From the Underground Railroad network of safe houses, benevolent societies, fraternal orders, shops and churches to a “group economy” of free cities, main streets, cooperative businesses, HBCUs, cemeteries, hospitals etc. Black people have been resisting white supremacist violence by building parallel economies.

Whether free or fugitive, Black people have built intra-communal and geographically connected mutual aid networks that made a way for escape and collective protection from state sanctioned violence. As early as 1780, membership in a social club, fraternal order, or benevolent society guaranteed a route to freedom from enslavement, healthcare, autonomy, support in times of crisis, and organized labor. 

From benevolent societies to libertarian socialist mutual aid frameworks, this resource list asserts that solidarity economics is not a new practice–especially for Black people who’ve been resisting capitalism when their bodies have been the commodity in question.

List published February 2026. To suggest an edit or additional resources for this list, please email info@neweconomy.net.

Study Black Cooperative History

• Collective Courage | Jessica Gordon Nembhard | Book
• Black Co-op History Resource List | New Economy Coalition | Resource List

Dive into Clubs, Secret Societies & Fraternal Orders

• African American Fraternal Associations in American History: An Introduction | Joe W. Trotter | Journal Article
• African Union Society | Michael Barga | Article
• Order of Odd Fellows and Grand United Order of Odd Fellows | Library of Congress | Digitized Archive
• Masonic History | Prince Hall Grand Lodge | Website
• African American mutual aid societies in the National Gazette and Literary Register | National Humanities Center | Digitized Primary Source Document
• A New Negro for a New Century | Booker T Washington | Digitized Book
• Lovecraft Country | Misha Green | T.V. Show
• The African American Fraternal Orders Project | Theda Skocpol and Mary Abigail Peck | Website 
• Organization despite Adversity: The Origins and Development of African American Fraternal Associations | Theda Skocpol, Jennifer Lynn Oser | Journal Article
• Secret Societies and the Fight for Black Freedom | JStor Daily
• The Official History and Manual of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America: A Chronological Treatise… | Charles H. Brooks | Digitized Book

The Impact of Benevolent Societies

• Economic Cooperation Among Negro Americans | WEB DuBois | Digitized Article 
• Mutual Assistance: Building Black Community Life in Freedom | Lois E. Horton
• Early Black Benevolent Societies, 1780-1839 | Robert L. Harris, Jr. | Journal Article
• Bail Funds, Buying Freedom, and History of Abolition | Julia W. Bernier | Article

Matriarchs Who Moved Mutual Aid

• Halena Wilson | Cooperative Hall of Fame | Website
• Marching Together: Women of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters | Melinda Chateauvert | Journal Article
• Francis Mary Albrier | Blackpast.com | Article
• Phillis Wheatley | Poetry Foundation | Blog Post

Narratives From Formerly Enslaved Ancestors

• Barracoon | Zora Neale Hurston
• Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936 to 1938 | Library of Congress
• History Now: The Journal | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Investigate the Nonprofit Industrial Complex

• The revolution will not be funded : beyond the non-profit industrial complex | Incite! Women of Color Against Violence

Mutual Aid for Liberation

• Mutual Aid Legal Toolkit | Sustainable Economies Law Center | Report
• Anarchist Basics | In Our Hearts NYC | Zine
• Survival of the Organized: Critical Reflections on Organizing and Mutual Aid | Black Rose La Rosa Negra (BRRN) | Article
• The Nation On No Map Black Anarchism And Abolition | William C. Anderson | Digitized Book
• Mapping Community Ecosystems of Collective Care | Interrupting Criminalization | Downloadable Guide
• Offers and Needs Market | The Offers and Needs Market | Website
• Practicing Abolition | New Economy Coalition and Sol Underground | Podcast