Our Black Year in America's Racially Divided Economy
Maggie Anderson
Thursday, 08 Nov 2012 at 8:00 pm – Sun Room, Memorial Union
Maggie Anderson is the author of Our Black Year: One Family's Quest To Buy Black in America's Racially Divided Economy, the story of her Chicago family's experiment in conscious consumerism. The experience led her to found of The Empowerment Experiment Foundation, and she has become the leader of a self-help economics movement that supports quality black businesses and urges consumers, especially other middle and upper class African Americans, to proactively and publicly support them. She received her BA from Emory University and her JD and MBA from the University of Chicago. She lives in Oak Park, Illinois, with her husband, John, and their two daughters. She will discuss her "Empowerment Experiment," and look at some of the challenges African American entrepreneurs face. Part of the National Affairs Series.In 2009 Maggie Anderson and her family pledged that they would patronize black-owned companies whenever possible, so she scoured the Chicago area for black-owned supermarkets, dry cleaners, gas stations, pharmacies, and clothing stores. In the process, she discovered that black businesses lag behind businesses of all other racial and ethnic groups in every measure of success. In the Asian community, a dollar circulates amonglocal shop owners, banks, and business professionals for up to 28 days. In the Jewish community, a dollar circulates for 19 days. In the African-American community, a dollar is gone within six hours.
She has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and CBS Morning News, among many other national television and radio shows.
Cosponsored By:
- Black Graduate Student Association
- National Affairs
- Committee on Lectures (funded by Student Government)
Stay for the entire event, including the brief question-and-answer session that follows the formal presentation. Most events run 75 minutes.
Sign-ins are after the event concludes. For lectures in the Memorial Union, go to the information desk in the Main Lounge. In other academic buildings, look for signage outside the auditorium.
Lecture Etiquette
- Stay for the entire lecture and the brief audience Q&A. If a student needs to leave early, he or she should sit near the back and exit discreetly.
- Do not bring food or uncovered drinks into the lecture.
- Check with Lectures staff before taking photographs or recording any portion of the event. There are often restrictions. Cell phones, tablets and laptops may be used to take notes or for class assignments.
- Keep questions or comments brief and concise to allow as many as possible.