Leon+Sullivan


 * By Amea, Grade 6**

Leon Sullivan was a man who fought for Blacks to be employed. He did this by having many boycotts, including the four hundred minister boycott. He also worked with his Church of Zion, and he fought against Apartheid in South Africa. Leon Sullivan was an important powerful man in the community. At the age of twelve Leon Sullivan went to his local store and bought a Pepsi. As he went to take a seat he was told he could not sit there because of his skin color. This was his first interaction with racism and when he realized he had to do something about it. When Leon Sullivan moved to Philadelphia he started to notice that there were a lot of unemployed Blacks. He decided to start boycotts to help this problem.

Leon Sullivan decided to start the four hundred minister boycott with his Church of Zion. He got many churches to stop buying food from companies that wouldn’t hire Blacks. One of the big companies was the Tasty Cake Factory. After awhile these companies started to let Blacks have jobs. This boycott was a threat to any white owned company that was segregated. After the boycotts, Leon Sullivan realized that even though Blacks were getting jobs they weren't trained properly. He started the Opportunity Industrial Center (OIC) training schools. These schools trained thousands of adults, and made the rate of unemployed Blacks drop.

Leon Sullivan also fought against Apartheid in South Africa. He used his position of CEO of OIC to help get companies in America to stop buying from the South African companies. This is very similar to the four hundred minister boycott. He got over a hundred companies to leave South Africa. Leon Sullivan started to bring down apartheid by making the South African economy lose money so that they knew they had to stop the extreme segregation of apartheid.

Leon Sullivan was an incredible person. In all his years he had a goal to fight for justice in the Black community. He will always be remembered for all his hard work and dedication. You can see his efforts, from organizing boycotts to helping to stop apartheid. He was leader for Black rights.