1
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000
Downloaded from
YTS.MX

2
00:00:04,134 --> 00:00:05,353
[ Wind whipping ]

3
00:00:05,353 --> 00:00:06,702
[ Buffalo rumbles ]

4
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000
Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

5
00:00:14,449 --> 00:00:15,928
[ Ethereal tune plays ]

6
00:00:15,928 --> 00:00:17,800
[ Flames crackling ]

7
00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:36,732
♪♪

8
00:00:36,732 --> 00:00:39,865
[ Piano plays blues ]
[ Flames continue crackling ]

9
00:00:39,865 --> 00:00:47,438
♪♪

10
00:00:47,438 --> 00:00:50,572
[ Birds chirping ]

11
00:00:50,572 --> 00:00:55,707
♪♪

12
00:00:55,707 --> 00:00:58,754
Genesis41:52.

13
00:00:58,754 --> 00:01:03,976
"God has caused me to prosper
in the land of my affliction."

14
00:01:06,849 --> 00:01:10,418
We remind you,
as a child of God,

15
00:01:10,418 --> 00:01:15,640
that your condition
was not your position.

16
00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:17,381
As a patriot, you kept

17
00:01:17,381 --> 00:01:21,690
Thomas Jefferson's
secret in Paris.

18
00:01:21,690 --> 00:01:25,955
But your life and those that
followed in your footsteps

19
00:01:25,955 --> 00:01:29,306
should not and will
not be secret.

20
00:01:31,656 --> 00:01:36,183
We are thankful that we can
share your story with the world.

21
00:01:37,532 --> 00:01:40,926
Your life and your
achievement matter.

22
00:01:40,926 --> 00:01:43,190
[ Exhales forcefully ]

23
00:01:43,190 --> 00:01:45,844
[woman]
If it wasn't for memories,
what would we have?

24
00:01:45,844 --> 00:01:58,770
♪♪

25
00:01:58,770 --> 00:02:00,511
People don't know
who James Hemings is

26
00:02:00,511 --> 00:02:06,822
because he was a slave
and he did not fit the mold.

27
00:02:06,822 --> 00:02:09,781
They could not put his
face on a cereal box

28
00:02:09,781 --> 00:02:13,176
or a rice box or waffle box

29
00:02:13,176 --> 00:02:17,180
and leverage it into something
that was a familiar trope.

30
00:02:17,180 --> 00:02:21,445
In order for us to achieve
any sort of healing,

31
00:02:21,445 --> 00:02:24,927
any sort of redemption,
as a nation,

32
00:02:24,927 --> 00:02:27,712
we have to recognize
our ancestors

33
00:02:27,712 --> 00:02:29,801
and recognize that they are
not the ancestors just

34
00:02:29,801 --> 00:02:33,065
of the Black folks,
but of everybody else.

35
00:02:33,065 --> 00:02:35,938
Every Southern chef--
every single one of them--

36
00:02:35,938 --> 00:02:37,766
has the granddaddy
James Hemings.

37
00:02:41,422 --> 00:02:42,945
Firm ice cream.

38
00:02:42,945 --> 00:02:44,164
You like ice
cream, Doc?

39
00:02:45,861 --> 00:02:47,297
Macaroni & cheese.

40
00:02:47,297 --> 00:02:48,777
Macaroni & cheese?

41
00:02:48,777 --> 00:02:50,257
Hey, you know
what I like!

42
00:02:50,257 --> 00:02:51,867
Bless this highly nutritious,

43
00:02:51,867 --> 00:02:54,086
microwavable macaroni
& cheese dinner.

44
00:02:54,086 --> 00:02:55,175
[McElveen]
Whipped cream.

45
00:02:56,045 --> 00:02:57,002
Yummy.

46
00:02:57,002 --> 00:02:59,004
Crème brûlée.

47
00:02:59,004 --> 00:03:03,705
You order crème brûlée
for dessert.

48
00:03:03,705 --> 00:03:05,402
French fries.

49
00:03:05,402 --> 00:03:06,490
I really like fries.

50
00:03:06,490 --> 00:03:07,796
I always save
them for last.

51
00:03:09,928 --> 00:03:12,670
It went from one slave kitchen

52
00:03:12,670 --> 00:03:15,107
in Charlottesville

53
00:03:15,107 --> 00:03:17,632
around the world.

54
00:03:17,632 --> 00:03:21,940
Jefferson's kitchen was the
premier kitchen in America,

55
00:03:21,940 --> 00:03:25,248
and it all started
with James Hemings...

56
00:03:26,466 --> 00:03:30,253
...from that slave kitchen
in Monticello.

57
00:03:30,253 --> 00:03:33,082
My name is Ashbell McElveen.

58
00:03:33,082 --> 00:03:36,433
I am a native of Sumter,
South Carolina.

59
00:03:36,433 --> 00:03:37,781
[ Cheering and applause ]
I'm a chef.

60
00:03:37,781 --> 00:03:39,697
I'm a patriot.

61
00:03:39,697 --> 00:03:42,656
My story didn't start
when I was born.

62
00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:47,357
My story started
in the 18th century.

63
00:03:49,141 --> 00:03:51,709
I know that there's a ghost
in America's kitchen.

64
00:03:52,754 --> 00:03:54,234
Because he visited me.

65
00:03:56,236 --> 00:03:57,672
James Hemings.

66
00:03:58,629 --> 00:04:01,676
What he brought
to American gastronomy

67
00:04:01,676 --> 00:04:05,070
makes him the archetype
for our agency

68
00:04:05,070 --> 00:04:08,726
in this large sort of
culinary project.

69
00:04:08,726 --> 00:04:11,163
[McElveen]
Not only was he
trained as a chef,

70
00:04:11,163 --> 00:04:16,473
he exhibited
incredible patriotism

71
00:04:16,473 --> 00:04:20,129
by protecting the American
delegation in Paris.

72
00:04:20,129 --> 00:04:25,439
James Hemings is a founding
father of American cuisine,

73
00:04:25,439 --> 00:04:26,266
full-stop.

74
00:04:27,310 --> 00:04:30,444
[ Bright tune plays ]

75
00:04:30,444 --> 00:04:40,454
♪♪

76
00:04:40,454 --> 00:04:43,718
[McElveen]
The things that I've learned
about James Hemings,

77
00:04:43,718 --> 00:04:44,806
everyone should know.

78
00:04:46,329 --> 00:04:48,288
[Johnston]
What was it about the cooking

79
00:04:48,288 --> 00:04:50,377
of Black chefs
like James Hemings?

80
00:04:52,553 --> 00:04:54,032
Well, let's just keep it real.

81
00:04:54,032 --> 00:04:56,165
James Hemings, alone,

82
00:04:56,165 --> 00:04:58,820
they made some of
these dishes so,

83
00:04:58,820 --> 00:05:03,128
not only delectable,
but put into scripture.

84
00:05:03,128 --> 00:05:06,001
Nobody had more
refined training.

85
00:05:06,001 --> 00:05:07,829
Nobody had his palate.

86
00:05:07,829 --> 00:05:10,527
Nobody had his experience.

87
00:05:10,527 --> 00:05:12,312
And nobody had his blues.

88
00:05:14,183 --> 00:05:15,793
[McElveen]
James Hemings was

89
00:05:15,793 --> 00:05:18,622
Thomas Jefferson's
brother-in-law,

90
00:05:18,622 --> 00:05:22,365
but also his enslaved property.

91
00:05:22,365 --> 00:05:25,760
There's an old African
proverb that says,

92
00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,503
"Until the lion gets
its own storytellers,

93
00:05:29,503 --> 00:05:33,811
the story of the hunt will
always glorify the hunter."

94
00:05:33,811 --> 00:05:35,204
[ "Yankee Doodle Dandy" plays ]

95
00:05:35,204 --> 00:05:43,168
♪♪

96
00:05:43,168 --> 00:05:45,301
James Hemings, at 19,

97
00:05:45,301 --> 00:05:49,044
an enslaved American
from Virginia,

98
00:05:49,044 --> 00:05:53,048
went to France with
Thomas Jefferson

99
00:05:53,048 --> 00:05:57,226
and not only excelled
in the culinary arts,

100
00:05:57,226 --> 00:06:02,144
he literally is America's
culinary founding father.

101
00:06:02,144 --> 00:06:04,799
James Hemings is one
of those figures

102
00:06:04,799 --> 00:06:06,670
that has always been with us,

103
00:06:06,670 --> 00:06:09,673
always been present,
and yet, invisible.

104
00:06:10,674 --> 00:06:11,849
A ghost in the kitchen.

105
00:06:13,285 --> 00:06:17,377
[Hopkins]
He is part of the most
documented families in America,

106
00:06:17,377 --> 00:06:19,117
and we have no portrait of him.

107
00:06:19,117 --> 00:06:22,947
We have supposedly just one
thing written by his hand--

108
00:06:22,947 --> 00:06:24,775
an inventory list of a kitchen.

109
00:06:25,385 --> 00:06:27,387
I personally believe there are
other things that he wrote.

110
00:06:27,387 --> 00:06:29,911
He was literate--
English and in French.

111
00:06:29,911 --> 00:06:31,478
I can't believe that
there aren't letters

112
00:06:31,478 --> 00:06:33,436
or things or journals
or something, somewhere,

113
00:06:33,436 --> 00:06:36,134
that may have gotten
lost or ruined

114
00:06:36,134 --> 00:06:40,051
or intentionally hidden
because part of that time

115
00:06:40,051 --> 00:06:42,314
that he came from was
to never reveal

116
00:06:42,314 --> 00:06:46,014
how brilliant and talented
Black people were

117
00:06:46,014 --> 00:06:49,191
because, if if other Americans,
non-Black people, knew that,

118
00:06:49,191 --> 00:06:52,716
how do you justify the
conditions you put them in?

119
00:06:52,716 --> 00:06:54,239
We have something that's--

120
00:06:54,239 --> 00:06:59,897
I refer to it as societal
institutionalized racism.

121
00:07:00,942 --> 00:07:04,511
So that means the
entire society is

122
00:07:04,511 --> 00:07:08,036
wrought with
institutionalized racism.

123
00:07:08,036 --> 00:07:11,126
James Hemings is

124
00:07:11,126 --> 00:07:14,651
the most overlooked...

125
00:07:16,479 --> 00:07:19,264
...revolutionary figure
in American history...

126
00:07:20,135 --> 00:07:23,312
...particularly,
for our foodways.

127
00:07:23,312 --> 00:07:29,710
And he's been overlooked for
a very, very basic reason--

128
00:07:29,710 --> 00:07:30,711
racism.

129
00:07:32,669 --> 00:07:36,368
Absolute culinary racism.

130
00:07:36,368 --> 00:07:38,240
[Moe]
Culinary arts.

131
00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:40,155
Culinary arts,
painting.

132
00:07:40,155 --> 00:07:42,505
I always thought culinary
arts was about cooking.

133
00:07:42,505 --> 00:07:44,159
Shows you how
wrong you can be.

134
00:07:44,159 --> 00:07:46,248
Culinary arts has got
to do with color.

135
00:07:46,248 --> 00:07:50,165
[ Mellow tune plays ]

136
00:07:50,165 --> 00:07:54,082
[McElveen]
If you were dining
fine in the South,

137
00:07:54,082 --> 00:07:57,215
like they did on
the plantations,

138
00:07:57,215 --> 00:08:01,263
if a Black hand put it down
on the table in front of you,

139
00:08:01,263 --> 00:08:04,701
that was considered
fine service.

140
00:08:04,701 --> 00:08:08,357
In the counties where you had
the greatest amount of--

141
00:08:08,357 --> 00:08:10,707
of slavery in Virginia,

142
00:08:10,707 --> 00:08:14,189
the population was
60%, 70%, 80% Black.

143
00:08:14,189 --> 00:08:18,323
Williamsburg, the colonial
capital of Virginia...

