Throughout history, women of color have been at the forefront of the cooperative movement, using collective economic power to uplift their communities. From mutual aid societies to worker-owned enterprises, these women have fostered economic self-sufficiency, social equity, and community resilience.
In the early 20th century, African American women like Ella Jo Baker played a crucial role in building cooperatives that provided financial independence for Black communities during the Jim Crow era. Baker worked with the Young Negroes’ Cooperative League, helping Black people form co-ops as a means of economic empowerment. Similarly, the Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom Farm Cooperative in the 1960s and 70s exemplified how cooperative principles could combat systemic poverty and food insecurity in the rural South.
Latina women, Indigenous women, and other women of color have also played instrumental roles in shaping cooperative economies. In the Southwest, the Mujeres Unidas y Activas cooperative helped immigrant women gain financial independence through worker-owned enterprises. Indigenous women’s cooperatives continue to thrive in regions across the Americas, preserving ancestral knowledge while creating sustainable livelihoods.
Today, the legacy of these pioneering women lives on in a new generation of women of color leading cooperative initiatives. By continuing to build equitable economies rooted in shared ownership, they honor the past while forging a more just and sustainable future.
The contributions of these women remind us that cooperation is not just an economic model—it is a powerful tool for social change.