Welcome to the Tweed Trends podcast. Hey, Evette, what's trending today? Hey, I'm Evette. Hey, girl.
And you are tuned in to Tweed Trends. It's the quickest way to find out what's trending today. Hello, and welcome back to Tweed Trends. Today, we are celebrating the fact that August is a Black Business Month.
Let's get started. Black Business Month is celebrated in August, and it's a time to acknowledge and appreciate Black-owned businesses wherever you are in the country. When we celebrate the contribution of Black Business owners and entrepreneurs, it pays homage to them and their legacies. Now, let me say this.
I do recall a time when people didn't want to support Black businesses, and I'm not talking about non-Black people. I mean, just people in general, Black people especially, didn't want to go to Black businesses, because for some reason there was this belief that you would not get the same quality items or service that you would from any other store. And honestly, back then, I didn't think that it was true. And even now, I definitely know that it's not true.
One, because there are so many Black-owned businesses out there now, that if you do run across a onesie-twosy type situation where you go to a company or a business and they provide poor service or poor product, you can go around the corner and find somebody that's going to provide you the service that you need and the way that you need it. So having said all of that, this is the time. If you don't support Black businesses, now is the time for you to get out. Go do your research to your homework.
If there's something you're going to buy already, why not buy Black? The history of Black Business Month can be traced back to 2004 when Frederick E. Jordan and John William Templeton came together and created this annual event. Now, the reason behind it is that they wanted to drive the policy affecting 2.6 million African-American businesses out there.
They wanted to highlight and empower Black business owners all over, especially given the unique challenges faced by minority business owners, namely financial backing and funding. Now, their whole goal was to push for equity in the business spaces and to celebrate those who are thriving despite those challenges. So Black Business Month was created and it's a month-long celebration of entrepreneurs who beat the odds. Now, speaking of beating the odds, did you know that since the late 1700s, you heard me 1700s, both free and enslaved Black people began to open their own small businesses?
Now, they had all sorts of businesses, like barbershops, tobacco shops, shoe-making, you name it, we had it. Now, the establishment of Black-owned businesses, they began to grow and this led to the period between 1900 and 1930 being labeled as the Golden Age of Black-owned Business. Now, because of segregation, Black people had to come together and do their business amongst each other, amongst themselves. So, because of this, you started to see pockets of entire districts becoming Black-owned and just growing and blossoming.
And from that, you got things like Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I know what you're saying right now. Oh, this sounds great. This is lovely.
I want to participate. How can I observe Black Business Month? How can me, I, one singular person, make a difference? And I got an answer for you.
It's simple. Support of Black Business. Is that easy? And I know what you're saying, though.
I hear you. You're saying, but how am I supposed to know if a business is Black-owned or not? Because I don't see the face of the owner on the business. And that's true.
A lot of times you're not going to see the face of the owner. However, we got this thing called the Internet, right? And you can do searches on the Internet. And by doing these searches, you can find businesses that are local or worldwide that are Black-owned.
It's that simple. But you know what? I'm not going to leave you to your own devices. I'm going to do you one better.
I'm going to help you do that search. I found a location that has Black-owned small business directories. So, it's not just, let me tell you of a store. Let me tell you of a directory that you can then go to to find multiple stores.
Multiple Black-owned small businesses. Yes. Yes. It's that simple.
So, here we go. I'm going to go through a list of some of them. The first one that I'm going to mention is Black Business Green Book. The next one is Black Directory.
And all you have to do is search these things. Simple, right? Okay. Next one.
BlackownedAssociation.com. B-O-A, not Bank of America. BlackownedAssociation.com. We have Black Woman Owned.
Now, we know that women in business, that's a big deal, right? Because especially Black women, we are low men on the totem pole. So, whenever you can help a Black business that happens to be owned by a woman, you're doing double duty. You hear me?
So, that one is Black Woman Owned. Then there's By Black, B-Y Black. Another one is Eat Ochra. Eat Ochra.
And if you don't know how to spell, Ochra is okay, are a Eat Ochra. That's a directory of Black-owned restaurants. Another one is I Am Black Business. There's Official Black Wall Street.
Another one is the Nile List. The River Nile. The Nile List. Another is Shop Black Owned.
Support Black Owned. We By Black. And that one is B-U-Y. We By Black.
And I'm sure there's plenty more out there. I believe there's even an app that gives, that has a directory. I don't know the name of that one off the top of my head. But it all it takes is a search.
It's that simple. So, there you have it. That's everything you could possibly need to start your journey to buying Black. Thank you for listening to today's episode.
Black Business Month ensures that Black-owned businesses get the recognition and patronage they so richly deserve. Especially if any of them are struggling to stay afloat. So, to celebrate Black-owned businesses is to empower more people from the African-American communities to dream big and begin their own entrepreneurial journey. So, that's a shout out to you as well.
If you are a Black person and have had thoughts, dreams, aspirations of owning your own business, you know what? Maybe August is the perfect month to kick off your new business. And maybe you can't get it done this month. But let this be the start of your planning period and be ready to launch it by next August.
I think that would be a great way also to celebrate Black Business Month. In the meanwhile, you know where to find me, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube at HeVevs at H-E-V-E-T-T-E. Or just look for the hashtag tweet trends. And who knows?
I might be coming out with a business sometime soon as well. Keep an eye out.