Every August is National Black Business Month, and it did not appear out of nowhere. It was created in 2004 by John William Templeton, a historian and publisher, and Frederick E. Jordan Sr., an engineer who had lived the problem firsthand: when he went to start his own firm in 1969, he could not get the financing that his peers took for granted. The two built the month to force attention onto the millions of Black-owned businesses in America and the policy and capital gaps they still navigate.
More than twenty years later, the reason it exists has not gone away. There are roughly 200,885 Black-owned employer businesses in the United States generating around $249 billion in annual revenue, and yet they make up only about three percent of all American firms with employees, while Black Americans are close to fourteen percent of the population. That distance, between the share of the people and the share of the ownership, is the entire point of the month, and of this platform.
Here is the part that matters more than any hashtag: how you actually show up. Spend at a Black-owned business this week, and then do it again in September. Leave an honest review, because a review moves a small business more than a repost does. Refer one to a friend. Buy the gift, book the service, order the bottle. And when a business gets something wrong, tell them directly and give them the chance that most large companies never extend to anyone.
“A month is a start. A habit is the point.”
That is what we built the directory for. Every business in it is verified by hand, so you can spend with confidence, in August and every month after. Start with the ones near you, or explore by category, and treat the month as a beginning rather than the whole story.
Editorial note
Edited and fact-checked by Sencera Yvonne against primary sources. We correct errors quickly: spot something wrong or out of date? Tell us. Read our editorial standards.
