by Daniel Colchado
There is something powerful about the way a pie can bring people together—whether around a family holiday table or shared among friends. But when that pie comes from Uhuru Bakery & Café, it also carries a history and a purpose with it. Every pie is part of a decades-long tradition of building Black community independent economic power.
Since Uhuru Bakery & Café opened at 3719 West Florissant Avenue in August 2026, new visitors have become familiar faces. Many are people from the College Hill neighborhood who had been waiting for a place like this. They return to eat breakfast or lunch, sit together, talk together, and experience the bakery as a place that belongs to their community. That response is meaningful because Uhuru Bakery & Café was created to be more than a restaurant—it is a gathering place for community empowerment.
The reputation of Uhuru Pies has been growing for years. The Uhuru Foods team has sold pies at the Soulard Farmers Market and through the holiday campaign, where people pre-order their pies to share with family and friends. This tradition goes back to 1981, when the African People’s Solidarity Committee began selling pies in Oakland, California, to raise material support for the programs and campaigns of the Uhuru Movement. Pumpkin and apple crumb were among the original flavors and remain favorites today.
The signature sweet potato pie carries an important history. Its traditional African recipe was developed by members of the Uhuru Movement in the early 1990s and has remained unchanged. Today, the holiday selection includes traditional favorites such as Pecan, Chocolate Bourbon Pecan, Apple Crumb, Lemon Chess, Peach, Strawberry-Rhubarb, Mixed Berry, Pumpkin and Vegan Sweet Potato.
That history is on the walls of Uhuru Bakery & Café, where photographs document the history of Uhuru Pies and the Black Power Blueprint. Visitors stop to read them, take photographs and see themselves as part of a living history. This is not history preserved in a book or museum. It is history being continued by people building institutions in their own community.
This year’s holiday campaign marks an exciting new chapter because Uhuru Pies are now being baked in our bakery. For years, pies were produced in shared or rented kitchens. Now staff and volunteers can prepare and bake food according to the needs of the community, without depending on someone else’s kitchen or schedule.
Uhuru Bakery & Café is one of many Black Power Blueprint institutions, but is the crown jewel. It is a food oasis in the middle of a food desert, offering traditional foods alongside healthy vegan options. It is a place where people can learn about a vision for Black self-determination while participating in building it themselves. Where else can you learn about the future of your community, support your own economic development—and get a slice of pie, a salad, a sandwich and a cup of coffee at the same time? In fact, you may even find employment. Our employment opportunities include cooks, prep cooks, bakers, and customer service team members.
That is part of the visionary economic planning behind the Black Power Blueprint: creating a unified, self-sustaining economic ecosystem by and for ourselves. One important piece of that strategy is vertical integration—connecting multiple stages of production and distribution rather than depending on outside businesses. In practical terms, we can grow food, prepare it, sell it and put the resources generated back into our community.
The bakery is part of a three-pronged food strategy developed by Deputy Chair Ona Zene Yeshitela. Just blocks away, Shamba La Uhuru Freedom Farm grows food for the community—harvesting approximately 300 pounds of sweet potatoes this season. Uhuru Bakery & Café transforms that food into meals and baked goods, while the One Africa! One Nation! Farmers Market helps distribute produce and connect the community with the growing economic ecosystem. The pieces are beginning to fit together.
For more than four decades, Uhuru Pies have helped turn a simple holiday tradition into a way for everyone to support African self-determination.
Just as Uhuru means “freedom” in Swahili, these are Freedom Pies. And this year, they are coming from a bakery of our own.
Visit Uhuru Bakery & Café online for bakery hours, order pies, employment and volunteer opportunities: http://uhurupies.com/
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