Remembering a Buy Black Business Campaign
~ Criterion Photo
In the late 1980s my late husband, Brother Romeo Doyle Muhammad, and I started a Buy Black Business Campaign. We did this for two years. The goal of the program was to encourage people to spend money with Black businesses. We provided the transportation and even picked people up in our own car. The only thing we asked was that people spend no less than ten dollars with a Black business.
My husband and I always spent more money. It was a way to also introduce people to many of the businesses in our community that were not as well known. Each time we scheduled a business for a visit, I always wrote about it in my column in the Criterion. This was many years ago and I was encouraged to write about it after hearing about efforts to support our business community. I think my husband and I were ahead of our time. However, it was successful for the time that we did it.
The first business that we visited was Grant’s Variety store owned by George and Betty Jean Grant. This was my first time meeting Mrs. Grant. I remember that she made us feel very welcomed to her store. Today Grant’s Variety Story, located at 1055 East Ferry, is the only Black Deli still in business serving our community with a wide variety of goods. The store is widely known for its hand-dipped ice cream in many flavors.
Mrs. Grant also supports our Black press. When you stop by Grant’s Variety, you will not only get great food items, but you will also get an opportunity to engage in good conversation with Mrs. Grant. George and Betty Jean Grant are also past recipients of the Eye On History Award for being outstanding business people.
We also visited Harambee Bookstore that was lo cated on East Utica and Fillmore at that time. It is now known as Zawadi Books, and it still owned by Sharon and Kenneth Holley. This was the place to shop for good literature on African and African American History. Sharon and Kenneth continue to provide our community with books by well-known Black authors.
It is often good to look back and remember those things from the past that have made a difference in our community.