Dr. Naa Oyo A. Kwate talks “White Burgers, Black Cash: Fast Food from Black Exclusion to Exploitation,” Oct 30

This post was written by Taylor Brooks, a librarian in the Library’s Researcher Experience Section.

Join us virtually on Wednesday, October 30, at 1p.m. (Eastern Time), for a discussion with author Dr. Naa Oyo A. Kwate and librarians from the Science & Business Reading Room about her book, “White Burgers, Black Cash: Fast Food from Black Exclusion to Exploitation” (University of Minnesota Press, 2023). Dr. Kwate will share how she utilized various Library resources to provide a well-researched account of the racial dynamics that have shaped the fast-food industry.

In the early 20th century, “Hot Shoppes”, automats, and fast-food restaurants were new additions to the nation’s restaurant industry. These quickly became spaces of exclusion, presenting a clear image of who could partake in this quintessentially American cuisine.

Just three years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, prominent African American reporter Sara Slack, writing for the New York Amsterdam News, was denied service at a Baltimore White Tower fast-food restaurant. The subsequent lawsuit filed by Sara Slack was one of many cases concerning segregation and discrimination in public spaces. When the U.S. District Court and U.S Court of Appeals ruled in Sara Slack v. Atlantic White Tower System, Inc., (284 F.2d 746, 4th Cir. (1960)), that a restaurant owner had the right to deny service to African American customers, the ruling and media narrative were consistent with the realities faced by other African American restaurant clientele, including Charles E. Williams, who filed a similar lawsuit against an Alexandria, VA Hot Shoppe.

And so, due to persistent discrimination, the popularity of fast-food in African American communities was minimal. In fact, marketing campaigns of previous decades, such as the 1929 anti-chain grocery store ads from Mobile, Alabama, urged Black consumers to “Buy Where You Can Work” or “Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work”  and shop exclusively at businesses that employed Black workers. This practice was later applied to other businesses that provided public accommodations, including fast food restaurants, and continued into the 1950s and 1960s.

Starting in the 1980s and continuing through the present day, African American publications and media have heavily marketed the nation’s largest fast-food chains in their advertising. Fast food establishments, which once barred African American customers from entering, are now predominately located in Black neighborhoods and some are even owned by Black franchisees.

The shift in fast food industry and business tactics in the Black community is traced in the James Beard Award-winning book “White Burgers, Black Cash: Fast Food from Black Exclusion to Exploitation” by Dr. Naa Oyo A. Kwate, showing that the “story of fast food’s relationship to Black folks is a story about America itself.”

Made at the Library is an event series that highlights works inspired by and emerging from research at the Library of Congress. Featuring authors, artists, and other creators in conversation with library experts, this series delves deeply into the process of engaging with the library’s collections.

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