The glory days of black funeral homes infusing black communities with economic power have come and gone. Ebony Magazine reported 3000 black-owned funeral homes across the country in 1953. There are 1,200 or fewer black funeral homes in the United States today. In Philadelphia, where black funeral homes have traditionally wielded economic strength, the untimely closures have occurred over the past twenty years. At risk is the loss of a cultural institution of traditional mourning among African-Americans that has existed for centuries.
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