The South Rises Yet Again: Wal-Mart and the Post-Civil Rights Consumer Empowerment Movement

Abstract

Absent from critiques of Walmart is an analysis of the meanings that consumers with a long history of social and political disenfranchisement at the local level attach to this global retail giant. For black Southerners, Walmart carries meanings extending far beyond the price of goods and services, the convenience of one-stop shopping, and the opportunity for employment. Walmart’s charitable contributions to and partnerships with African American organizations and institutions that raise the global profile of African American culture makes the global retailer a more attractive alternative than local business establishments with a history of limited support for African American community-based initiatives.