1 00:00:06,006 --> 00:00:09,009 -[water rustling] -[bird chirping] 2 00:00:09,092 --> 00:00:11,094 [soft music playing] 3 00:00:22,605 --> 00:00:24,482 This water is so grounding. 4 00:00:24,566 --> 00:00:25,900 Absolutely. 5 00:00:25,984 --> 00:00:29,779 We are here at the Atlantic, and it's so much more grounding 6 00:00:29,863 --> 00:00:34,200 when we look out towards the East, toward Africa 7 00:00:35,535 --> 00:00:39,372 because this water was the birth canal of African Americans. 8 00:00:40,540 --> 00:00:42,834 This water sustained us. 9 00:00:44,044 --> 00:00:46,171 This water brought us here. 10 00:00:47,255 --> 00:00:49,007 This water kept us alive. 11 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:55,013 [man] On our last voyage, 12 00:00:55,513 --> 00:00:58,933 Dr. Jessica Harris and I explored the coast of Benin. 13 00:00:59,017 --> 00:01:00,435 [Jessica] We've got black-eyed peas. 14 00:01:00,518 --> 00:01:03,271 We've got okra. We've got watermelon. 15 00:01:03,354 --> 00:01:04,981 It made the voyage with us. 16 00:01:07,442 --> 00:01:11,237 [man] Tracing the ingredients and flavors at the core of our history. 17 00:01:11,321 --> 00:01:12,155 Delicious. 18 00:01:12,238 --> 00:01:16,159 [man 2] Everything you have here is before the slave ship. 19 00:01:26,127 --> 00:01:27,545 [man] And in America, 20 00:01:28,046 --> 00:01:31,674 we explored the perseverance and innovation of Black cuisine. 21 00:01:31,758 --> 00:01:34,302 -We've got some rice. -[man 3] That's the number one ingredient. 22 00:01:35,011 --> 00:01:37,472 [man] Through our arrival, enslavement, 23 00:01:37,972 --> 00:01:39,682 and emancipation. 24 00:01:43,311 --> 00:01:47,524 [man 4] Emancipation Proclamation was read on January 1, 1863. 25 00:01:47,607 --> 00:01:49,526 That's when we were legally free. 26 00:01:56,241 --> 00:01:58,451 [man] Now we're setting on a new voyage 27 00:01:59,077 --> 00:02:00,703 and making our first stop. 28 00:02:01,371 --> 00:02:02,413 New Orleans. 29 00:02:02,497 --> 00:02:05,792 The best part is the last three words of this recipe. 30 00:02:05,875 --> 00:02:07,502 "Pass the hot sauce." 31 00:02:08,419 --> 00:02:09,838 I'm Stephen Satterfield. 32 00:02:10,421 --> 00:02:12,465 As a food writer who trained as a chef 33 00:02:12,549 --> 00:02:14,968 and worked as a sommelier for over a decade… 34 00:02:15,051 --> 00:02:16,261 -Cheers. -Cheers. 35 00:02:16,344 --> 00:02:18,763 …I spend a lot of time telling the story of food. 36 00:02:18,847 --> 00:02:23,143 She could feed and fuel the Civil Rights Movement. 37 00:02:23,226 --> 00:02:25,812 [Stephen] Post-emancipation to the present, 38 00:02:25,895 --> 00:02:28,022 Dr. J and I are continuing our journey 39 00:02:28,106 --> 00:02:31,192 to uncover the stories of African Americans 40 00:02:31,734 --> 00:02:35,238 through the food we grow, prepare, and commune over. 41 00:02:35,321 --> 00:02:37,365 [laughing] 42 00:02:38,116 --> 00:02:39,242 Blessings. 43 00:02:39,325 --> 00:02:42,328 [Stephen] The food that transformed America. 44 00:02:45,039 --> 00:02:47,041 [theme song playing] 45 00:03:25,705 --> 00:03:27,707 [music ends] 46 00:03:36,799 --> 00:03:38,801 [folk music playing] 47 00:03:48,561 --> 00:03:51,689 [Stephen] The waters of New Orleans have brought in new people, 48 00:03:51,773 --> 00:03:54,567 new languages, new ingredients, 49 00:03:54,651 --> 00:03:56,945 creating a new blended culture, 50 00:03:57,904 --> 00:03:59,489 born in a new world. 51 00:04:00,365 --> 00:04:01,950 A Creole culture, 52 00:04:02,784 --> 00:04:05,119 although influenced by many different countries, 53 00:04:05,203 --> 00:04:10,083 in Louisiana, the seeds of Creole are undeniably Black. 54 00:04:12,418 --> 00:04:14,796 -No powdered sugar. -No powdered sugar. Look at that! 55 00:04:15,713 --> 00:04:16,547 [woman] Mmm. 56 00:04:16,631 --> 00:04:19,092 [Stephen] I arrive in New Orleans with my mentor, 57 00:04:19,175 --> 00:04:21,511 Dr. J, who has spent decades 58 00:04:21,594 --> 00:04:23,888 studying the world through food. 59 00:04:23,972 --> 00:04:26,182 Jessica Harris. She's come out with her first book 60 00:04:26,266 --> 00:04:29,352 entitled Hot Stuff, right? What dish is this you've brought? 61 00:04:29,435 --> 00:04:32,772 This is Chicken Yassa, Poulet Yassa, from Senegal in West Africa. 62 00:04:32,855 --> 00:04:35,316 Now, you consider yourself a culinary anthropologist. 63 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:37,527 -What's that mean? -I go to different countries. 64 00:04:37,610 --> 00:04:39,988 I'm interested in not only the food and how it tastes 65 00:04:40,071 --> 00:04:42,740 but also how it relates to the culture of the country, 66 00:04:42,824 --> 00:04:45,326 what it grows out of, what the particular traditions are. 67 00:04:45,410 --> 00:04:48,329 [Stephen] So there's no better person to explore New Orleans with 68 00:04:48,413 --> 00:04:50,790 and what made its cuisine so special. 69 00:04:51,541 --> 00:04:53,543 New Orleans is an incredible place 70 00:04:53,626 --> 00:04:58,423 because right after emancipation, and even before emancipation, 71 00:04:58,506 --> 00:05:00,675 there was a political system 72 00:05:00,758 --> 00:05:04,220 under the French and the Spanish and the French again 73 00:05:04,304 --> 00:05:09,684 that allowed for a population of thousands of free people of color. 74 00:05:09,767 --> 00:05:12,562 -And many of them were Creole. -Mm-hmm. 75 00:05:12,645 --> 00:05:16,274 [Jessica] And so they created another kind of world. 76 00:05:17,900 --> 00:05:21,863 Newspapers, music, salons. 77 00:05:21,946 --> 00:05:24,949 We also begin to get political control. 78 00:05:26,075 --> 00:05:27,785 During Reconstruction, 79 00:05:28,494 --> 00:05:30,955 2,000 Black folks 80 00:05:31,039 --> 00:05:34,542 working in government positions. 81 00:05:35,418 --> 00:05:39,172 You've got people who are beginning to build Black wealth. 82 00:05:39,255 --> 00:05:42,759 Wealth that, in some ways, becomes even generational wealth. 83 00:05:42,842 --> 00:05:47,096 We also find women very much involved in things, 84 00:05:47,180 --> 00:05:52,268 and they would sell calas, a rice fritter that comes straight out of Western Africa. 85 00:05:52,852 --> 00:05:56,356 And they would cook 'em to order, and then they'd sell 'em. 86 00:05:56,439 --> 00:06:00,026 "Calas, calas. Beautiful calas, nice and hot. I've got calas!" 87 00:06:00,109 --> 00:06:02,779 So, we have a convergence of cultures, 88 00:06:02,862 --> 00:06:05,531 of French influences, of Spanish influences. 89 00:06:05,615 --> 00:06:07,241 -Free people… African. -And African. 90 00:06:07,325 --> 00:06:10,620 [Jessica] All of those things made for a very different place. 91 00:06:12,372 --> 00:06:14,374 [chill out music playing] 92 00:06:19,087 --> 00:06:22,423 [Stephen] The unique blend of cultures that made New Orleans so special 93 00:06:22,507 --> 00:06:25,218 is still echoing through its cuisine today. 94 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:28,846 Dr. J and I go visit Senegalese American Chef 95 00:06:28,930 --> 00:06:32,725 Serigne Mbaye of restaurant Dakar Nola, 96 00:06:33,810 --> 00:06:37,563 where his menu showcases the deep cultural connection 97 00:06:37,647 --> 00:06:39,899 between West Africa and New Orleans. 98 00:06:40,900 --> 00:06:46,114 Joining us is eighth-generation Creole native Michelle Joan Papillion. 99 00:06:46,197 --> 00:06:49,200 When I say "Nanga def," you guys say, "Maa'ngi fi." 100 00:06:49,283 --> 00:06:50,827 -Okay. -You're saying "hello." 101 00:06:50,910 --> 00:06:52,829 [speaking in foreign language] 102 00:06:52,912 --> 00:06:54,330 Now say it like you mean it. 103 00:06:54,414 --> 00:06:55,248 [in foreign language] 104 00:06:55,331 --> 00:06:57,917 All right, that sounds like a Louisiana Creole word. 105 00:06:58,000 --> 00:06:59,252 -Maa'ngi fi. -Yeah. 106 00:06:59,335 --> 00:07:01,796 -Maa'ngi fi. I'm right here. -That's what we were saying. 107 00:07:01,879 --> 00:07:03,089 -Love it. -Nice. 108 00:07:03,172 --> 00:07:04,173 I hope you enjoy it. 109 00:07:04,257 --> 00:07:05,466 -Thank you. -Thanks, Chef. 110 00:07:05,550 --> 00:07:06,384 Thank you, Chef. 111 00:07:06,467 --> 00:07:09,804 This is like a homecoming. When people ask, "Why New Orleans?" 112 00:07:09,887 --> 00:07:13,599 My standard answer is, "Because my soul sings there." 113 00:07:13,683 --> 00:07:16,018 Because this is a place that is 114 00:07:16,102 --> 00:07:18,855 one of the hemisphere's major food cities. 