A long-broken post-Civil War pledge is finding new meaning on Chicago’s West Side. During Black History Month, entrepreneur Liz Abunaw is reframing the historic promise of “forty acres and a mule” through the launch of her grocery store, Forty Acres Fresh Market, in the Austin neighborhood. The concept references the federal government’s unfulfilled commitment to provide land and opportunity to formerly enslaved people. For Abunaw, it represents economic ownership and community investment.
