What Dr. Alvenia M. Fulton Began
The remains of Fultonia’s
There is a commemorative marker missing on 521 53rd St. in Chicago's South side. All you can see today is a boarded-up building and nothing remains of Fultonia’s Health Food, a combination health food store, restaurant, and medicinal herb shop. This spot had been the location of a thriving business with customers, both working-class folk and celebrities. Cities construct monuments to politicians, philanthropist, and military leaders, but not to African American female entrepreneurs and food rebels. However, what Dr. Alvenia M. Fulton began has reverberated across the world and we experience her influence today. It is not surprising that she won the praises of the first generation of what we now call the natural food and supplement movement. The result of her work continues today in juice bars, and the rows of stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. An encounter with Dick Gregory when he was running for mayor of Chicago expanded her influence. Fulton would go on to mentor Gregory about fasting as he became increasingly involved in the civil rights and Anti-Vietnam war movements.
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