Lessons from the All-Black Townships

A force we’ve ignored

We can learn so much from history and how entire communities that share an affinity can come together and drive their own change.?The all-Black townships after slavery provide some of the best lessons.?But change scaled so quickly that the dominant White society?destroyed them.?Below is a draft excerpt from my next book about Peer-driven change.?

- Fort Mose, Florida -

In the 18th?century hundreds of thousands of Africans were enslaved and brought to the Carolinas as the labor used to build the economies in what would become the southern United States. Some escaped and headed south into Spanish controlled Florida.?Sometime in the 1730s, 38 fugitive slaves settled in Florida in an area just north of the city of St. Augustine.?The United States had not yet been formed and in 1738 the Spanish Governor there formally recognized this settlement that became known as?Fort Mose?(pronounced “MOH-say”).?By 1763, when in the Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded Florida to the British, the black population in and around Mose was about 3,000, mostly escaped slaves.?Still hunted and shunned by others, these former slaves turned to one another to form a community, a safe haven, from which they could rebuild their lives.?Without any professionals and programs to help them, in just a short time, the people there established their own full micro-economy; trading and selling within their community as well as through alliances with both the Spanish and local Indians.?Social change was self-made and scaling quickly.

?Word of this all-Black settlement reached the Southern Colonies and attracted more escaped slaves. While much more is written about the ‘underground railroad’ to the northern states, free slaves and their Indian allies also helped other escaping slaves to flee south to Florida or west towards New Orleans.?While plantation owners and the majority white society tried to suppress any talk of successful Black settlements, word of mouth, peer to peer depictions of success, were shared and these role models were extremely powerful in spreading the idea of living in a supportive all-Black community.?And even before emancipation all-Black towns and districts began to sprout up, even on the west coast.?The change wasn’t because of a hero or a program, it was because some ordinary folks found a way to start a barbershop or teach piano or whatever they were intuitively good at.?That positive deviation of success by someone who faced similar?challenges served to prove?that change could be brought about by everyday people.??Positive role models?that you can personally relate to are much more powerful than singular leaders or programs preaching change.?

?If we look deeply at a multitude of these towns you see that they very quickly developed their own economy as those previously enslaved people started a variety of businesses, purchased goods and services from each other and traded with others outside of their community.?A merchant class as well as a service class of teachers, lawyers, etc. was emerging as residents inspired, trained, and helped one another.

?Change was widespread and happened quickly through a process referred to as?“Diffusion of Innovation”.?It is one of the oldest studied processes by which change scales quickly and naturally.?The impact of these collective efforts was a significant change in the financial and social status of most of the town’s residents.?Though separate from the white mainstream economy, the change in social standing did not escape the view of white society, some of whom became threatened or jealous of the self-made progress in the Black community.?As a consequence, these communities were attacked, with many of them literally burned down and its residents killed.

“We were all humans until race disconnected us, religion separated us, politics divided us, and wealth classified us.” ― Anonymous

It was surprising to mainstream society that Blacks could advance so quickly or that they could advance at all.?The stereotype was that as a racial group, Blacks were inferior, less capable than Whites.?The vast majority of those enslaved were also kept uneducated so it was also surprising that they could start and succeed in developing their own colleges, let alone become doctors and bankers. Yet, towns with businesses, colleges, churches, etc. continued to sprout up after Fort Mose.

?History primarily captures the stories of and gives credit to leaders -- individuals, or professionals and what they invent -- rather than recognizing the ingenuity within everyday people of any population group or race.?Blacks that succeed are still viewed by many as exceptions leaving intact the negative stereotypes about capability of the rest of their population group.?Western culture celebrates individualism giving credit to individual leaders deemed acceptable to the White community, or the wealthy.?And so the success of everyday people in those towns has never been credited to Blacks as a race.?Lost in our history is the notion that Blacks have the same capabilities as Whites, and so racial stereotypes continue over generations.?

?The collective efforts of the 38 fugitive slaves that formed Fort Mose and the thousands who followed them that started businesses continue to go unrecognized.?What is lacking is the recognition that everyday people working together in a safe community, that people working in concert, those of any race can be a huge power for social change.?History rarely captures acts of mutuality by the more ordinary or everyday resident.?

? - Boley, Oklahoma -

In the late 1880s two real estate developers had an argument about the capability of newly freed slaves.?Mr. Boley was curious about the all-Black towns forming so his friend Mr. Moore challenged him.??“You want to make a bet??The colored can’t possibly build a town on their own.”?was the challenge.?To test the wager these two White businessmen pooled their money and bought a piece of land in the Creek Nation territory in Oklahoma.?They divided the land into small parcels and put them up for sale to newly freed slaves.?To their surprise former slaves combined their savings and quickly purchased the parcels which formed the town of?Boley, Oklahoma, that was formally incorporated in 1905.