115 00:07:18,938 --> 00:07:22,859 Yeah. The history of New Orleans is astonishing, 116 00:07:22,942 --> 00:07:27,697 and I feel that it's still palpable in the people, 117 00:07:27,780 --> 00:07:30,908 not just from New Orleans but Louisiana more broadly. 118 00:07:30,992 --> 00:07:31,826 Yes. 119 00:07:31,909 --> 00:07:36,539 So you are from Southern Louisiana near Lafayette? 120 00:07:36,622 --> 00:07:37,707 Deep in the country. 121 00:07:37,790 --> 00:07:41,878 I call it Bayou Country because the bayou runs through our property. 122 00:07:41,961 --> 00:07:45,006 Part of the land is cleared, and that's where the home is. 123 00:07:45,089 --> 00:07:47,008 And then the backyard is the woods. 124 00:07:47,091 --> 00:07:49,427 Then you walk through the woods, and you're at the bayou. 125 00:07:49,510 --> 00:07:50,553 [Stephen] At the bayou. 126 00:07:50,636 --> 00:07:54,515 And our family lineage is connected to Marguerite, 127 00:07:54,599 --> 00:07:58,144 one of the ancestors that established my family. 128 00:07:58,227 --> 00:08:00,813 Her story in the 1700s, 129 00:08:00,897 --> 00:08:04,400 being promised her freedom from the person who enslaved her, 130 00:08:04,484 --> 00:08:06,110 Gregoire Guillory, 131 00:08:06,194 --> 00:08:09,780 she believed that she would be free on his death. 132 00:08:09,864 --> 00:08:11,908 His children contested that. 133 00:08:11,991 --> 00:08:15,161 So she fled to New Orleans to the Spanish courts 134 00:08:15,244 --> 00:08:17,163 and sued, and she won. 135 00:08:17,246 --> 00:08:23,085 So her and her children basically came back to Southern Louisiana 136 00:08:23,169 --> 00:08:26,130 and retreated to the woods. 137 00:08:26,214 --> 00:08:30,009 And that's where we have been since that time. 138 00:08:30,092 --> 00:08:31,594 Well, I'll drink to Marguerite. 139 00:08:31,677 --> 00:08:33,471 [Stephen] Yeah, shout-out to Marguerite. 140 00:08:33,554 --> 00:08:36,432 Shout-out to Marguerite for that. Yeah. 141 00:08:36,516 --> 00:08:41,771 I wanna ask you about Creole as a means of your own identity, 142 00:08:41,854 --> 00:08:44,190 if you identify that way, and how you grew up 143 00:08:44,273 --> 00:08:46,192 in relationship to that word and identity. 144 00:08:46,275 --> 00:08:49,820 [Michelle] Yeah, I do identify that way. I always have. 145 00:08:49,904 --> 00:08:52,406 And I think what Creole means to us 146 00:08:52,490 --> 00:08:57,328 is this mixture of the African, the French, and the native, 147 00:08:57,411 --> 00:09:00,248 and how that all sort of, like, comes together. 148 00:09:00,331 --> 00:09:03,084 And this blended history 149 00:09:03,167 --> 00:09:05,628 is part of the "Creole" tradition. 150 00:09:05,711 --> 00:09:09,757 First of all, it comes from the Spanish word "crear," 151 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:13,761 -which is to create, to be born almost. -Mm-hmm. 152 00:09:13,844 --> 00:09:17,014 And so, at its origin, it may have meant 153 00:09:17,098 --> 00:09:21,185 the children of the Africans 154 00:09:21,269 --> 00:09:23,688 who were born in the New World… 155 00:09:23,771 --> 00:09:25,106 [Stephen] Mm-hmm. 156 00:09:25,189 --> 00:09:26,732 …were Creole. 157 00:09:26,816 --> 00:09:29,569 I think the most defining thing, though, 158 00:09:29,652 --> 00:09:32,989 about when I think of what is Creole culture, 159 00:09:33,072 --> 00:09:36,784 is the food that we eat because it's the things that we grow. 160 00:09:36,867 --> 00:09:40,913 So rice is a staple, okra is a staple, 161 00:09:40,997 --> 00:09:43,624 black-eyed peas were things that we would farm. 162 00:09:43,708 --> 00:09:47,211 [Jessica] Those are all three things that have origin on the African continent. 163 00:09:47,295 --> 00:09:48,671 They came with us. 164 00:09:48,754 --> 00:09:49,755 [Michelle] Mm-hmm. 165 00:09:49,839 --> 00:09:51,215 Okay, Chef. 166 00:09:51,799 --> 00:09:55,428 [Serigne] So this is soupou kanja, which essentially 167 00:09:55,511 --> 00:09:58,973 soupou means soup, kanja means okra, 168 00:09:59,056 --> 00:10:03,144 which essentially is what New Orleans is known for, for gumbo. 169 00:10:03,644 --> 00:10:06,230 -[Stephen] Okay. -I hope you guys enjoy it. Bon appétit. 170 00:10:06,314 --> 00:10:08,316 -Bon appétit. -[Michelle] Thank you. 171 00:10:09,650 --> 00:10:10,735 Have some rice. 172 00:10:10,818 --> 00:10:12,653 [Stephen] Mmm. Thank you. 173 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:17,158 [Jessica] Mmm. 174 00:10:19,994 --> 00:10:20,828 Mmm. 175 00:10:22,496 --> 00:10:24,290 [Stephen] Wow. Delicious, Chef. 176 00:10:24,373 --> 00:10:25,333 [Michelle] Mm-hmm. 177 00:10:26,042 --> 00:10:28,628 One of the things that strikes me 178 00:10:28,711 --> 00:10:34,925 in this journey from West Africa to Louisiana 179 00:10:35,551 --> 00:10:38,554 is the role of French people. 180 00:10:38,638 --> 00:10:43,601 Is there something in the techniques of these dishes 181 00:10:43,684 --> 00:10:47,229 which comes from the French culinary influence? 182 00:10:47,313 --> 00:10:49,565 [Serigne] I mean, honestly, I truly believe that 183 00:10:49,649 --> 00:10:54,111 Senegal really inspired New Orleans cooking in many different ways, 184 00:10:54,195 --> 00:10:56,822 and when I talk about Senegambian, 185 00:10:56,906 --> 00:11:00,534 I'm also including all those countries throughout West Africa. 186 00:11:01,118 --> 00:11:02,620 And yet, we don't get the credit 187 00:11:02,703 --> 00:11:05,665 because the French were the ones that colonized us. 188 00:11:05,748 --> 00:11:07,291 Many folks believe that… 189 00:11:08,751 --> 00:11:11,003 uh, Gumbo is inspired by bouillabaisse. 190 00:11:11,087 --> 00:11:15,091 It's not. If you look at any known dish in New Orleans, 191 00:11:15,883 --> 00:11:17,426 the obvious one is rice. 192 00:11:17,510 --> 00:11:20,888 If you look at Senegal, most of our dishes are rice-based. 193 00:11:20,971 --> 00:11:22,890 -Jollof rice, just rice and meat. -Mm-hmm. 194 00:11:22,973 --> 00:11:25,393 So you can see the route between the two cultures. 195 00:11:25,476 --> 00:11:26,727 Absolutely. 196 00:11:27,228 --> 00:11:29,063 Jollof rice, that's jambalaya. 197 00:11:29,146 --> 00:11:31,899 When you're talking about the African hand in the pot 198 00:11:31,982 --> 00:11:33,901 and how that African hand in the pot 199 00:11:33,984 --> 00:11:39,407 is the thing that ultimately defined the pot in a very different way. 200 00:11:40,866 --> 00:11:44,662 [Stephen] We're not actually talking about French techniques. 201 00:11:44,745 --> 00:11:47,748 We're talking about, really, the ingredient 202 00:11:47,832 --> 00:11:51,794 being the thing that translates and defines the foods. 203 00:11:53,212 --> 00:11:58,092 [Jessica] The whole idea of watching Senegal and New Orleans 204 00:11:58,175 --> 00:12:01,804 -connect on a plate is so crucial. -Right. 205 00:12:01,887 --> 00:12:04,515 [Jessica] And it's very interesting that it's Senegal 206 00:12:04,598 --> 00:12:07,518 -because Stephen and I were last in Benin. -[Stephen] Mm-hmm. 207 00:12:07,601 --> 00:12:10,396 Senegal and Benin, they both have points 208 00:12:10,479 --> 00:12:13,524 that became points of departure 209 00:12:13,607 --> 00:12:18,696 for hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans. 210 00:12:20,281 --> 00:12:21,115 [Serigne] Voilà. 211 00:12:22,408 --> 00:12:24,326 Black-eyed peas fritters. 212 00:12:24,410 --> 00:12:25,244 Oh wow. 213 00:12:26,036 --> 00:12:28,539 [Serigne] And then, I have some sauce, onion. 214 00:12:28,622 --> 00:12:29,457 [Jessica] Mmm. 215 00:12:29,540 --> 00:12:30,916 Yes. Merci. 216 00:12:33,919 --> 00:12:36,630 [Serigne] So this sauce is the key to the fritters. 217 00:12:36,714 --> 00:12:38,549 Onions are one of those vegetables that, 218 00:12:38,632 --> 00:12:41,010 if you cook them long enough, their sweetness comes out. 219 00:12:41,093 --> 00:12:41,927 [Michelle] Yeah. 220 00:12:42,011 --> 00:12:45,890 It looks like the onions have almost dissolved completely into the sauce. 221 00:12:45,973 --> 00:12:48,726 -[Michelle] Yeah. -It's been cooking for eight hours plus. 222 00:12:48,809 --> 00:12:50,227 -[Michelle] Ooh. -Incredible. 223 00:12:51,061 --> 00:12:53,481 The onion sauce tastes like Senegal to me. 224 00:12:53,564 --> 00:12:55,107 Yeah, for sure. 225 00:12:55,191 --> 00:12:56,942 -[Stephen] Delicious. -[Michelle] Mmm. 226 00:12:57,026 --> 00:13:00,237 I have an interesting story about black-eyed peas 227 00:13:00,321 --> 00:13:02,031 that I just learned recently. 