From the lunch counter sit-ins of the Civil Rights movement to community bakeries, these places serve up incredible stories of perseverance, compassion, and joy.
LessIn 1960, a group of Black college students refused to leave their seats at a Woolworth’s diner in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their protest sparked other movements for racial justice across the country, and today it's memorialized at a museum housed in the former Woolworth building.
With guests that ranged from Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and the Freedom Bus Riders to local lunch counter protestors and strike organizers, this historic eatery helmed by the "Queen of Creole Cuisine” witnessed many parts of the civil rights movement unfold.
Along with its signature chili dogs, this D.C. institution has been a safe haven for the Black community, which it celebrates with a giant mural featuring people like Barack and Michelle Obama, Harriet Tubman, Dave Chapelle, and more.
The Sweet Home Cafe, located inside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, pays homage to the rich African, Native American, Caribbean, Latin American, and European influences in African American cooking.
This family-owned bakery is one of the last places in Brooklyn to sell the Nation of Islam–inspired bean pie.
This humble hole-in-the-wall is home to an incredible pig ear sandwich and serious civil rights history. As part of Jackson’s “Little Harlem” neighborhood, the Big Apple was a meeting place for Black activists, including prominent figures like Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou Hamer.
Serving up treats like sweet potato pie, 7-Up pound cake, fruit cobblers, and banana pudding, this bakery sits on the site of the Black Panther Party's first headquarters.