At the Queens Museum of Art

As part of “The Real Pepsi Challenge Exhibit”

July 26, 3-5 pm: Race and Gender in Business, moderated by author Stephanie Capparell, of The Wall Street Journal

Panelists from business and academia will discuss the history and current status of workplace diversity and inclusion. Participants include:

JONATHAN BEAN, professor of history, Southern Illinois University, on how black civil-rights leaders have courted corporations in the struggle for fair employment.

ROBERT WEEMS, professor of African-American business and economic history at the University of Missouri, on the “desegregation of the dollar” and why it pays to pioneer.

ILENE H. LANG, president of Catalyst, the leading organization for research on women in business, on the expanding opportunities for women to advance to leadership roles.

JANNETTE L. DATES, dean, John H. Johnson School of Communications. Howard University, on efforts of her school and the American Association of Advertising Agencies to address the lack of diversity at all levels of the advertising industry.

* Museum Brochure

* Saturday Film Series

* Monday Film Series

Opening Day : May 18, 2008

Museum Exhibit Intro

THE REAL PEPSI CHALLENGE: BREAKING THE COLOR BARRIER IN AMERICAN BUSINESS

The Pepsi-Cola Company of Long Island City, Queens, began in 1940 to create an African-American sales force to tap into the growing but largely ignored black-consumer market. The cola wars had just begun, and the company’s leadership knew it had to break the color barrier to win new customers for its then-fledgling soft-drink business. These pioneers, however, were fighting a more important battle: the struggle for gain access to white Corporate America.

The Pepsi-Cola special-markets team—12 at its peak in 1951—represented some of the first African-Americans to hold professional jobs in the mainstream corporate world. Their success helped change the way America did business. They revolutionized how black Americans were portrayed in advertisements, set the foundation for what would become known as niche marketing, and did some of the earliest training in workforce diversity.

The company and its unique sales force used to their advantage the collision of business and the equal-rights movement in the mid-20th century. The job of salesman was one of the most popular as America rushed toward economic prosperity. And integration was the rallying cry of a generation that had defeated white supremacy overseas. The goal was to build a more democratic and affluent society.

The results of Pepsi-Cola’s early efforts at inclusion were mixed. In 1951, the team was dispersed by a new chief and the company failed to accommodate most of these hugely talented employees. Yet, some of salesmen thrived. By 1962, one of them, Harvey C. Russell, had become the first African-American ever promoted to vice president of a major corporation. A path had been set for future generations of employees to follow.

“To the ranks of the unsung civil rights pioneers, add Pepsi-Cola’s first special-markets sales staff. Instead of schoolrooms or lunch counters, their struggles and victories took place in offices, storefronts, and factory floors.”

---- from The Real Pepsi Challenge, a book by Stephanie Capparell, published by Wall Street Journal Books and Free Press.

Bloomberg Review

"'The Real Pepsi Challenge: Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business,' is a gently didactic exhibition at the Queens Museum of Art in New York. It tells the story of the 12 black men who worked at Pepsi as their 'special markets' sales team from 1940 to 1951, through news clippings, letters, vintage audio recordings and contemporary video interviews."

Story by Carly Berwick for Bloomberg.com, read more here.

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