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Before the Food Truck....

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When I say the Black people are the originators of everything, I mean just that! When we speak of being the first, we tend not to picture food trucks and their precursors.  As I was reading the book Harlem Stomp by Laban Carrick Hill, there was a short passaged titled, "The Legendary Pig Foot Mary." The passage states that a woman named Lillian Harris arrived in New York City in 1901 and began selling pig feet and "Southern delicacies." She used the money she made to invest in Harlem properties. After reading that, I knew I had to learn more about this amazing ancestor. A quick Google search stated that she left the "Mississippi Delta." Now if you know me, you know this was the spark that created the roaring fire for my search for even more information. I read every article that came up and began to piece together the life of Lillian Harris Dean.  The Mississippi Delta encompasses around 7,000 square miles that include parts of Mississippi, Louisiana and ...
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"Jewels"of the Delta

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March 4, 1908...the day that Theodor Roosevelt Mason Howard entered the physical realm. Born and raised in Kentucky, his work in a local hospital would be the catalyst for his desire to become a medical doctor. After earing two undergraduate degrees, one at Oakwood University (HBCU) in Huntsville, Alabama, the other at Union College of Lincoln, Nebraska, he would finish medical school at the College of Medical Evangelists in 1931. Dr. Howard would work in several entry level positions, but his life changing experience came about in MOUND BAYOU, MISSISSIPPI. In 1942 he was appointed the chief surgeon at the hospital of Knights and Daughters of Tabor. He didn't limit his work to just the hospital....Mound Bayou would become the home of several of his business ventures, from restaurants to an insurance company to a zoo! Dr. Howard would employ the great Medgar Evers as a salesman for the insurance company and have a great impact on him and others during his tenure in Mound Bayou.  Dr....
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The Beauty of Mississippi Gotdamn

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  "In the beginning of the nineteenth century, Mississippi, a territory of the United States (acquired in the Louisiana Purchase), consisted of only a few thousand white settlers and captive Africans, as well as the indigenous population. In 1817, Mississippi was granted the status of a state in the U.S. federal union. Demand for land for white settlement and expansion of commercial farming meant the expulsion of the indigenous population and the increased demand for captive African labor. Particularly due to the expansion of 'King Cotton,' Mississippi had increased in population. The region east of the Mississippi River was overwhelmingly populated, with over 55 percent consisting of enslaved people of African descent. by 1860, the state had a population of 353,899 whites and 437,404 Blacks, with a very small 'free' population (773). The Mississippi economy was dependent on the system of racial slavery. The end of the Civil War and the corresponding policy of ...
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