Sullivan Progress Plaza

You are passing the site of Progress Plaza, a landmark in American economic history. In nineteen sixty-eight, Reverend Leon Sullivan of Zion Baptist Church organized members of Philadelphia's Black community to build, own, and operate the first shopping center in the United States developed entirely by African Americans.

Sullivan had already made national headlines in nineteen fifty-eight when he began organizing selective-patronage campaigns, convincing Philadelphia's Black community to boycott companies that refused to hire Black workers. Progress Plaza was the next step: not just jobs, but ownership. The center drew immediate national attention. The center drew praise as a model for Black-owned commercial development, and its construction trained workers and business owners through programs Sullivan helped launch. Progress Plaza was proof that community-controlled capital could anchor a neighborhood economy.