Meer
Thursday, July 23, 2026
It wasn’t just one issue, but a system of legal, economic, and social barriers that made it far harder for Black Americans to start and sustain businesses compared to white Americans
The entrepreneurs built parallel institutions, supported each other financially, and turned exclusion into innovation
The implementation of segregation policies during the Jim Crow era limited Black businesses to their own communities, but it did not restrict their growth
Black entrepreneurship survived and grew not because the system supported it, but because communities adapted to work around the system
During the Great Migration, millions of Black Americans moved to Northern and Western cities. This opened new markets and opportunities

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