228 00:13:02,114 --> 00:13:05,201 My last trip to Gorée Island, 229 00:13:05,910 --> 00:13:08,287 where many of our ancestors saw it for the last time, 230 00:13:08,370 --> 00:13:10,748 there was a guy telling me some of these stories, 231 00:13:10,831 --> 00:13:12,416 and then I asked him, 232 00:13:13,375 --> 00:13:16,128 "What do you know of some of the food that they ate?" 233 00:13:16,712 --> 00:13:20,466 And he told me our ancestors had to be 60 kilos in order to 234 00:13:20,549 --> 00:13:22,968 get into, make it to that boat, to cross. 235 00:13:23,677 --> 00:13:27,139 And one of the things that they fed them to fatten them up, 236 00:13:27,223 --> 00:13:29,099 and every time I talk about this, I just… 237 00:13:30,976 --> 00:13:34,313 but one of the things that they fed them was black-eyed peas and palm oil. 238 00:13:34,396 --> 00:13:35,773 So we have an akara, 239 00:13:36,398 --> 00:13:39,568 black-eyed peas with onions that has palm oil into it. 240 00:13:40,110 --> 00:13:42,196 -[Jessica] Wow. -[Stephen] That is a beautiful tribute. 241 00:13:48,661 --> 00:13:53,916 [Michelle] Creole people are all connected to their ancestors in Africa. 242 00:13:53,999 --> 00:13:58,796 The flavor palette and the things that we grow, 243 00:13:58,879 --> 00:14:00,881 -it is in the DNA. -[Jessica] Part of our DNA. 244 00:14:00,965 --> 00:14:05,761 The ancestors were brought to Louisiana as enslaved people. 245 00:14:05,845 --> 00:14:10,599 So in their heads and in their hearts and in their hands, 246 00:14:11,183 --> 00:14:12,893 they also brought their food. 247 00:14:26,991 --> 00:14:30,077 [Stephen] To better understand the origins of Creole cooking, 248 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:34,206 I travel with Michelle Joan Papillion to Edgard, Louisiana, 249 00:14:34,290 --> 00:14:37,793 on a canal that has been owned by Matthew Rousseve's family 250 00:14:37,877 --> 00:14:40,004 since the late 1850s. 251 00:14:42,089 --> 00:14:44,425 The grasslands and bayous of Louisiana 252 00:14:44,508 --> 00:14:47,136 have fed families for generations. 253 00:14:52,349 --> 00:14:54,560 [Michelle] For many, many, many generations, 254 00:14:54,643 --> 00:14:58,731 we have been farming and cultivating the land, 255 00:14:58,814 --> 00:15:03,193 ranching, pretty much everything you need to be sufficient. 256 00:15:03,736 --> 00:15:07,323 My grandmother, she learned how to fish when she was a little girl 257 00:15:07,406 --> 00:15:09,658 and her job kind of became 258 00:15:09,742 --> 00:15:13,245 the one of going out and gathering the fish for the family. 259 00:15:13,329 --> 00:15:16,373 They were farmers. They were growing things in the garden, 260 00:15:16,457 --> 00:15:19,126 they had their crops, and she would go to the lake 261 00:15:19,209 --> 00:15:22,129 in order to sustain the family and feed the family. 262 00:15:22,212 --> 00:15:24,590 And that was a daily practice. 263 00:15:24,673 --> 00:15:29,178 The water for her was just as much second nature as being on the farm. 264 00:15:29,261 --> 00:15:30,095 Mm-hmm. 265 00:15:30,179 --> 00:15:35,017 And we had old-school bamboo sticks, like, 266 00:15:35,100 --> 00:15:36,560 for our fishing poles. 267 00:15:36,644 --> 00:15:38,979 What kind of fish were you catching? 268 00:15:39,063 --> 00:15:42,358 We caught snapper, buffalo, perch. 269 00:15:42,441 --> 00:15:43,692 We had trout. 270 00:15:44,485 --> 00:15:46,779 Um. We had bass. 271 00:15:47,613 --> 00:15:50,658 [Stephen] Being a city kid and growing up in Atlanta, 272 00:15:50,741 --> 00:15:54,036 I didn't have to think about where our groceries came from. 273 00:15:54,787 --> 00:15:56,747 For Michelle and Matt's families, 274 00:15:56,830 --> 00:16:01,168 they had to rely on the bayou as their source for what fed them. 275 00:16:01,877 --> 00:16:04,046 [Matthew] The name of this canal is Stump Canal. 276 00:16:04,129 --> 00:16:05,839 I see why they call it Stump Canal. 277 00:16:05,923 --> 00:16:07,383 Yeah, they got stumps in here. 278 00:16:07,466 --> 00:16:10,302 In the wintertime, you catch a lot of sacalait. 279 00:16:10,386 --> 00:16:14,139 Right now, you catch a lot of perch in here. A lot of perch. 280 00:16:14,723 --> 00:16:16,976 [Stephen] Living off the Louisiana coast 281 00:16:17,059 --> 00:16:20,813 seems to be an important aspect of Creole culture. 282 00:16:20,896 --> 00:16:23,065 I got some docile-looking crickets for you. 283 00:16:23,148 --> 00:16:24,984 [Matthew] That's what we're talking about. 284 00:16:25,067 --> 00:16:28,404 [Stephen] Matt and his family still live off these waters today, 285 00:16:29,029 --> 00:16:31,031 fishing in them weekly for dinner. 286 00:16:31,991 --> 00:16:35,703 I've been fishing this canal over 30 years or longer. 287 00:16:35,786 --> 00:16:36,745 -Incredible. -Oh wow. 288 00:16:36,829 --> 00:16:39,665 I know where the fish are at every time of the year. 289 00:16:39,748 --> 00:16:42,876 Now let's see. See right here. It looks like they got something… 290 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:46,130 -You're casting that line right there. -Right here by this stump. 291 00:16:46,213 --> 00:16:47,506 -By that stump. -Watch this. 292 00:16:47,589 --> 00:16:49,883 -I can see the fish underneath the water. -Watch. 293 00:16:49,967 --> 00:16:51,885 We're gonna find him. He's somewhere here. 294 00:16:51,969 --> 00:16:54,096 -There he is. Look. -There he go. Right there. 295 00:16:54,179 --> 00:16:55,931 -There he is. Nice one. Look. -[Stephen] Oh! 296 00:16:56,015 --> 00:16:58,100 -Yeah. Perch outta the water. -Just like that! 297 00:16:58,183 --> 00:17:00,394 -[Michelle] Whoa! That's a beautiful one. -Yeah. 298 00:17:00,477 --> 00:17:02,438 Perch outta the water. We got one here. 299 00:17:05,524 --> 00:17:07,443 [Stephen] Being on these waters with the locals 300 00:17:07,526 --> 00:17:11,071 who are still living and feeding off the land is humbling. 301 00:17:12,740 --> 00:17:17,578 It's a reminder for me that owning land can provide food, shelter, and stability 302 00:17:17,661 --> 00:17:19,830 for many generations to come. 303 00:17:30,090 --> 00:17:33,761 As I continue to explore the land that gave us Creole food… 304 00:17:35,554 --> 00:17:38,599 I cannot escape the complicated history 305 00:17:38,682 --> 00:17:41,393 of Black labor buried in the soil. 306 00:17:43,479 --> 00:17:46,565 Even after emancipation and reconstruction, 307 00:17:46,648 --> 00:17:49,568 in the late 1800s and early 1900s, 308 00:17:50,402 --> 00:17:53,781 many Black families were bound to the plantation still, 309 00:17:53,864 --> 00:17:57,910 working as farmers, doing 100% of the labor, 310 00:17:57,993 --> 00:18:01,288 but paid for only a portion of the profits. 311 00:18:01,830 --> 00:18:05,751 An unbalanced work exchange known as sharecropping, 312 00:18:06,460 --> 00:18:09,046 a system that wasn't fully phased out 313 00:18:09,129 --> 00:18:11,340 until the 1960s. 314 00:18:13,217 --> 00:18:17,971 I travel to a Louisiana plantation to meet with Mr. Elvin Shields, 315 00:18:18,055 --> 00:18:21,767 a retired mechanical engineer who grew up as a sharecropper. 316 00:18:22,351 --> 00:18:24,436 -How are you doing, Mr. Shields? -Super. 317 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:25,813 -Good deal. -Super. 318 00:18:28,565 --> 00:18:32,444 I wanted to ask you about your own personal story, 319 00:18:32,528 --> 00:18:35,155 where you grew up, and how you grew up. 320 00:18:35,239 --> 00:18:37,908 I grew up on Cane River Plantation. 321 00:18:38,826 --> 00:18:41,078 In a sharecropping family. 322 00:18:41,161 --> 00:18:44,957 [Stephen] Can you tell me a little bit more about what it meant 323 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:47,084 to be a sharecropper 324 00:18:47,167 --> 00:18:49,711 growing up in the '40s and '50s? 325 00:18:49,795 --> 00:18:55,384 You were given five/six hundred square feet slave cabin. 326 00:18:55,467 --> 00:18:58,011 And you were given 327 00:18:58,095 --> 00:19:02,683 about another half an acre to plant your personal crops, 328 00:19:03,642 --> 00:19:07,354 raise some chickens, raise a couple of pigs. 329 00:19:08,981 --> 00:19:13,068 It was basically hand-to-mouth. You had no money. 330 00:19:13,152 --> 00:19:15,112 We had nothing but labor. 