-By Dr. Julianne Malveaux
[SPECIAL SOFLY 12:30] At 6:30 my time – it’s 12:30 in Paris —– Much Love to Karl Lagerfeld. RIP. Homage to my Paris Dreams.
This week’s featured Fact from ‘Surviving and Thriving: 365 Facts in Black Economic History’.
Herman Petty– The first African-American to own and operate a McDonald’s franchise. 50 years ago in Chicago, IL, Herman Petty made history and a super-sized achievement when he opened the nation’s first McDonald’s ‘fast food’ restaurant chain. The doors opened on December 21, 1968.
This was during a time when Blacks were fighting for basic freedoms in civil rights. Blacks were facing racial injustices from their personal lives to their business and professional lives. This was also the year Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
What better time for the Black community to take part in their own healing and solutions to this era of racism and segregation.
Herman Petty, a barber and driver for the Chicago Transit Authority saved his money and eventually purchased his first (of eight) McDonald’s restaurant. He had no experience or skills in this field. He went through training and learned the business of
franchise ownership.
By the end of 1969 there were twelve African-American—owned McDonald’s. This is a major accomplishment in Black History.
In researching this Surviving and Thriving: Black Economic History fact again, I learned that (today) it costs $500,000 to own a McDonald’s franchise.
Happy Black History Month
