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Innovation from Adversity: MLK’s Vision and the Power of Retail in Advancing Civil Rights

On Monday, Americans honor the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his legacy that inspires us to strive for greater equality.

Segregation – laws enforcing racial separation in stores, schools, housing and more – perpetuated discrimination for decades. During the civil rights movement, King fought against segregation and significantly influenced the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Housing Rights Act of 1968, which marked the legal end of segregation.

In areas legally mandating segregation, mainstream retail establishments excluded Black Americans. In response, they established their own networks of Black-owned stores, marketplaces and mail-order systems. The innovations and economic independence they created remain important today in the retail sector.

“There was a stack of four Silvertone TVs by the bathroom door, blond-wood Lowboy Consoles, all-channel. Sears manufactured them, and Carney’s customers revered Sears from childhood, when their parents ordered from catalogs because the white men in their Southern towns wouldn’t sell to them, or jacked up the prices.”   

 — Colson Whitehead, Harlem Shuffle

Alternative Retail Methods During Segregation 

King recognized the importance of consumer identity in society and for civil rights. In his autobiography, he wrote, “Our existence is centered in the fact that we are consumers, because we first must eat and have shelter to live…When persons are for some reason or other excluded from the consumer circle, there is discontent and unrest.” 

By creating their own retail systems, Black Americans reduced their reliance on segregated economies, which often exploited them through unfair pricing and discriminatory policies. Segregation necessitated entrepreneurial solutions, including Black-owned businesses, like barbershops, beauty salons and grocery stores, which became vital community hubs. 

Another creative solution, The Green Book, was the initiative of postal worker Victor H. Green. From 1936 to 1966, the Green Book offered a directory of safe places for Black travelers to eat, stay and shop. 

Mail-order retail was also a popular means of shopping. The introduction of Rural Free Delivery (RFD) by the U.S. Postal Service in 1896 and Parcel Post in 1913 had revolutionized shopping by enabling underserved communities to access goods that were previously available only in cities. The Sears catalog  then spearheaded a new era of mail-order retail, ultimately allowing rural Black customers during segregation the ability to purchase items without the need to endure racism in physical stores. 

White store owners, furious over the catalog’s ability to offer “anonymous access to its inventory,” even burned Sears catalogs in public bonfires. 

King recognized the value of mail-order retail, since “shopping local” (even outside the Jim Crow South, when he lived in the North Lawndale community in Chicago) often resulted in inflated prices:

“My neighbors paid more rent in the substandard slums of Lawndale than the whites paid for modern apartments in the suburbs. The situation was much the same for consumer goods, purchase prices of homes, and a variety of other services. This exploitation was possible because so many of the residents of the ghetto had no personal means of transportation. It was a vicious circle. You could not get a job because you were poorly educated, and you had to depend on welfare to feed your children; but if you received public aid in Chicago, you could not own property, not even an automobile, so you were condemned to the jobs and shops closest to your home. Once confined to this isolated community, one no longer participated in a free economy, but was subject to price fixing and wholesale robbery by many of the merchants of the area.”

How Retail Serves Black Consumers Today 

Today, retailers are looking for even more ways to better serve Black consumers. For example, many retailers have diversified their product offerings to reflect the cultural needs and preferences of Black communities, such as expanding shade ranges for cosmetics. Sales from Black beauty brands have grown by 42% from 2022. 

Retailers like Kroger, Nordstrom, Target, Macy’s and Sephora increasingly collaborate with Black-owned brands, offering shelf space and promotional opportunities online and in stores that help these brands connect with broader audiences. 

The Legacy of Alternative Retail Methods

The resilience and adaptability shown by marginalized communities during segregation laid the groundwork for modern alternative retail methods, like online marketplaces and direct-to-consumer models. 

For example, an estimated 61 million U.S. adults today live with a disability, with vision impairment being the most common. The retail industry has made significant strides toward serving this community and others, including elderly Americans. 

The advent of online shopping and e-commerce has transformed the retail experience for individuals with disabilities by eliminating many physical and logistical barriers. Online platforms offer the convenience of browsing and purchasing from home, with features like screen-reader compatibility and easy navigation. Voice-activated and smart technology enables shoppers to create lists, place orders and find deals at home. 

Delivery services and subscription services for essential items help eliminate the need for frequent trips to stores. Meanwhile, curbside pickup has also expanded accessibility for people with disabilities, allowing customers to retrieve items without leaving their vehicles. According to Capital One, 25.3% of U.S. consumers use curbside pickup in a 12-month period, and 47.6% of click-and-collect shoppers use curbside pickup. 

In stores, retailers increasingly incorporate accessible features like wheelchair-friendly layouts and Braille signage. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that all public spaces, including businesses, have braille signs to mark permanent rooms and spaces. 

In the past few years, stores have begun to adopt even more innovative solutions like quiet shopping hours with reduced noise and lighting for individuals with sensory sensitivities. Adaptive and movable checkout counters with lower heights can serve customers in wheelchairs. And augmented reality apps allow customers with visual impairments to identify products through audio descriptions. For example, Aira connects people who are blind or low-vision to professional visual interpreters. 

Where Does Retail Go from Here? 

Expanding and refining alternative retail methods for underserved communities is essential for the future of retail. While the industry has come a long way since the civil rights movement, there is still work to be done. 

For example, according to McKinsey, Black brands make up only 2.5% of revenue in the beauty industry – but Black consumers are responsible for 11.1% of total beauty spending, indicating a large opportunity for increased innovation and greater support of Black entrepreneurs.

As we move to the future, there are also opportunities for new technology to support underserved communities like the elderly, neurodivergent consumers and those with disabilities. For example, assistive robots will be able to help customers locate products or carry items. Wearable tech devices like smart glasses and hearing aids integrated with retail apps already offer support like audio product descriptions, and as more innovators get involved in this space, affordability will hopefully increase. 

The retail innovations adopted by Black Americans during the segregation era helped them fight racism and embrace businesses that better served their communities’ needs. By continuing to expand opportunities for entrepreneurs and technology use, equality and accessibility can be prominent in the future of retail.