331 00:19:15,195 --> 00:19:17,990 What kind of labor were your family participating in? 332 00:19:18,073 --> 00:19:20,284 -Of course, you were picking cotton. -Mm-hmm. 333 00:19:21,410 --> 00:19:23,620 And that means sunup to sundown, 334 00:19:23,704 --> 00:19:28,458 and you're basically agreeing on half. 335 00:19:28,542 --> 00:19:32,588 Half of the profit was for you, 336 00:19:32,671 --> 00:19:36,341 and other half was for the landowner. 337 00:19:36,425 --> 00:19:39,595 However, if you didn't have mews, 338 00:19:39,678 --> 00:19:41,638 you didn't have plows, 339 00:19:41,722 --> 00:19:43,515 you didn't have wagons, 340 00:19:43,599 --> 00:19:46,977 you have to rent that from the plantation owner. 341 00:19:47,728 --> 00:19:51,023 So, as soon as that happened, 342 00:19:51,732 --> 00:19:55,694 your half became a third. 343 00:19:55,777 --> 00:19:57,529 -You see what happened? -Mm-hmm. 344 00:19:57,613 --> 00:20:01,283 And so, at the end of the year, you broke even. 345 00:20:01,783 --> 00:20:02,868 Maybe. 346 00:20:02,951 --> 00:20:06,788 [Stephen] What Mr. Shields is describing doesn't feel like actual freedom, 347 00:20:07,456 --> 00:20:08,957 at least not to me. 348 00:20:09,041 --> 00:20:13,545 Sharecroppers, despite the unjust contract with landowners, 349 00:20:13,629 --> 00:20:17,382 clearly had to find a way to feed themselves and their family. 350 00:20:18,175 --> 00:20:21,803 Every plantation had their own store. 351 00:20:21,887 --> 00:20:26,099 During the year, you didn't have any cash until the crop come in. 352 00:20:26,183 --> 00:20:27,017 [Stephen] Mm-hmm. 353 00:20:27,100 --> 00:20:29,061 So they would give you credit, 354 00:20:29,144 --> 00:20:32,231 and they would sell you stuff out of the store. 355 00:20:32,314 --> 00:20:34,942 And so you would buy flour, 356 00:20:35,025 --> 00:20:38,070 you would buy meal, sugar, 357 00:20:38,153 --> 00:20:41,782 and it would make up something called cornbread kush. 358 00:20:41,865 --> 00:20:42,950 Cornbread kush. 359 00:20:43,033 --> 00:20:46,036 Yeah, you would take some oil, lard, 360 00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:48,163 -which is from your hog. -Um-hmm. 361 00:20:48,247 --> 00:20:50,916 When you made the crackling, you took the grease off, 362 00:20:50,999 --> 00:20:54,086 and you would put in a pan, and you would take the meal, 363 00:20:54,169 --> 00:20:57,756 and you'd put some water in and whip it up like you're gonna make a cake. 364 00:20:58,257 --> 00:21:01,468 But then, when the grease gets hot, you dump it in the pan, 365 00:21:01,551 --> 00:21:04,137 your black skillet, and you stir it all up. 366 00:21:04,763 --> 00:21:08,141 Either put some sugar on top, a little molasses on top, 367 00:21:08,976 --> 00:21:11,436 and pour some milk, and that was your cereal. 368 00:21:12,271 --> 00:21:17,693 Okay. That was the kind of thing you ate. A lot of that. But that is what we got. 369 00:21:17,776 --> 00:21:21,113 Whatever they found at the cheapest price, 370 00:21:21,196 --> 00:21:24,616 they put it on the shelf for the sharecroppers. 371 00:21:25,325 --> 00:21:30,747 [Stephen] Common staples of a slave diet included cornmeal, pork, and molasses, 372 00:21:31,373 --> 00:21:33,041 which is pretty close to the diet 373 00:21:33,125 --> 00:21:36,378 that Mr. Shields ate almost 100 years later. 374 00:21:37,254 --> 00:21:42,676 What were the differences between the period of slavery 375 00:21:42,759 --> 00:21:46,805 and this reconstruction period of sharecropping? 376 00:21:46,888 --> 00:21:51,935 The difference in the period was that you didn't have gang labor. 377 00:21:52,978 --> 00:21:55,939 You were an independent contractor. 378 00:21:56,023 --> 00:22:01,028 You now could have some kind of… pride. 379 00:22:01,111 --> 00:22:04,990 This cotton, I raised it. 380 00:22:05,073 --> 00:22:09,328 The profits from it… is part mine, 381 00:22:09,411 --> 00:22:11,038 no matter how small. 382 00:22:11,872 --> 00:22:15,667 And you thought sharecropping was going to last forever. 383 00:22:17,461 --> 00:22:19,546 Until mechanization came. 384 00:22:20,630 --> 00:22:21,923 And what happened then? 385 00:22:22,007 --> 00:22:24,217 They didn't need us anymore. 386 00:22:24,885 --> 00:22:26,762 This cotton machine came 387 00:22:27,262 --> 00:22:30,640 to pick the cotton, and then people were asked to leave. 388 00:22:31,141 --> 00:22:32,225 [Stephen] Mm. Mm-hmm. 389 00:22:32,309 --> 00:22:36,063 And you're waiting your turn to get the knock on the door. 390 00:22:38,148 --> 00:22:39,858 "Can you be out Wednesday?" 391 00:22:41,276 --> 00:22:44,738 After hundreds of years, you were asked to leave. 392 00:22:46,156 --> 00:22:49,534 "And no, you can't borrow my wagon to haul your stuff." 393 00:22:49,618 --> 00:22:50,869 Mm-hmm. 394 00:22:51,370 --> 00:22:53,663 "And I don't have anywhere to put you." 395 00:22:55,665 --> 00:22:59,920 To me, that seems cruel, 396 00:23:00,796 --> 00:23:04,007 and to me, that seems like actually 397 00:23:04,841 --> 00:23:07,010 these plantation owners, because again, 398 00:23:07,094 --> 00:23:11,306 we're talking about decades after slavery is over, 399 00:23:12,057 --> 00:23:14,601 so what they're also holding on to 400 00:23:15,519 --> 00:23:19,147 is the power to be able to say, 401 00:23:19,231 --> 00:23:22,526 "You need to be out on Wednesday." 402 00:23:22,609 --> 00:23:25,487 They have… There's no humanity still. 403 00:23:25,570 --> 00:23:26,780 There's no respect. 404 00:23:26,863 --> 00:23:28,532 We were working the land, 405 00:23:29,241 --> 00:23:31,159 and we were living on the land. 406 00:23:31,243 --> 00:23:32,577 That's all we knew. 407 00:23:33,161 --> 00:23:35,330 And you were forced off the land. 408 00:23:37,457 --> 00:23:39,000 -Where are you going? -Mm-hmm. 409 00:23:39,084 --> 00:23:40,836 Yeah, we lost so much. 410 00:23:40,919 --> 00:23:42,421 We lost so much there. 411 00:23:42,504 --> 00:23:45,340 So as families moved to the city, 412 00:23:46,675 --> 00:23:49,678 then the government come along and say, 413 00:23:49,761 --> 00:23:53,181 "We're gonna build a bunch of government houses to put you in." 414 00:23:53,265 --> 00:23:57,102 Then the government are going into the worst part of town, 415 00:23:57,185 --> 00:24:00,313 building a whole lot of government projects. 416 00:24:00,397 --> 00:24:01,440 [Stephen] Mm-hmm. 417 00:24:02,107 --> 00:24:04,734 And creating… a ghetto. 418 00:24:04,818 --> 00:24:07,946 That's why when I drive through Plantation Country, 419 00:24:08,029 --> 00:24:08,947 I see my home. 420 00:24:09,781 --> 00:24:13,702 This is what we created as a Black people, 421 00:24:14,536 --> 00:24:18,957 even though we don't own it and nobody's gonna share it with us. 422 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:20,542 But it's ours. 423 00:24:20,625 --> 00:24:23,044 As a Black person, we're on a plantation. 424 00:24:23,128 --> 00:24:25,046 When I hear the word plantation, 425 00:24:25,964 --> 00:24:27,507 it makes me uncomfortable 426 00:24:27,591 --> 00:24:31,219 because how I grew up with this word 427 00:24:31,303 --> 00:24:35,098 is that it was a thing to not be talked about. 428 00:24:35,724 --> 00:24:39,352 It was a source of… of shame. 429 00:24:39,436 --> 00:24:42,856 [clicks teeth] Plantation is ours. 430 00:24:42,939 --> 00:24:45,859 Don't make it a bad word 431 00:24:45,942 --> 00:24:48,904 because your ancestors were slaves on it. 432 00:24:48,987 --> 00:24:52,324 So much of the Black American experience 433 00:24:52,407 --> 00:24:54,242 has to do with suppression. 434 00:24:54,326 --> 00:24:58,997 We suppressed our plantation origin story. 435 00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:02,334 So much so that now Black folks are saying 436 00:25:02,417 --> 00:25:04,085 "I don't wanna work the land anymore 437 00:25:04,169 --> 00:25:06,755 because it's too much like this other thing." 438 00:25:07,255 --> 00:25:10,342 But we don't even have a relationship with the other thing, right? 439 00:25:10,425 --> 00:25:11,635 The land itself. 440 00:25:11,718 --> 00:25:15,514 My ancestors lived and died here. 441 00:25:15,597 --> 00:25:16,806 [Stephen] Hmm. 442 00:25:16,890 --> 00:25:20,060 And we created the first Black community 443 00:25:20,143 --> 00:25:22,604 in this country on a plantation. 444 00:25:22,687 --> 00:25:23,855 [Stephen] Hmm. 445 00:25:23,939 --> 00:25:27,943 And we lived there for two or three hundred years together. 