Black Entrepreneurs

Chicago has long been a center of African American business, from Johnson Publishing Co. to the hair-care company Johnson Products. Meet three black entrepreneurs of a younger generation, who have utilized digital savvy to grow their businesses.

Baldwin Ice Cream began as a parlor opened by seven African American postal workers on the South Side and eventually grew to offering ice cream in major Midwestern grocery stores and at O'Hare, thanks in part to Jolyn Robichaux, its president for more than two decades.

In 1961, Tom Burrell became the first African American to work in a Chicago advertising agency—in the mailroom. Within a decade, he had started his own agency, which became a pioneer of targeted advertising, incorporating black culture and positive images of black people into commercials.