity for women in democratic and management structures is one of a number of “ways in” to thinking about the relevance and effectiveness of cooperatives in general. It is also a way to begin considering barriers that affect all underrepresented groups. —hammond ketilson (1998, 33) “Women are members and men are full-time directors” (Japanese Consumers ’ Co-operative Union 1999, 192). This belief has been the norm in the cooperative movement throughout the world. Many observers have noted that women belong to, use, and participate in cooperative enterprises for their own and their families’ benefit, but tend not to be in control. The United Nations, the International Labour Organisation, and the International Cooperative Alliance, among others, all address this issue in research and in conferences on women’s roles in cooperatives in industrialized countries as well as underdeveloped countries (see, for example, ICA 1993; ILO-ICA 1995; ICA Women’s Committee 1983; Centre for the Study of Co-operatives 1998). Topics addressed have ranged from the relationship between women’s roles in the economy and society in general and in cooperatives, women’s occupational status and economic insecurity and cooperative economic development, as well as women’s access to capital (or lack thereof), women’s management capacity, and women’s leadership in cooperatives. My research on African American–owned cooperatives finds that Black women have been an integral part of the Black cooperative movement— 7 continuing the legacy Nannie Helen Burroughs, Halena Wilson, and the Role of Black Women continuing the legacy 149 playing roles similar to those they have played in the Black church, mutualaid societies, and the civil rights movement. They have often been the ones organizing and managing in the background, doing much of the scut work, without the glory or formal recognition bestowed by a title or a paid or board position. At the same time, African American women in some cases were not just members but also the founders, managers, and directors of cooperative enterprises and cooperative activity in the United States. Early mutual-aid associations and collective activity in African American communities were arranged and strengthened by women’s work (Jones 1985). Women like Maggie Lena Walker, Ella Jo Baker, and Fannie Lou Hamer founded, organized, and directed important economic projects and businesses along with men— sometimes playing a prominent role as president or executive director, and often doing whatever needed to be done to make the project or business work. Halena Wilson, the president of the International Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and education director of the Consumers ’ Cooperative Buying Club in Chicago, heavily promoted the study and practice of consumer cooperation in all the auxiliaries and in the Black trade union movement (as well as the broader U.S. trade union movement) from the 1930s to the 1950s. Others, like Nannie Helen Burroughs, Estelle Witherspoon, Rebecca Johnson, Linda Leaks, and Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo, developed enterprises owned and managed by Black women for women’s betterment (see table 7.1). In this chapter, I investigate Black women’s cooperative accomplishments in more detail, focusing on the projects of the Ladies’ Auxiliary to the BSCP, Cooperative Industries of Washington, D.C., Freedom Quilting Bee, and Freedom Farm. Many Black women have participated in cooperatives and co-op development as members and supporters. We have already seen examples of their activity, such as the Independent Order of Saint Luke and the Saint Luke Penny Savings Bank (see chapter 1), and the Women’s Guild of what was to become the Consumers’ Cooperative Trading Company in Gary, Indiana (chapters 4 and 6). The Women’s Guild was responsible for reinvigorating the co-op movement in Gary, and helped to increase membership in the Consumers’ Cooperative Trading Company. The Women’s Guild was formed by many of the women who attended the first evening class on cooperative economics and...

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