446 00:25:29,027 --> 00:25:30,779 And so now, all of a sudden… 447 00:25:32,864 --> 00:25:36,076 we should fear it or hate it or scorn it. 448 00:25:36,159 --> 00:25:39,746 No! It's our word. We own it. 449 00:25:40,914 --> 00:25:43,750 We made it, and we own it. 450 00:25:43,833 --> 00:25:46,253 Wow. That's very powerful, Mr. Shields. 451 00:25:47,671 --> 00:25:50,924 -I know that's not something-- -I hear you. I hear that. 452 00:25:52,259 --> 00:25:54,261 [woman vocalizing] 453 00:25:55,637 --> 00:25:58,765 [Stephen] While Elvin's family was forced away by landowners, 454 00:25:58,848 --> 00:26:01,893 many others were fleeing racist mobs, 455 00:26:01,977 --> 00:26:03,812 restrictive Jim Crow laws, 456 00:26:04,604 --> 00:26:07,274 and just looking for better job opportunities. 457 00:26:09,276 --> 00:26:11,653 They left behind land that they had cultivated 458 00:26:11,736 --> 00:26:13,196 for hundreds of years, 459 00:26:13,905 --> 00:26:16,408 and the place they called home. 460 00:26:17,534 --> 00:26:20,704 During the Great Migration, starting in 1910, 461 00:26:20,787 --> 00:26:24,958 nearly six million African Americans left the plantations of the South 462 00:26:25,041 --> 00:26:28,295 and headed north for places like Chicago, Illinois. 463 00:26:30,797 --> 00:26:33,633 It wasn't just about going north for new opportunity. 464 00:26:34,217 --> 00:26:36,595 It was also about saying goodbye to the South. 465 00:26:36,678 --> 00:26:38,680 [cheerful music playing] 466 00:26:46,605 --> 00:26:50,650 [Stephen] And gathering for a meal as a community before you left 467 00:26:50,734 --> 00:26:52,861 was one way to pay homage 468 00:26:52,944 --> 00:26:56,114 to the life and loved ones you were leaving behind. 469 00:26:56,740 --> 00:27:00,619 And in this tradition, a proper New Orleans church supper 470 00:27:00,702 --> 00:27:03,997 prepared by the legendary Dooky Chase restaurant 471 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:06,833 and hosted by Stella Chase Reese, 472 00:27:06,916 --> 00:27:11,254 daughter of the late queen of Creole cuisine, Leah Chase, 473 00:27:11,338 --> 00:27:12,756 seemed appropriate. 474 00:27:14,174 --> 00:27:16,843 [Michelle] I've been eyeballing the cornbread. 475 00:27:17,427 --> 00:27:18,261 Thank you. 476 00:27:18,345 --> 00:27:20,764 [Stephen] Joining Dr. J, Michelle Papillion and I 477 00:27:20,847 --> 00:27:24,934 is the Louisiana native and private chef Lashonda Cross. 478 00:27:25,644 --> 00:27:27,896 So, this is a little bit of everything. 479 00:27:27,979 --> 00:27:29,648 [Jessica] A little bit of everything, 480 00:27:29,731 --> 00:27:32,400 including red beans and jambalaya. That's pretty good. 481 00:27:32,484 --> 00:27:35,153 -[Jessica] A nice church supper. -[Lashonda] Yes, yes. 482 00:27:35,236 --> 00:27:37,197 I grew up in a Baptist church, and one thing 483 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:39,240 I can remember from my childhood, 484 00:27:39,324 --> 00:27:41,242 it's after church. 485 00:27:41,326 --> 00:27:42,744 -The food. -[chuckle] 486 00:27:42,827 --> 00:27:47,082 Yes, lined up on the tables just in rows and rows. 487 00:27:47,165 --> 00:27:48,166 [Stephen] Wow. 488 00:27:48,249 --> 00:27:50,752 [Jessica] But it's so fitting that we're in this church 489 00:27:50,835 --> 00:27:52,962 'cause we're really sort of celebrating. 490 00:27:53,588 --> 00:27:57,759 And in a small way replicating what people did 491 00:27:57,842 --> 00:28:01,262 when they migrated from all over the South, 492 00:28:01,346 --> 00:28:03,306 not just Louisiana. 493 00:28:03,390 --> 00:28:06,059 The whole idea of coming together 494 00:28:06,935 --> 00:28:08,478 at a place of worship… 495 00:28:08,561 --> 00:28:09,562 Yes. 496 00:28:09,646 --> 00:28:12,524 …for a final farewell supper. 497 00:28:12,607 --> 00:28:15,860 This was their time to come together, to, of course, 498 00:28:15,944 --> 00:28:18,822 ask God's blessing at the house of worship 499 00:28:19,364 --> 00:28:23,576 and then to come together as a family to do what we know how to do best. 500 00:28:24,202 --> 00:28:26,496 Enjoy each other over a great meal. 501 00:28:26,579 --> 00:28:28,123 -There you go. -Absolutely. 502 00:28:28,206 --> 00:28:30,834 Your mom was able to 503 00:28:30,917 --> 00:28:35,338 make a way for herself as a Black woman entrepreneur. 504 00:28:35,422 --> 00:28:36,297 [Stella] That's right. 505 00:28:36,381 --> 00:28:39,884 What was the role of the, specifically, 506 00:28:39,968 --> 00:28:42,554 Black women elders and ancestors? 507 00:28:43,138 --> 00:28:45,765 I know my mother used to say, 508 00:28:45,849 --> 00:28:47,934 "You know, I don't know what I do." 509 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:51,229 "I can't do anything but do what I do best." 510 00:28:51,312 --> 00:28:52,814 Which was cooking this. 511 00:28:52,897 --> 00:28:54,858 And it made her feel good. 512 00:28:54,941 --> 00:28:58,111 She made people happy through her food. 513 00:28:58,194 --> 00:29:01,531 And not only did she make people happy through her food, 514 00:29:01,614 --> 00:29:05,577 but she did fundraisers cooking for the churches, 515 00:29:05,660 --> 00:29:08,997 but that was through the culinary talents that she had. 516 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:10,081 [Michelle] Yeah. 517 00:29:10,165 --> 00:29:14,127 Women, and particularly women of color, particularly Creole women, 518 00:29:14,210 --> 00:29:19,549 had more agency to use culinary abilities to create wealth 519 00:29:19,632 --> 00:29:23,178 from people like Rose Nicaud, 520 00:29:24,179 --> 00:29:26,514 from people like Rosette Rochon. 521 00:29:26,598 --> 00:29:29,851 We don't even know the names of some of the pralinières, 522 00:29:29,934 --> 00:29:31,811 the ladies who sold pralines. 523 00:29:31,895 --> 00:29:33,313 -[Stella] That's right. -You know. 524 00:29:33,396 --> 00:29:39,277 A lot of women who could almost be a litany of success, 525 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:42,071 of success brought through the culinary, 526 00:29:43,031 --> 00:29:45,909 -got it done. And that's right. -[Stella] That's true. 527 00:29:45,992 --> 00:29:48,745 And it's very important to, you know, 528 00:29:48,828 --> 00:29:52,624 to kind of hats off and acknowledge that because that is something 529 00:29:52,707 --> 00:29:57,921 that has kept us going as a thread here 530 00:29:58,004 --> 00:30:01,090 and then in places that people went. 531 00:30:01,174 --> 00:30:02,050 Um-hmm. 532 00:30:02,133 --> 00:30:05,303 On their way North, on their way West. 533 00:30:05,929 --> 00:30:09,015 And you know, they knew the importance of coming to the table. 534 00:30:09,098 --> 00:30:12,352 My mother would always say, "Come back to the table." 535 00:30:12,852 --> 00:30:16,314 You have to have a meal with your family before going away 536 00:30:16,397 --> 00:30:18,942 because it's a place where we could find 537 00:30:19,651 --> 00:30:22,529 that comfort and spirituality. 538 00:30:22,612 --> 00:30:26,199 So we came together, and we had church suppers. 539 00:30:26,282 --> 00:30:28,535 People of African descent are very spiritual. 540 00:30:28,618 --> 00:30:29,911 -Um-hmm -[Stephen] Mm-hmm. 541 00:30:30,411 --> 00:30:33,832 And so we are a people who understand… 542 00:30:35,083 --> 00:30:37,168 the need for ceremony. 543 00:30:37,252 --> 00:30:41,214 I mean, it's the meals like this that is part of how it all comes together. 544 00:30:41,297 --> 00:30:44,926 Ceremony is the punctuation 545 00:30:45,009 --> 00:30:47,637 that rhythms and rhymes 546 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,557 and defines our lives 547 00:30:51,140 --> 00:30:53,518 and equally on the table. 548 00:30:53,601 --> 00:30:58,940 And so the need to have ceremonies 549 00:30:59,023 --> 00:31:00,942 when leaving is important 550 00:31:01,025 --> 00:31:04,529 because it's about making a transition. 551 00:31:04,612 --> 00:31:08,283 Because it took courage to head out into the unknown, 552 00:31:09,284 --> 00:31:15,081 to set, a term that Maya Angelou used to use, to set foot in path. 553 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,127 Because that's what they did. They set foot in path. 554 00:31:19,836 --> 00:31:22,130 They set their face against the wind, 555 00:31:22,755 --> 00:31:26,634 and they moved into the unknown, and that was The Great Migration. 