Today In Black History: Jolyn Robichaux
Black Woman CEO of Historic Black-owned Ice Cream Empire
Issue #611 Today In Black History, Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Please share and subscribe to help us grow this publication.
If you like us, REALLY like us, please click the “Like” button at the end of this post!
Also, please scroll to the end of this post for other ways to financially support us and We Are Speaking with our books and courses.
We appreciate your support!
Today’s Black History WOW!
In 1921, seven African American postal workers joined together to open an ice cream parlor at 53rd and State Streets in Chicago’s Washington Park, naming their shop Seven Links Ice Cream. By the 1940s they had seven locations throughout the South Side, and, despite the aptness of their name, had rebranded as the Service Links Ice Cream Company. In 1946, Kit Baldwin, one of the founders, bought out his partners and named the company after himself, and Baldwin Ice Cream came into being.
Baldwin expanded the business beyond standalone parlors, offering his ice cream through small South Side grocers beginning in 1955. When he died in 1961, the company quickly went through two presidents before Joseph and Jolyn Robichaux bought it at the behest of the previous leader, who wanted the company to remain in African American hands, especially since it served a predominantly black community.
Jolyn H. Robichaux was born in Cairo, Illinois, on May 21, 1928, to Margaret Love and Edward Howard. Robichaux graduated from Sumner High School in 1945 and attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, for two years. In 1960, she received her B.A. degree in education from Chicago Teachers College.
In 1967, as a business investment, Robichaux and her husband purchased Baldwin Ice Cream Company; created in 1922, it was the first African-American-owned ice cream company in Chicago. Robichaux worked as a secretary for the company; following her husband's death in 1971, she assumed leadership of Baldwin, becoming president and CEO.
Her first hires were family – her sister was vice president, her mom managed the finance department, and her niece worked in sales as a manager and account executive.
In 1975 Robichaux earned a certificate in ice cream technology from Pennsylvania State University, and in 1984, she became the second African American to open a food concession at O'Hare International Airport. She eventually grew Baldwin into a major corporation, with annual sales topping $5 million by 1985.
Within 6 years, major grocery chains were selling it all around the Midwest. Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi and Tennessee.
Robichaux was also named the National Minority Entrepreneur of the Year by the U.S. Commerce Department in 1985, for which she was presented with the award by Vice President George Bush; she was the first African American woman to receive this honor.
In 1992, Jolyn retired, moved to Paris, and sold the company to Eric Johnson, whose father, George E. Johnson founded Johnson Products, and renamed the company Baldwin Richardson Foods.
Jolyn Robichaux died on March 9, 2017. She was 88.
Today In Black History
In 1863, the U.S. War Department established the Bureau of Colored Troops and launched an aggressive campaign to recruit Black soldiers.
In 1957, the South African government approved race separation in universities.
In 1959, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. became the 1st African American Major General in the U.S. Air Force. His father was the 1st African American General in the U.S. Army.
In 1966, Dr. Bill Cosby became the first African American to receive an Emmy for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series for his role in “I Spy.”
In 2002, a jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicted former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry for the 1963 murders of four little Black girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.
Our paid subscribers are encouraged to discuss this post in our W.A.S. Chat Community.
the You are also welcome to view “We Are Speaking” in Substack Notes. You can also read other Substack publications without subscribing to them when you join Notes.
This post is free to read for three days. To have access 365/24/7 to our full archive, comment on our posts, and financially support “We Are Speaking” for no more than $5 per month, please subscribe at the paid level. You will receive a 7-day FREE trial!
Independent Authors and Creative Professionals: Branding and Marketing Courses and Networking Groups are available in the GCC Branding and Marketing Academy!
Pam’s Business Books and Keith’s SciFi Books are available for purchase here!