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BLACK EXPO: DESIGN FOR UNITY          O'DELL

will shape our political behavior and determine the political alliances we will make at all levels of political process. In short, we have begun to re-tool to meet the challenge which the social crisis in this society confronts us.

Black Expo fits the description of an idea whose time has come. The idea is unity and it is an idea that has been nurtured and cultivated in a place where it is possible of achievement. The place is Chicago, that city located on the northern end of Mississippi from which so many generations of our people have escaped, leaving the plantations of the delta and coming here to labor in the packing houses, railroad yards and steel plants, earning a living. It is quite significant and appropriate that one of the first events of "Black Expo Week" was the two-day meetings of several hundred black labor leaders coming together to grapple with the problems of the wage freeze, chronic unemployment and lack of adequate representation in the trade union leadership of the country.  Their sense of identity and class-consciousness is continuing to grow and behind them stands the organizational muscle which can guarantee that we get a long-overdue answer to the question which the Staple Singers have raised so eloquently, When Will We Be Paid For The Work We Done?

Black Chicago has been historically prepared to serve as the size of the Annual Business and Cultural Exposition because black owned businesses are more developed in that city than in any other in the country. Measured by the number of banks and other financial institutions, production facilities, publishing enterprises and the like, Chicago is the chief metropolis for businesses owned by Afro-Americans. While the number of these businesses are heavily weighted in providing services rather than in producing goods, which is a characteristic of nations and communities of under-developed capitalism, there is more extensive and a greater variety businesses owned by blacks in Chicago than in any other city in the country.

Chicago has also historically been a creative center of Afro-American culture taking its place alongside New Orleans, Kansas City and Harlem in shaping the development of jazz and other art forms. So Black Expo was homecoming for Aretha, "Cannonball," Ossie and Ruby, Isaac Hayes, the Jackson Five, Nikki, B. B. King, Quicy Jones and many others among our talented artists and entertainers who continue to give generously of their talent as participants in the Movement. Deserving of special mention in this regard is Miss Freda Payne who has the honor and distinction of having her popular

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---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-14 12:15:06