Mahalia Jackson
“This type of work that I do, it is not merely something for entertainment. It is an uplift, it is a revival for humanity.”
Illustration by Brittanie Mitchell for Seeds & Receipts.
(October 26th 1911 -1972)
Mahalia Jackson was a renowned gospel singer who grew up singing at Mount Moriah Baptist Church before she created hits like “Move On Up a Little Higher” and “How I Got Over”. She also sang “I’ve Been Buked and I’ve Been Scorned” at the March on Washington in 1963. Even before her successful music career, Jackson was incredibly entrepreneurial, having launched businesses for Black people, including a make-up line.
In 1968 she opened Mahalia Jackson’s, a chain of restaurants that served the popular Glori-Fried Chicken. Behind the food, Mahalia’s mission with the restaurants was pretty radical. Having been a domestic and food service worker as a young child and teenager, Mahalia aimed to create jobs that would change the experience of Black food service workers. Her labor practices would include paid vacation, sick leave, and leadership training for employees of Mahalia Jackson’s Chicken.
Later in her life, Jackson started the Mahalia Jackson foundation, to provide scholarships for kids to go to school, which was inspired by the fact that she never formally attended school and had dreamed of being a school teacher.
Learn more about her below.
DIG DEEPER
Mahalia Jackson’s Glori-fried Chicken [Gravy Podcast episode] (25 min.) https://www.southernfoodways.org/gravy/mahalia-jacksons-glori-fried-chicken/
https://www.southernfoodways.org/glori-fried-and-glori-fied-mahalia-jacksons-chicken/
BIOGRAPHY.com Profile https://www.biography.com/musician/mahalia-jackson
Glori-Fried and Glorified: The Mahalia Jackson Story by Alice Randall https://www.southernfoodways.org/glori-fried-and-glori-fied-the-mahalia-jackson-story/
Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-UwQMkWLKE (https://youtu.be/p-UwQMkWLKE?t=490)
Singing I Found the Answer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY2vSe4xlKA