Our black year

On January 1, 2009, Maggie and John Anderson, a successful African American couple raising two daughters in a Chicago suburb, engaged in a social experiment to reinvest in the Black community and buy from only Black-owned businesses for a year. Throughout that time the Andersons combed Chicago in search of a Black-owned supermarket, dry cleaner, gas station, pharmacy, and clothing store. Our Black Year is the story of what they learned. Maggie examines the commercial exploitation of Black neighborhoods through the lens of her year supporting Black-owned businesses. She discovers that Black…