From Biscuits To The Underground Railroad To Skilled Labor
I was going to just write about a biscuit I ate and a new cookbook that is out. However, there are so many connections that I wanted to share in this essay.
A week ago, I went to Bomb Biscuit Company in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood of Atlanta. I enjoyed the hot chicken biscuit and hash browns. Erika Council is the founder of Bomb Biscuit Company and her cookbook, Still We Rise: A Love Letter to the Southern Biscuit with Over 70 Sweet and Savory Recipes is now out. Erika Council is the granddaughter of the venerable Mildred Council (AKA Mama Dip) who opened Mama Dip’s Kitchen in Chapel Hill, NC back in 1976. Mama Dip has since passed on but her cooking legacy continues with her own cookbook and Erika’s success.
A funny thing happened while I was eating a biscuit, my sister spotted Mahershala Ali picking up his order at Bomb Biscuit Company. I didn’t think it was him because the man was taller and muscular than I thought he would be. (More often than not, actors are smaller in person). I was wrong! It turned out he was in Atlanta filming a movie and he will be playing Blade in a Marvel reboot that will be released in 2025.
Coincidentally, this is the second time that I have been in the same room with someone from the Oscar winning film, Moonlight. I met Barry Jenkins four years ago when he was in Savannah working on the Amazon show, The Underground Railroad. That show was adapted from Colson Whitehead’s book. When I lived in Brooklyn, I used to think a Park Slope bakery, Colson, was owned or named after Colson Whitehead. (In 2006, I didn’t fact check every assumption I had via a smart phone.)
Another coincidence is that Underground, the WGN show starring Jurnee Smollett and The Underground Railroad were both filmed in Savannah. The Spanish moss on the trees just screams antebellum. Locals told me about opportunities to be an extra on those sets, but personally I could not be an extra on a production where I would be dressed as an enslaved person. I would probably feel the trauma from chattel slavery as soon as I donned the costume.
In downtown Savannah, you can take a tour of one of the oldest Black churches in the United States. First African Baptist is the church featured in the iconic episode of Real Housewives of Atlanta where Porscha Williams, granddaughter of civil rights leader Hosea Williams thought that the Underground Railroad was an actual train like a subway. Currently, Porsha is decidedly above ground as she is one of the contestants on the reality show, Stars on Mars.
Speaking of railroads, Pullman porters worked as servers on trains across the United States. The Black men who worked on the train were considered to be “ambassadors of hospitality”. The Pullman Porters organized and founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925. This was the very first African-American labor union to sign a collective bargaining agreement with a major U.S. corporation. A. Philip Randolph led the union of Pullman porters.
Today, we have come full circle as both the writers and actors’ unions are on strike. In addition, there are people in Florida who claim that the enslaved were unskilled labor and that slavery was a benefit to those enslaved. This is nonsense. As anyone who has watched the Netflix series High On The Hog, they know that is not true. For example, Africans were brought over to Charleston, Savannah and the low country specifically because they were skilled in growing rice. You can also read Jessica B. Harris’ book, High On The Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America to read about culinary history and African American history.
Everything is relative. Everyone is related. Skilled labor should be paid fairly.
Thank You
Thank you so very much for reading. Please hit the heart button and share this newsletter with other lovely humans.