We’re excited to share the opening event of this weekend’s Black Family History Lab: a free screening of “Our Founding Chefs,” a locally filmed episode of the acclaimed Netflix series, High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America. The episode discusses the resounding impact of founding-era African American chefs on the country’s palate, including that of James Hemings, a renowned chef enslaved by Thomas Jefferson.
The event will take place Friday, March 15th from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm in the auditorium of The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. We’ll begin the evening with an opening reception and appetizers, followed by the screening and a subsequent panel discussion with episode guest stars Niya Bates, local public historian and preservationist, Gayle Jessup White, author and descendant, and Leni Sorensen, American chef and culinary historian.
