Today we’d like to introduce you to Alicia Hemphill & Dr. Dewayne Washington.
Hi Alicia & Dr. Washington, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
The creation of the company and game originated from the 3 creators and founders of the game. Each member of our team had a strong passion for families, and we believed for the one idea that would strengthen our community. Dr. Ruth Pauline Plummer, founder of Covenant Daughter’s Ministry International and Covenant Daughter’s Television Network, currently lives in Israel. She envisioned a day of the week (Fridays) when African Americans would gather together and turn off the television and electronic devices to cook and eat a meal together. Not too long ago, Black families would come together after church to eat a wonderful meal. The family table was a place of bonding and support in the Black community. In Israel, she noted the strength of the Jewish culture was rooted in weekly family gathers called Shabbat dinners. Every Friday, the nation closes down and prepare a meal to share and to remember their history. She believed that if we could re-establish that pattern, it would improve communication and engagement in the black family. Her ministry Covenant Daughter’s Ministries International (CDMI), conducted a survey of their members to illicit ideas on how to strengthen community and interestingly, the number 1 response was to bring families together over a weekly meal. As a result, CDMI initiated Black Family Fridays.
During the summer of 2020, after the George Floyd murder, CDMI began to train women who were 30 and 40 about “The Women in the Civil Rights Movement.” Our desire was to ground our mentees in methods to bring about effective change by researching the people and strategies deployed during Civil Rights. Lady Cathelean Steele, wife of Dr. Charles Steele who is currently the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), taught a class about women who were instrumental in the Civil Rights Movement but who were not well-known. That was the first time the student realized that women just like them worked side-by-side with Dr. King and many others to bring long-lasting change to unjust laws in the South. The transformation in these women was incredible, and I (Alicia) understood that being grounded in their history energized them to believe they could make positive changes to society as well. Many of these women identified key initiatives and projects they wanted to move forward, such as: raising awareness of key political races, voter registration, and engagement with their elected officials.
Late July 2020, Dewayne and I were in his studio (Facetime Studios) filming a television show for the CD Television Network, and we were chatting about current events. I began to share with him what I was observing in the young women and other ideas to positively bring lasting change to deeply entrenched problems. We began to talk about local history and laws that use to be in place to restrict the lives of African American in DFW when he shared about a prototype game of Ebonyopoly he created for a prior film.
Dr. Dewayne T. Washington began to explain that the prototype was created to explain what was responsible for the current state of African Americans’ financial condition. He stressed the importance of people knowing their history because it explains how we ended up where we are here now. Socio-economically, native Black people are at the bottom when compared to other groups in America. That remains the same across all indicators: education, homeownership, and wealth building. Dr. Washington shared that there was a reason for this phenomenon because the belief that black people were not good with money is a false narrative.
He went on to explain that he had created a shell of a game to tell the story of the impact of laws written on Black generational wealth from 1619 0 2919. In the prototype, think of people playing rounds of Monopoly and each round representing 50 years which would be subject to inheritance laws for money and property attained by each player to their sons/daughters. Their generation of wealth-building in the game would occur for another 50 years and so on and so on. The catch to the game is that each player had to play according to the rules for their personhood of that particular day. So, for example, in 1619, you have three white guys and a black guy sitting downplaying monopoly; the black guy doesn’t have dice because you’re owned by somebody, you can’t move around, you have no mobility for actually five rounds. For 250 years, there’s nothing for you to pass down to your children or anything like that. And even when you could pass, go and collect $200, and you could not buy property, as the laws of America stated that as an African American male, you could not pass that land or property down to your children.
If you can think about that for basically eight rounds, and then 2019 comes, and you know, four guys sit down to play, and everything looks even, everything looks the same, you know, everybody can buy land, everybody can collect $200, everybody can pass Go and everything. Except one of those guys is starting at zero. And the other three have the benefit of really all four’s lineage. His forefathers actually helped to build their grandchildren’s wealth.
