Operation Black Unity (f. 1969) was a coalition of groups and people interested in the progress of the black population of the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. It was an umbrella organization with its membership consisting of churches, black nationalists, and civil rights groups. The organization was co-chaired by three men: Reverend Donald S. Jacobs, Reverend Jonathan Ealy, and William O. Walker. Operation Black Unity (OBU) was dedicated to several goals: equal and equitable job opportunities, excellence in education, business ownership, fair housing, health and welfare rights, and fair interpretation and administration of laws. One of OBU's main projects was securing black ownership of McDonald's restaurants in the city of Cleveland. This project was of high priority in that many of these restaurants were located in black neighborhoods and accumulated significant profits. OBU believed that some of the profit from such businesses should reciprocate into the black community and encouraged boycotting McDonald's until negotiations began with potential black owners.
The Operation Black Unity Records, 1969-1972 and 1976 consist of minutes, reports, speech texts, correspondence, pamphlets, brochures, press releases, clippings, and miscellaneous memorabilia.
This collection is of interest to scholars studying organizations within the black community of Cleveland, Ohio, and cooperative activities within the black community addressing concerns related to minority owned business enterprises. The collection pertains largely to negotiations between OBU and McDonald's Corporation concerning black ownership of McDonald's franchises in Cleveland.
The collection is arranged by document type, then chronologically.
Processed by Lawna Gamble in 1993
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4633 Operation Black Unity Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Donald Jacobs, 1988
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.