The iconic advertising executive Thomas Burrell grew up on Chicago’s south side, right across the park at 59th and Calumet. He would become a trailblazer in the advertising world.
Burrell – a longtime donor to La Rabida – agreed to talk to us for Black History Month.
Having worked with giants over the years at his agency, Burrell Communications (think clients like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola – his work now appearing in museums for its cultural significance) he remembers having to decide what “to do” for Black History Month from a campaign point-of-view each year. He says he often wanted to ask his behemoth clients, “But what are you doing the other 11 months of the year to lift up black people?”
It’s something he ultimately ended up doing himself.
He convinced corporations that “black people are not dark-skinned white people” – which became his tagline. He worked his way up from a mail clerk in the back room of a Chicago ad agency to running his own shop in 1971. He would hire black people, be the first to target ads to black consumers and grow opportunities for black people to finally see themselves as worthy of marketing.
“We put them onscreen in a way they had never seen before,” he recalls. “People got a real sense of self from that. Seeing themselves center stage and on TV – that gave them a sense of who they were, and they had never seen themselves before in that way.”
He visited La Rabida for the first time when he was in his 20s, often driving by and wondering “what is that beautiful place looking over the water?”
He says the brave, ill children struck him.
“To get there and see these kids going through all the things they’re going through with such courage. And of course the fact that I knew it was black and white kids together,” he says.
In 1896 the women who ran the sanitarium made a pledge to keep it open to all races, and it has remained that way over the years. Burrell says that kind of commitment to equality is profound.
That’s one of the reasons Burrell has continued to support La Rabida over the years, because of our commitment to the most underserved populations.
As a black man, Burrell says he doesn’t want extra credit for his annual gifts. It’s just something he does.
Burrell was involved in the Friends of La Rabida gala at its inception and was instrumental in introducing associates to the event and inviting celebrities to attend.
“It’s nice to be remembered for what you do, but the important thing is TO DO,” he says. “Take the few seconds you have here [on Earth] and have some fun and do some good. You can’t do any better than when you see those kids at La Rabida. They’re incredible.”
