Live jazz swirled the nightclub air. Edgar tilted his head back, and his trumpet let out a beautiful howl. His orchestra captivated the room that night; folks were wall-to-wall cutting up on the dance floor and having a good ol' time.
Edgar caught Leah's eye, and even though she didn't mess with musicians, he was different.
Leah and Edgar "Dooky" Chase wed the following year and spent their days serving their New Orleans community from a corner stand selling po'boys and lottery tickets. When they moved the business across the street to a corner brick building, they couldn't have imagined what it would become.
Over bowls of red beans and rice, leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and James Meredith gathered upstairs to plan their next moves. Freedom Fighters passed plates of golden fried chicken while strategizing sit-ins.
Dooky Chase was more than just a restaurant. It was a haven where our people could come together safely and get needed nourishment. Everyone came, too. Ray Charles would slide through the downstairs bar after a late-night performance.
Paschal's restaurant in Atlanta operated similarly, serving gumbo and crawfish etouffee to activists like John Lewis, who described it as a haven where he could retreat after "arrests, death threats, and beating.
Our food has sustained us through turbulent times and is a delicious reminder that we can do incredible things when we lean on each other.