Imagine a whole year where all your purchases were from black owned business. This is the experiment that Maggie Anderson and her family, based in Chicago, decided to do to support Black businesses. Maggie is the author of the book Our Black Year: Our Tale of Buying Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy, and co-founder of the Empowerment Experiment (EE).

Maggie Anderson spoke on February 26, 2011, 1 p.m., at The University of Texas at Austin LBJ Auditorium at an event sponsored by the Austin Black Newcomers Association.

According to Maggie Anderson, EE converted the family’s pledge into a positive awareness campaign about the need for increased entrepreneurship and conscious consumerism in underserved minority communities. The goal is to trigger a smart movement where Americans of all backgrounds will unite to support quality minority businesses and ensure that the American Dream truly applies to all. In EE, the focus on uplifting Black businesses and empowering the Black community, as this community suffers disproportionately economically because it does not engage in self-help economics – like everyone else. Due to this problem, Black businesses do not get the same level of support as other minority-owned businesses.

Taken at the University of Texas at Austin LBJ Library on Feb 26, 2011
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