The establishment of Operation Breadbasket in Chicago in 1966 stemmed from what Martin Luther King, Jr. called the “second phase” of the civil rights movement, an expansion to northern cities where thousands of African Americans confronted economic exploitation in urban slums. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) believed that through the use of nonviolent direct action tactics such as boycotts, selective buying, and picketing, Operation Breadbasket could increase the number of African American workers hired by companies doing business in the inner city and encourage the growth of black-owned businesses. According to King, “the fundamental premise of Breadbasket is a simple one. Negroes need not patronize a business which denies them jobs, or advancement, or plain courtesy.”
SCLC’s Operation Breadbasket was modeled after a program developed by Rev. Leon Sullivan in Philadelphia in the early 1960s. After launching a campaign in Atlanta that gained a commitment for 5,000 jobs over a five-year period, SCLC expanded its program to other southern cities and eventually to Chicago. When asked why Chicago was selected, King said, “In Chicago we found that while white-owned and white-managed businesses flourished in the Negro community, they return little to the very people they supposedly serve—their customers.”
On 11 February 1966, more than 200 ministers attended the kick-off meeting of Chicago’s Operation Breadbasket. Under the direction of Chicago Freedom Movement activist Jesse Jackson, the group decided to target bakeries, milk distributors, soft drink bottlers, and soup companies and formed committees to investigate employment statistics for those four industries.
The group’s first Chicago campaign was directed at Country Delight Dairy Products. Using the tactics of “selective patronage,” activists refused to purchase the company’s products and picketed and boycotted the stores that carried them. When the company eventually complied with hiring demands, activists turned their attention to other dairy companies and supermarket chains, including A&P, High-Low, and Red Rooster.
With the goal of establishing Operation Breadbasket as a national organization, King appointed Jackson as national director in 1967. By 1968, the organization had conducted more than forty boycotts that resulted in the employment of more the 8,000 African American workers. But while Operation Breadbasket succeeded in establishing hiring agreements with several large corporations, it was unable to enforce them or measure progress; and as a result, many companies failed to fully comply with their commitments.
By the end of the decade, Operation Breadbasket had taken on several new projects. In an effort to develop black-owned businesses and to strengthen the relationship between large corporations and existing businesses, the organization sponsored several trade expositions in Chicago. In addition, they launched a free breakfast program, helped plan the Poor People’s Campaign, engaged in political campaigns, and lobbied against welfare cuts. Suffering from overextension and internal tensions between Jackson and SCLC’s new leadership following King’s assassination, Operation Breadbasket was dissolved in December 1971 and Jackson formed an independent organization, Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity).