{"id":9683,"date":"2025-06-04T16:53:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T16:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.centerforemdd.com\/?page_id=9683"},"modified":"2025-06-11T17:26:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T17:26:34","slug":"monthly-blog","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.uiuxessentials.com\/?page_id=9683","title":{"rendered":"Monthly Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Afropop tastes like a family reunion: Oklahoma\u2019s Black-owned soda<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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It\u2019s time to ditch the Faygo, forget the Fanta, and pick up a can of Afropop. That\u2019s the message from the founder of Oklahoma\u2019s only Black-owned soda company.
Since launching his first product in December 2023, Jamel Stephens has had a problem. He can\u2019t keep his cans of all-natural craft soda in the stores because they keep selling out.
\u201cI think Afropop is very unapologetic, and I think it\u2019s very bold. We put a Black woman on the face of a can and put her in front of anyone and everyone for them to see,\u201d Stephens told The Black Wall Street Times Saturday.
With locations across the state\u2019s five major cities so far\u2013OKC, Moore, Norman, Tulsa and Broken Arrow\u2013millions of Oklahoma have the opportunity to drink culture in a can. Afropop joins other companies in what is set to become a 600 billion dollar industry by 2030.
While major corporations cave to far-right President Donald Trump\u2019s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives (DEI), Stephens is betting on Black, with bold new flavors available for all Oklahomans to enjoy. near you.
From the butterscotch cream of Grandma\u2019s House, to the rich darkness of Blvcker The Berry, Stephens partnered with a local artist to personally design the can of each flavor.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cI grew up in rural Oklahoma, and I found my cultural identity through artistry. I wanted to create a product with a blank canvas that allows other artists to design the packages for me,\u201d Stephens said. \u201cAnd for me, Afrofuturism is the foundation for Afropop, that freedom of expression and the belief that people can tell their own stories.\u201d<\/p>

Black-owned soda is part of Oklahoma\u2019s history
<\/b>Grandma\u2019s House, with a taste that only be described as a family reunion, is a crowd favorite that can be found at the Market at Eastpointe in OKC or Fulton Street Books & Coffee on Black Wall Street in Tulsa\u2019s Historic Greenwood District.
For Stephens, the familiar flavor carries on the tradition of Black-owned soda companies that came before him.
As early as 1918, Percy James and his wife, Hattie, had established Oklahoma\u2019s first Black-owned soda company, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. Jay-Kola. Named after their daughter Jewel, the company was birthed out of segregation. With Coca-Cola refusing to sell in Black neighborhoods, James decided to produce his own brand of cola in various flavors.
For over 50 years, the company operated and trucked products across the state.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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As one of the business owners in OKC\u2019s historically Black Deep Deuce neighborhood, James went on to establish the Jewel Theater.
Jay-Kola even sponsored Oklahoma City\u2019s negro baseball team, the Jay-Kola Giants, in the 1940s. James\u2019 retirement in 1963 due to health reasons eventually led to the end of the franchise.
The historic company was originally named Afri-Cola, and Stephens said founding AfroPop a century later feels like carrying the baton for Black-owned soda.
\u201c100 years later, we\u2019re still not seeing that representation that we want in soda, and so another soda company exists to disrupt and to change the beverage industry,\u201d Stephens said.<\/span><\/p>

The future of Afropop
<\/b>Despite being in operation for only a year, Stephens has big plans for the brand. He recalled the moment he realized Afropop was bigger than himself.
During the early stages of the company, he once walked into Eastside Pizza, a popular Black-owned spot in OKC. A customer asked him about his company and offered to donate money to support Afropop.
\u201cHey, I heard you\u2019re starting a Southern company called Afropop,\u201d Stephens recalled the man saying.
\u201cAnd I said, yeah. And he looked at me and said, \u2018Can I give you some money for this?\u2019 I said, No, it\u2019s free. You can have it,\u201d Stephens explained. \u201cAnd he said, \u2018No, I want to be a part of something.\u2019 And he literally said that he was almost going to cry because he never knew that he needed to see himself in a can of soda.\u201d
\u201cI want to foster creativity specifically within the Black community and allow artists to continue to design artworks for our pieces and be able to amplify their voices, as well as creating scholarships and grants for Black creatives and the culture,\u201d Stephens said.
Visit Afropop\u2019s website to learn more about their story and where to find a can of culture near you.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t

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Afropop tastes like a family reunion: Oklahoma\u2019s Black-owned soda It\u2019s time to ditch the Faygo, forget the Fanta, and pick up a can of Afropop. That\u2019s the message from the founder of Oklahoma\u2019s only Black-owned soda company.Since launching his first product in December 2023, Jamel Stephens has had a problem. He can\u2019t keep his cans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9683","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uiuxessentials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uiuxessentials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uiuxessentials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uiuxessentials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uiuxessentials.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9683"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.uiuxessentials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10464,"href":"https:\/\/www.uiuxessentials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9683\/revisions\/10464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uiuxessentials.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}