In the past, minorities in Phoenix tended to live further south, but as time progressed, the diversity spread far and wide to every corner across the Valley.
At one point, Washington Street had several Black-owned businesses, but the number began to slowly dwindle over the years.
Darlene Little, who has a doctorate in education, had plans to preserve the culture of the area by opening Afri-Soul in 2018.
Black artists, musicians, photographers, entrepreneurs and other creators can sell their products and provide services at Afro-Soul. There are currently around 25 businesses selling their wares in the space.
The business also provides meeting rooms, podcast rooms, a photo studio, an office space for a small business and a spa.
Little is retired, but took a job as an executive director for a nonprofit organization for a few years before opening the store
She continues her work because she feels that it is her mission in life to give back to the community and be a “small Black business incubator.”
Her drive to open Afri-Soul is to help other Black-owned businesses, but it also came from her father, a former sharecropper.
“All our lives we’ve heard, ‘You don’t own anything unless you own property,’” Little said, “As I got more degrees and higher in my field of education, [my father] would always say to me, ‘That’s great but can you hire anybody, and can you fire them, and do your own company?’ And the answer was always no.”
Little started her first business with her husband in California. After visiting Africa several times, she started selling African imports at the store. She later moved to Arizona where she opened Afri-Soul on Washington and 12th street.
Before entering, customers are met with a mural of several Black novelists. Above it reads, “Black Lives Matter”.
Music created by only Black musicians is constantly playing and the space is engraved with traditional African artifacts, paintings and clothing.
One of the many businesses at Afri-Soul is the Grassrootz Bookstore & Juice Bar, where the books sold are mainly focused around Black history.
“It’s giving you the Black culture from a Black perspective and from somebody that actually lived and experienced it versus it coming from a second source that did not experience or grow up in that type of situation,” Grassrootz store manager Kylie Chamblee said.
In an interview with AZ Mirror, Meskerem Glegziabher, director of inclusion and community engagement for the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University, said, “The systemic and ongoing erasure of the trauma Black people in America have experienced since the nation’s inception, often at the hands of the state, allows people to feign surprise every few years when the killings of Black people erupt in widespread anger and protests.”
After the death of George Floyd in 2020, Grassrootz began to see an increase of interest in social justice books with customers wanting to learn about critical race theory and Black culture.
For Chamblee, who is half Black and half Native Cherokee, places like Grassrootz provide a place where she can learn about that side of her family and own her identity by connecting with people around her.
While Afri-Soul and Grassrootz primarily advertise towards helping the Black community, they value the importance of all cultures.
“We’re always very welcoming to anybody that comes in because that’s the whole point is we want to be treated equal, so we treat everybody equally that comes into this space,” Chamblee said.
Little plans to make her business a nonprofit organization next year so she can write grants to bring services for businesses and education for the community. She feels confident to do so with her past experience in the nonprofit sector.
Her hope is to create generational wealth for people, not just with money, but with life lessons.
Little said, “We have to make sure we don’t pass on our fear, we pass on our encouragements, all of our good things to our kids, but we have to first recognize we have those fears.”
Contact the reporter at gfgarza1@asu.edu.
