Black History Month

Greater Phoenix is home to several Black-owned businesses bringing generations of culture and character to our neighborhoods. We encourage you to celebrate and patronize these businesses that deliver a spirited touch of Black heritage.

In honor of Black History Month, we celebrate these small businesses and encourage you to check them out.

Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe - https://www.facebook.com/mrswhites.goldenrulecafe/ 

Community Garden - https://civileats.com/2019/01/17/a-phoenix-urban-garden-provides-at-ris…

Sammie & Dannie
Two sisters sharing treasures, they opened the vintage boutique offering clothing, accessories, furniture, and home decor.

Project Roots Inc. Farms
A non-profit seeking to provide and promote a healthier, natural, and sustainable way of living in urban areas where there is a need. The group educates the community with access to a community garden, food bank, and mobile soup kitchen. www.projectrootsaz.org

Chic Chef Co. Cafe & Marketplace
The Chic Chef Artisan products are the brainchild of Celebrity Chef Nik Fields, an experienced Chef and a true foodie who searched for a quality product to be offered to other food enthusiasts. https://www.chicchefco.com/

Solo’s Cafe
An inviting lounge offering great meals, night life, karaoke, open mic, and more.

Sweet Magnolia Smokehouse
Specializing in Mississippi-style barbecue the brains behind the restaurant, catering service, and food truck is Derry Hammond, who was born and raised in a small Mississippi town. https://sweetmagnoliasmokehouse.com/

Desert Island Eatery
A small to-go Caribbean restaurant serving vegan and non-vegan selections. https://desertislandeateryphx.com/

Blue Seas Express & Catering
Self-described fusion and eclectic restaurant serving the best fish in town! The restaurant and caterer also focus on soy-free, non-GMO options for vegetarians and vegans. https://www.facebook.com/blueseasaz/

ATL Wings
All the Luv Wings are all over the Valley. The family owned and operated business prides itself on its secret sauces. https://www.atlwings.com/

1) The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.
A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.

2) Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.

3) The Burden: African Americans and the Enduring Impact of Slavery edited by Rochelle Riley
This collection of essays is a plea to America to understand what life post-slavery remains like for many African Americans, who are descended from people whose unpaid labor built this land, but have had to spend the last century and a half carrying the dual burden of fighting racial injustice and rising above the lowered expectations and hateful bigotry that attempt to keep them shackled to that past. 

4) The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
It has spent nearly 250 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Most important of all, it has spawned a whole generation of criminal justice reform activists and organizations motivated by Michelle Alexander's unforgettable argument that "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." As the Birmingham News proclaimed, it is "undoubtedly the most important book published in this century about the U.S."

5) Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems by Lucille Clifton
The poems are personal, but the distant thunder of history rumbles behind every line. As she says on seeing a photograph: "is it the cut glass/ of their eyes/ looking up toward/ the new gnarled branch/ of the black man/ hanging from a tree?" Clifton's work hearkens back to the days of the Black Arts Movement and sheds light on the new black aesthetic. These are economical slices of ordinary life, celebrations, if you will, of African American existence. With simple language and common sense, she writes of grace, character, and race by way of the personal and familiar.

6) Harlem Shuffle
A Novel By Colson Whitehead · 2021

7) Martin Puryear
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Puryear 

8) I love Bryant Terry's work
 https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Soul-Kitchen-Creative-African-American/dp/0738212288  to discuss healthy vegan soul food.

Recipe from Jocelyn Goodwin, RN, MSN PVCC Nursing Faculty

This Collard Greens Recipe uses a Pressure Cooker.

Ingredients

2 lbs. clean and shredded (roll leaf and cut) collards. (rinse and spin dry)
4lbs smoked turkey necks or turkey leg
¼ lb. diced thick sliced bacon
1 small onion diced
Garlic (about two cloves)
2 cups of chicken broth
2 middle sized jalapeno peppers

Steps

1. Brown bacon in pressure cooker on sauté.
2. Add onions and stir before bacon has completely browned.
3. Add garlic and stir.
4. Turn off cooker so you will not burn bacon, onion, and garlic mixture.
5. Remove the stem that is in the center of the leaf before washing and cutting greens.
6. Add chicken broth to the pressure cooker.
7. Add ½ of greens and place turkey on top of the greens. Add peppers.
8. Add the second half of collards and liberally sprinkle “Slap Ya Mama” seasoning.
9. Turn pressure cooker on high, lock the top and let greens cook for 30 minutes. Total time is about 50 minutes because the pressure cooker must build up pressure and “pop” the top/valve (about ten minutes).
10. Carefully open, place a clean kitchen towel over the top to “catch” the steam, so that you will not get burned from the safety valve.
11. Stir the greens if there are any bones from the turkey necks, remove them.
12. Remove jalapenos or dice cooked peppers and stir.
13. Enjoy the collards. Tastes great with cornbread and they are a great side dish for many meals.

I like coarse ground black pepper or red pepper flakes and garlic. I add to my taste before I close the top.