Henry G. Parks, Jr. saw to it that the lawn outside his Parks Sausage Company plant was always perfectly manicured. He introduced “sell-by” dates on packages of his signature breakfasts sausages so consumers would know they were fresh. And he invited federal inspectors into his plant at a time when only state inspections were required. As a pioneering Black businessman competing in an overwhelmingly white world of food manufacturing and retailing, Parks knew he would be under extra scrutiny.
So he built a model manufacturing business.