556 00:31:30,638 --> 00:31:32,640 [horn blaring] 557 00:31:36,644 --> 00:31:39,397 [Stephen] I follow the path of my ancestors, 558 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:41,274 heading north towards Chicago. 559 00:31:44,027 --> 00:31:46,696 Like the nearly half a million Black Americans 560 00:31:46,779 --> 00:31:49,449 that traveled here during The Great Migration. 561 00:31:51,451 --> 00:31:55,204 I can only imagine how jarring this transition must have been for them. 562 00:31:57,624 --> 00:32:00,752 Black folks traveled themselves by whatever means available. 563 00:32:02,086 --> 00:32:06,132 Bus, wagon, by train. 564 00:32:08,593 --> 00:32:12,764 At the same time, some also worked on trains heading north 565 00:32:12,847 --> 00:32:15,308 in luxury sleeper cars designed 566 00:32:15,391 --> 00:32:16,893 by inventor George Pullman 567 00:32:17,477 --> 00:32:21,397 who capitalized on the expectation of Black workers 568 00:32:21,481 --> 00:32:23,149 to serve white patrons 569 00:32:23,232 --> 00:32:26,194 and hired an almost entirely Black staff. 570 00:32:27,528 --> 00:32:29,572 Those African American men 571 00:32:29,656 --> 00:32:34,035 would come to be known as the Pullman porters. 572 00:32:35,119 --> 00:32:38,081 The wages, tips, and a Black-funded 573 00:32:38,164 --> 00:32:41,751 and led labor union created a unique opportunity 574 00:32:41,834 --> 00:32:45,880 for some African Americans to step up into the working class. 575 00:32:47,340 --> 00:32:49,050 These Black porters and chefs 576 00:32:49,133 --> 00:32:51,719 worked in narrow hallways and cramped kitchens 577 00:32:51,803 --> 00:32:54,973 but created the elevated luxury experience 578 00:32:55,056 --> 00:32:57,892 that catered to passengers paying top dollar. 579 00:32:58,810 --> 00:33:01,896 It was the quality cuisine and excellent service 580 00:33:01,980 --> 00:33:04,774 that made the Pullman experience legendary. 581 00:33:09,654 --> 00:33:12,865 And my grandfather, Vernon Satterfield Sr., 582 00:33:12,949 --> 00:33:15,868 who died before I was born, was a Pullman porter too. 583 00:33:17,704 --> 00:33:19,831 I know very little of his story. 584 00:33:21,582 --> 00:33:24,544 But I hope to get a glimpse of my grandfather's life today, 585 00:33:24,627 --> 00:33:27,130 sitting with the son of a train car waiter, 586 00:33:27,213 --> 00:33:28,923 Mr. Michael McGoings, 587 00:33:29,007 --> 00:33:32,802 and a 99-year-old former Pullman Porter, 588 00:33:32,885 --> 00:33:34,721 Mr. Benjamin Gaines Sr. 589 00:33:36,139 --> 00:33:39,475 Mr. Gaines, you are almost 100 years old. 590 00:33:39,559 --> 00:33:40,852 So salute to you. 591 00:33:40,935 --> 00:33:45,440 Tell us what was the role of a porter 592 00:33:45,523 --> 00:33:47,400 and what was your experience. 593 00:33:47,483 --> 00:33:49,318 The way I got started 594 00:33:49,402 --> 00:33:53,406 was there was a man that worked on the mail car. 595 00:33:53,489 --> 00:33:56,284 He told me, he said, "Get a job with the railroad." 596 00:33:56,367 --> 00:33:59,287 And he told me about the union and all this, 597 00:33:59,370 --> 00:34:01,956 and he said that it's good pay. 598 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:06,002 So I left Kentucky and came to Chicago 599 00:34:06,085 --> 00:34:08,629 and started working for the Pullman Company. 600 00:34:09,213 --> 00:34:13,718 You received passengers. You took them to their room. 601 00:34:13,801 --> 00:34:15,386 You made them comfortable. 602 00:34:16,304 --> 00:34:20,975 And the Pullman cars, they had top end of everything. 603 00:34:21,059 --> 00:34:23,561 The restaurant cars had the best food 604 00:34:23,644 --> 00:34:27,482 because during the war, people used to ride the train 605 00:34:28,608 --> 00:34:30,151 just to eat good. 606 00:34:30,651 --> 00:34:34,155 They'd almost fight to get on the train, if they had to, 607 00:34:34,238 --> 00:34:35,698 to get a good meal, you know. 608 00:34:35,782 --> 00:34:37,533 Place us if you can. 609 00:34:37,617 --> 00:34:40,661 What year or what era are you speaking of? 610 00:34:40,745 --> 00:34:42,830 -It was in the '40s. -In the '40s. 611 00:34:42,914 --> 00:34:44,832 Okay. That's when my grandfather 612 00:34:44,916 --> 00:34:49,003 started working for the Chicago Railway as well. 613 00:34:50,755 --> 00:34:52,840 -And Mr. McGoings. -Yes. 614 00:34:52,924 --> 00:34:56,469 You actually grew up traveling on the railways. 615 00:34:56,552 --> 00:34:58,179 So what was that like for you? 616 00:34:58,679 --> 00:35:00,890 As soon as I was old enough, 617 00:35:00,973 --> 00:35:05,228 I would ride up with my father, sometimes for the day, and come back. 618 00:35:05,895 --> 00:35:07,396 Because he loved to shop. 619 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:12,318 He had acquired a very elaborate taste in clothes. 620 00:35:12,401 --> 00:35:17,365 You know, with working the Capitol Limited, you got politicians, 621 00:35:17,448 --> 00:35:21,410 you got business people dressed in suits and what have you, 622 00:35:21,494 --> 00:35:24,747 and he absorbed a lot from them, 623 00:35:24,831 --> 00:35:27,208 especially how they dressed. 624 00:35:28,292 --> 00:35:31,462 Every suit he owned, and he owned a lot of them, 625 00:35:31,546 --> 00:35:32,713 were custom-made, 626 00:35:32,797 --> 00:35:37,051 and he brought that curiosity home to us, 627 00:35:37,135 --> 00:35:39,303 and we absorbed that. 628 00:35:39,387 --> 00:35:44,100 And that's what access to the trains did for us. 629 00:35:44,183 --> 00:35:48,813 It exposed us, and that increased our vision and our minds. 630 00:35:48,896 --> 00:35:51,941 That's a beautiful legacy to pass on, 631 00:35:52,567 --> 00:35:56,904 and I don't think that I actually made that connection. 632 00:35:56,988 --> 00:36:00,700 I just thought I love to travel. I was born this way. 633 00:36:00,783 --> 00:36:03,452 But now I'm realizing that I'm actually connected 634 00:36:03,536 --> 00:36:08,166 to this lineage of movement and travel and curiosity. 635 00:36:09,625 --> 00:36:11,586 This meal is excellent. 636 00:36:12,628 --> 00:36:13,462 [Gaines] Mm. 637 00:36:14,463 --> 00:36:16,591 [McGoings] You lick your chops, man. It's so good. 638 00:36:18,676 --> 00:36:22,722 [Gaines] It's a very fine meal. Lamb is one of my favorite dishes. 639 00:36:23,681 --> 00:36:27,351 Obviously, there weren't too many Black folks 640 00:36:27,435 --> 00:36:32,231 who were enjoying this food as patrons on the train. 641 00:36:32,315 --> 00:36:36,152 But do either of you have any specific memories about 642 00:36:37,403 --> 00:36:40,615 high-end food that maybe was served? 643 00:36:40,698 --> 00:36:44,827 [McGoings] I think what I remembered most was the turkey. 644 00:36:44,911 --> 00:36:48,664 It was cooked right there, excellently. 645 00:36:48,748 --> 00:36:51,459 And I'm curious about you too, Mr. Gaines. 646 00:36:51,542 --> 00:36:54,712 [Gaines] The Black chefs, and they were excellent cooks, 647 00:36:55,796 --> 00:36:57,423 they were out of the South. 648 00:36:58,216 --> 00:37:01,928 And they used to put crew food on that was for us. 649 00:37:02,011 --> 00:37:04,847 It was always very good. 650 00:37:04,931 --> 00:37:08,726 They had a touch that they put in the food 651 00:37:08,809 --> 00:37:11,562 that just made it very palatable. 652 00:37:11,646 --> 00:37:13,064 We enjoyed the cooking there. 653 00:37:13,147 --> 00:37:17,235 Yes. And so you're working as a porter in the 1940s, 654 00:37:17,318 --> 00:37:18,694 so what was that like for you? 655 00:37:18,778 --> 00:37:22,782 You have to recognize that during this time, 656 00:37:23,324 --> 00:37:27,203 segregation was, uh, really rampant. 657 00:37:27,286 --> 00:37:31,999 And, uh, you had people 658 00:37:32,083 --> 00:37:36,212 who didn't respect you as a person. 659 00:37:36,295 --> 00:37:39,215 They would call you George. 660 00:37:39,298 --> 00:37:41,259 What is the meaning of that word? 661 00:37:41,342 --> 00:37:42,635 George Pullman. 662 00:37:43,844 --> 00:37:47,265 So it was a way 663 00:37:47,348 --> 00:37:50,935 of putting you in your place, so to speak. 664 00:37:51,018 --> 00:37:52,812 -[Stephen] Um-hmm. -Uh… 665 00:37:52,895 --> 00:37:55,314 You are not a human being. 666 00:37:55,398 --> 00:37:59,568 You are not an adult, you know. 667 00:37:59,652 --> 00:38:01,779 -You still a boy. [chuckles] -[Stephen] Um-hmm. 668 00:38:02,488 --> 00:38:05,324 To pick up on what Mr. Gaines said, if I may right now. 669 00:38:05,408 --> 00:38:09,161 My father, he had quite a few issues with the name George. 