Given the direct relationship between business ownership and economic vibrancy within communities of color, this research explores a tailored approach for addressing persistent race-based economic disparities inhibiting business ownership in communities of color. While significant evidence exists regarding the need for access to capital, education, and the market to improve the sustainability of businesses of color, this research demonstrates the need for an additional component (the “Fourth Dimension”) to spur the development of thriving, socially oriented Black-owned business communities. We envision the “Fourth Dimension” comprising a collaborative, community-oriented social growth strategy for small Black-owned businesses implemented through enhanced and deliberate cooperative, community-supported market engagement.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to establish a supported and validated reference point for understanding how Nicodemus, Kansas warrants significant inclusion in both the history of management and current entrepreneurship education. Design/methodology/approach This paper consists of a literature review to identify the salient historical and theoretical importance of the community of Nicodemus, Kansas. The research was conducted by reviewing and couching the research in this context. Findings Nicodemus, born out of an entrepreneurial spirit of newly liberated Black Americans, is the surviving entrepreneurial force for the African-American efforts in the western US expansion efforts in the later 1800s. The community, courage and cooperative views of the settlers were instrumental in overcoming a variety of hardships inherent in the location, society and time period to not only survive but also deliver growth and success. Nicodemus personified cultural pride and self-reliance, which fueled personal and commercial success. Practical implications The cooperative advantage is justified to be included in discussions of American management history, taught in the entrepreneurship curriculum and used by practitioners. Social implications Collective courage and cooperative advantage used by Nicodemus carries implications for how modern Black communities can advance their economic and social agendas. Originality/value Coverage of Black contributions management and entrepreneurship is scant, but a Black Enlightenment period has recently changed that scholars have recently begun to cover these significant moments in the literature (Prieto and Phipps, 2019). We argue that Nicodemus as an entrepreneurial community serves as a case study that needs contextualization in this Black Enlightenment era and holds pertinent implications for modern Black communities.