Black-Owned Bottling Companies: Beyond the Bubbles

#NationalBlackBusinessMonth

#BlackOwnedBottlingCompanies

#AmericaBottlingCo

#JoeLouisPunch

#BrownBelleBottlingCo

Bottoms up! When we grab our favorite soft drink (also called soda or pop), we don't often think about the company that bottled it. We also don't realize that Black owned bottling and soft drink companies existed and marketed #cola, #gingerale, #orangesoda and other flavors to the Black community. #BeyondTheBubbles

Here are a few examples:

-Brown Belle Bottling Company: founded by #ArthurGGaston in #BirminghamAL in 1938.

-Joe Louis Punch: founded during the #WWII era and used the name and likeness of heavyweight boxer, Joe "The Brown Bomber" Louis, who also marketed the soft drink. Baltimore businessmen William "Little Willie" Adams and Henry G. Parks, Jr. also promoted the drink. It was bottled and distributed in several cities, including #BaltimoreMD, #ChicagoIL, and #BirminghamAL

-The American Bottling Company: incorporated in the 1920s in Baltimore by #ReginaldGardner, #AllisonDJohnson, and #WilliamCLewis.

If anyone remembers drinking these, feel free to drop a comment below!

#BlackHistoryisEverywhere

#NegroHistoryDetective

#ArtifactualJourney

Courtesy of Nanny Jack & Co Archives