Nine Black Restaurateurs and Chefs Who Have Made a Difference
The history of African American-run restaurants goes back further than most people know.
Clockwise from top left: Edouardo Jordan; Barbara Smith; the Dooky Chase family; Marcus Samuelsson; Patrick Clark; Cato Tavern; a Patrick Clark-taught cooking class at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, in Roxbury, Mass., where there’s an emphasis on diversity.
Source (clockwise from bottom-left): Tom Landers/The Boston Globe/Getty Images. JuneBaby. Geo. P. Hall & Son/The New York Historical Society/Getty Images. Barbara Alper/Getty Images. Courtesy Dooky Chase’s Restaurant. Judy Griesedieck/Star Tribune/Getty Images. The Cuisine Network. Alice Morse Earle.
If there was a silver lining to 2020, it’s the response from people of goodwill to pivotal events such as the murder of George Floyd. Those individuals rushed to affirm Black Americans and to support Black businesses, including restaurants. Last year, searches for Black-owned business spiked 600% compared with 2019, according to Google. This attention to Black-owned dining establishments is centuries overdue; the legacy of Black restaurateurs goes back more than 250 years. Here we celebrate nine who have made a difference through changing periods of America’s history.
Then and now, Black restaurateurs and chefs face innumerable challenges. Running a restaurant is hard enough without the persistent problem of racism. Following the end of slavery in 1865, restaurants owned by Black chefs and entrepreneurs had a place in society, but proprietors faced threats to their life and property if they were too successful. They had to consistently calibrate ways to succeed without generating White resentment.