By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Black Wall Street was a wealthy and prosperous Black business district in Tulsa, Okla., in the early 1900s.
A White mob carried out the Tulsa race massacre of 1921, burning over 1,400 homes and businesses and leaving about 10,000 people homeless. The district eventually recovered but declined once again in the late 1950s after desegregation.
Since then, there have been several efforts by Black Americans across the U.S. to revive the spirit of Black Wall Street through cooperative economics, community investment and modern technologies.
According to Inequality.org, White families hold 84 percent of the nation’s wealth, though they represent 64 percent of U.S. households. Black families hold just 3.4 percent of the wealth while making up 11.4 percent of households.
“The spirit of Black Wall Street was about interconnected Black prosperity,” said Taneshia Nash Laird, executive director of Project REAP (Real Estate Associate Program), which helps provide access to jobs in commercial real estate. “I believe Black Wall Street today is not only about rebuilding physical districts, but also building networks of ownership, partnership and deal flow.”
Laird said a well-networked Black Wall Street is built on trust, access and alignment.
“It’s about private spaces where Black professionals can exchange opportunities, build wealth together and move with intention across industries and geographies,” she said.
“At Project REAP we’ve graduated more than 2,000 alumni since our founding nearly 30 years ago, the majority of whom are of African descent,” Laird added. “This is the multiplier effect of networked Black Wall Street—one graduate’s success creates thousands of housing opportunities, hundreds of jobs and cascading economic impact.”
She also pointed toward historically Black colleges and universities’ alumni networks as examples.
“I’ve watched a Hampton University graduate leverage his alumni connections to grow a private equity fund, with fellow graduates serving as limited partners, deal sources and strategic advisors,” she said. “These networks understand that success is collective, not individual.”
Recognizing the historic patterns of opposition to Black Americans building collective wealth, Laird emphasized the need to protect the spirit of the modern Black Wall Street.
“We protect Black Wall Street by making it visible, connected and deeply rooted economically, legally and culturally,” she said. “That means building with infrastructure in mind, including legal protections, political advocacy, narrative power and long-term capital strategies. We also protect ourselves by diversifying and ensuring our wealth isn’t concentrated in any single industry or geography that could be easily targeted.”
John E. Harmon Sr., founder, president and CEO of the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, said it is important that Black Americans stay rooted in history.
“Let it fuel your innovativeness, your creativity and your will to win,” Harmon said. “I think that is what is going to help us survive this current time.”
Harmon addressed how some communities and organizations are utilizing the technology of today to build up the new Black Wall Street.
“Black Wall Street thrived on access, ownership and community, and today’s tech hubs carry that legacy forward by helping Black businesses scale in both traditional industries and emerging fields like AI and fintech,” said Harmon. “At the AACCNJ, we’ve built business infrastructure and programs like our coding initiative to ensure our companies can compete and thrive.”
Harmon shared how two AACCNJ members lead the Tech Titans Emerging Technologies Camp in Irvington, N.J., helping to prepare the next generation of Black innovators and wealth-builders.
Looking forward, Laird envisions Black Wall Street as a living ecosystem.
“Physically, it includes thriving business corridors in historically Black neighborhoods,” she said. “I see places preserved and reimagined by efforts like the Historic African American Neighborhood District Summit and funded by the National Trust for Historic Places’ African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.”
She also sees it extending digitally.
“We won’t just be building wealth, we’ll be circulating it,” Laird said. “We won’t just be returning to Tulsa, Okla., we’ll be building its legacy into every region, every industry and every generation.”