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After a humble start picking cotton in the fields of Alabama, Theodore Mack Sr. aspired to do something different – namely brew beer and provide employment opportunities for those in underserved communities.
His 1970 purchase of Peoples Brewing Co. in Oshkosh achieved both aims and landed the Civil Rights activist a page in the history books as Wisconsin’s first – and only – Black-owned brewing company.
Five decades later, Mr. Mack’s legacy remains alive and well in every can of Peoples Beer, brewed by Oak Park Brewing Co. (in Sacramento, of all places!) using the original, born-in-Oshkosh recipe.
Cheers to a historic collaboration.
– Hannah Van Sickle, The Wisconsin 100