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Friend,

A trail-blazing investigative journalist who exposed the economic underpinnings of widespread lynchings in the South. An Amazon warehouse worker who organized the first Amazon labor union. A community organizer who stepped up to demand justice after the Flint water crisis, both for people in Flint and around the world.

Happy Black History Month!

Celebrating Black history means honoring the legacy of Black activists and community leaders who have been action-takers, community builders, and corporate challengers — from the past to the present. This month, we’re lifting up historical and contemporary Black activists who have taken on powerful national corporations.

Black activists have long been on the front lines of challenging corporate abuse. It’s no coincidence: the impacts of an economic system built on racial inequity have always hit Black folks hardest. So this Black History Month, we want to encourage you to recognize and celebrate these five Black activists who are showing us all how to fight back and win.

     • Ida B. Wells was already a groundbreaking investigative journalist when her friend, a local grocery store owner, was lynched in 1892. Her reporting exposed the gap between the official story of the lynching and the real reasons behind the rash of racial violence — that a white grocer felt threatened by competition from the Black grocery store. Wells went undercover to investigate lynchings across the South, and published the first article exposing the economic roots of the widespread campaign of violence and terror.

      • Rallying to topple Nigeria’s dictatorship. Becoming Big Tobacco’s top target in Nigeria. Earning a profile in The New York Times for his activism. You’d think Akinbode Oluwafemi (Bode to his friends) might slow down after decades of victories, but just a few years ago, Bode founded and now leads Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa. The organization advances human rights, promotes public health, challenges the entrenched abuse of nature and the environment, and builds community power across Africa.

      • When toxic water started flowing from Nayyirah Shariff’s kitchen tap, they didn’t wait for clean water — they organized to demand it. Nayyirah is one of the founders of Flint Rising, an organization demanding justice and providing mutual aid for the people of Flint. And nearly 12 years after the beginning of the water crisis, Nayyiah is still directly challenging corporations like Veolia for its involvement with Flint’s water system, and organizing to support other water justice activists across the U.S. and around the world.

      • When Chris Smalls started working at an Amazon warehouse, he was excited about his new job. But when a coworker was forced to come in while sick with COVID, Smalls organized a walkout and demanded safer working conditions. He was fired from his job at the warehouse, but he kept fighting. He founded the Amazon Labor Union, and thanks in part to his organizing, in 2022, workers at Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse voted to form the first union at Amazon.

      • Margie Eugene-Richard’s childhood home was just 25 feet from the fence of a Shell Chemical plant, and just blocks away from an oil refinery. The historically black neighborhood in Norco, Louisiana, in the heart of Cancer Ally, faced high rates of cancer, birth defects, and other serious illnesses, as well as toxic emissions and deadly industrial accidents. In the late 80s, Margie founded Concerned Citizens of Norco, successfully forcing Shell to pay to resettle residents of the neighborhood she grew up in, and to make an agreement to reduce emissions at its plants. She went on to help other communities across the U.S. facing environmental racism.

These are just five of the everyday activists who’ve risen to challenge corporate power. They inspire me to fight for racial justice and a world free of corporate abuse hand in hand. I hope they inspire you, too.

At Corporate Accountability, we know challenging corporate power, fighting for Black liberation, and pushing for an end to the oppression of all people are two facets of the same struggle. This connection is a big part of why I do this work, and I hope it might be a part of why you step up and support the campaigns we are waging. When you make a gift before the February 27 deadline, it will help unlock $10,000 in matching funds, making your impact go that much further!

Your gift will go to powering our strategic campaigns, including campaigns run by the Black Collective like exposing the racist history of corporations like Wells Fargo. And it will support the Movement Solidarity Fund, our grantmaking program that gives grants to, among others, Black-led groups that organize around issues like reparations and police violence.

So make your gift now!

P.S. Your gift by February 27 helps unlock a $10,000 match and strengthens campaigns for people, communities, and the planet.