During the energy crisis of the mid-1970s, then President Jimmy Carter established a special task force to study the energy problems of that day and make recommendations. Noticeably absent from the task force were persons of color and also people with experience in the major energy sectors. Clarke A. Watson, the owner of an energy-consulting firm in Colorado, and a small group of blacks in the energy field, noticed they weren't adequately represented in this important task force. They decided to take action to rectify the situation and joined together to discuss what they could do. The AABE.org website provides the following synopsis of the meeting: 

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"Watson wanted to create a structure or mechanism by which Blacks who had some knowledge and understanding of the U.S. energy situation could bring their thinking to bear on energy policy-making. He wanted to call to the administration's attention that it could ill afford to ignore the need for Black participation in every aspect of the policy-making process. Another idea running through the meeting was the desire to have the relatively new Democratic administration appoint Blacks to high-level, non-traditional roles in government. In other words, jobs outside of HEW, HUD, EEOC and civil rights. There also was the recognition that energy issues, per se, had not been a priority on the agenda of most Black political, civil rights, fraternal and social organizations. The thought was that someone needed to put this issue on the agenda of these groups because energy was so central to economic growth and job creation; the avenues for greater Black participation in the mainstream of the U.S. economy."

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In this first meeting, the group reached a consensus to form a new organization called the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE). AABE was incorporated as a non-profit corporation in the State of Colorado on December 1, 1977.

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Read the complete history of the AABE organization here.