Let's March Forward Together: The Rise of Black Advertising Professionals and Consumers

Entry and advancement for Black professionals in the advertising and marketing industries has often been a difficult process. For Black women, the path has been even more challenging.

This section of the exhibit highlights the careers of four successful Black women in advertising who opened their own agencies. As noted in Judy Foster Davis’ book Pioneering African-American Women in Advertising Business, the careers of Black women remain one of the most poorly documented areas of the industry. But glimpses may sometimes be found in other people’s papers and business records.

It has been a long-standing, but as of yet unfulfilled, library goal to collect the advertising papers of women of color.

• Benton Harbor, Michigan’s Caroline Jones (1942-2001) began her career at J. Walter Thompson as a secretary, then a copywriter. She served as Vice President at BBDO before joining with Frank Mingo to form Black-owned agency Mingo Jones. She left to start Caroline Jones Advertising in 1987, which she ran until 1996. Her work reflected positive values like “Food Is Love”for Campbell Soup and “The biggest is looking for the best” for Prudential. At Mingo Jones, she was credited with coining “We do chicken right” for Kentucky Fried Chicken, a slogan used for decades. Her papers reside at the Smithsonian Institution.
• Chicagoan Carol H. Williams (1950-) first came to prominence at the agency Leo Burnett, where she produced memorable slogans like “Say Hello to Poppin’ Fresh Dough” (Pillsbury) and “Strong enough for a man but made for a woman” (Secret deodorant), some of which are still in use in various forms. She opened Carol H. Williams Advertising in 1986, which has been called the longest running independent Black-owned ad agency in the U.S.