For its second annual Convening, the Arkansas Black Philanthropy Collaborative (ABPC) brought over 50 professionals, nonprofit leaders and business executives to the Marriott Hotel in downtown Little Rock on Tuesday, Nov. 29. In the Conway conference room, a tiered semicircle reminiscent of a college lecture hall, a mashup of hits such as “This Is How We Do It,” “I Want You Back,” “Return of the Mack” and “Family Affair” greeted the mingling guests.
After a spirited introduction by Derek Lewis II, the chair of ABPC, who invited the audience to “laugh, sing and cry” throughout the day, the first panel, “Faces of Black Women in Philanthropy,” kicked off. Facilitated by Dr. Cherisse Jones-Branch, dean of the graduate school and professor of history at Arkansas State University, the panel included Danyelle Musselman, Beverly Morrow, and Doris Washington. Jones-Branch began by reminding us that the concept of Black women in philanthropy is not “new or unusual,” especially if we widen our understanding of what it means to give.
When asked about the importance of ushering Black women into more official positions of power, Musselman, the First Lady of Arkansas Razorbacks men’s basketball and an accomplished philanthropist in her own right, gave a specific and compelling example: “Black people are dying of cancer at higher rates. If there aren’t people of color in board positions, then that won’t change.” Morrow, who in 2021 became the first Black chair of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Board of Directors, said that despite the honor of achieving something so momentous, she’s more concerned about “not being the last” Black person in that role.
As the conversation turned to capitalizing on the momentum of national awareness since the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, Morrow was frank and suggested strong self-advocacy: “The flavor of the month is DEI [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion]…It’s okay to say this is for Black people, or Black women, or the Black community.”
Another panel, “Building Black Wealth Through Philanthropy,” featured a conversation about ensuring Black people have access to credit and capital. “People of color often feel uncomfortable in the banking space,” Kimberly Lee said. To combat this, Hope Credit Union, where Lee is the financial inclusion officer, partners with HBCUs like Philander Smith College to provide financial literacy for students before they try to buy their first home or start a business.
Arlo Washington, the president and CEO of People Trust Community Loan Fund, spoke about his attempts to fight predatory lending and credit deserts in Arkansas. He has worked to make bank accounts more accessible and enticing to Black people, especially in light of how challenging it was for unbanked small business owners to receive PPP loans during the heart of the pandemic.
The other two panels, “Looking Forward to the Future in Philanthropy” and “Corporate Connectivity Through Philanthropy,” turned over the stage to Pansy Johnson, Christopher Bell-Davis, Dr. Sharon Lanier and Kim Davis.
Over lunch, Dr. Tyrone McKinley Freeman gave an exceptional keynote speech, which simultaneously looked far into the past as well as cast an inspiring light toward the kind of future that might be possible for Black financial organizers. Freeman, a professor at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, is the author of “Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy during Jim Crow.” He spoke with an uncommon confidence and contagiousness, as if trained to drum up the support of a congregation.
While studying philanthropy, the subject in which he earned his doctorate, Freeman was disheartened by the absence of Black representation, or, rather, the wrongful narrative that Black people are only recipients of humanitarian efforts, not givers. This chafed with his lived experience. The profound generosity of his family and community led him to the writings of W.E.B. Dubois, James Baldwin and Gertude Bustill Mossell, figures who recognized that Black philanthropy was a dogged institution scattered throughout the home, church and organizations both formal and informal. In his words, the Black experience of giving is defined by “the search for hospitality in a land of hostility.”
Freeman’s most significant discovery was Madam C.J. Walker, an essential Black philanthropist from the early 20th century whose work was previously lost to history. Though she eventually became America’s first self-made woman millionaire, Walker’s benevolence started long before she was wealthy. She was quoted as saying, “I am unlike your white friends who have waited until they were rich and then help, but in proportion to my success I have reached out and am helping others.”
Among many other worthy causes, Walker donated money to early anti-lynching funds by the NAACP, a campaign that didn’t reach codified fruition until President Biden signed legislation in March of 2022. Freeman’s refrain, that we put “the love back in philanthropy,” encouraged his listeners to follow in the radical footsteps of their foremothers.
After Freeman stepped off stage, Quantia “Key” Fletcher, director of Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, announced a new exhibit entitled “The Soul of Philanthropy,” coming in 2024. Hopefully this will guarantee that no more Black philanthropists are forgotten by time.