Author’s Note:
The purpose of my annotated bibliography is to provide background knowledge for both my personal research and the group’s research. The sources include information on wide-ranging literacy: such as business literacy and entrepreneurship literacy. The sources all center around immigrants and the makeup of businesses in America. Our group thought it was pivotal to have a base of knowledge on both the advantages and limitations placed on black immigrants in America and what is either driving or halting their successes.
Annotated Bibliography
1 Kerr, S., & Kerr, W. (2018). Immigrant Entrepreneurship in America: Evidence from the Survey of Business Owners 2007 & 2012. Harvard Business School. 1-41. https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/18-098_9b1e3790-0e0f-45e4-90da-9d516983b304.pdf
1 The first source I analyzed came from an article housed within the Harvard Business School by Kerr and Kerr. The article is titled “Immigrant Entrepreneurship in America…”. Both of the authors are professors at the Harvard School of Business. William Kerr is the co-director of Harvard’s Managing the Future of Work initiative and the faculty chair of the Launching New Ventures program for executive education. Kerr and Kerr utilize the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) database, a very large administrative dataset collected by the Census Bureau, as well as the Survey of Business Owners (SBO). Their study analyzed entrepreneurship and firm ownership of immigrants in comparison to native-founded companies. The variance of databases and information allowed them to create a detailed platform of studying immigrant entrepreneurship both over time and across states. A significant finding was that first-generation immigrants create about 25% of new firms in the United States. This source is extremely helpful in my own research of Black Columbus’s literacy practices and specifically business literacy and entrepreneurship. Our research is interested in the interplay of literacy and business and how literacy practices have harmed or catapulted sustained businesses in the area. Before being able to make claims or analyzing our primary sources in Columbus, research must be done to have background on what immigrant entrepreneurship looks like, how successful it is, how it compares to native-entrepreneurship, and what it means for their livelihood and quality of life in America. (Figure Retrieved from Kerr & Kerr)
2 Ogbolu, M. N., & Singh, R. P. (2013). Researching Black Entrepreneurship: Exploring the Challenge of Response Bias. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 18(4), 1. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1084946713500234
2 The second source is housed within the Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship. It is
titled “Researching Black Entrepreneurship: Exploring the Challenge of Response Bias”. The authors of this study are Ogbolu and Singh. Ogbolu is a professor at Howard University and Singh is a Professor at Morgan State University. Both come from very respected universities and have wide-ranging research. The article is located in a peer-reviewed journal and has been cited numerous times. The group was looking into why poverty and unemployment rates are twice as high in black communities in comparison to white communities. Much of this study looks into “response bias” of studies and how research conducted can be difficult. Response bias is the tendency of a person to questions untruthfully or misleading, often times influenced by social pressures or norms. According to the authors, it is “important researchers are aware of the possibility of social desirability response bias and take adequate precaution to diminish its effects to obtain reasonably reliable and reproducible results”(14). This study is particularly important for our research. We are going to communities that have been marginalized and pushed against by development, gentrification, policy, and economics. For quite some time they have been told directly or indirectly that their stories are not significant, that their literacy practices are inferior, and they are not equals. In our ethnographic research and collection of stories, we must come from a place of understanding and take into account that these individuals may have not had an opportunity to share their truths in this manner before.
3 Staples, Brent. (2006). Why Slave-Era Barriers to Black Literacy Still Matter. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/opinion/why-slaveera-barriers-to-black-literacy-still-matter.html
3Brent Staples is a writer for The New York Times and the great-grandson of John Wesley Staples who narrowly missed being born a slave. Staples article touches on how there are still restrictions to literacy and he wishes to educate and empower the black community. Staples calls from his ancestors, his relatives, his uncles, and writes, “Literate black people were not immune to the mob violence and intensifying racism that greeted all African-Americans after the Civil War. Nevertheless, the ability to read and write gave them a vantage point on their circumstances and protected them from swindlers who regularly stripped illiterate people of the land and other assets”. He recalled his great grandfather, John Wesley displaying “when he sat down to write. He penned even grocery notes with a flourish, pausing often to lick the pencil point. His gestures said: When you remember me to people, tell them I could read and write”. This article comes in use for my groups’ research because the work we will be doing will be entirely with individuals and business owners who may have faced massive amounts of adversity and difficulties, both in literacy practice and business endeavors.
4 Walker, J. (2004). War, women, song: The tectonics of black business and entrepreneurship, 1939–2001. The Review of Black Political Economy, 31(2), 65-119. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs12114-004-1005-3.pdf
4 Walker’s article “War, Women, Song…” was published in The Review of Black Political Economy. This journal is peer reviewed and widely respected. It is housed within Springer Publisher. This article analyzes black entrepreneurship from a historical context. It breaks down the success of black businesses into four historical time periods. It is revealed that “black business activity from 1939 to 2001 changed very little, particularly regarding the kinds of enterprises established, the consumer markets reached by these enterprises, and the form of business ownership” (110). I feel that before doing primary research information as such should be taken into account. The author questions the fact that blacks makeup 12.3% of the population but do not even come close to having that percentage of top companies in America. It is clear that barriers still exist and the system is built against people of color.