From the archives, Nov. 11, 1927: Churchgoers spend $1 each at Black-owned grocery

Omaha Commons looks back at a church trip to the grocery store that Omaha's Black weekly newspaper held up as an example in 1927.

OMAHA — A minister new to Omaha led 41 members of his church to a Black-owned grocery store on North 24th Street in early November 1927, and each spent a dollar there. The Monitor, Omaha's Black weekly newspaper, made the trip the subject of its front-page editorial on Nov. 11, 1927.

The paper, edited by the Rev. John Albert Williams, said the trip showed "the awakening of a consciousness" among Black Omahans about building up businesses run by their own community. It called the minister's lead an example "which we in Omaha sadly need."

The editorial saw a shift among Black ministers, who it said were starting to treat economic progress as vital, not only preparation for the life beyond. It pointed out that the shoppers were ordinary working people, not "the higher-ups."

If the grocer took in $41 a day for a year, it figured, he would collect $12,792, enough to build a strong business and hire others. It urged readers to spend with Black-owned businesses "in all lines of legitimate business."

The same front page carried a similar choice. St. Philip's Men's Club set aside money for Thanksgiving baskets for needy families in its congregation, to be bought from Black-owned grocery stores.

The Monitor named neither the minister, his church nor the grocer. It hoped others would follow his example.

Source: The Monitor (Omaha), Nov. 11, 1927, page 1, via the Library of Congress, Chronicling America.

How we checked this: Reported from The Monitor (Omaha) of Nov. 11, 1927, page 1, on the Library of Congress's Chronicling America, opened Nov. 11, 2026, at 5:21 a.m. CT, and checked against the record by our copy desk before publishing.