144
00:08:19,542 --> 00:08:22,110
...52% people of color.

145
00:08:23,067 --> 00:08:25,156
You couldn't live
without enslavement.

146
00:08:25,243 --> 00:08:26,941
You couldn't live
without Black people.

147
00:08:27,028 --> 00:08:29,073
You couldn't live
without Black culture.

148
00:08:29,073 --> 00:08:32,467
[McElveen]
And you won't find
any influences

149
00:08:32,467 --> 00:08:34,514
in Southern regional cooking

150
00:08:34,514 --> 00:08:39,649
from colonial times
to emancipation

151
00:08:39,649 --> 00:08:41,346
where there was a white cook.

152
00:08:42,086 --> 00:08:44,872
You know, the history
of cooking in America,

153
00:08:44,872 --> 00:08:49,180
for me, starts when I
came here in 1959.

154
00:08:50,094 --> 00:08:52,140
At that point, I
work at the Pavillon

155
00:08:52,140 --> 00:08:53,489
and move on to Howard Johnson's.

156
00:08:53,489 --> 00:08:55,143
But when I work at the Pavilion,

157
00:08:55,143 --> 00:08:57,232
I knew many, many of
the chefs in New York,

158
00:08:57,232 --> 00:09:00,104
of big hotel, restaurant,
and so forth.

159
00:09:00,104 --> 00:09:04,239
I did not know one
white American chef.

160
00:09:04,239 --> 00:09:07,634
Those first chefs
that I met in America,

161
00:09:07,634 --> 00:09:10,245
really American,
were Black kid.

162
00:09:11,159 --> 00:09:13,553
I've been very
strongly influenced

163
00:09:13,553 --> 00:09:16,730
by young American
chef who Black,

164
00:09:16,730 --> 00:09:19,036
who never get any recognition.

165
00:09:19,036 --> 00:09:22,910
And we've been marginalized,
we've been downgraded,

166
00:09:22,910 --> 00:09:25,303
our contributions
have been downgraded.

167
00:09:25,303 --> 00:09:29,003
And African Americans
have performed in a way

168
00:09:29,003 --> 00:09:30,439
that is very similar to the way

169
00:09:30,439 --> 00:09:32,833
our celebrity chefs
perform today.

170
00:09:32,833 --> 00:09:34,574
These are people who performed

171
00:09:34,574 --> 00:09:38,273
at a particularly
high level at work.

172
00:09:38,273 --> 00:09:40,971
But when we have thought
about African Americans

173
00:09:40,971 --> 00:09:44,366
in the food world,
the story has been

174
00:09:44,366 --> 00:09:45,802
the reverse.

175
00:09:45,802 --> 00:09:48,892
We have spent most
of American history

176
00:09:48,892 --> 00:09:51,329
focused on the food
that African Americans

177
00:09:51,329 --> 00:09:55,638
prepared at home
in a survival kitchen,

178
00:09:55,638 --> 00:09:59,250
in trying to make
something from nothing,

179
00:09:59,250 --> 00:10:01,165
as part of a
marginalized community.

180
00:10:01,165 --> 00:10:04,908
And what I'm saying is that,
while we want to respect

181
00:10:04,908 --> 00:10:07,389
and appreciate and
honor people for that,

182
00:10:07,389 --> 00:10:11,045
we also want to recognize that
there was a group of people

183
00:10:11,045 --> 00:10:13,613
that performed
at a very high level

184
00:10:13,613 --> 00:10:18,269
and are responsible for what
we know as fine dining today

185
00:10:18,269 --> 00:10:20,271
and we have not
given them credit

186
00:10:20,271 --> 00:10:22,230
for what they accomplished.

187
00:10:22,230 --> 00:10:25,320
Fine food in America
was associated with

188
00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:29,324
having a Black hand lay food
down on the table for you.

189
00:10:29,324 --> 00:10:33,023
[Narrator]
Today, if we visit a social
gathering in the South,

190
00:10:33,023 --> 00:10:36,810
we'll see the separation of
society into distinct groups.

191
00:10:39,029 --> 00:10:41,641
[Twitty]
People who were in the
upper-upper class

192
00:10:41,641 --> 00:10:45,732
had an extraordinary
dinner setting

193
00:10:45,732 --> 00:10:48,952
around 2:00 to 3:00 in the
afternoon in the summer

194
00:10:48,952 --> 00:10:50,824
and maybe slightly
earlier in the winter.

195
00:10:50,824 --> 00:10:54,001
So, to be a cook
for one of those

196
00:10:54,001 --> 00:10:57,308
suites in tobacco,
wealthy plantations,

197
00:10:57,308 --> 00:11:02,270
we're talking about 12
dishes in two settings.

198
00:11:02,270 --> 00:11:04,794
You were in a constant cycle
when you were cooking.

199
00:11:04,794 --> 00:11:08,058
It was never-- it was
a never-ending process.

200
00:11:08,058 --> 00:11:11,366
Selecting the food, ordering
the food, slaughtering animals,

201
00:11:11,366 --> 00:11:14,499
growing the food,
purchasing food at market.

202
00:11:14,499 --> 00:11:16,632
First of all, you got to
raise the chicken, right?

203
00:11:16,632 --> 00:11:18,634
You got to kill the chicken.

204
00:11:18,634 --> 00:11:19,940
You have to kill the chicken

205
00:11:19,940 --> 00:11:21,463
right before you
cook the chicken

206
00:11:21,463 --> 00:11:23,944
because you can't
refrigerate the chicken.

207
00:11:23,944 --> 00:11:25,423
Then you got to pluck
the thing and then--

208
00:11:25,423 --> 00:11:27,817
That's just onechicken.

209
00:11:27,817 --> 00:11:31,995
It took daysto make a meal.

210
00:11:32,953 --> 00:11:35,825
[Twitty]
Somewhere in this
hectic schedule

211
00:11:35,825 --> 00:11:38,088
that our ancestors
were forced to endure,

212
00:11:38,088 --> 00:11:40,656
we not only created
a culture for ourselves,

213
00:11:40,656 --> 00:11:42,353
but a cuisine for the South.

214
00:11:43,180 --> 00:11:46,923
We received, from the
big house on down,

215
00:11:46,923 --> 00:11:50,231
foods that, in our hands,
tastes like nobody else

216
00:11:50,231 --> 00:11:51,188
when we make them.

217
00:11:51,188 --> 00:11:53,582
That's the Hemings legacy.

218
00:11:53,582 --> 00:11:56,628
Blatant absence of
people like Hemings

219
00:11:56,628 --> 00:11:59,544
in historical records
and archives

220
00:11:59,544 --> 00:12:01,546
and-- and acknowledgments

221
00:12:01,546 --> 00:12:06,203
is that we have to understand
that we live in a world,

222
00:12:06,203 --> 00:12:08,989
and, particularly,
in a society, where...

223
00:12:10,860 --> 00:12:14,298
...privilege is enjoyed,

224
00:12:14,298 --> 00:12:17,040
to a largeextent,

225
00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:21,958
by the convincing
portrayal of...

226
00:12:23,046 --> 00:12:26,789
...superiority over others.

227
00:12:26,789 --> 00:12:30,793
When you talk about class,
then the natural step is,

228
00:12:30,793 --> 00:12:33,274
then, to talk about status.

229
00:12:33,274 --> 00:12:35,145
And, when you talk about status,

230
00:12:35,145 --> 00:12:38,583
then the next implication is who
has less and then who has more.

231
00:12:38,583 --> 00:12:41,238
Luxury is a weapon,
it still is,

232
00:12:41,238 --> 00:12:44,676
and I think luxury will
always be a weapon.

233
00:12:44,676 --> 00:12:47,462
What is being actually
weaponized is scarcity.

234
00:12:47,462 --> 00:12:50,160
Scarcity has always
been weaponized,

235
00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:53,424
the things that are
few and far between.

236
00:12:53,424 --> 00:12:56,601
With the world as we
live in it now,

237
00:12:56,601 --> 00:13:02,390
it's critical that, within
each sector of our society,

238
00:13:02,390 --> 00:13:06,481
that we maintain the tenets of

239
00:13:06,481 --> 00:13:08,004
institutional racism.

240
00:13:08,788 --> 00:13:11,573
It's a part of
the business model

241
00:13:11,573 --> 00:13:15,098
and, the more you
start to point out

242
00:13:15,098 --> 00:13:21,278
and illuminate those
from other classes

243
00:13:21,278 --> 00:13:25,500
that have equally
accomplished things

244
00:13:25,500 --> 00:13:29,983
to be at the same
level of recognition,

245
00:13:29,983 --> 00:13:31,898
then you open the
door to the question

246
00:13:31,898 --> 00:13:36,380
about why isn't everyone
enjoying privilege?

247
00:13:36,380 --> 00:13:39,819
So you disrupt the model.

248
00:13:39,819 --> 00:13:42,169
And James Hemings
is a disrupter.

249
00:13:43,648 --> 00:13:45,607
Dinner is ready.

250
00:13:45,607 --> 00:13:46,695
Won't you join us?

251
00:13:46,695 --> 00:13:48,871
[ Whimsical tune plays ]

252
00:13:48,871 --> 00:13:52,353
♪♪

253
00:13:52,353 --> 00:13:54,746
[Twitty]
When we talk about
the Hemings story,

254
00:13:54,746 --> 00:13:57,271
it's-- it's an-- it's an
incredible amalgamation

255
00:13:57,271 --> 00:14:01,231
of two very dedicated
ways of looking at food.

256
00:14:01,231 --> 00:14:05,018
You know, here I am,
going, "Wow!", you know.

257
00:14:05,018 --> 00:14:07,934
In the French system, look
at the food in the market.

258
00:14:07,934 --> 00:14:08,935
Is it peak?
Is it good?

259
00:14:08,935 --> 00:14:10,414
Is it tender enough?

260
00:14:10,414 --> 00:14:12,068
When I cook it, you know,
is it is going to--

261
00:14:12,068 --> 00:14:13,548
is it going to sing on its own?

262
00:14:13,548 --> 00:14:17,508
To translate one-pot
meals into delicacies.

263
00:14:17,508 --> 00:14:19,510
You notice a lot
of those come over.

264
00:14:19,510 --> 00:14:23,166
The-- The idea that
we make big meals

265
00:14:23,166 --> 00:14:28,998
from these grand preparations
that, basically, is one pot.

266
00:14:28,998 --> 00:14:32,697
There's all-- There's
all these conversations

267
00:14:32,697 --> 00:14:36,701
in the ma-- between enslaved
people and free people of color,

268
00:14:36,701 --> 00:14:39,879
in the mind of the enslaved
that have to happen

269
00:14:39,879 --> 00:14:41,532
that are gloriously important,

270
00:14:41,532 --> 00:14:45,232
but we don't-- we've never
focused on those things.

271
00:14:45,232 --> 00:14:46,973
How do we pass on a
legacy to our children?

272
00:14:48,888 --> 00:14:50,977
Somebody had to have that
conversation with each other.

273
00:14:51,891 --> 00:14:53,936
Somebody had to
laugh, for a change,

274
00:14:53,936 --> 00:14:54,937
instead of just cry.

275
00:14:56,808 --> 00:14:59,681
Somebody had to have
a moment where

276
00:14:59,681 --> 00:15:01,770
they were working with
another African woman

277
00:15:01,770 --> 00:15:03,424
and going, "Okay,
we got to make this work,

278
00:15:03,424 --> 00:15:06,122
so that our kids know
what home tasted like."

279
00:15:06,862 --> 00:15:08,124
[Conyers]
Barbecue, for example.

280
00:15:08,124 --> 00:15:09,386
I live in New Orleans,
Louisiana.

281
00:15:09,386 --> 00:15:10,431
I got homesick.

282
00:15:10,431 --> 00:15:11,693
New Orleans got great food...

283
00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:15,305
...but I wanted barbecue
that I was accustomed to.

284
00:15:15,305 --> 00:15:16,654
I couldn't get it.

