![]() ![]() “Everything about Harold’s is Black and everything about Harold’s is really Chicago.” Although his grandmother no longer lives in the home he visited as a child, he can vividly recall the sights and sounds of having the famous fried chicken with his family. At the height of its expansion in 2006, Harold’s Chicken Shack blossomed into 60-plus franchises, with locations as far from Chicago as Atlanta the company’s website lists nearly 40 operating today.įor Jason Goff, the host of NBC Sports Chicago’s pre- and postgame Bulls coverage, Harold’s reminds him of visits to his grandmother’s house. Pierce’s first location opened at 1235 E. It’s like the best of both worlds for someone who has that specific identity.” “Everything about Harold’s is Black and everything about Harold’s is really Chicago. “The family story of Black entrepreneurship and creating something new in this place that is full of opportunity is such a Black Chicago story,” Nettles says. Journalist Arionne Nettles tracks the impact Black Chicagoans have had on pop culture, including Harold Pierce. She’s also a lecturer on the subject at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Pierce’s story is of unique importance for Black Chicagoans, says Arionne Nettles, a veteran Chicago journalist who is tracking the impact and history Black Chicagoans have had on pop culture while researching her upcoming book, We Are Culture. He saved enough money to start his own business at 33: a chicken shack. ![]() Pierce first made a living as a chauffeur, and eventually ran a restaurant called H & H with his first wife, Hilda. During the Great Migration he moved from Alabama to Chicago’s Black Belt. Like many Black Chicagoans of his era, Pierce moved to Chicago in search of a better life and opportunities than were available in the Jim Crow South. Representatives from Harold’s did not respond to multiple requests to participate in this story. and daughter Kristen, who would eventually become CEO. Pierce died in 1988, but sold the business to family and friends who carried on the legacy, including his second wife Willa, who died in 2003, and later his son J.R. Today, Pierce and his juicy, crispy fried chicken served with its signature mild sauce are Chicago institutions - pillars of the local Black community, as essential as churches and corner stores. Harold Pierce started his business with just $800 and a single fryer. But the sauce with the chicken combination is made in heaven,” said Legend. Everything about it has to do with the sauce on the chicken. So if I see somebody not having the sauce on the chicken, I’m questioning them because you’re taking away the experience of the restaurant. “Even if they fried the chicken to perfection, you’re always gonna ask them to fry it hard, and you have to have the sauce on the chicken. You can get it on the side, but most Chicagoans order it on the chicken. Each mild sauce found in the city is different, meant to go with its own chicken, according to Legend, a complement to whatever herbs and spices were used to batter the chicken. Mild sauce is both sweet and tangy, and some say it is a combination of barbecue sauce, hot sauce, and ketchup. Most popular chicken joints in Chicago have a mild sauce, but each one’s recipe is mostly unknown. Customers have to be quick and to the point, clear and specific. The cashier doesn’t have time for you to think about your order.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |