Mama African Marketplace Forced to Move

“I allowed this space to be a space where everybody is welcome, everybody is accepted for who they are,” Williams said. “Mama’s Africa’s Marketplace is a home to feel welcome, loved and appreciated.” 

On the corner of E. 71st St and S. Clyde Ave, the Marketplace housed vibrant African clothes, jewelry, furniture, drums, incense, beauty products and foods. In the back of the store, customers could find an even larger space that is used to host community events such as jam sessions, healing circles or community health training. 

“The idea behind Mama Africa’s Marketplace was to provide affordable African cultural things to help our people connect without feeling like it is something exclusive or for the elite,” Williams said. 

But since December, the Marketplace has been threatened by the prospect of a local cash buyer offering $550,000 to purchase William’s business space. As reported in the Chicago Sun-Times, the local buyer, Eli Williamson, is on the Board of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, and intends to transform the space for veteran affairs support.

“That’s where it gets hurtful. Knowing that everybody knew that Mama Africa’s Marketplace was going to be asked to leave and nobody came to reach out to help or to say, hey,” said Williams. 

Williamson did not respond to comments for this article. According to their website, the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, “strengthens and supports our business corridors and small businesses, by empowering our members with effective training, technical assistance and access to private sector and governmental resources.”

With less than sixty days of notice, Williams has worked to fundraise $100,000 in order to compete with the buyer’s interest. She recalls that on Christmas Eve, her building landlord called to notify her of the buyer and that she only had days to potentially move out or raise funds. 

Three days later, Williams met with her landlord and was able to convince him to give her more time to fundraise after forty people showed up at the Marketplace in support. 

“I went to Facebook, and was like, ‘if I can get people to come down here, and show some support to say, hey, we’re supporting her, we’re gonna help her with this. If you wanna give us some more time, we would appreciate it,’” Williams said about the social media callout. 

Since then, Williams says she has been overwhelmed with the amount of community support she has received. With the help of her team, she has been able to surpass her original donation goal of $16,000, and instead has received nearly $29,000 donations via GoFundMe in less than a month. 

“Showing up for a pillar, that is this space, is vitally important because they do so much work for the community,” said Cypress Wolf, a participant at a recent fundraising event in January, who drove nearly two hours from Rockford, Illinois to show support. 

Williams was not able to raise enough funds by the landlord’s deadline of January 23. Fortunately, the community outreach and support has allowed her to find a temporary storefront to lease at 344 E. 71st St. 

Williams says she is grateful for the support but says she is still looking for a permanent home. 

For many community members, the battle over Mama’s Marketplace also hints at larger, changing dynamics of the South Side given the highly anticipated opening of the Obama Center in Jackson Park. Like Williams, many local business owners on the South Side are grappling with increased property tax rates and competition from buyers. 

“It’s important that there are spaces for people who are already there [South Shore]. Not for the people who want to come, not for people we’re trying to draw there, but for the people who are there already,” said Martine Caverl, executive director of Ujimaa Medics.

Ujimaa Medics, a local organization, has partnered with Mama’s Marketplace to provide public health and safety training about gun shot wound aid, CPR, and Black maternal health.

“What I don’t understand is why the buyer needs that building,” said Caverl. “There’s already an awesome community service happening in the building. Why that one? Why displace this? I don’t get that.” 

For local vendors and businesses, the idea of losing Mama’s Marketplace will also impact their accessibility to customers and income. 

“When they have events, I bring food. She’s always been available and made the space accessible to me,” said Anthony Batie, a local vegan chef and priest. 

Every first Sunday, Batie has been able to host “Spirit Sundays” at Mama’s Marketplace and provide dinners to residents and community members.

“We also share African songs, dance and open up the circle in the space for healing. This is a comfortable space to do that, a comfortable space to learn,” he said. 

He also highlighted how comfortable it is to do business with Williams. 

“Not having a place where I can just pay out of pocket, or donate what I have if I don’t have nothing, and [yet] she still offers a space. There’s really nothing like that that exists out here,” Batie said. 

Youth employment has also been a core mission of the Marketplace, said Williams. As a former organizer for Chicago Senator Van Pelt, Williams says the experience helped to inform her about youth needs.

“My thing was, how do I help empower these young people to be able to get paid while working, but also working on things that are important to them,” Williams said. 

For some youth that has meant that they have been able to host events in her space or sell their clothing line out of her storefront, she recalled. 

When Williams first opened her doors to the community, she wasn’t aware of the term “third space”, meaning an “informal public gathering space” that “allows an individual to put aside their concerns and simply enjoy the company and conversation around them,” as defined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg.

Many community members echo that the Marketplace is one of the few third spaces to exist in South Shore and on the South Side. Williams agrees, but emphasizes that regardless of what happens to the physical space, Mama Marketplace is a community of people. 

“People are like, you are Mama’s Marketplace. But the thing is, I’m not,” said Williams. “The community is what is important. Everybody who is in this space makes this space what it is,” she said.

Jewél Jackson is an investigative, multimedia storyteller who reports on society, culture and youth.