Ted Mack and America's First Black-Owned Brewery

<p> Born a sharecropper in rural Alabama in 1930 Theodore A. (Ted) Mack Sr. fought in the Korean War and then played football at Ohio State while earning a college degree. Brewing and selling beer he believed would be just another peak to attain. After all it couldn't be more challenging than his experience in organizing buses to the March on Washington or picketing segregated schools in Milwaukee.</p><p> This is the story of Mack's purchase of Peoples Brewing Company in Oshkosh Wisconsin. Though he had carefully planned for the historic acquisition he underestimated the subtle bigotry of Middle America the corruption of the beer industry and the failures of the federal government that plagued his ownership. Mack's ownership of Peoples Brewing is an inspirational story of Black entrepreneurship innovation and pride at a time when America was at an important racial justice crossroads.</p>