?Located by a railroad stop, Boley became one of the wealthiest of the hundreds of all-Black towns that sprang up after the Civil War.?By 1911 it had over 4,000 residents, boasting dozens of Black owned stores and businesses, including two banks, three cotton gins, schools, libraries, churches, two colleges, and its own electric company.?All Black owned and run.?

?The better-known example of similar Black led efforts was the Greenwood district in Tulsa Oklahoma. The catalyst for that new town was also the sale of land parcels but by a Black entrepreneur, O.W. Gurley.?This formed the safe haven needed by the growing black population, until it became too prosperous.?

?Like Boley, it also developed its own economy.?By 1921 Greenwood came to be known as the “Black Wall Street” and had over 10,000 residents.?Excluded from Tulsa’s mainstream economy, the residents of Greenwood worked together to build their own economy to serve that growing population.?This was not catalyzed by government or philanthropic programs, but instead people followed the positive examples set by the residents of Fort Mose and other Black led efforts before them.?Having peer role models was the key, a concept known as?“positive deviance”.??Greenwood housed dozens of businesses which, before being burned down by White mobs, included a dozen churches, five hotels, 31 restaurants, four drug stores, eight doctor’s offices, more than two dozen grocery stores and a Black public library. Interspersed were barbershops, repair shops, bars and boardinghouses.?

The growth of Greenwood or Boley was not part of a strategic plan by government or philanthropy, yet because of diffusion of innovation theory, it scaled and grew naturally as the local residents found opportunity niches and ways to continue expanding their efforts and the district.?Those living there were the only ones who knew where additional land could be bought or if another barbershop was needed.?There was no government economic development plan.?The success was dictated by everyday residents pushing the envelope and innovating on how to improve their lives despite a hostile surrounding White community.?Those residents were the real “proximate leaders” needed for social change. They, not outsiders, were the social innovators.?These ordinary residents were the only experts of the real paths forward that could be forged.?Each small success role modeled potential and inspired others.?The path towards improving your life and the community scaled naturally, by word of mouth, by pooling skills and resources, peer to peer.??

Today’s dominant societies honor and give credit to the exceptional even if their success was based on the ideas, work, and perseverance of everyday people working together.?The Master always gets the credit.?The consequence for the Black community is that Fort Mose and other successful group efforts are overlooked.?And if those efforts continue to be invisible then those acts of mutuality, of movements of people working together, are not even considered as a force for social change.?That is the challenge we take up here. We propose that change can come about by encouraging mutuality rather than individuality.

The case that this?book will be making is that our society discourages people from working together.?Sadly, the well-intentioned have convinced generation upon generation of the low-income that they should wait for the new program, or handout.?It is the legacy of colonialism.?We don’t seem to realize or recognize that everyday people, in order to survive, are already doing the impossible and that we should meet them where they are.?What is a barrier is the Western cultural bias towards individualism and professionalization.?

It isn't that people can bootstrap it out of poverty.?In looking at Fort Mose you begin to see that people that are oppressed first of all need each other.?And once they start to take the initiative, then they need access to the resources that the well-intentioned control.?But it starts with the support you get from your community.?Working as a community is when ordinary people become powerful.?And when they decide what to do and work together, it leads to the greatest change, whether Black, Asian, Jewish, Amish or other.?

In my work with residents, anyone wanting to enroll in one of our sites first has to recruit five to ten friends that would enroll with them.?Somehow they always find others.?That self-organized group provides the emotional support needed to fight poverty as well as gives you a network to share ideas and trusted support of your efforts.?Networks are key and so secondly we facilitated the networking of all enrolled self-organized groups so that they get new ideas and find additional role models.??Technology?allows us to connect the families, not only regionally, but also those in Liberia with those in the Philippines, etc.

Role models?are one of the strongest forces for change.?We are all aware that who our children come in contact with can shape their future.?A?positive role model?can form a new path for those stuck, especially if the role model is someone like you.?Often the role model does not look at themselves as a leader, but for others, just seeing someone like themselves improve their life, inspires and sets new paths to emulate.?My mother looked for those role models.?"If they can do it, we can do it too!” is what I heard growing up in Mexico and in the US.?It is both the inspiration and that fear of missing out (FOMO) quality in humans that catalyzes change.?This is Peer-driven Change.

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