The Atlanta region has long been recognized nationally for its progressive and open-minded business community. Not only was the City Too Busy to Hate the focal point of the American struggle for civil rights, social justice and equal protection under the law, but the nation’s ongoing pursuit of economic equity for minority business has also been headquartered here. As we commemorate Black History Month throughout February, we take time to recognize the many accomplishments of the City’s leaders, pastors, CEOs and institutions who popularized ‘The Atlanta Way’ by working through challenges great and small to collaborate on projects and passions of mutual benefit. Although his speeches, protests, marches and showdowns with law enforcement made the foundation of his legacy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quietly built a groundbreaking coalition of local business owners, corporate CEOs and elected officials unlike anything the world had ever witnessed. It is the economic unity of that collaborative that quietly enabled, empowered and funded the Civil Rights movement that made the headlines.
The Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council was founded in 1975 by a coalition of five Georgia corporations – AT&T, The Coca-Cola Company, Cox Communications, Delta Air Lines, Georgia Power, and MeadWestvaco (now WestRock) – who saw value in diversifying their supply chains to offer opportunity to historically disadvantaged communities. In those early days, the focus was solely on doing business with black-owned firms, by far the dominant minority community in the region at the time. Legendary Atlanta Mayor Maynard H. Jackson is credited with being the architect of municipal supplier diversity in the 1970s when he implemented the City’s Equal Business Opportunity (EBO) program, still the blueprint for cities all over the nation looking to implement inclusive supply chain practices. Over the five decades since, the definition of supplier diversity has expanded to incorporate many other categories of people who had been traditionally excluded from equitable access to opportunity, but black business was where it all began.
Why is that important? The simple truth is that all social and civil advances will only produce real fruit if they are backstopped by legitimate economic policy. Black History Month commemorates the inventions, artistic gifts, political achievements and business leadership of African Americans, but the quiet reality is that none of that progress takes root or produces fruit without an economic underpinning. Herman J. Russell, the iconic founder of HJ Russell and Company and a legendary certified Minority Business Enterprise, met regularly with Dr. King, his team, the Paschal brothers (founders of the iconic West End restaurant), attorneys and elected officials to plot strategy for the movement and ensure that the necessary funding was in place to support travel, lodging, meals, security, legal fees, administrative support and even bail money, if needed, out in the field. This little-known but mission-critical collaboration with business ultimately fueled that movement and all ensuing advances in pursuit of equity. So, any celebration of black history must include a nod to black business, the engine of the movement.
Today, 2.7% of US businesses are black-owned, up 12% from the year before but still disproportionately below the 12% of US population Black Americans represent. The Atlanta metropolitan area now boasts the highest rate of black-owned businesses in the nation at 8.8%. 28% of black-owned businesses are in the health care and social assistance industry, with professional services next at 14%. The state of Georgia, ranked as the Number 1 state for business for many years now, still has work to do in closing a major disparity gap for black owned businesses, who earn 2.1% of revenues in the state despite owning 5.1% of Georgia businesses and representing 33% of the state’s population. There are more than a 300,000 black-owned businesses in Georgia, nearly 10% of the nation’s black owned firms. The jobs they create and the billions of dollars in economic impact they represent are the long-term fruit of Black History. As we recognize greatness and commemorate courage through our celebration of Black History Month, let us also give honor to the courage, creativity and community-minded work of the black business community. Where would we be without them?
