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Black Dollar Magazine (1968)

Description

An exceptionally rare surviving issue of Black Dollar Magazine, a Black-owned economic empowerment publication that debuted May 1, 1968 in Washington, D.C., published by Ed Murphy through the nonprofit Black, Inc. This Vol. 1, No. 16 issue features D.C. entrepreneur Fred Cole on the cover under the headline "Fred Cole is going to the TOP FAST!!" alongside the debut of the "Voice's in the Dark" expose column, and carries the magazine's founding slogan "Buy where we are..." Ed Murphy was a celebrated D.C. entrepreneur and owner of the legendary Ed Murphy's Supper Club on Georgia Avenue near Howard University — a "power lunch" hub for the city's politicians, judges, athletes, and entertainers (DC1968 Project, Black Men In America).

Significance

As a physical, reader-distributed survivor of a nearly vanished 1968–69 Washington D.C. Black economic empowerment publication, this issue predates the more widely known "Buy Black" and "Recycling Black Dollars" movements by roughly two decades, standing as an early, on-the-ground articulation of Black economic self-determination during the civil rights era.

Key Notes

  • Useful for teaching about Black-owned business networks in 1960s Washington D.C., the economics-focused wing of Black Power ideology ("translate black power into dollars and sense"), and how community publications functioned as both business directories and platforms for social accountability — as seen in the "Voice's in the Dark" expose column.

Sources Referenced

Provenance

Documented traceable copies of Black Dollar Magazine exist in only two institutional archives — the Pride Inc. Papers at Howard University's Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, and the Henry P. Whitehead Collection at the Smithsonian ( Smithsonian finding aid ) — and even the DC1968 Project's own reference image for the magazine's debut issue is sourced from a Howard University photocopy rather than a private original ( DC1968 Project ).

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