User:Krystalotten/Prophetcostonie

Prophet Kiowa Costonie, also known as Tony Green, was a renowned faith healer turned civil rights activist. Costonie arrived in Baltimore in June 1933. It was there where he found an overwhelming number of white store owners and demanded that those stores begin hiring African Americans immediately or face a community boycott. This campaign was called the “Buy Where You Can Work” movement. The prophet spent most of his time demonstrating his campaign in Baltimore picketing on Pennsylvania Avenue stores, specifically the 1700 block. Business owners admitted that their business dropped 60% in the first weekend of picketing and practically diminished by the middle of the following week. However, after being faced with arrest and a minimum $1000 bond for release, Costonie and his supporters were forced to call off the picketing a little more than a week after it began. The Prophet moved on to create a voter registration campaign for blacks based in Perkins Baptist Church where he was preaching while in Baltimore. He provided his own funds to transport voters to the courthouse downtown to pronounce their intent to vote. He convinced 200 blacks to register and also stimulated the Fourth District Republican Club and several clergymen to begin their own registration drives.