285
00:15:16,654 --> 00:15:18,439
Only way I could get it
is I prepare it.

286
00:15:18,439 --> 00:15:20,920
The food, the palate,
is your way back home.

287
00:15:22,269 --> 00:15:25,272
[McElveen]
And that was kind of how
a lot of culinary history

288
00:15:25,272 --> 00:15:27,491
and recipes and et cetera

289
00:15:27,491 --> 00:15:30,277
passed down in the
African American community

290
00:15:30,277 --> 00:15:33,019
because it was less
about, "Write this down.

291
00:15:33,019 --> 00:15:35,499
Keep this recipe in the Bible."

292
00:15:35,499 --> 00:15:37,588
And many people did that.

293
00:15:37,588 --> 00:15:42,637
But, in most families, it was,
"Look at what I'm doing."

294
00:15:43,681 --> 00:15:46,423
I had wonderful examples
to learn from.

295
00:15:46,423 --> 00:15:49,774
There were two working
chefs in my family.

296
00:15:49,774 --> 00:15:52,690
My Uncle William,
a World War II vet,

297
00:15:52,690 --> 00:15:55,780
when he came back as a GI,

298
00:15:55,780 --> 00:15:58,914
he went to dental school.

299
00:15:58,914 --> 00:16:01,308
But he couldn't get
a job, after graduating,

300
00:16:01,308 --> 00:16:02,918
as a dentist.

301
00:16:02,918 --> 00:16:06,052
He couldn't get a job,
so he became a chef...

302
00:16:06,791 --> 00:16:10,143
...at a whites-only
country club.

303
00:16:10,143 --> 00:16:12,623
[Narrator]
Many of the ideas that
we still associate

304
00:16:12,623 --> 00:16:14,974
with the people of the South
came from the days

305
00:16:14,974 --> 00:16:18,194
when plantation life
was in full flower.

306
00:16:18,194 --> 00:16:21,763
The food was always the solace.

307
00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:25,636
My mother, Retha Ludd McElveen,

308
00:16:25,636 --> 00:16:28,596
was executive chef
at Gladys [Indistinct].

309
00:16:28,596 --> 00:16:31,164
Back in those days,
you were just the cook.

310
00:16:31,164 --> 00:16:33,470
My mother was the head
cook at the restaurant.

311
00:16:33,470 --> 00:16:35,081
So food was everywhere.

312
00:16:35,081 --> 00:16:36,647
It was home.

313
00:16:36,647 --> 00:16:37,997
It was community.

314
00:16:37,997 --> 00:16:39,563
It was work.

315
00:16:39,563 --> 00:16:41,000
My personal history's--

316
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,567
is kind of like
American history--

317
00:16:43,567 --> 00:16:47,484
there's so much inspiration,

318
00:16:47,484 --> 00:16:50,357
but there's also so much pain.

319
00:16:51,532 --> 00:16:55,971
I was 13 years old when my
mother had a heart attack.

320
00:16:58,365 --> 00:17:03,109
And she was denied being
put in an ambulance

321
00:17:03,109 --> 00:17:05,502
because the ambulance was

322
00:17:05,502 --> 00:17:07,983
the segregated,
whites-only ambulance.

323
00:17:09,506 --> 00:17:13,902
And we watched her die
there for over an hour.

324
00:17:14,903 --> 00:17:16,599
That is, you know,

325
00:17:16,599 --> 00:17:21,127
one of the leftovers from
the Jeffersonian theories

326
00:17:21,127 --> 00:17:25,695
of the differences between
the Blacks and the whites.

327
00:17:25,695 --> 00:17:28,525
Thomas Jefferson
is directly related

328
00:17:28,525 --> 00:17:30,658
to the person driving
the ambulance

329
00:17:30,658 --> 00:17:33,269
[ Siren wailing ]
that denied my mother's

330
00:17:33,269 --> 00:17:35,532
literal humanity.

331
00:17:35,532 --> 00:17:41,625
And so all of these stories
are common during segregation.

332
00:17:41,625 --> 00:17:47,066
And all of this just--
just has a root in America

333
00:17:47,066 --> 00:17:50,504
that I think started
in colonial times.

334
00:17:50,504 --> 00:17:52,636
The references that
Jefferson made

335
00:17:52,636 --> 00:17:54,464
in "Notes on Virginia,"

336
00:17:54,464 --> 00:17:57,424
way back in the 18th century,

337
00:17:57,424 --> 00:18:03,691
which really codified
racism and Jim Crow

338
00:18:03,691 --> 00:18:06,911
and extending that whole
bondage of slavery,

339
00:18:06,911 --> 00:18:11,481
Many people using his
example of, you know,

340
00:18:11,481 --> 00:18:14,049
the differences between
Blacks and whites is

341
00:18:14,049 --> 00:18:16,704
that whites could have taste,

342
00:18:16,704 --> 00:18:18,488
but Blacks could not.

343
00:18:18,488 --> 00:18:21,274
It's the argument that's
been used and overused

344
00:18:21,274 --> 00:18:24,755
for racist pretensions
to this day.

345
00:18:24,755 --> 00:18:28,237
What enslavement really
translates out to--

346
00:18:28,237 --> 00:18:29,934
"I have you in bondage.

347
00:18:30,848 --> 00:18:31,980
I own you.

348
00:18:33,808 --> 00:18:36,202
But I have to have
you cook my food.

349
00:18:36,202 --> 00:18:38,117
Now, any point in time,
you could decide

350
00:18:38,117 --> 00:18:40,554
to make my food a special way

351
00:18:40,554 --> 00:18:45,211
and interrupt my life existence
or my digestive process,

352
00:18:45,211 --> 00:18:48,953
but I'm going to cede to you
something incredibly personal."

353
00:18:48,953 --> 00:18:51,782
[ Blues plays ]

354
00:18:51,782 --> 00:18:55,482
♪♪

355
00:18:55,482 --> 00:18:58,137
My mother, if we
were eating dinner--

356
00:18:58,137 --> 00:19:01,444
and, back then, there
were homeless people

357
00:19:01,444 --> 00:19:03,098
show up on the back porch,

358
00:19:03,098 --> 00:19:06,754
she'd take a spoon of
food from every plate

359
00:19:06,754 --> 00:19:10,975
and make a plate for whomever
that was on the back porch.

360
00:19:10,975 --> 00:19:13,152
That's why I have an open table,

361
00:19:13,152 --> 00:19:16,242
where all races are welcome

362
00:19:16,242 --> 00:19:17,591
to break bread with me,

363
00:19:17,591 --> 00:19:19,288
and I got that from my mother.

364
00:19:20,768 --> 00:19:27,253
I left South Carolina when
my mother died, at age 13,

365
00:19:27,253 --> 00:19:31,474
and we moved to Connecticut,
where my father was.

366
00:19:31,474 --> 00:19:34,912
I had an image of being...

367
00:19:36,740 --> 00:19:40,788
...Black and whole,

368
00:19:40,788 --> 00:19:44,705
but I did not feel
I was an American.

369
00:19:44,705 --> 00:19:46,968
And it wasn't until I was 19,

370
00:19:46,968 --> 00:19:50,537
the same age as James was
when we went to Paris,

371
00:19:50,537 --> 00:19:54,671
when I actually felt
like I was American.

372
00:19:54,671 --> 00:19:59,589
In 1970, when I
first went to France,

373
00:19:59,589 --> 00:20:01,504
I didn't know that I was walking

374
00:20:01,504 --> 00:20:05,204
in the parallel footsteps
of James Hemings,

375
00:20:05,204 --> 00:20:09,164
who didn't have a developed
culinary training

376
00:20:09,164 --> 00:20:12,298
in Virginia cooking at the time,

377
00:20:12,298 --> 00:20:14,778
but came back to America,

378
00:20:14,778 --> 00:20:20,828
as an accomplished
and talented French chef.

379
00:20:20,828 --> 00:20:24,005
Over my career in the
culinary field,

380
00:20:24,005 --> 00:20:29,880
I first learned from master
cooks and chefs in my family

381
00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:32,187
in South Carolina and Virginia

382
00:20:32,187 --> 00:20:33,884
and spent about ten years

383
00:20:33,884 --> 00:20:35,582
living in France,

384
00:20:35,582 --> 00:20:39,803
as well as about 15 years
living in the UK,

385
00:20:39,803 --> 00:20:44,721
where I opened a restaurant
and was blessed enough

386
00:20:44,721 --> 00:20:48,551
to have a four-star review
of American Southern cooking

387
00:20:48,551 --> 00:20:50,466
from the London Sunday Times.

388
00:20:50,466 --> 00:20:53,600
[ Upbeat hip hop plays ]

389
00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:58,257
♪♪

390
00:21:00,563 --> 00:21:01,521
That's what I'm doing.

391
00:21:01,521 --> 00:21:02,173
[ Static crackles ]

392
00:21:02,565 --> 00:21:03,827
[ Scratching ]

393
00:21:03,827 --> 00:21:06,917
My spiritual
encounter with James

394
00:21:06,917 --> 00:21:12,880
was after I had drank
the Jefferson Kool-Aid

395
00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:18,189
and did a dinner in 1993
at the Beard House,

396
00:21:18,189 --> 00:21:22,803
as a tribute to Jefferson

397
00:21:22,803 --> 00:21:27,590
and the Africans that "cooked
in his kitchen," okay?

398
00:21:27,590 --> 00:21:29,810
I didn't know anything
about James Hemings.

399
00:21:29,810 --> 00:21:33,292
Since Jefferson was so
enamored of the French,

400
00:21:33,292 --> 00:21:36,382
it is rumored that his--
even his brother's son,

401
00:21:36,382 --> 00:21:39,036
who was half Black
and half white,

402
00:21:39,036 --> 00:21:40,908
was sent to culinary
school in France.

403
00:21:40,908 --> 00:21:42,953
A meal set for
Jefferson on the table

404
00:21:42,953 --> 00:21:45,391
on an antique platter,

405
00:21:45,391 --> 00:21:46,479
right from the era.

406
00:21:46,479 --> 00:21:48,611
[ Applause ]

407
00:21:48,611 --> 00:21:51,919
I had heard a rumor that,

408
00:21:51,919 --> 00:21:56,445
one of Jefferson's
uncle's or brother's son

409
00:21:56,445 --> 00:22:00,536
had accompanied him to Paris
to learn to be a chef

410
00:22:00,536 --> 00:22:01,494
and that's all I knew.

411
00:22:01,494 --> 00:22:04,061
I had no inkling

412
00:22:04,061 --> 00:22:08,022
that James Hemings
was, indeed,

413
00:22:08,022 --> 00:22:09,589
the half brother of--

414
00:22:09,589 --> 00:22:12,156
of Jefferson's wife, Martha.

415
00:22:12,156 --> 00:22:18,337
After that dinner,
I was in bed, asleep,

416
00:22:18,337 --> 00:22:23,124
and I woke up in a cold sweat.

417
00:22:24,343 --> 00:22:28,085
And my ears were ringing
and all I heard was,

418
00:22:28,085 --> 00:22:32,307
"How could you, of all
people, forget me?"

419
00:22:34,483 --> 00:22:38,226
And I didn't quite understand
what was happening,

420
00:22:38,226 --> 00:22:41,272
but I knewit was a spirit.

421
00:22:41,272 --> 00:22:44,275
It was so...

422
00:22:44,275 --> 00:22:45,712
scary.

423
00:22:45,712 --> 00:22:47,714
[Narrator]
You cannot know your country

424
00:22:47,714 --> 00:22:49,890
unless your country knows you.

425
00:22:49,890 --> 00:22:52,240
In our culture, food isn't just

426
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,242
something I eat
because I'm hungry.

427
00:22:54,242 --> 00:22:58,986
Food is something that
provides a communication,

428
00:22:58,986 --> 00:23:01,510
a mystical experience
between the living,

429
00:23:01,510 --> 00:23:03,077
the dead, and those
who are to be born.

