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boycotts were controversial in much of the Black freedom movement. On the right
wing of the movement, many established forces, like Chicago Defender editor
Robert Abbott and Black congressman Oscar DePriest, argued that Black picketing
of white stores could precipitate race riots, like the Chicago riot of 1919. More
centrist figures, like national NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson and
Pittsburgh Courier columnist George Schuyler, were concerned that demands for
Black employment in stores in Black communities would reinforce segregation. On
the left, many of the younger radicals, often identified with the "New Negro"
current, and also those influenced by Marxism— figures like Abram Harris, Ralph
Bunche, and Communist Party leader John Ford— felt that such boycotts diverted
Blacks from the struggle against the main oppressors (capitalists based in the giant
corporations), antagonized their potential main allies (white workers), and really
only served the interests of a small group of Black shopkeepers. ^
The most prominent advocates of the incipient boycott movement were
Black nationalists, who had few qualms over the objections laised by the
movement's diverse critics. There were of course exceptions. The Chicago Whip
editors, who identified with the "New Negro" current, were deeply involved with the
leadership of the Chicago campaign. And almost alone among national leaders, the
editor of the NAACP's Crisis, W.E.B. DuBois (whose thinking was then entering a
nationalistic phase) became a fervent boycott supporter. Therefore, it is not
surprising that a figure in the nationalist tradition like Costonie would seek to
introduce boycotting into Baltimore. "
The conditions in the Black community in Baltimore were definitely ripe for
a call to boycott. Juanita Jackson Mitchell:
Right across the street from where I lived at 1216 Druid Hill avenue there
was this A & P Store with all white sales clerks; in those days they didn't
employ women. And all over this Northwest ghetto, and all over the city, we
had just white in Black communities. Wouldn't let us have jobs. Up at
Lafayette Market, which is about six blocks up over on Pennsylvania
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