Parks Sausage Company photograph and ephemera collection

Henry G. Parks, Jr. (1916-1989) opened the Parks Sausage Company in an abandoned dairy in Baltimore, Maryland in 1951. The company was successful and sold its products along the east coast, from Virginia to Massachusetts, with their slogan “More Parks Sausages, Mom” becoming popular across the northeast. The company became the first African American owned business to be publicly traded on the New York Stock exchange. By the 1970s, the company employed over 300 employees, and was known for its high standards of production and cleanliness.

Henry G. Parks Jr., owner and founder of the Parks Sausage Company, was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1916 to parents Henry G. Parks, Sr. and Gainelle Esther Williams. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and attended Ohio State University. Parks studied business and marketing at Ohio State, where he earned honors and was the only Black student in the marketing department. His professor encouraged him to move to South America after graduation, so that he could learn Spanish and pass himself off as a South American among white businessmen in the United States. Parks instead chose to stay in America, despite the challenges that came with working in a majority white business. After working in marketing and public relations jobs, in 1951 he decided to open his own business and started the Parks Sausage Company, creating his own recipes for the products. In 1977, Parks sold his share of the company for $1.58 million.

In addition to his company, Parks was involved in public organizations and politics, notably the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Urban League, among others, and served on the Baltimore City Council from 1963-1969. He was encouraged to become the first Black mayor of Baltimore, but instead stepped out of politics, citing his business conflicts. He died in 1989 of Parkinson’s disease.