430
00:23:03,773 --> 00:23:05,035
When we eat the food
of our ancestors,

431
00:23:05,035 --> 00:23:06,515
we're experiencing their world.

432
00:23:07,864 --> 00:23:11,955
A little, tiny piece of them
is speaking back to us...

433
00:23:12,913 --> 00:23:15,394
...in a way that was never
supposed to happen.

434
00:23:15,394 --> 00:23:18,527
I have been in spaces
where I've cooked,

435
00:23:18,527 --> 00:23:21,661
18th- and 19th-century spaces,

436
00:23:21,661 --> 00:23:24,098
where I have had
spirit encounters.

437
00:23:25,099 --> 00:23:28,711
At first, it's-- it's
alarming and it's unnerving

438
00:23:28,711 --> 00:23:30,626
and then, once you
get the hang of it

439
00:23:30,626 --> 00:23:33,412
and you know what you're doing,
you go, "Okay, well, you know,

440
00:23:33,412 --> 00:23:34,848
before I even begin cooking,

441
00:23:34,848 --> 00:23:36,110
I need to have
a conversation with you."

442
00:23:37,067 --> 00:23:42,943
He saw the facility
to contact me, as a spirit,

443
00:23:42,943 --> 00:23:45,598
to say, "Wake up, guy.

444
00:23:45,598 --> 00:23:48,339
Here's what really happened."

445
00:23:48,339 --> 00:23:51,995
And it put me on that
path of discovery.

446
00:23:51,995 --> 00:23:56,826
In the process of finding
myself, and James Hemings,

447
00:23:56,826 --> 00:24:02,223
I found out Thomas Jefferson
never cooked an effing thing.

448
00:24:02,223 --> 00:24:08,403
It's an amazing story
of historical culinary theft.

449
00:24:08,403 --> 00:24:10,057
"Virginia Housewife,"
the first--

450
00:24:10,057 --> 00:24:12,538
the "first Southern cookbook,"
as they like to say.

451
00:24:12,538 --> 00:24:14,670
[McElveen]
Thomas Jefferson
and his daughters

452
00:24:14,670 --> 00:24:18,761
claim authorship of their
favorite dishes. [ Scoff ]

453
00:24:18,761 --> 00:24:21,329
Think about Mary Randolph
for a moment.

454
00:24:21,329 --> 00:24:23,766
She was called the queen
of the kitchen.

455
00:24:23,766 --> 00:24:26,029
It's no accident
that Mary Randolph

456
00:24:26,029 --> 00:24:29,119
is also kin to Thomas Jefferson.

457
00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:31,905
So, in the "Virginia
Housewife" cookbook

458
00:24:31,905 --> 00:24:34,081
are all of these French recipes

459
00:24:34,081 --> 00:24:37,563
attributed to Jefferson's
granddaughter?

460
00:24:37,563 --> 00:24:40,130
This man's favorite, you know,

461
00:24:40,130 --> 00:24:43,960
delicacy meat was guinea fowl,

462
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:45,745
an African bird.

463
00:24:45,745 --> 00:24:47,181
People like him and Washington

464
00:24:47,181 --> 00:24:49,357
loved their hominy
for breakfast,

465
00:24:49,357 --> 00:24:50,489
and hoecakes.

466
00:24:51,490 --> 00:24:53,666
That was our hardtack.

467
00:24:53,666 --> 00:24:55,058
They didn't have
to eat hoecakes.

468
00:24:56,582 --> 00:24:58,322
But, apparently,
somebody made that stuff

469
00:24:58,322 --> 00:25:00,542
taste so good,
that's what they wanted.

470
00:25:00,542 --> 00:25:02,152
They wanted their hominy,
they wanted their grits,

471
00:25:02,152 --> 00:25:03,327
they wanted their hoecake

472
00:25:03,327 --> 00:25:04,807
for breakfast.

473
00:25:04,807 --> 00:25:06,809
Setting a tone
for other Southerners.

474
00:25:07,767 --> 00:25:10,334
And, if you ever
want to think about

475
00:25:10,334 --> 00:25:13,686
who put the first French
fries into your mouth,

476
00:25:13,686 --> 00:25:16,993
macaroni & cheese,
firm ice cream.

477
00:25:16,993 --> 00:25:20,257
I'll travel anywhere

478
00:25:20,257 --> 00:25:22,259
and I'll talk to anyone...

479
00:25:22,259 --> 00:25:24,348
Meringues.
Crème brûlée.

480
00:25:24,348 --> 00:25:25,524
...about James Hemings...

481
00:25:25,524 --> 00:25:27,221
Nobody's giving him that credit.

482
00:25:27,221 --> 00:25:31,486
And he's never gotten the credit
for achieving that thing.

483
00:25:31,486 --> 00:25:35,751
...and I will question
anyhistorian's view

484
00:25:35,751 --> 00:25:37,927
of what Jefferson wrote down.

485
00:25:37,927 --> 00:25:40,974
French fries
and macaroni & cheese

486
00:25:40,974 --> 00:25:42,976
didn't go from the country
of origin around the world.

487
00:25:42,976 --> 00:25:45,544
It went from that slave
kitchen in Monticello

488
00:25:45,544 --> 00:25:46,675
around the world.

489
00:25:46,675 --> 00:25:48,068
There's this kind of

490
00:25:48,068 --> 00:25:50,461
separation of Black identity

491
00:25:50,461 --> 00:25:53,464
from the rest of
American history

492
00:25:53,464 --> 00:25:55,902
and American culinary identity

493
00:25:55,902 --> 00:25:58,339
that is disingenuous
because you can't tell

494
00:25:58,339 --> 00:26:00,210
honest stories about
American foodways

495
00:26:00,210 --> 00:26:04,214
without telling the Black
culinary parts of it.

496
00:26:05,085 --> 00:26:07,217
They don't exist separately

497
00:26:07,217 --> 00:26:10,481
and, when you're honest
about this history,

498
00:26:10,481 --> 00:26:15,835
this rich, ethnic,
complicated history,

499
00:26:15,835 --> 00:26:19,360
all of a sudden, this American
narrative makes more sense.

500
00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:21,928
[Twitty]
Virginia's imports of Africans

501
00:26:21,928 --> 00:26:25,453
were about 40% to
50% from Nigeria

502
00:26:25,453 --> 00:26:29,936
and then, beneath the James
are more Congo Angolans

503
00:26:29,936 --> 00:26:32,199
and a mixture of Ghanaians,

504
00:26:32,199 --> 00:26:34,201
like the Akan, the Ashanti,
the Fante, et cetera,

505
00:26:34,201 --> 00:26:35,985
the Ewe, the Ga.

506
00:26:36,551 --> 00:26:38,205
And the other groups.

507
00:26:38,205 --> 00:26:40,250
And some of those people
filter into North Carolina

508
00:26:40,250 --> 00:26:42,513
because North Carolina has no

509
00:26:42,513 --> 00:26:44,080
slave trading ports

510
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,648
that actually can-- can
hold that many ships

511
00:26:46,648 --> 00:26:49,085
because it was the
graveyard of the Atlantic.

512
00:26:49,085 --> 00:26:52,611
But I say that to say that
there is a greater Virginia...

513
00:26:54,177 --> 00:26:57,354
...and a greater
Virginia food culture--

514
00:26:57,354 --> 00:26:59,052
and you can say Chesapeake,
you can say Tidewater,

515
00:26:59,052 --> 00:27:00,880
you can say greater Virginia,
it's all same thing--

516
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:04,840
that goes from,
let's say, Baltimore

517
00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:07,495
all the way down to
even to North Carolina

518
00:27:07,495 --> 00:27:10,324
and west to Charlottesville
and Albemarle County,

519
00:27:10,324 --> 00:27:12,935
where James Hemings
was enslaved.

520
00:27:12,935 --> 00:27:16,069
[ Mellow jazz plays ]

521
00:27:16,069 --> 00:27:18,158
♪♪

522
00:27:18,158 --> 00:27:20,029
[ Scratching ]

523
00:27:20,029 --> 00:27:25,556
♪♪

524
00:27:25,556 --> 00:27:30,910
Betty Hemings was the
property of John Wayles,

525
00:27:30,910 --> 00:27:33,739
who was Jefferson's
wife's father.

526
00:27:33,739 --> 00:27:37,960
Betty Hemings had six
children with John Wayles,

527
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,224
including James Hemings
and Sally Hemings,

528
00:27:41,224 --> 00:27:43,574
and, when John Wayles died,

529
00:27:43,574 --> 00:27:46,752
Jefferson was married to his
daughter Martha Wayles,

530
00:27:46,752 --> 00:27:50,886
and so he, as the male,
he inherited her property.

531
00:27:50,886 --> 00:27:55,021
And, at that time, slaves were
like Lexuses and BMWs, so,

532
00:27:55,021 --> 00:27:56,805
you didn't throw them away.

533
00:27:56,805 --> 00:27:58,851
You sold them.
You traded them.

534
00:27:58,851 --> 00:28:01,114
It was real wealth.

535
00:28:01,114 --> 00:28:05,074
When Wayles died, James
was about nine years old.

536
00:28:05,074 --> 00:28:09,122
He was brought with the entire
family of Betty Hemings

537
00:28:09,122 --> 00:28:10,384
to Monticello.

538
00:28:12,429 --> 00:28:16,216
In 1784, three of
America's signers

539
00:28:16,216 --> 00:28:18,087
of the Declaration
of Independence,

540
00:28:18,087 --> 00:28:22,962
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson,
and Ben Franklin, were in Paris.

541
00:28:22,962 --> 00:28:26,617
James Hemings was the
culinary founding father

542
00:28:26,617 --> 00:28:28,837
who was there at that time.

543
00:28:28,837 --> 00:28:32,711
When Jefferson was given the
appointment by Washington,

544
00:28:32,711 --> 00:28:36,105
he took James for
the express purpose

545
00:28:36,105 --> 00:28:39,587
of learning to be a French chef.

546
00:28:41,458 --> 00:28:42,503
[ Scratching ]

547
00:28:42,503 --> 00:28:43,722
So, James Hemings is

548
00:28:43,722 --> 00:28:45,636
the first American

549
00:28:45,636 --> 00:28:48,422
trained classically as a chef.

550
00:28:49,162 --> 00:28:51,686
He Tiger Woods'd
it over in Paris

551
00:28:51,686 --> 00:28:53,296
and, you know, in terms of like

552
00:28:53,296 --> 00:28:55,734
even doing better than
the French people

553
00:28:55,734 --> 00:28:58,084
that he was learning
from and learning with.

554
00:28:58,084 --> 00:29:01,827
Hemings became chef de cuisine,

555
00:29:01,827 --> 00:29:04,830
speaking French,
in another language,

556
00:29:04,830 --> 00:29:06,701
in like less than
three years or so.

557
00:29:06,701 --> 00:29:10,836
And this is absolutely amazing,
to be able to do that,

558
00:29:10,836 --> 00:29:13,839
so he must have been a very
bright, intelligent man

559
00:29:13,839 --> 00:29:15,928
and learning very fast,

560
00:29:15,928 --> 00:29:20,062
certainly, to manage
a group in the kitchen

561
00:29:20,062 --> 00:29:22,717
and to do all of the
basics of cooking,

562
00:29:22,717 --> 00:29:24,980
to use technique and all that.

563
00:29:24,980 --> 00:29:28,027
It took me much longer than
it did for him. [ Chuckle ]

564
00:29:28,027 --> 00:29:29,506
[Miller]
I think James Hemings
is definitely

565
00:29:29,506 --> 00:29:30,812
a missing figure in our history.

566
00:29:30,812 --> 00:29:33,032
He did so much to
shape the, I think,

567
00:29:33,032 --> 00:29:36,165
entertaining reputation
of Thomas Jefferson.

