JEAN EMMONS

At the time, racial discrimination was so rampant in America that when one of the units of Pepsi Cola, under the leadership of Walter Mack, hired Emmons to sell to Black communities, the Black residents of Northern communities were so unused to seeing Blacks in a “white collar” job, that they were treated as celebrities. Emmons and a few other black salesmen had incredible results yet despite that, the practice did not grow at the time as there were too many white executives who were so prejudiced that the practice was not increased after Mack retired. This short quotation paints a good picture of the nature of racial job discrimination in the North prior to WWII.

At the time, racial discrimination was so rampant in America that when one of the units of Pepsi Cola, under the leadership of Walter Mack, hired Emmons to sell to Black communities, the Black residents of Northern communities were so unused to seeing Blacks in a “white collar” job, that they were treated as celebrities. Emmons and a few other black salesmen had incredible results yet despite that, the practice did not grow at the time as there were too many white executives who were so prejudiced that the practice was not increased after Mack retired. This short quotation paints a good picture of the nature of racial job discrimination in the North prior to WWII.