The idea was intriguing to me (Alicia), and I asked him how much was the game and where could I buy it. To find out that the game was not in production was unbelievable to me. That is when the idea to create a version of the prototype to focus on a single time frame in Black American history, “the Reconstruction Era,” and to incorporate the lessons of that era into the basic concept of Monopoly became the basis of the company. During the development of the game, we were able to incorporate all three concepts into a single product, of which we are very proud. The intention of the game is the bring families together to learn about both American & Black History, share stories from each family, and to help educate our community about the power of building wealth. We believed that without restoring relationships in the African American family through a shared understanding of how we arrived where we are today economically then, it would be difficult for our families to move forward into today’s world and make meaningful contributions to our society. Each person must be rooted in their understanding of who they are and if you have a place in this world. Nine months from the date we formed Ebonyopoly, LLC we went to market and held our first game night on the 1st Juneteenth Holiday in Ft. Worth, Texas.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
We have had some challenges that are common to any new business. Our biggest struggle were good challenges as we had not anticipated the large gap in gaming products for the African American community. Our first order of 500 games sold out in less than a month. We were on backorder for a number of months because we couldn’t keep up with the demand, and there were tremendous shipping delays at the ports during the COVID pandemic. Astounded by the response to the product we doubled our first order to 1000 games, and that amount sold out in less than 4 months. Our third production run originated from a game manufacturer in North America, and we are currently selling from our website and are expanding our distribution partnerships across the country.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Dr. Ruth Pauline Plummer, CEO/ Founder of Covenant Daughters International Ministries and Covenant Daughters TV Network. The ministry and network are intended to provide mentorship to women and young ladies in discovering their purpose to maximize their potential and to discover their leadership ability, and equip the next generation of women in media. Covenant Daughters Intl Free Groceries Food Program serves over 1600 families per month in Detroit, Michigan, Dr. Plummer is a television professional with over 25 years in Christian media and television personality. She hosts to several shows: WATC TV 57’s, “Atlanta Live Program, a national flagship program in Metro Atlanta, “Joy in Our Town Program” on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), Co-host on the award-winning program, “The Christian View” and Co-host of the TV show “The Lesson” and “Lifestyles” on the CDTN Network and is an award-winning gospel music artist She is also the founder of Ruth Beauty Cosmetics. and also, the First Lady of Israel, COGIC.
Dr. Dewayne T. Washington, CEO and Found of FaceTime studios, Pastor of The Love Church, Accomplished Musician, and 2021 Candidate for Mayor of Arlington, TX. Husband, father, author, musician, entrepreneur, speaker, engineer, pastor, counselor, and life coach. Dewayne is known by a myriad of titles. This husband to one wife and father to 4 children has no problem staying busy! He was once quoted as saying he hasn’t been bored in a couple of decades. Dewayne is the founder of FaceTime Studios and Co-Founder of the hit board game Ebonyopoly. He is the executive director and founder of the Gentlemen’s Society, an international youth program that teaches boys between ages 8 and 18 how to become gentlemen. Dewayne was also voted Man of the Year by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2011 for his work with young people.
Alicia Hemphill, M.S. is a Medical Device professional with 30+ years Corporate America. She is the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for Oriel STAT A MATRIX, a consulting firm that assists global medical device manufacturers. Outside of work she has served as a Community Advocate and on several community and company boards throughout the years. She is also the C.O.O. of Covenant Daughters International Ministries, and she produces and hosts the television show “Beyond the Limitations” on the Covenant Daughters Television Network. Her show mentors women on the skills needed to transform their work and personal relationships. She is a motivational speaker and mentors several people each year on strategies to go beyond their current restrictions and limitations in work and in life. Finally, she has co-authored 2 books: Black Women Speak and Soulful Affirmations.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
We enjoy the business-friendly support and opportunities afforded small business owners. The city offers something for everyone, including a variety of sport venues, restaurants, and historical sites.
The least thing we dislike about the city is the traffic! Thank God for the state-of-the-art road system.
Pricing:
- $49.99 – Game
- $19.99 – T-shirts
- $59.99 – T-shirt/game combo
- $14.99 – Ebonyopoly mug
- $119.99 – 3-game bundle
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ebonyopoly.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ebonyopoly/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ebonyopoly/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ebonyopoly6041
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@ebonyopoly
Image Credits
Facetime Studios