670 00:38:09,245 --> 00:38:13,332 And his response was, you know, 671 00:38:13,416 --> 00:38:15,209 "My name isn't George." 672 00:38:15,293 --> 00:38:18,587 "If you want someone to call George, 673 00:38:19,255 --> 00:38:22,675 you should make yourself a baby and name him George." 674 00:38:22,758 --> 00:38:25,636 [Stephen chuckling] 675 00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:27,471 [Gaines] Sounds very familiar. 676 00:38:27,555 --> 00:38:29,515 I was on the West Coast, 677 00:38:30,266 --> 00:38:34,145 and I was working as a club car attendant. 678 00:38:34,228 --> 00:38:38,024 So, I'm serving drinks and all of a sudden… 679 00:38:40,026 --> 00:38:42,820 I feel a foot up my butt. 680 00:38:44,530 --> 00:38:47,658 And just reflexes, 681 00:38:48,534 --> 00:38:50,578 I had this, uh, tray. 682 00:38:51,871 --> 00:38:54,498 I brought that tray around, 683 00:38:54,582 --> 00:38:56,959 like this, at his forehead. 684 00:38:57,585 --> 00:38:59,462 God stopped that tray. 685 00:39:00,004 --> 00:39:03,674 'Cause I didn't stop it. If I'd have hit him, I'd have killed him. 686 00:39:04,508 --> 00:39:09,764 I was fume-- just fuming with anger. 687 00:39:09,847 --> 00:39:11,015 [Stephen] Yeah. 688 00:39:11,098 --> 00:39:14,769 So I went to my buffet, and I told people, I said, 689 00:39:14,852 --> 00:39:16,771 "I'm closing the buffet for a while." 690 00:39:17,355 --> 00:39:20,900 So, uh, this guy who did it said, 691 00:39:20,983 --> 00:39:22,610 "You're one of them smart niggers." 692 00:39:23,486 --> 00:39:25,696 And he stepped inside of my buffet, 693 00:39:25,780 --> 00:39:28,282 and I took my hand and shoved him out. 694 00:39:29,367 --> 00:39:34,789 So that was one of the incidents that I had that… 695 00:39:37,249 --> 00:39:41,170 it was very trying and, uh, it… 696 00:39:43,089 --> 00:39:45,049 was something that. uh… 697 00:39:47,343 --> 00:39:50,554 I… I've never forgotten, as you can tell. 698 00:39:50,638 --> 00:39:53,974 I still remember it, you know, very vividly. 699 00:39:54,892 --> 00:39:58,396 [Stephen] A memory like that clearly sticks with you for a lifetime. 700 00:40:00,356 --> 00:40:04,402 I never met my grandfather, but through Mr. Gaines's stories, 701 00:40:04,485 --> 00:40:08,072 I can imagine what his life as a Pullman porter must have been like. 702 00:40:10,574 --> 00:40:14,620 I picture him holding his head up and walking with dignity too. 703 00:40:25,631 --> 00:40:29,051 In Chicago, the legacy of The Great Migration 704 00:40:29,135 --> 00:40:32,054 is best experienced through the culinary gems of the south side. 705 00:40:33,722 --> 00:40:36,976 Places like Lem's Bar-B-Q are descendants of the Great Migration, 706 00:40:37,643 --> 00:40:41,772 taking flavors of the South and adapting it up North. 707 00:40:42,523 --> 00:40:44,942 These Southern flavors are still alive 708 00:40:45,443 --> 00:40:47,319 and reimagined 709 00:40:47,403 --> 00:40:51,740 by James Beard award-winning chef Eric Williams of Virtue restaurant. 710 00:40:52,283 --> 00:40:55,119 Here, I'm joined by Chicago natives 711 00:40:55,202 --> 00:40:58,122 Dario Durham, a local food podcaster, 712 00:40:58,205 --> 00:41:01,834 and Natalie Moore, journalist and author of a book 713 00:41:01,917 --> 00:41:04,211 on the history of the South Side of Chicago. 714 00:41:05,463 --> 00:41:09,008 Thank you, Chef, for hosting us here at Virtue. 715 00:41:09,091 --> 00:41:10,259 Tell us where we are. 716 00:41:10,342 --> 00:41:13,679 Well, you're in Hyde Park. So you're on the South Side of Chicago. 717 00:41:13,762 --> 00:41:16,765 One of the neighborhoods that probably has the highest density 718 00:41:16,849 --> 00:41:18,851 of Black wealth in our city. 719 00:41:18,934 --> 00:41:24,148 You have judges and postal workers and teachers and Corporate America folks. 720 00:41:24,231 --> 00:41:26,233 A very tight-knit community. 721 00:41:26,317 --> 00:41:29,236 [Erick] South Side has a very rich history. 722 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:33,324 One would say the epicenter of African American ingenuity, 723 00:41:33,407 --> 00:41:35,534 entertainment, arts. 724 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:38,454 -[Natalie] The Black businesses, banks. -[Erick] Yeah. 725 00:41:38,537 --> 00:41:41,207 -[Natalie] Ebony, Jet, haircare. -[Erick] All of them. All were Black. 726 00:41:41,290 --> 00:41:43,918 We wouldn't even have waves if it wasn't for Chicago. 727 00:41:44,001 --> 00:41:45,461 [Dario] Thank God, Chicago. 728 00:41:45,544 --> 00:41:48,380 -[Natalie] We had ultra sheen, soft sheen. -[Dario] All the sheens. 729 00:41:48,464 --> 00:41:51,050 -[Natalie] And luster. -[Erick] We got Ida B. Wells. 730 00:41:51,133 --> 00:41:53,010 She co-founded NAACP. 731 00:41:53,093 --> 00:41:55,513 Bessie Coleman. First Black woman to fly a plane. 732 00:41:55,596 --> 00:41:57,431 Mahalia Jackson created gospel. 733 00:41:57,515 --> 00:41:59,350 -Thomas Dorsey. -[Dario] Don't forget the blues. 734 00:41:59,433 --> 00:42:00,935 [Erick] You can't forget the blues. 735 00:42:02,770 --> 00:42:05,397 We wouldn't even dance right if it wasn't for Chicago. 736 00:42:05,481 --> 00:42:06,815 [all laugh] 737 00:42:08,567 --> 00:42:13,948 The Great Migration really helped us make a footprint here in Chicago. 738 00:42:14,031 --> 00:42:18,577 For y'all, do you have these kinds of understandings of your own origins 739 00:42:18,661 --> 00:42:22,623 in Chicago as connected to a migration? 740 00:42:22,706 --> 00:42:23,874 Or what do y'all know 741 00:42:23,958 --> 00:42:26,460 about your own sort of family or community history? 742 00:42:27,044 --> 00:42:29,296 I'm the granddaughter of the Great Migration. 743 00:42:29,380 --> 00:42:31,507 My mother's side came from Georgia. 744 00:42:31,590 --> 00:42:34,593 My other grandfather, he came because he was fleeing 745 00:42:34,677 --> 00:42:37,555 racial violence in Nashville. 746 00:42:37,638 --> 00:42:40,516 He had two brothers who had to leave in the middle of the night. 747 00:42:40,599 --> 00:42:42,643 -They were at risk for lynching. -Right. 748 00:42:42,726 --> 00:42:45,062 But he was a Pullman porter. 749 00:42:45,646 --> 00:42:48,440 I'm listening, but it's like holding up a mirror 750 00:42:48,524 --> 00:42:53,153 because I'm from Georgia, and my grandfather is from Tennessee. 751 00:42:53,237 --> 00:42:55,614 He came here as a young man to Chicago 752 00:42:55,698 --> 00:42:57,992 and became a Pullman porter. 753 00:42:58,075 --> 00:43:01,954 And so, I am very much a product of the same history. 754 00:43:02,037 --> 00:43:06,041 2% before the Great Migration was Chicago's Black population. 755 00:43:06,125 --> 00:43:10,129 It was 33% after the Great Migration, and they came from the South. 756 00:43:10,212 --> 00:43:13,632 So, you know, we're deeply rooted, you know what I mean? 757 00:43:13,716 --> 00:43:17,720 We're deeply rooted with Mississippi and Arkansas and all the South. 758 00:43:19,597 --> 00:43:21,223 [Stephen] Chef, this looks incredible. 759 00:43:21,307 --> 00:43:24,810 [Erick] So we have red peas, baby yellow and green zucchini, 760 00:43:24,893 --> 00:43:26,854 a little bit of fried okra, squash blossoms, 761 00:43:26,937 --> 00:43:27,896 Um-hmm. 762 00:43:27,980 --> 00:43:30,441 with hot-sauce-pickled red peppers. 763 00:43:30,524 --> 00:43:31,775 In this particular setting, 764 00:43:31,859 --> 00:43:34,612 we're really channeling the energy around vegetation. 765 00:43:34,695 --> 00:43:37,072 But because we understand the fact 766 00:43:37,156 --> 00:43:39,992 that vegetables grow a lot faster than animals, 767 00:43:40,075 --> 00:43:42,870 and during the years of sharecropping and/or slavery, 768 00:43:42,953 --> 00:43:48,000 we were able to sustain ourselves with vegetables a lot easier 769 00:43:48,083 --> 00:43:50,628 than we would have been with animal product. 770 00:43:51,211 --> 00:43:53,172 Wow, that okra batter is perfect. 771 00:43:53,756 --> 00:43:55,883 [Dario] You said it was hot sauce covered-- 772 00:43:55,966 --> 00:43:57,134 Pickled peppers. 773 00:43:57,217 --> 00:43:58,218 [Dario] Mmm. 774 00:43:58,302 --> 00:43:59,136 Jeez. 775 00:43:59,637 --> 00:44:00,846 Wow, that is delicious. 776 00:44:00,929 --> 00:44:03,140 [Dario] You know, we came from the South. 777 00:44:03,223 --> 00:44:07,519 We farmed, you know what I mean. In Chicago, the South Side of Chicago, 778 00:44:07,603 --> 00:44:12,024 I'm talking early to mid-19th century, this was all swampland. 