UNITED BLACK ECONOMIES CAMPAIGN
United Black Economies was a collaborative fundraising campaign between Boston Ujima Project, The Black Farmer Fund, and Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative (BCDI) in 2022. BCDI's marketing for fundraising included original artwork for nationally-sourced, union-made, Bronx-printed merchandise. The use of a panther silhouette and Old English font were inspired by a combination of the Black Panther party and early Hip-Hop fashion lettering. The pairing served as references to two vanguards of black self-determination and self-sufficiency.
BCDI’s United Black Economies activation included an in-person panel discussion with Bronx cooperative leaders.
These slides introduced the event by helping the host/moderator reference three historical examples of united black economies 1) The bus boycotts of Montgomery, Alabama 2) The farm cooperatives of Sunflower County, Mississippi 3) The Black Panther food programs of Oakland, California. Like Hip-Hop, which pens an infinite language of nuance by repurposing older elements of the style, it was important to visually call in these histories and play their legacies of wisdom alongside today’s conversations and challenges.