Someone’s got to feed the revolution.
ARGIA B. COLLINS, 76
Restaurateur created Mumbo barbecue sauce
By Brad Webber
Tribune staff reporter
February 6, 2003
South Side entrepreneur Argia B. Collins launched his own brand of barbecue sauce long before boutique brands cluttered store shelves.
He also provided the fuel, quite literally, to the civil rights struggle of the 1960s, as his popular barbecue restaurant was a frequent source of free nourishment for a young Rev. Jesse Jackson and other organizers of Operation Breadbasket, a predecessor of Operation PUSH.
Mr. Collins, 76, died of heart and kidney failure Saturday, Feb. 1, in the University of Chicago Hospitals.
Born to a large family in Indianola, Miss.–one of the few black families to own the land they farmed and one of the few of any race to own an automobile–Mr. Collins was instilled with the desire to be his own boss early on, said his family.
In the early 1950s, he opened his first Argia B’s Bar-B-Que House at 47th Street and Forrestville Avenue, which relocated to 78th and Halsted Streets, and later added a location at 71st Street and Yates Avenue and a third in Gary. He sold all three and retired in 1992. “He had always wanted to be in business for himself,” said his wife, Susie.”He always had a desire and drive. He was always searching for new ideas,” which included an ill-fated music production company, June 1st Music, which in the early 1970s released a few rhythm and blues records by the group The Velvet Hammer, Artie “Blues Boy” White and Garland Green on labels such as Susie, Dodie and Tammy, named after his wife and children.
Although the venture was an expensive one, “He always said `can’t’ shouldn’t be in your vocabulary,” his wife said.
“He was a risk-taker,” said his daughter Allison Butts, president of Select Brands Inc., maker of his Mumbo Barbeque Sauce in original, hickory and tangy flavors.
His flashiness and snazzy attire made him a magnetic figure for a community in search of positive role models, said Hazel Thomas, a longtime Operation Breadbasket volunteer.
“He was something visible that all the young people could see. He was a real dresser and he had a winning personality,” Thomas said.
Mr. Collins experienced the struggle of being an African-American businessman and getting bottles of his product, developed in 1957, in the big chain stores. By 1968 Mumbo sauce was sold in Jewel, Dominick’s and other big stores. “When Rev. Jackson first came to town, he was very poor,” Thomas said. “Because Argia B. was just so free, we’d call over there and say, `Rev. Jackson wants to know if it’s OK if we can get some food. Somebody would get the car and go get it.
“Whoever needed to be fed, we’d tell them to go to the barbecue house. It was phenomenal. Argia was well-loved. He was a kind, generous person. We ate a lot of barbecue.”
Mr. Collins is also survived by two sons, Argia B. Jr. and Don; five more daughters, Tamra Collins-Mumphery, Yolanda Brown, Argia Babette Watson, Verna Lynn Tucker and Misty; a brother, Caesar; a sister, Laura; 13 grandchildren; and 6 great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be held from 11 a.m. to noon Friday, when a service will begin in A.A. Rayner & Sons Funeral Home, 318 E. 71st St., Chicago.
GoogObits: Sauce (ARGIA B. COLLINS, 76)
by
Tags: