In 1949, nearly a year after New Orleans’ WDSU-TV went live for the first time, Lena Richard, an African American Creole chef and entrepreneur, brought her freshly prepared dishes to a family-style kitchen TV set and took to the screen to film her self-titled cooking show—the first of its kind for an African American. Continue reading Meet Lena Richard, the Celebrity Chef Who Broke Barriers in the Jim Crow South
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7 Little Know Facts About the First African-American Built Neighborhood in the United States
The Creation of Orange Mound
In 1890, white developer E. E. Meacham purchased land from the Deaderick family, plantation owners in Memphis Tennessee. He sold lots to African-Americans for less than $100. The subdivision was named Orange Mound and became the first all Black community in the U.S., specifically built for Black people. According to Laura Nickas for Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, “The new neighborhood bordered the Mid-South Fairgrounds to the southeast while a stronghold of the KKK bordered the fairgrounds just to the west.”
The Fat Cat Collective 