568
00:29:36,165 --> 00:29:39,038
Food becomes this narrative
that shifts the paradigm

569
00:29:39,038 --> 00:29:42,563
around how we think of the
life of the enslaved.

570
00:29:42,563 --> 00:29:46,872
We're part of the power
broking of American society,

571
00:29:46,872 --> 00:29:49,700
along with our food,
as the lubricant

572
00:29:49,700 --> 00:29:51,877
that makes everybody,
makes it all go around,

573
00:29:51,877 --> 00:29:54,009
makes everybody work
with each other.

574
00:29:54,009 --> 00:29:56,403
[ Flames crackling ]
[Conyers] You can't
understand America

575
00:29:56,403 --> 00:29:59,145
without understanding
our agricultural history.

576
00:29:59,145 --> 00:30:01,364
I bled. I cut my hand
building a pit.

577
00:30:02,191 --> 00:30:04,280
And, every time I look
at my middle finger,

578
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:06,848
I see the laceration
from that cut.

579
00:30:08,545 --> 00:30:12,375
When I cook that cow, I sweat
over it for 20-something hours.

580
00:30:13,637 --> 00:30:16,597
I look at every shovel of coals
went underneath that cow

581
00:30:16,597 --> 00:30:19,861
and knew I had certain
placement, that only I knew.

582
00:30:20,819 --> 00:30:22,516
And I cried at the end.

583
00:30:22,516 --> 00:30:24,431
I cry because I don't know
how many African Americans

584
00:30:24,431 --> 00:30:27,347
have done a whole cow
in 100-and-something years

585
00:30:27,347 --> 00:30:29,392
and made it to serve a bunch
of majority-Black folks.

586
00:30:29,392 --> 00:30:31,351
Because I look
at the literature,

587
00:30:31,351 --> 00:30:32,874
Black folks were
cooking barbecue,

588
00:30:32,874 --> 00:30:35,921
but they were doing it
for political rallies.

589
00:30:35,921 --> 00:30:38,924
Barbecue-- a barbecue
wasn't just like, "Hey,

590
00:30:38,924 --> 00:30:41,404
we want to have some fun."
A barbecue was,

591
00:30:41,404 --> 00:30:42,492
"Let me get your vote."

592
00:30:44,712 --> 00:30:46,496
Who was doing the barbecuing?

593
00:30:46,496 --> 00:30:48,063
A Black man.

594
00:30:48,063 --> 00:30:50,587
And it was the food of politics.

595
00:30:50,587 --> 00:30:56,289
[Johnston]
Thomas Jefferson understood
the elegance of a table

596
00:30:56,289 --> 00:31:00,554
and what that can do,
in terms of diplomacy.

597
00:31:00,554 --> 00:31:03,165
I mean, this is a man
from Virginia, right?

598
00:31:03,165 --> 00:31:06,821
He's-- He's a country bumpkin,
relatively speaking.

599
00:31:06,821 --> 00:31:09,606
And I'm sure his
eyes were opened

600
00:31:09,606 --> 00:31:11,304
in his travels, tremendously,

601
00:31:11,304 --> 00:31:15,786
and so, his-- his brilliance
is that he was like,

602
00:31:15,786 --> 00:31:18,528
"Well, what if I did
this back in Virginia?

603
00:31:20,008 --> 00:31:25,100
I could negotiate and navigate
and impress and create

604
00:31:25,100 --> 00:31:28,538
and I can do this because I own

605
00:31:28,538 --> 00:31:34,196
a talented family member,
[ Laughs ] basically,

606
00:31:34,196 --> 00:31:38,418
who I can train and who is--
is, obviously, gifted at it."

607
00:31:38,418 --> 00:31:43,118
Good food puts people in
the mood to negotiate.

608
00:31:43,118 --> 00:31:45,729
Leaders that were very savvy
about the use of foods

609
00:31:45,729 --> 00:31:48,384
were able to get their
political agendas implemented

610
00:31:48,384 --> 00:31:51,039
because they had a charm
offensive using food,

611
00:31:51,039 --> 00:31:53,389
and Thomas Jefferson was
one of the best at that.

612
00:31:53,389 --> 00:31:55,348
I had the privilege
of being chef

613
00:31:55,348 --> 00:31:58,351
to three different French
presidents in France

614
00:31:58,351 --> 00:32:01,354
and this is what
Hemings did also.

615
00:32:01,354 --> 00:32:05,619
So, the complexity of the work,
when you work for the president,

616
00:32:05,619 --> 00:32:07,751
is quite a lot.

617
00:32:07,751 --> 00:32:11,886
For him to be able
to cook at Chantilly,

618
00:32:11,886 --> 00:32:14,454
you know, which was the
place where Vatel died;

619
00:32:14,454 --> 00:32:17,631
and cook for the king of France,

620
00:32:17,631 --> 00:32:20,199
it is amazing for him
to have been able

621
00:32:20,199 --> 00:32:23,028
to manage and control

622
00:32:23,028 --> 00:32:26,379
the complexity of the food
and the team in the kitchen

623
00:32:26,379 --> 00:32:30,949
in that little amount of time,
in another language. Wow.

624
00:32:30,949 --> 00:32:34,256
At this very important
point in American history,

625
00:32:34,256 --> 00:32:37,694
there was an enormous
debt to French bankers.

626
00:32:37,694 --> 00:32:42,003
The American Revolution
would not have succeeded,

627
00:32:42,003 --> 00:32:44,875
if France had not financed.

628
00:32:44,875 --> 00:32:47,313
All of the money for arms,

629
00:32:47,313 --> 00:32:51,273
cannons, came from France

630
00:32:51,273 --> 00:32:54,711
and they were figuring out
how to keep the balance

631
00:32:54,711 --> 00:32:58,802
of America's credit
standing in the world.

632
00:32:58,802 --> 00:33:00,543
[ Scratching ]
James Hemings is

633
00:33:00,543 --> 00:33:03,938
the older brother
of Sally Hemings

634
00:33:03,938 --> 00:33:08,899
and Sally came to Paris with
Jefferson's youngest daughter.

635
00:33:08,899 --> 00:33:14,079
She and Jefferson apparently
started some kind of romance

636
00:33:14,079 --> 00:33:18,170
because, when she returned
to America with him,

637
00:33:18,170 --> 00:33:19,084
she was pregnant.

638
00:33:19,084 --> 00:33:21,912
That child was lost,

639
00:33:21,912 --> 00:33:26,656
but she subsequently had
six children by Jefferson.

640
00:33:26,656 --> 00:33:29,007
It was the age of enlightenment

641
00:33:29,007 --> 00:33:32,097
and Jefferson was the
darling of enlightenment

642
00:33:32,097 --> 00:33:36,101
because of how he wrote
about the rights of man.

643
00:33:36,101 --> 00:33:39,800
But he did not say, to anyone,

644
00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:42,977
that he owned slaves in America.

645
00:33:42,977 --> 00:33:47,677
In fact, he hired
a lawyer to advise him

646
00:33:47,677 --> 00:33:52,334
on how to proceed
with James and Sally,

647
00:33:52,334 --> 00:33:56,295
with them being
undeclared in France

648
00:33:56,295 --> 00:33:57,687
because he never
declared them, either,

649
00:33:57,687 --> 00:34:00,125
which he was supposed
to do by law.

650
00:34:00,125 --> 00:34:04,433
All James had to do was to walk
into the admiralty court

651
00:34:04,433 --> 00:34:06,044
and declare his freedom.

652
00:34:06,044 --> 00:34:08,045
But, if he had done that,

653
00:34:08,045 --> 00:34:10,396
he would have ruined

654
00:34:10,396 --> 00:34:14,007
the credit of the United States,

655
00:34:14,007 --> 00:34:15,487
and he knew that.

656
00:34:15,487 --> 00:34:19,579
He didn't insert himself,
declare his freedom.

657
00:34:19,579 --> 00:34:23,800
He came back to America
for family, and country.

658
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,063
[ Sizzling ]

659
00:34:29,632 --> 00:34:34,027
Hemings coming back to the
United States with Jefferson

660
00:34:34,027 --> 00:34:36,161
was always a puzzle for me.

661
00:34:36,161 --> 00:34:38,119
He got recognition in France.

662
00:34:38,119 --> 00:34:39,728
He work in great restaurant.

663
00:34:40,817 --> 00:34:43,559
He could have gotten his freedom

664
00:34:43,559 --> 00:34:47,085
and his French nationality
from the government in France,

665
00:34:47,085 --> 00:34:49,739
but I guess the
love of his country

666
00:34:49,739 --> 00:34:51,089
and his family were stronger.

667
00:34:51,089 --> 00:34:54,353
He came back to America

668
00:34:54,353 --> 00:34:56,659
with the training
that, basically,

669
00:34:56,659 --> 00:34:59,097
no American chef
at the time.

670
00:34:59,097 --> 00:35:00,446
[ Suspenseful music plays ]
[ Sloop!]

671
00:35:00,446 --> 00:35:03,623
♪♪

672
00:35:03,623 --> 00:35:07,757
[ Thunder crashing ]

673
00:35:07,757 --> 00:35:11,065
A lot of times, I thought,
"Why would you do that?

674
00:35:11,065 --> 00:35:13,937
Why would you actually
come back to slavery?"

675
00:35:13,937 --> 00:35:16,766
And it's the act of a patriot.

676
00:35:17,637 --> 00:35:22,511
I believe that Thomas Jefferson,

677
00:35:22,511 --> 00:35:26,211
the central powerful
figure in his life,

678
00:35:26,211 --> 00:35:28,648
would, somehow, miraculously,

679
00:35:28,648 --> 00:35:33,957
believe the stuff that
he espoused in France

680
00:35:33,957 --> 00:35:37,657
about the equality of man

681
00:35:37,657 --> 00:35:40,486
and the nature of freedom.

682
00:35:40,486 --> 00:35:42,270
Being Black and
loving this country

683
00:35:42,270 --> 00:35:45,447
is probably one of the
most patriotic things,

684
00:35:45,447 --> 00:35:47,145
the most patriotic acts, right?

685
00:35:47,145 --> 00:35:51,061
Like in the midst of such
a complicated relationship

686
00:35:51,061 --> 00:35:53,325
with the country, that

687
00:35:53,325 --> 00:35:57,111
you could easily
write off as [ Sigh ]

688
00:35:57,111 --> 00:36:00,114
negative, holistically negative.

689
00:36:00,114 --> 00:36:03,770
If we confront the truth of our
relationship with this country

690
00:36:03,770 --> 00:36:05,902
and are still able
to be patriotic

691
00:36:05,902 --> 00:36:08,514
and still love where we're from

692
00:36:08,514 --> 00:36:13,127
and see value and power in
our legacy in this country,

693
00:36:13,127 --> 00:36:15,564
that is the very
definition of patriotism.

694
00:36:15,564 --> 00:36:17,262
♪♪

695
00:36:17,262 --> 00:36:21,091
[ Playing march ]

696
00:36:21,091 --> 00:36:23,181
[Narrator]
The way of life our
forefathers established

697
00:36:23,181 --> 00:36:25,705
on this foundation of freedoms

698
00:36:25,705 --> 00:36:28,098
drew people from the far
corners of the Earth.

699
00:36:29,012 --> 00:36:31,058
And all those who stepped
foot on these shores

700
00:36:31,058 --> 00:36:33,843
had the opportunity to build
a better life for themselves.

701
00:36:34,627 --> 00:36:38,805
[McElveen]
Soon after their return
to New York from France,

702
00:36:38,805 --> 00:36:42,461
James Hemings would cook
the most important dinner

703
00:36:42,461 --> 00:36:43,897
in early American history.

704
00:36:45,203 --> 00:36:49,163
[ Scratching ]
The Assumption Dinner in 1790,

705
00:36:49,163 --> 00:36:51,339
where James cooked the meal

706
00:36:51,339 --> 00:36:55,343
that reconciled
Hamilton, Madison,

707
00:36:55,343 --> 00:36:57,606
and Jefferson.

708
00:36:57,606 --> 00:37:01,915
In a back-rooms deal,
they decided

709
00:37:01,915 --> 00:37:07,225
how the debt from the colonial
war would be repaid.

710
00:37:07,225 --> 00:37:13,970
And the debtors were all
French bankers and aristocrats

711
00:37:13,970 --> 00:37:16,538
and they were clamoring
for the money back.

712
00:37:16,538 --> 00:37:18,888
And that dinner, that balm

713
00:37:18,888 --> 00:37:22,718
that James provided
with good food,

714
00:37:22,718 --> 00:37:25,591
allowed this
agreement to happen.

715
00:37:25,591 --> 00:37:27,419
[ Scratching ]

716
00:37:27,419 --> 00:37:29,725
It was a hot June day.

717
00:37:29,725 --> 00:37:32,424
He'd served the
monumental dessert--

718
00:37:32,424 --> 00:37:37,124
vanilla ice cream
wrapped in warm pastry.

719
00:37:37,124 --> 00:37:40,562
It took me two years
to figure out how he did it.

720
00:37:40,562 --> 00:37:42,477
I kept saying,
"It's a fireplace.

721
00:37:42,477 --> 00:37:44,349
He's cooking all of
this in a fireplace.

722
00:37:44,349 --> 00:37:47,047
How did he make this happen?"

723
00:37:47,047 --> 00:37:51,965
And he made it happen with
two new things to America.

724
00:37:51,965 --> 00:37:58,363
One were copper pots-- would
conduct heat very evenly.

725
00:37:58,363 --> 00:38:02,192
And he learned how to make
meringues in France.

726
00:38:02,192 --> 00:38:05,979
They are, whipped egg
whites, are insulators.

727
00:38:05,979 --> 00:38:08,764
So, when you make a firm
bowl of ice cream,

728
00:38:08,764 --> 00:38:11,027
you can coat that in meringue,

729
00:38:11,027 --> 00:38:13,465
wrap pastry around
it, and bake it.

730
00:38:13,465 --> 00:38:17,077
And, once it's done, you
don't taste the meringue.

731
00:38:17,077 --> 00:38:21,168
You only taste the vanilla
ice cream and the warm pastry.

732
00:38:21,168 --> 00:38:24,867
And, to bake it,
James, very cleverly,

733
00:38:24,867 --> 00:38:26,652
took two of those pots,

734
00:38:26,652 --> 00:38:28,306
turned them on top
of each other,

735
00:38:28,306 --> 00:38:31,831
put a spoon in the middle,

736
00:38:31,831 --> 00:38:33,180
and it was an instant oven.

737
00:38:34,181 --> 00:38:36,183
An instant oven.

738
00:38:37,271 --> 00:38:44,017
And it was not until
1845, at Delmonico's...

739
00:38:44,017 --> 00:38:45,975
[ Laughs ]

740
00:38:45,975 --> 00:38:51,198
...that "meringue" and baked
Alaska was invented.

741
00:38:52,286 --> 00:38:54,027
But James had done that

742
00:38:54,027 --> 00:38:56,812
and brought it into America
for the first time,

743
00:38:56,812 --> 00:38:59,467
but used it in a novel way,

744
00:38:59,467 --> 00:39:04,907
to make this dessert
for this meeting.

745
00:39:04,907 --> 00:39:07,562
You talk about the-- the
compromise dinner we cooked.

746
00:39:07,562 --> 00:39:10,086
Food is this, you know,
sort of unifier,

747
00:39:10,086 --> 00:39:14,352
this, this sort of, the table
becoming this battleground

748
00:39:14,352 --> 00:39:20,619
for hard conversations,
but also widely productive,

749
00:39:20,619 --> 00:39:22,272
cutting out all kinds
of foolishness

750
00:39:22,272 --> 00:39:25,537
and just getting down to what
makes us equal and human.

751
00:39:25,537 --> 00:39:27,321
Food is at the center.

752
00:39:27,321 --> 00:39:31,586
And so, to me, especially
as a professional chef,

753
00:39:31,586 --> 00:39:36,896
thinking about the power that
Black chefs have always wielded.

754
00:39:36,896 --> 00:39:40,029
You had at your fingertips
the-- the potential,

755
00:39:40,029 --> 00:39:43,337
the sort of, the power
to change minds.

756
00:39:43,337 --> 00:39:45,905
When you bring two people
in front of a good meal

757
00:39:45,905 --> 00:39:48,473
that tastes good, not
only does it taste good,

758
00:39:48,473 --> 00:39:51,998
but your olfactory
senses are stimulated

759
00:39:51,998 --> 00:39:55,305
and your olfaction
has great memory.

760
00:39:55,305 --> 00:39:58,570
Of anything that you
experience in your lifetime,

761
00:39:58,570 --> 00:40:02,312
your sense of smell will be
the least impacted by age.

762
00:40:02,312 --> 00:40:06,055
So, in addition to the
visual representation,

763
00:40:06,055 --> 00:40:09,058
you know, of the food,
the smell, in itself,

764
00:40:09,058 --> 00:40:10,973
does wonders for
the brains and it,

765
00:40:10,973 --> 00:40:13,236
you know, activates
those neurotransmitters

766
00:40:13,236 --> 00:40:15,848
that send the message that
this is a safe place,

767
00:40:15,848 --> 00:40:18,111
this is a feel-good place,
you can relax.

768
00:40:18,111 --> 00:40:19,895
It's very disarming.

769
00:40:19,895 --> 00:40:24,030
Food and just dining, in itself,
is a very communal activity,

770
00:40:24,030 --> 00:40:26,380
so, it puts people at a
place and a position

771
00:40:26,380 --> 00:40:30,079
where they are not on a
defensive, they can enjoy,

772
00:40:30,079 --> 00:40:32,865
and I think that
allows for kind of

773
00:40:32,865 --> 00:40:35,737
processing and digesting
information that they

774
00:40:35,737 --> 00:40:37,304
would otherwise disagree with.

775
00:40:37,304 --> 00:40:40,307
So, it's a multifaceted
experience.

776
00:40:40,307 --> 00:40:42,831
And we know, from Hemings' life,
that he was an eyewitness

777
00:40:42,831 --> 00:40:45,094
to very important moments
in U.S. history,

778
00:40:45,094 --> 00:40:47,183
so, the fact that
his food facilitated

779
00:40:47,183 --> 00:40:49,142
some key events in U.S. history,

780
00:40:49,142 --> 00:40:51,579
I think, speaks to his
prowess as a cook.

781
00:40:51,579 --> 00:40:58,368
Under the balm of James Hemings'
impeccable taste and execution,

782
00:40:58,368 --> 00:41:02,111
it was agreed how that
the states would pay most

783
00:41:02,111 --> 00:41:05,854
of the debt left over
from the colonial war.

784
00:41:05,854 --> 00:41:07,682
And they also decided

785
00:41:07,682 --> 00:41:11,730
that Washington, D.C.
would be the capital,

786
00:41:11,730 --> 00:41:14,515
that it would be on the
banks of the Potomac,

787
00:41:14,515 --> 00:41:16,735
instead of Philadelphia.

788
00:41:16,735 --> 00:41:19,215
Then, on to Philadelphia.

789
00:41:19,215 --> 00:41:22,784
And, by this time, Jefferson
was secretary of state

790
00:41:22,784 --> 00:41:25,308
and Philadelphia was
the temporary capital.

791
00:41:26,919 --> 00:41:29,574
This was the White House.

792
00:41:30,662 --> 00:41:33,621
In the 1790s, a plague forced

793
00:41:33,621 --> 00:41:35,623
Washington and Jefferson
and others

794
00:41:35,623 --> 00:41:38,104
to flee Center City,
Philadelphia.

795
00:41:38,104 --> 00:41:39,801
To Germantown.

796
00:41:39,801 --> 00:41:42,978
One of the men who came
through this house

797
00:41:42,978 --> 00:41:44,589
was James Hemings,

798
00:41:44,589 --> 00:41:46,939
our culinary founding father.

799
00:41:46,939 --> 00:41:50,943
Fine dining was brought
to Philadelphia

800
00:41:50,943 --> 00:41:54,686
by enslaved Black chefs.

801
00:41:54,686 --> 00:41:58,907
It's so critical that we look
at this whole development

802
00:41:58,907 --> 00:42:01,344
from an Afro-Atlantic
perspective,

803
00:42:01,344 --> 00:42:07,829
which means Europe, Africa,
and the Americas in exchange.

804
00:42:07,829 --> 00:42:10,876
There were lots of Black
people who were in exchange.

805
00:42:10,876 --> 00:42:12,834
The stereotype that
we have received is,

806
00:42:12,834 --> 00:42:14,662
once you were Black and exiled,

807
00:42:14,662 --> 00:42:17,317
you were Black, exiled,
and you just, you know,

808
00:42:17,317 --> 00:42:21,016
you were just locked into
a certain part of the system.

809
00:42:21,016 --> 00:42:23,149
And that's not true.

810
00:42:23,149 --> 00:42:26,108
Urban centers,
like Philadelphia,

811
00:42:26,108 --> 00:42:30,417
were especially important
because, you know,

812
00:42:30,417 --> 00:42:32,201
you could come on
a ship. You could be--

813
00:42:32,201 --> 00:42:34,508
You could be from
a farm in Delaware.

814
00:42:34,508 --> 00:42:37,206
You could be an escaped,
enslaved prisoner from Maryland.

815
00:42:37,206 --> 00:42:39,513
You could be coming with your
slaveholder from Virginia

816
00:42:39,513 --> 00:42:41,515
because, you know,
there's all this

817
00:42:41,515 --> 00:42:44,257
Continental Congress
stuff going on.

818
00:42:44,257 --> 00:42:46,433
All these things were possible.

819
00:42:46,433 --> 00:42:48,217
Or from the Caribbean
and they're all mixing

820
00:42:48,217 --> 00:42:50,306
and conversing with each
other, exchanging culture.

821
00:42:51,481 --> 00:42:53,832
And, somehow, some way,

822
00:42:53,832 --> 00:42:59,620
a paradigm of the
cultures evening out

823
00:42:59,620 --> 00:43:02,188
and thus having a collective
expression emerges.

824
00:43:02,188 --> 00:43:04,582
Just like language,
music, spirituality...

825
00:43:05,931 --> 00:43:07,628
...a collective
expression emerges

826
00:43:07,628 --> 00:43:09,543
and that becomes the
African American way.

827
00:43:11,197 --> 00:43:13,242
[Narrator]
The United States of America,

828
00:43:13,242 --> 00:43:16,202
youngest, by far, of the
world's great nations,

829
00:43:16,202 --> 00:43:19,727
stands today the envy
of the civilized world.

830
00:43:19,727 --> 00:43:22,861
Its more than 130
million free people.

831
00:43:22,861 --> 00:43:25,080
Its 33 million homes.

832
00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:27,561
Its seven million farms.

833
00:43:27,561 --> 00:43:29,998
Its vast panorama
of other resources.

834
00:43:31,304 --> 00:43:32,914
Industry and commerce.

835
00:43:32,914 --> 00:43:34,655
Machines and structures

836
00:43:34,655 --> 00:43:38,398
beyond the dreams, even,
of our own fathers.

837
00:43:38,398 --> 00:43:40,792
And, above all the
material blessings,

838
00:43:40,792 --> 00:43:44,230
government by consent
of the governed.

839
00:43:44,230 --> 00:43:47,320
And so, three years were
spent in Philadelphia

840
00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:50,062
and James was reluctant
to come back to Monticello

841
00:43:50,062 --> 00:43:55,241
because Philadelphia
had abolished slavery

842
00:43:55,241 --> 00:43:58,418
and he feared that,
if he went to Virginia,

843
00:43:58,418 --> 00:44:00,768
he wouldn't be able
to leave again.

844
00:44:01,639 --> 00:44:05,164
So, Jefferson made
a written contract with him.

