Mutual Aid 101: Introduction to Mutual Aid with Dean Spade

“Did you know that right after slavery, Black folks created their own insurance companies? White-owned banks and insurers wouldn’t cover us — not even for a proper funeral. So our people built burial societies and mutual aid clubs. For just a few cents a week, they guaranteed a coffin, a grave, and dignity in death. These clubs later grew into powerful organizations like the Mosaic Templars and the True Reformers — building cemeteries, hospitals, even banks. The land they bought, and the cemeter