One mid-Michigan resident is reflecting on his life and career as he worked to expand options and opportunities for Black community members.
Gary Dabney first got into the fashion industry in the 1970s after seeing there were no clothing stores in Lansing that catered to his community.
“There was no market here in Lansing for minorities,” Dabney said. “So, we just had to go into business.”
Dabney opened his first store in Lansing with his cousin while they were only in their early 20s. Jeans and dashikis were among their most popular items.
After his cousin moved to Atlanta in the late '70s, Dabney opened his second store in East Lansing. This was Dabney Boutique—the first Black-owned men’s clothing store in the city, he says.
“I used to be able to fly to all the shows in New York, California, Florida and Detroit to all the fashion shows and order my stuff.”
After a decade in the fashion industry, Dabney left to become a real estate agent. He says he was the first Black agent to be hired by his realty company.
When he started in the '80s, he says many white brokers did not want to work with a Black agent. In addition, East Lansing still had racial restrictions on some neighborhoods.
“We had three by five cards in real estate [with] the particulars about each home,” said Dabney. “In East Lansing and in different areas, they had on the cards— 'no colored allowed.'”
Even as recently as two years ago, around 100 homes in one East Lansing neighborhood still had racially discriminatory language in their property covenants. And while that language is no longer enforceable, the state recently passed legislation allowing homeowners to disavow it.
Dabney is turning 81 and retired from a successful career, but he’s brought others from his community into the business.
“As a Black real estate agent, I brought minorities into the mix of selling real estate and I encouraged them to come into real estate,” said Dabney. “I urged brokers to hire more Black real estate salespeople.”
In fact, he says his daughter now sells real estate in Lansing.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.