Feature Story

October 18, 2022 | By Ohio Wesleyan University

Kourtney Clark, owner of Conscious Gleaux, sells plant-based soaps and body butters at OWU’s first Black Wall Street event. (Photo by Paul Vernon)

Black Wall Street

Ohio Wesleyan Celebrates BIPOC Entrepreneurs

More than 300 students attended Ohio Wesleyan University’s first Black Wall Street event, learning more about the business ventures of BIPOC student-entrepreneurs and local BIPOC-owned or managed businesses.

The two-hour event was held Oct. 6 during the university’s first OWU Connection Conference.

“At the turn of the 20th century, the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, became one of the first communities in the country thriving with Black entrepreneurial businesses,” said event organizer Destiny Coleman, administrative director of The Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship.

“The prosperous town, founded by many descendants of slaves, earned a reputation as the Black Wall Street of America and became a harbor for African Americans in a highly segregated city,” Coleman said.

OWU’s Black Wall Street was created as a way “to commemorate this movement,” she said.

The following businesses and organizations participated in OWU's first Black Wall Street: Black Student Union at OWU; Conscious Gleaux; Delaware African American Heritage Council; Donna’s Delicious Dozen; Gilded Teas; Sew Not Typical; Strand Theatre; Swannsong4 Books; The Pit BBQ; Tinks Impressions; and TMH Solutions LLC.

The event was held in partnership with The Woltemade Center, the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, the Delaware Entrepreneurial Center at OWU, and the OWU Connection.