Black History Month ended with a lecture given by one of the country’s foremost experts on black business, Dr. Juliet E.K. Walker, on Wednesday, Feb. 28, in the John B. Coleman Library.
Walker, a history professor, is the founder and director of the Center of Black Business, History, Entrepreneurship, and Technology at the University of Texas at Austin.
Walker is also recognized for her award winning book, “Free Frank: A Black Pioneer on the Antebellum Frontier.”
Walker described “Free Frank” as a dissertation of her great grandfather, Frank, who lived on the frontier. It is significant because his life provided aspiration of entrepreneurship.
This book introduced her long-lived concern for the status of the black business in America. “The position of the black business is at the bottom. As black people we are in pitiful shape,” Walker said during her speech.
Walker discussed various statistics that show that the state of the black business is poor.
According to the census, there are “approximately 1.2 million black owned businesses, and only about 10,700 have receipts of $1 million or more.”
Black businesses are in a slump compared to Asian Americans who have approximately 1.1 million businesses in America and have generated approximately $326 billion.
Walker said that black culture is predominantly sold through music and sports. “Why aren’t we concerned with this tragic economic state of black businesses?” Walker asked.
However, some changes have been made to help further the status of the black business. Walker discussed how affirmative action is one of the reasons blacks can go into entrepreneurship. She said that without affirmative action, few black people would have the opportunity to make money.
Junior Courtney Warren said, “It is sad that there is a serious problem with the progression of black businesses. Walker is definitely helping our people recognize the problem and helping us create a plan to improve our entrepreneur economic status.”
Many students raised the question, “Where do we go from here?” Walker said that in order to make changes we need to be involved in voting.
“America is five percent of the world’s population, but we own 25 percent of the world’s goods and services,” Walker said. Walker then asked, What are we, as Americans going to sacrifice to help those in need?
Junior Terez Tyson said, “Dr. Walker’s speech was very enlightening. It opened my eyes to the reality of how, we, as African Americans, have come far, but still have a long way to go. He was very inspiring and insightful. I walked away from his presentation feeling empowered.