via PxHere
Black America experienced the worst of the 1929 stock market crash.
Great Depression-era Black people - already subjected to low-paying and menial labor - became the face of “last hired, first fired” as jobs disappeared.
While Black unemployment rates doubled - sometimes tripled - the national average, Black Chicagoans suffered most from this economic downturn; 50 percent were jobless.
Frustration mounted. People went hungry. Something had to be done about the racist hiring practices keeping Blacks unemployed. And thus a movement was born.
The 1929 boycott observed widespread picketing of Chicago stores that refused to hire Blacks. Sponsored by the local newspaper Whip and influential religious and political leaders, the campaign persuaded businesses to hire more than 2,000 Blacks!
This success inspired the nation.
Harlem, D.C., and various hubs in Northern cities followed the model set forth by Chicago. With civil rights organizations on board, the now-famous motto “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work” became a full-fledged movement by 1933.
This grassroots activism not only increased Black employment opportunities and spread awareness of the community’s purchasing power, but it also laid the foundation for the Civil Rights Movement to come.
Black Americans’ buying power remains strong. Just as our forefathers refused to spend their valuable money - or squander their values - at stores with no interest in us, we too can spend money in places that reinvest in our community.