Photos: YouTube Screenshots
As the U.S. celebrated Labor Day, African Americans can also celebrate reaching nearly 3.5 million Black-owned businesses in the United States. Those are the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau’s “Non-Employer Business Data by Demographic Characteristics of Owners” statistics from earlier this year.
Small African-American businesses earned a combined total of $83.6 billion dollars and represented 12.7% of all businesses in the nation, according to the report.
The Non-Employer Business Data group represents Black businesses run solely by an owner or an owner with a partner — with no paid employees, who earned at least $1,000 or more in a given space of time.
In Philadelphia, African-American-owned businesses are praised, small and large, like WURD Radio, Pound Cake Heaven in Kensington, the Minuteman Press, Sid Booker’s Restaurant in Germantown, Atomic City Comics, Black and Nobel Bookstore, and Print Works, which has a line of social justice/heritage-themed hoodies and T-shirts now sold in nearly 400 Target stores.
Later this month, the African American Chamber of Commerce of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware will honor African-American businesses, non-profits and advocates at its annual meeting and awards ceremony.
