The J.C. Penney Boycott and Picketing Campaign

The J.C. Penney Boycott and Picketing Campaign

Image Credit:
An image of the Penney Picketing Campaign, 1961. Photo by Gene Suggs as a staff photographer for the Urbana Courier.

15 E. Main Street, Champaign, IL

During the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans fought for equal opportunity in employment across the nation. In Champaign-Urbana, the Champaign-Urbana Improvement Association (CUIA) was founded to demand greater job opportunities for African Americans, resulting in one of the most influential local civil rights victories known as the J.C. Penney Boycott.

Continue Reading History Show Less

A Penney’s department store was planned for 15 E. Main Street in downtown Champaign and scheduled to open on April 6, 1961.  Local Black ministers encouraged members of their congregations to apply for salesclerk positions that were advertised.  Several Black women applied for the positions, including the wife of a Chanute Air Base employee with ten years’ experience.  All were denied employment. It was found that Penney’s was only hiring African Americans for the stockroom and janitorial capacities. This information resulted in organized, collective action on the part of the Black community. The protest was planned under leadership of Rev. J.E. Graves of Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church, president of the CUIA.  Rev. Graves called a meeting of ministers and lay people on March 22, 1961, at Bethel A.M.E. Church, to map out a plan of action.  Over one hundred community members responded. Ministers took the leadership because their positions were less vulnerable to retribution.

Picketing, organized by community members Mary Alexander and George Pope, began on opening day. African Americans and others sympathetic to the cause were asked to boycott the store. Meanwhile the CUIA began training potential job applicants in interview techniques. At the end of three weeks, on April 25th, with the assistance of lone Black city council member Kenneth Stratton, an agreement was reached that successfully impacted hiring in all department stores in the community. The Council for Community Integration called it a “magnificent undertaking.”

The J.C. Penney Boycott and Picketing Campaign, and the dedicated men and women who participated, are remembered today for standing up to discriminatory employment practices.

This trail stop is sponsored by:

References

Alexander, Mary and Winston, Kathleen Johnson.  (Spring 1996).  “Reflections on Life, Part 2.”  Through the Years: African-American History in Champaign County.  Museum of the Grand Prairie.  https://eblackcu.net/years/MA.htm

Lenstra, N. (December 11, 2012) Penney Picketing Campaign. https://localwiki.org/cu/PenneyPicketing_Campaign

Urbana School District #116. https://www.usd116.org/ProfDev/AHTC/lessons/Burrus10/penneysarticles_red.pdf.

  • “Negroes Tell Why They Picket; Rap Penney’s for Discriminating”
  • “Penney Manager Announces Cease of 3 Week Picketing”
  • “Topic:  The J.C. Penney Co. Affair” ( Memo dated April 25, 1961)

People:

  • George Pope
  • Mary Alexander
  • Rev. J.E. Graves

Location(s):

  • Champaign, Illinois
View on the map

Additional Champaign Trail Sites

Community

Sergeant Allen A. Rivers, Sr.

Allen A. Rivers, Sr. was hired as the first and, at the time, only African American in the Champaign Police Department on August 1, 1935. He worked for 33 years as a policeman rising from a “beat cop” to a motorcycle cop, and then to Sergeant before retiring. He was known as never having to fire his gun in pursuit of a criminal or during an arrest.

View on the map

Social and Religious Life

Emancipation Day Celebrations

President Abraham Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862. For many years afterward, in or around September, African Americans would congregate at parks and other community spaces for Emancipation Day celebrations. These celebrations were held in Champaign, Homer, Tolono, Sidney, and other parts of Champaign County. Celebrations often included food, music, and dancing.

View on the map

Education

Booker T. Washington School

Booker T. Washington Elementary School was built to replace Lawhead School and opened in 1952. Designed by Berger-Kelley Associates, it was a K-6 building serving Black children in the neighborhood. Odelia Wesley, formerly a first grade teacher at Lawhead, was principal and led an all-Black staff. She remained at the school as principal from 1952–1972. In 1968, Booker T. Washington School was established as a magnet program in partnership with the University of Illinois, as a part of Unit #4’s desegregation plans to promote voluntary integration. While Black families would have to bus their children to southwest Champaign to integrate the schools there, white families could voluntarily choose to send their children to Washington School to access “innovative” instructional programs. Following the retirement of Mrs. Wesley, Mrs. Hester Suggs assumed the principalship (1972–1993) and developed an award-winning arts and humanities-based program which continued under the leadership of Dr. Arnetta Rodgers (1993–2000).

View on the map

Business

Edward A. Green

Edward A. Green, a freeman, became one of the first African Americans to settle in Champaign County in 1856. Born in North Carolina, he moved to West Urbana (now Champaign) from Union County, Ohio, with his first wife, Georgia Anne, and daughters, Anna A. and Florence E. Green. A carpenter by trade, in 1858 he began purchasing parcels of land throughout what would become Champaign and into northwestern Urbana, ending up with approximately 14 lots. Six lots were located in Urbana between Wright and Goodwin Streets, along Eads and Champaign (now Vine) Streets.

View on the map

Business

North First Street Corridor, Champaign

North First Street Corridor is the oldest business district in Champaign, dating to the 1850s. A triangular area that originally included East Main Street, University Avenue, and the first two blocks of North First Street, it bordered an integrated working-class neighborhood called Germantown.

View on the map

Community

Albert R. Lee

Albert R. Lee was born on June 26, 1874, on a farm outside of Champaign, Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois in 1894, and in 1895 he became the second African American hired at the university. He started as a messenger, but then became the clerk for the Office of the President. Lee served under six university Presidents. At a time when African Americans were not allowed to live on campus, he took it upon himself to assist them with housing and maneuvering through school, becoming known as the unofficial Dean of African American Students.

View on the map