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Nation’s first shopping center owned, operated by Blacks turns 50 | The Philadelphia Tribune
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Nation’s first shopping center owned, operated by Blacks turns 50 | The Philadelphia Tribune When he was a boy, Howard Sullivan was always excited to join his father at the construction site of what is now Sullivan Progress Plaza in North Philadelphia.

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Reverend Howard Sullivan, African American Entrepreneur, Black Entrepreneur, African American Business, African American Professional, Black Professional, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN, KINDR'D Magazine, KINDR'D

KOLUMN Magazine celebrates the lives of People of Color by…

Ayana Jones Tribune Staff Writer The Philadelphia Tribune
The Rev. Leon Sullivan’s congregants at the Zion Baptist Church were the lead investors in funding the construction of Progress Plaza in the late 1960s. — Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries. Featured Image



And now, he said, “I’m certainly happy to see that it is still here after 50 years and after a lot of the struggles that we’ve gone through.”

The plaza was the nation’s first shopping center owned and operated by African Americans when it was built in 1968 under the direction of the late Rev. Leon Sullivan. African Americans still own and operate it today as they prepare to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

“This remains a symbol of Black accomplishment and steadfastness,” said Wendell Whitlock, chairman emeritus of Progress Investment Associates, Inc., which owns the plaza.

Reverend Howard Sullivan, African American Entrepreneur, Black Entrepreneur, African American Business, African American Professional, Black Professional, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN, KINDR'D Magazine, KINDR'D

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