Feeding the Revolution: Martin Luther King and Southern Food

Photo of classic southern macaroni and cheese (mac and cheese). Recipes below.

After the success of Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and the end of the Jim Crow laws on buses in Montgomery, Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) returned to Atlanta. There he organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and he served as the associated pastor of his father’s church. Paschal’s served as a popular meeting place for black activists and politicians. MLK and his SCLC lieutenants, Maynard Jackson, and Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee’s (SNCC) Julian Bond, who all attended Morehouse, held strategy meetings for the Selma to Montgomery march over Paschal’s famed fried chicken along with collard greens, corn bread, mac and cheese and sweet potato pie; simply over a plate of eggs and grits and a cup of coffee. Brothers James and Robert Paschal first opened a lunch counter sandwich shop on Hunter Street in Atlanta in 1947. Overtime the brothers moved to a location adjacent to the AUC and expanded their business to include a motel, a night club on the famous Chitin Circuit, and a white table cloth restaurant. More on Paschal’s tomorrow. In the spirit of Paschal’s I share several mac and cheese recipes: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Southern-Macaroni-and-Cheese/MoreRecipesLikeThis.aspx