The Movement
It’s sometimes hard to believe that the struggles and strides of Black Americans for civil freedoms were initiated only a few years ago. Like….within my mother’s life time. December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was coerced to take a position and not me moved when asked to give up her seat at the front of a bus. A bus, ya’ll. A BUS! --I’m still vexed by consciousness which would lead to a disturbance as a result of where you get to sit on a friggin city bus-- As we know, Mrs. Parks was arrested, and all of Montgomery reacted. On December 5th of the same year, the Montgomery Bus Boycott Movement was enacted by the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), a key moment in the black freedom struggle many think of as the spark that brought the civil rights movement to national and global attention.
Folks of all sorts stepped up and stepped in to contribute their gifts and voices to legitimize and maximize the efforts of the movement. Preachers, teachers, lawyers and just simple law abiding citizens like Georgia Gilmore, active member of both the NAACP and MIA.
The Woman
Georgia Theresa Gilmore was born in Montgomery on February 5, 1920, to Cleveland and Eula Gilmore; she had seven siblings. When the bus boycott began, Gilmore was a 35-year-old single mother raising four children. Having been forced off a bus once herself, she was rather militant in the boycott from its start, bringing sandwiches and pies to the first mass meetings.
She further contributed by raising money for boycott expenses in selling cakes and pies, cooking meals for meetings, testifying in court on behalf of movement leaders, transforming her home into an informal "restaurant" where movement supporters could gather. The money they raised helped pay for the alternative transportation system that arose in Montgomery during the 381-day bus boycott (i.e. hundreds of cars, trucks and wagons that ferried Black workers to and from their jobs across town each day). Gilmore's cooking helped pay for the insurance, gas, wagons and vehicle repairs which kept that system going.
In February 1956, a Montgomery County grand jury indicted Dr. Martin Luther King and dozens of other boycott leaders for "unlawful conspiracy." Gilmore was among those who testified at King's trial. In her testimony, Gilmore identified the bus driver who had kicked her off a city bus, saying that “When I paid my fare and they got the money, they don't know Negro money from white money," For her testimony, Gilmore was fired from her job at the café. When she approached boycott leader Martin Luther King Jr. for help, he advised her to start her own business and gave her the seed money. Gilmore opened her home as an informal lunch spot, and business immediately soared.
It's said that each morning, she woke up around 3 or 4 a.m. to prepare lunch -you talkin' 'bout hustle?!-. Her menu changed daily, but always included an assortment of ham hocks, stuffed pork chops, potato salad, collard greens, candied yams, bread pudding, and black eye peas. Often, her house was crowded with customers, who often waited an hour or more for their turn to order.
Gilmore remained active in the Civil Rights Movement for the rest of her life, using her food to fuel social change. She died on March 7, 1990, the 25th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March.
The Club from Nowhere
“Some colored folks or Negroes could afford to stick out their necks more than others because they had independent incomes, but some just couldn’t afford to be called ‘ring leaders’ and have the white folks fire them."
-Georgia Gilmore
Ms. Gilmore banded together an underground network of cooks who went door-to-door [to homes, churches and businesses] selling fried chicken plates, pork chop sandwiches, pies, and cakes, and collecting donations. The proceeds were then turned over to boycott leaders. To protect the participants from any backlash, Gilmore named the group the Club from Nowhere. That way, if the MIA was ever asked where their money came from, they could honestly say “nowhere.” Only Gilmore knew who cooked and purchased the food.
The legacy
Her life and influence speak to all influencers, entrepreneurs, social reformers and the like. What she left us with was the thought that no matter how unrefined or even seemingly insignificant your style of gift/contribution may appear, it’s valuable. Do what you do in the way that you do it, and the world will notice. If you see a need for change, make your contribution wholeheartedly and beat down the pathway to world you desire to live in.
This week, we dedicate our attentions to her efforts and celebrate the foods which she utilized to make a difference. With just a few simple recipes -my version of her own-, we'll honor her memory and continue own making our own strides to see a better world.