845
00:44:07,209 --> 00:44:08,863
[As Jefferson]
Having been at great expense

846
00:44:08,863 --> 00:44:11,474
in having James Hemings
taught the art of cookery,

847
00:44:11,474 --> 00:44:13,259
desiring to befriend him

848
00:44:13,259 --> 00:44:17,002
and require of him as little
in return as possible,

849
00:44:17,002 --> 00:44:19,308
I hereby do promise and declare,

850
00:44:19,308 --> 00:44:22,094
that if the said James [should]
go with me to Monticello

851
00:44:22,094 --> 00:44:24,096
in the course of the
ensuing winter,

852
00:44:24,096 --> 00:44:26,011
when I go to reside
there myself,

853
00:44:26,011 --> 00:44:27,490
and shall there continue

854
00:44:27,490 --> 00:44:29,971
until he shall have
taught such person[s]

855
00:44:29,971 --> 00:44:34,715
as I shall place under him for
that purpose to be a good cook,

856
00:44:34,715 --> 00:44:37,326
[his] previous condition
being performed,

857
00:44:37,326 --> 00:44:39,764
he shall thereupon
be made free."

858
00:44:42,114 --> 00:44:46,118
[McElveen]
And that's been a constant
theme in Black America--

859
00:44:46,118 --> 00:44:49,643
litigating and pressing
for our own rights,

860
00:44:49,643 --> 00:44:52,559
that actually helped
this country

861
00:44:52,559 --> 00:44:54,866
become a democratic republic.

862
00:44:54,866 --> 00:44:58,434
♪♪

863
00:44:58,434 --> 00:45:00,785
Three years were spent
in Philadelphia

864
00:45:00,785 --> 00:45:04,571
and then they came back
to Monticello in '93,

865
00:45:04,571 --> 00:45:07,792
where that agreement
was put in place.

866
00:45:07,792 --> 00:45:10,925
What's so important
about this agreement,

867
00:45:10,925 --> 00:45:15,843
which frames a cooking
tradition in America

868
00:45:15,843 --> 00:45:18,498
that's been picked up
by the culinary schools,

869
00:45:18,498 --> 00:45:21,109
but the first one was created

870
00:45:21,109 --> 00:45:24,547
by an enslaved chef,
James Hemings,

871
00:45:24,547 --> 00:45:27,855
because, as a condition
of his freedom

872
00:45:27,855 --> 00:45:30,249
was that he was to teach
his brother Peter

873
00:45:30,249 --> 00:45:34,470
all he knew and had
learned in France.

874
00:45:34,470 --> 00:45:37,517
The first cooking
school in America.

875
00:45:37,517 --> 00:45:40,085
James trained in France
for five years.

876
00:45:40,085 --> 00:45:42,827
He comes back to America
and trains his brother Peter.

877
00:45:42,827 --> 00:45:45,351
Peter never becomes James.

878
00:45:45,351 --> 00:45:48,310
Peter has other talents
that he excels at,

879
00:45:48,310 --> 00:45:50,530
but he never quite achieves

880
00:45:50,530 --> 00:45:53,359
the cookery mastery that--
that James achieved,

881
00:45:53,359 --> 00:45:55,883
so innovative and almost
like a perfectionist,

882
00:45:55,883 --> 00:45:57,798
in terms of how he
worked at things

883
00:45:57,798 --> 00:46:00,714
and different recipes until--
until he figured it out.

884
00:46:00,714 --> 00:46:02,107
And then he was
just very generous.

885
00:46:02,107 --> 00:46:03,717
Yes, it was at the
behest of Jefferson

886
00:46:03,717 --> 00:46:06,024
that he trained his brother
and that he trained

887
00:46:06,024 --> 00:46:08,374
the Monticello cooks
and that he trained

888
00:46:08,374 --> 00:46:10,376
other cooks at
other plantations,

889
00:46:10,376 --> 00:46:13,205
but that was who he was.

890
00:46:13,205 --> 00:46:15,685
There's a sense of generosity
that comes through that,

891
00:46:15,685 --> 00:46:18,906
a sense of-- of mastery.

892
00:46:18,906 --> 00:46:24,390
Somehow, the macaroni pie
that James would've made

893
00:46:24,390 --> 00:46:26,740
became staple to Americans

894
00:46:26,740 --> 00:46:30,048
and-- and at-- at its
best form in our hands.

895
00:46:32,050 --> 00:46:33,747
That's the amazing
part about it.

896
00:46:33,747 --> 00:46:35,140
There is this--

897
00:46:35,140 --> 00:46:37,969
We-- We made these
African traditions--

898
00:46:37,969 --> 00:46:41,450
frying, barbecuing, the
way we spice our food--

899
00:46:41,450 --> 00:46:44,845
the ingredients essential
to being a Southerner.

900
00:46:45,890 --> 00:46:50,459
[Narrator]
We planned this kitchen to take
care of the preparation of food,

901
00:46:50,459 --> 00:46:54,768
eating, clearing, and some
food preservation.

902
00:46:54,768 --> 00:46:56,770
[Twitty]
You know, Patrick Henry's
famous statement

903
00:46:56,770 --> 00:46:59,686
about Thomas Jefferson's
kitchen,

904
00:46:59,686 --> 00:47:02,863
which was really James Hemings'
kitchen at the time,

905
00:47:02,863 --> 00:47:06,693
was that it was "half French
[and] half Virginian..."

906
00:47:06,693 --> 00:47:08,608
[ Film projector rattling ]

907
00:47:08,608 --> 00:47:10,653
"...served in good taste
and abundance."

908
00:47:12,699 --> 00:47:14,657
Well, what's half
Virginian mean?

909
00:47:15,745 --> 00:47:17,617
We know what the hell
[ Laughing ] that means.

910
00:47:17,617 --> 00:47:19,401
It's Afro-Virginian.

911
00:47:20,402 --> 00:47:22,274
When you say American,
you're talking about

912
00:47:22,274 --> 00:47:26,060
all kinds of people from
all over the Earth.

913
00:47:26,060 --> 00:47:27,975
We live under one flag, but,

914
00:47:27,975 --> 00:47:31,065
we have the right to see
things and express ideas

915
00:47:31,065 --> 00:47:33,459
each in our own way.

916
00:47:33,459 --> 00:47:35,635
That's why we set it up.

917
00:47:35,635 --> 00:47:37,637
That's what our revolution
was all about.

918
00:47:37,637 --> 00:47:38,986
[ Whistling march plays ]

919
00:47:38,986 --> 00:47:41,641
And the heart of
those ideals rings

920
00:47:41,641 --> 00:47:44,209
in a single sentence
of Thomas Jefferson's.

921
00:47:45,732 --> 00:47:47,908
I don't know how anybody
could say it better.

922
00:47:49,518 --> 00:47:52,739
[ As Jefferson]
I have sworn upon
the altar of God

923
00:47:52,739 --> 00:47:56,221
eternal hostility against
every form of tyranny

924
00:47:56,221 --> 00:47:57,570
over the mind of man.

925
00:47:59,746 --> 00:48:02,009
[ Scratching ]

926
00:48:02,009 --> 00:48:06,187
[McElveen]
On February 5, 1796,

927
00:48:06,187 --> 00:48:10,888
James Hemings received his
freedom from Thomas Jefferson

928
00:48:10,888 --> 00:48:13,064
and returned to Philadelphia.

929
00:48:14,108 --> 00:48:16,632
It would not be long
before he would hear

930
00:48:16,632 --> 00:48:18,417
from Thomas Jefferson again.

931
00:48:19,592 --> 00:48:24,336
He was sent for by
Thomas Jefferson

932
00:48:24,336 --> 00:48:25,772
to come to the White House

933
00:48:25,772 --> 00:48:29,036
to be the first chef
in the White House.

934
00:48:29,036 --> 00:48:31,169
And he refused.

935
00:48:32,779 --> 00:48:34,737
Unless he was
written a letter,

936
00:48:34,737 --> 00:48:37,305
like Jefferson would
write any free man.

937
00:48:38,872 --> 00:48:42,049
And his words were,
when he was summonsed,

938
00:48:42,049 --> 00:48:45,487
the way he was summonsed
when he was a slave,

939
00:48:45,487 --> 00:48:49,839
he said, "If he wants me,
he can ask me himself,"

940
00:48:49,839 --> 00:48:57,021
and exhibiting the first bit
of African American pride

941
00:48:57,021 --> 00:48:58,761
and presence

942
00:48:58,761 --> 00:49:02,287
and actually challenging
the most famous

943
00:49:02,287 --> 00:49:05,768
and powerful man in his universe

944
00:49:05,768 --> 00:49:09,033
to actually respect him

945
00:49:09,033 --> 00:49:11,557
as a free man
and not as a slave.

946
00:49:11,557 --> 00:49:14,908
You must really
consider the types of

947
00:49:14,908 --> 00:49:17,128
inner dialogue you have
to tell yourself.

948
00:49:17,128 --> 00:49:19,173
Can you imagine?
To tell yourself that,

949
00:49:19,173 --> 00:49:22,611
"In spite of what I see--"
because we're visual creatures--

950
00:49:22,611 --> 00:49:26,876
that, "In spite of what I see,
this is not my reality."

951
00:49:26,876 --> 00:49:30,532
It's more natural to give
in to what you see

952
00:49:30,532 --> 00:49:34,101
and it would be very
logical and expected

953
00:49:34,101 --> 00:49:35,929
for you to respond

954
00:49:35,929 --> 00:49:38,671
to what your environment
tells you you should be.

955
00:49:38,671 --> 00:49:41,979
But it's a different kind
of person to look at

956
00:49:41,979 --> 00:49:44,807
and be in your environment
and to defy it.

957
00:49:44,807 --> 00:49:47,071
It is an act of defiance.

958
00:49:47,071 --> 00:49:48,898
So, he was standing
up for his freedom

959
00:49:48,898 --> 00:49:53,164
in-- in asking Jefferson
to write this letter.

960
00:49:54,165 --> 00:49:58,299
And Jefferson viewed it
as a letter to a Black man,

961
00:49:58,299 --> 00:49:59,997
so he never wrote it.

962
00:50:03,913 --> 00:50:09,963
That refusal was literally
Jefferson's way of

963
00:50:09,963 --> 00:50:12,879
assassinating James Hemings.

964
00:50:12,879 --> 00:50:16,622
He, instead, wrote that letter

965
00:50:16,622 --> 00:50:20,321
to a white French chef, Julien,

966
00:50:20,321 --> 00:50:24,412
who became the first official
chef at the White House.

967
00:50:24,412 --> 00:50:25,500
[ Suspenseful music plays ]

968
00:50:25,500 --> 00:50:27,546
James went and got a job

969
00:50:27,546 --> 00:50:31,158
at a tavern in Baltimore,

970
00:50:31,158 --> 00:50:34,640
where he is said to have
drank himself to death.

971
00:50:36,294 --> 00:50:38,687
This is a shame and--

972
00:50:38,687 --> 00:50:41,734
because he was really,
uniquely qualified

973
00:50:41,734 --> 00:50:44,432
to run a great
restaurant in America.

974
00:50:46,043 --> 00:50:48,567
[McElveen]
James Hemings' death in 1801

975
00:50:48,567 --> 00:50:51,613
was mysterious
and poorly documented.

976
00:50:52,571 --> 00:50:55,661
I don't believe he
drank himself to death.

977
00:50:55,661 --> 00:51:01,145
A Black man standing
out of the ordinary

978
00:51:01,145 --> 00:51:03,234
has always been a threat.

979
00:51:04,365 --> 00:51:11,198
Racial profiling existed
in 1801 as it exists today.

