Buffalo Cooperative Economic Society Papers
The Buffalo Cooperative Economic Society (BCES):
A Short History
In Buffalo, New York, the most dedicated advocate of black self-help and economic cooperation, during the depression and post-depression years, was Dr. Ezekiel E. Nelson--a local black
physician. For more than three decades (the 1930's - 1950's) Dr. Nelson worked with an almost fanatical zeal to convince black Buffalonians that cooperative economics and racial solidarity would enable the race to escape from poverty and economic oppression. He preached that by working together, pooling their resources, and supporting their cooperative enterprises, blacks could build powerful economic institutions that would enable them to produce many of those goods and services that were needed and desired by the community. He believed that such enterprises would provide employment and income which would enhance the ability of the community to improve its standard of living. The profits from such ventures were to be reinvested in the community in programs such as the BCES, thus promoting further development and improvement. Such was his dream.
Monroe Fordham
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Buffalo State College
The Monroe Fordham Regional History Centre currently holds the records of the BCES from 1928-1961. The full text of Dr. Fordham's history of the BCES, and an index to the microfilmed records housed at the archives can be downloaded here.
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