779 00:44:12,107 --> 00:44:15,027 It was a lot of farms, and we had the farm, you know what I mean, 780 00:44:15,110 --> 00:44:16,779 because that's what we knew. 781 00:44:16,862 --> 00:44:19,782 -And a lot of these traditions continue. -[Erick] Absolutely. 782 00:44:19,865 --> 00:44:21,241 As long as I can remember, 783 00:44:21,325 --> 00:44:24,328 there was a garden, um, in my grandmother's backyard. 784 00:44:24,411 --> 00:44:29,458 There was turn soil, rows, and tomatoes. 785 00:44:29,541 --> 00:44:31,126 Greens and cabbage. 786 00:44:31,710 --> 00:44:34,797 And that was… that was part of my experience. 787 00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:38,509 In my family, my daddy grew up in Gary 788 00:44:38,592 --> 00:44:43,806 with their garden to make… My grandparents used to garden together. 789 00:44:43,889 --> 00:44:48,018 They grew tomatoes. They had chickens. They killed rabbits. 790 00:44:48,102 --> 00:44:52,898 So, like, I'm very familiar with these stories in my own family. 791 00:44:52,981 --> 00:44:57,069 And yet, I really have always felt, um, 792 00:44:57,152 --> 00:45:01,156 earlier in my life, a kind of discomfort around, 793 00:45:01,240 --> 00:45:03,575 you know, hands in the dirt. 794 00:45:03,659 --> 00:45:06,745 And also, "working" for other people, 795 00:45:06,829 --> 00:45:08,956 even growing up in the restaurant industry 796 00:45:09,039 --> 00:45:13,001 as a young sommelier, part of the reason that I got out of the space 797 00:45:13,085 --> 00:45:17,464 is because I didn't feel that my expertise was being valued. 798 00:45:17,548 --> 00:45:20,134 I felt that y'all just want me to serve you. 799 00:45:20,217 --> 00:45:24,138 So I'm wondering if that's resonating for y'all at all, 800 00:45:24,221 --> 00:45:26,807 that as a people, as Black Americans, 801 00:45:26,890 --> 00:45:29,268 we are really far away from being able 802 00:45:29,351 --> 00:45:33,856 to take care of ourselves off of the land because of that servitude line. 803 00:45:33,939 --> 00:45:37,025 [Natalie] Well, there's a huge urban agriculture movement here. 804 00:45:37,109 --> 00:45:40,863 And also, there is an awareness of "Don't make this urban sharecropping." 805 00:45:40,946 --> 00:45:41,780 Right. 806 00:45:41,864 --> 00:45:44,324 So the food justice advocates 807 00:45:44,408 --> 00:45:47,244 who are in this space and have the knowledge 808 00:45:47,327 --> 00:45:50,414 are looking out for that, 809 00:45:50,497 --> 00:45:53,375 that you're not just working land 810 00:45:53,459 --> 00:45:56,670 in a different environment. 811 00:45:56,754 --> 00:45:59,798 That you could do this here on the southwest side 812 00:45:59,882 --> 00:46:01,759 -and not getting that living wage. -Right. 813 00:46:01,842 --> 00:46:03,761 I'm heartened to know that, yes, 814 00:46:03,844 --> 00:46:07,473 there are people at the head of food justice movements 815 00:46:07,556 --> 00:46:11,685 who are helping us reengage in this relationship to the land 816 00:46:11,769 --> 00:46:15,647 in a way that is healthy and accounts for some of the trauma 817 00:46:15,731 --> 00:46:18,358 that we might be bringing into those experiences. 818 00:46:19,026 --> 00:46:22,362 Because the land has the capacity to heal us too. 819 00:46:22,446 --> 00:46:26,116 Like, we've talked a lot about the agency that we had 820 00:46:26,617 --> 00:46:29,787 in having these plots of land and feeding ourselves. 821 00:46:29,870 --> 00:46:32,956 That is part of our inheritance too. 822 00:46:34,249 --> 00:46:35,083 [Stephen] Wow. 823 00:46:35,167 --> 00:46:37,169 [Dario] Chef's trying to put us to sleep. [chuckles] 824 00:46:37,753 --> 00:46:40,839 Okay, so this is a dish that's pretty apropos. 825 00:46:40,923 --> 00:46:43,550 The Midwest is coined as a steak-and-potato town. 826 00:46:43,634 --> 00:46:46,804 -[Stephen] Yes. -We have braised short ribs 827 00:46:46,887 --> 00:46:49,431 with crushed Yukon Gold potatoes 828 00:46:49,515 --> 00:46:52,518 and some crispy onion rings on top. 829 00:46:52,601 --> 00:46:54,520 You can't go wrong. This falls off the bone. 830 00:46:54,603 --> 00:46:57,314 It's very tender. I don't actually need the knife. 831 00:46:57,397 --> 00:46:59,233 -[Natalie] No, you don't. -[Dario] This is good. 832 00:47:00,692 --> 00:47:01,693 Mmm. 833 00:47:02,486 --> 00:47:04,738 I don't even need my teeth, it turns out, either. 834 00:47:04,822 --> 00:47:05,948 [Dario] Or gums. 835 00:47:06,031 --> 00:47:06,949 [chuckle] 836 00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:11,161 [Stephen] Meat and potatoes may be a Midwestern staple, 837 00:47:11,245 --> 00:47:13,872 but the flavors of the South are undeniable. 838 00:47:13,956 --> 00:47:16,834 They take me back to my childhood in Georgia, 839 00:47:16,917 --> 00:47:19,169 where my father grilled most weekends. 840 00:47:20,838 --> 00:47:24,258 Chef Erick continues to pay tribute to the Great Migration 841 00:47:24,341 --> 00:47:27,803 and how the South shows up on the plate in his last course. 842 00:47:28,470 --> 00:47:30,806 [Erick] Got a little pound cake with some lemon curd 843 00:47:30,889 --> 00:47:31,974 and some deliciousness. 844 00:47:32,057 --> 00:47:34,977 -It's in a beautiful literal package. -[Dario] Yeah. 845 00:47:35,060 --> 00:47:37,521 So, what's the significance of this dish? 846 00:47:37,604 --> 00:47:41,358 This is a playful homage 847 00:47:41,441 --> 00:47:43,402 to the shoebox meals. 848 00:47:43,485 --> 00:47:46,989 The railcars, as they transported us North, 849 00:47:47,072 --> 00:47:48,323 were segregated. 850 00:47:48,407 --> 00:47:51,410 So there wasn't space for us to dine properly. 851 00:47:51,493 --> 00:47:54,204 And so the way that we carried food, 852 00:47:54,288 --> 00:47:57,541 and often times those meals were fried chicken, 853 00:47:58,208 --> 00:48:01,003 because it inherently traveled very well, 854 00:48:01,086 --> 00:48:02,713 it would be in a shoebox. 855 00:48:02,796 --> 00:48:04,923 Not a shoebox the way that we think of it now. 856 00:48:05,007 --> 00:48:06,675 They were ornate shoeboxes 857 00:48:06,758 --> 00:48:09,261 because grandparents and great-grandparents 858 00:48:09,344 --> 00:48:12,014 went to great detail to make that experience 859 00:48:12,097 --> 00:48:14,141 what it needed to be for the children. 860 00:48:14,224 --> 00:48:19,021 I really love the packaging is connected to this larger food 861 00:48:19,104 --> 00:48:20,772 as a "migration" story. 862 00:48:20,856 --> 00:48:23,734 Our elders and our ancestors had the ingenuity… 863 00:48:23,817 --> 00:48:26,236 -Right. -…to create an experience 864 00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:28,655 at a time when people didn't want us 865 00:48:28,739 --> 00:48:31,199 to have something as simple as a shared meal. 866 00:48:32,326 --> 00:48:34,536 [Stephen] This is who we are. 867 00:48:35,203 --> 00:48:37,122 Even through land loss, 868 00:48:37,789 --> 00:48:40,250 forced into debt, and racial violence, 869 00:48:40,334 --> 00:48:41,752 we found a way. 870 00:48:46,214 --> 00:48:48,508 We always find a way, 871 00:48:49,635 --> 00:48:52,638 whether it's feeding our families as sharecroppers, 872 00:48:52,721 --> 00:48:54,973 or making the brave move to the North 873 00:48:55,057 --> 00:48:57,809 without any promise of what we would find. 874 00:49:00,646 --> 00:49:03,440 Our fundamental creativity 875 00:49:03,523 --> 00:49:06,860 led to the rise of a Black middle class. 876 00:49:07,986 --> 00:49:10,405 The city of Chicago holds this history 877 00:49:10,489 --> 00:49:12,324 like a badge of honor. 878 00:49:12,407 --> 00:49:13,951 The migration that brought 879 00:49:14,034 --> 00:49:16,453 and inspired the flavors and stylings 880 00:49:16,536 --> 00:49:19,790 that the Windy City is still known for to this day. 881 00:49:21,917 --> 00:49:25,462 And that creativity also journeyed from the South 882 00:49:25,545 --> 00:49:28,382 to my next stop, New York City, 883 00:49:28,882 --> 00:49:31,009 where African Americans 884 00:49:31,093 --> 00:49:33,762 living within a three-mile radius 885 00:49:33,845 --> 00:49:37,057 ignited an explosion of culinary creativity 886 00:49:37,140 --> 00:49:38,976 and cultural expression. 887 00:49:40,852 --> 00:49:42,020 A renaissance. 888 00:49:43,355 --> 00:49:45,357 [closing theme music playing] 889 00:50:38,326 --> 00:50:40,328 [music ends]