Photo of a MIA Taxi, related recipes and links below
I've been talking about the role of black domestic in the civil rights movement. It's my response to the faulty revisionist history in the movie The Help. For example, black domestics in Alabama played an essential role to the success of the Club from No Where and the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955. The boycott lasted 380 days with the domestics who supported it walking and hitching rides. In order to keep domestics off the bus and other riders, the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) had to come up with its own transportation system to get African Americans to work; many of them maids and cooks for Montgomery’s white establishment. The MIA organized a carpool to shuttle its members to work. This meant raising the funds necessary to purchase a fleet of vehicles and gas for the car pool. Georgia Gilmore and the various members of The Club from Nowhere around the city of Montgomery sold fresh baked goods and the proceeds went to the MIA. The club name allowed them to earn money for the movement without raising the suspicion of white officials and members of the Klan. Their customers including both whites and blacks who purchases of heavenly tasting food at cab stands, barber shops, and beauty salons kept the MIA transportation network rolling. More on the MIA, MLK and food tomorrow. Here is a oatmeal raisin cookie recipe that reminds of what might have been sold to support the bus boycott in 1955: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/oatmeal_raisin_cookies/
My series on The Help with recipes:http://frederickdouglassopie.blogspot.com/search?q=The+Help
Related Link on The Help: http://www.thefeministwire.com/2011/08/12/kathryn-stockett-is-not-my-sister-and-i-am-not-her-help/