980
00:51:11,198 --> 00:51:13,244
[ Scratching ]

981
00:51:13,244 --> 00:51:15,463
I pose this question--

982
00:51:15,463 --> 00:51:19,119
in Baltimore at a tavern,

983
00:51:19,119 --> 00:51:22,557
cooking, where, undoubtedly,

984
00:51:22,557 --> 00:51:25,125
there were many
poor white people

985
00:51:25,125 --> 00:51:29,738
and here's a man in the
finest clothes in the world

986
00:51:29,738 --> 00:51:31,523
and he's Black.

987
00:51:31,523 --> 00:51:33,568
And, plus, he was free.

988
00:51:34,613 --> 00:51:40,358
That had to be an
incredible invitation

989
00:51:40,358 --> 00:51:43,404
to do all kinds
of things to him.

990
00:51:43,404 --> 00:51:47,234
And so, I don't think that
it was as straightforward

991
00:51:47,234 --> 00:51:49,454
as he drank himself to death.

992
00:51:49,454 --> 00:51:52,413
I think he was murdered.

993
00:51:52,413 --> 00:51:55,068
[ Birds chirping ]

994
00:51:58,071 --> 00:51:59,768
You know, I'll-- I'll
never forget the time

995
00:51:59,768 --> 00:52:03,163
that I was in the--
the bathroom...

996
00:52:04,817 --> 00:52:07,863
...what used to be the bathroom
at Monticello at that level.

997
00:52:07,863 --> 00:52:09,169
Now, it's excavated.

998
00:52:09,169 --> 00:52:10,910
And I was in my
white chef's getup

999
00:52:10,910 --> 00:52:13,391
and I'm cooking with
Leni Sorensen that day.

1000
00:52:13,391 --> 00:52:16,481
And I took a selfie
in the bathroom.

1001
00:52:16,481 --> 00:52:18,091
It was me.
My head was up

1002
00:52:18,091 --> 00:52:20,093
and I'm in my clothes
and I'm looking good.

1003
00:52:20,093 --> 00:52:22,748
I mean, that was only time
I was all in white.

1004
00:52:22,748 --> 00:52:23,923
And, you know,
white is the color

1005
00:52:23,923 --> 00:52:26,099
of spiritual transformation

1006
00:52:26,099 --> 00:52:28,710
and spirit presence
in African culture.

1007
00:52:30,059 --> 00:52:32,540
And I swear to God, I wasn't
the only person in that space.

1008
00:52:34,063 --> 00:52:35,804
It was weird. It was--
It wasn't weird.

1009
00:52:35,804 --> 00:52:37,284
It was actually
kind of comforting.

1010
00:52:37,284 --> 00:52:39,156
And it was almost
like arms around me.

1011
00:52:40,679 --> 00:52:43,116
And I walked out, totally
ignorant of the fact

1012
00:52:43,116 --> 00:52:45,814
that I was in the space
of the original kitchen.

1013
00:52:45,814 --> 00:52:49,166
So I walk out and Leni's like,
"Yeah, that was the space."

1014
00:52:49,166 --> 00:52:52,604
And it was almost like, "Okay,
now I know why I felt that way."

1015
00:52:53,257 --> 00:52:55,694
I had never been to
that area before.

1016
00:52:55,694 --> 00:52:56,956
I'd never been to the
bathroom before, ever.

1017
00:52:56,956 --> 00:52:58,479
I never even heard of it.

1018
00:52:58,479 --> 00:53:00,351
I never been in that space.

1019
00:53:00,351 --> 00:53:03,136
But I'm in that and I was like,
"Somebody else was with me."

1020
00:53:03,136 --> 00:53:04,703
[ Tender tune plays ]

1021
00:53:04,703 --> 00:53:06,400
[McElveen]
The kitchen at Monticello,

1022
00:53:06,400 --> 00:53:11,971
this ominous, historical
place, this ominous kitchen.

1023
00:53:11,971 --> 00:53:15,888
I was sitting alone
on a wooden bench

1024
00:53:15,888 --> 00:53:18,369
in the causeway
outside the kitchen

1025
00:53:18,369 --> 00:53:20,153
and there was nobody around.

1026
00:53:20,153 --> 00:53:23,287
And I'm sitting there
just collecting my thoughts

1027
00:53:23,287 --> 00:53:26,333
and looking into the kitchen

1028
00:53:26,333 --> 00:53:30,250
and what I

1029
00:53:30,250 --> 00:53:36,300
understood [ Laughs ] clearly
coming back to me was,

1030
00:53:36,300 --> 00:53:40,869
"What we did here,
we did with pride,

1031
00:53:40,869 --> 00:53:45,961
in spite of our circumstances."

1032
00:53:46,832 --> 00:53:50,096
Love is an ingredient
you can't make.

1033
00:53:50,096 --> 00:53:52,446
It either have to be
in you, or not.

1034
00:53:52,446 --> 00:53:54,970
And I'm saying, "So, when
we had creative spirits,

1035
00:53:54,970 --> 00:53:56,929
like Hemings,
and so many others,

1036
00:53:56,929 --> 00:53:58,974
all throughout our history,

1037
00:53:58,974 --> 00:54:01,673
they would just manifest
in their highest potential

1038
00:54:01,673 --> 00:54:06,243
in being decent human
beings, unselfishly.

1039
00:54:09,028 --> 00:54:10,638
Because, if he was that smart--

1040
00:54:10,638 --> 00:54:13,119
and he was-- as he
was reported to be...

1041
00:54:14,033 --> 00:54:16,514
and as educated and all
of the other things,

1042
00:54:16,514 --> 00:54:18,211
had he chosen,

1043
00:54:18,211 --> 00:54:20,213
he could've orchestrated
what was necessary

1044
00:54:20,213 --> 00:54:23,085
to get his name in a book,
somewhere, or in a picture.

1045
00:54:23,085 --> 00:54:25,523
But it wasn't even on his
radar screen, I believe.

1046
00:54:27,264 --> 00:54:29,309
I think he was oblivious.
I think he was saying,

1047
00:54:29,309 --> 00:54:32,878
just saying, "I got access
to the resources

1048
00:54:32,878 --> 00:54:36,534
that will allow me to manifest
my highest potential

1049
00:54:36,534 --> 00:54:39,841
with this craft and this
gift that I have."

1050
00:54:39,841 --> 00:54:42,540
I think about the
plantation life

1051
00:54:42,540 --> 00:54:47,719
and what being able to cook
meant for you in that space,

1052
00:54:47,719 --> 00:54:50,852
what it meant for your
life, what it meant for

1053
00:54:50,852 --> 00:54:53,246
your own family, that you could,

1054
00:54:53,246 --> 00:54:55,117
in the mid-- in the midst of

1055
00:54:55,117 --> 00:54:57,642
the most
unimaginable inequity,

1056
00:54:57,642 --> 00:55:01,776
you could find one place,
one moment, Sunday dinner,

1057
00:55:01,776 --> 00:55:04,257
that you could find
some kind of dignity,

1058
00:55:04,257 --> 00:55:09,262
that your ability to bake
a perfect caramel cake

1059
00:55:09,262 --> 00:55:13,135
could literally shift how
you felt about yourself.

1060
00:55:13,135 --> 00:55:16,269
Food is the center
of our humanity.

1061
00:55:16,269 --> 00:55:18,924
It's really the simplest way
to sort of boil it down,

1062
00:55:18,924 --> 00:55:22,623
but your ability as a chef
to wield that power is,

1063
00:55:22,623 --> 00:55:24,930
I think, a huge responsibility.

1064
00:55:25,931 --> 00:55:29,761
Effects of slavery and the whole
ram-- social ramifications

1065
00:55:29,761 --> 00:55:35,810
that still exist today
is-- is palpable.

1066
00:55:37,769 --> 00:55:46,865
And I am faced with the cost
of the ignorance, the racism.

1067
00:55:49,258 --> 00:55:54,263
And today, visiting
my mother's grave,

1068
00:55:54,263 --> 00:55:59,268
a woman who lost her life
because she was not allowed

1069
00:55:59,268 --> 00:56:02,184
to ride in a
whites-only ambulance.

1070
00:56:03,142 --> 00:56:06,450
This is my first time
seeing her headstone...

1071
00:56:08,234 --> 00:56:14,327
...and the first time that I've
visited her grave in 25 years.

1072
00:56:14,327 --> 00:56:20,812
♪♪

1073
00:56:20,812 --> 00:56:21,769
And I'm...

1074
00:56:25,251 --> 00:56:30,909
...I'm so blessed
that I got her spirit

1075
00:56:30,909 --> 00:56:34,652
and not a spirit of bitterness

1076
00:56:34,652 --> 00:56:38,482
and, in spite of what
happened to her.

1077
00:56:38,482 --> 00:56:42,442
It's vitally important
to understand

1078
00:56:42,442 --> 00:56:43,400
where we come from...

1079
00:56:45,619 --> 00:56:49,667
...and what influenced
our lives.

1080
00:56:49,667 --> 00:56:54,323
James Hemings is an example
of the kind of role models

1081
00:56:54,323 --> 00:56:56,369
that we need to hear
more and more about.

1082
00:56:56,369 --> 00:56:59,111
There are just so many
opportunities and places

1083
00:56:59,111 --> 00:57:01,374
where our young people
could be getting involved

1084
00:57:01,374 --> 00:57:07,380
and if they see more people
who look like themselves.

1085
00:57:07,380 --> 00:57:09,817
It's motivational
because, as I go forward,

1086
00:57:09,817 --> 00:57:12,080
and people like me
and my generation,

1087
00:57:12,080 --> 00:57:14,431
they're like, "Oh,
James Hemings did that

1088
00:57:14,431 --> 00:57:16,650
during these conditions."

1089
00:57:16,650 --> 00:57:20,524
Not just did it, but he was
in slavery, during oppression.

1090
00:57:20,524 --> 00:57:24,528
We're now, I will say, "free,"

1091
00:57:24,528 --> 00:57:26,965
but we still have
a lot of oppression,

1092
00:57:26,965 --> 00:57:28,967
but we have a lot of
resources, a lot of--

1093
00:57:28,967 --> 00:57:31,012
we have gotten
farther, as a people.

1094
00:57:31,012 --> 00:57:33,493
And so we can be--
we can do first

1095
00:57:33,493 --> 00:57:35,800
and we can do innovative
and groundbreaking things

1096
00:57:35,800 --> 00:57:37,671
to change society.

1097
00:57:37,671 --> 00:57:40,805
You can have modern figures,
not just a hidden figure.

1098
00:57:40,805 --> 00:57:41,849
[Woman]
Hello, everyone.

1099
00:57:43,938 --> 00:57:47,899
We are now down to
our sweet ending

1100
00:57:47,899 --> 00:57:50,510
that Chef Ashbell McElveen.

1101
00:57:50,510 --> 00:57:54,253
[ Applause ]

1102
00:57:54,253 --> 00:57:59,258
[McElveen]
Jefferson has been sucking up
all the air in the room.

1103
00:57:59,258 --> 00:58:00,999
[ Laughter and applause ]

1104
00:58:00,999 --> 00:58:03,262
And James Hemings

1105
00:58:03,262 --> 00:58:08,093
has been enslaved to the
Jefferson myth of fine food

1106
00:58:08,093 --> 00:58:10,530
for over 225 years,

1107
00:58:10,530 --> 00:58:12,097
[ Laughing ] okay?
[ Applause ]

1108
00:58:12,097 --> 00:58:15,883
I came to the food--
the American food space

1109
00:58:15,883 --> 00:58:18,799
feeling very much
like an outsider,

1110
00:58:18,799 --> 00:58:20,366
not seeing myself represented,

1111
00:58:20,366 --> 00:58:24,152
not sort of understanding
the historical context,

1112
00:58:24,152 --> 00:58:28,156
sort of my physical presence,
my ethnic presence,

1113
00:58:28,156 --> 00:58:31,159
in this very white,
American narrative.

1114
00:58:31,159 --> 00:58:36,948
And then you find James,
you find this fully formed,

1115
00:58:36,948 --> 00:58:40,125
autonomous, French-trained chef.

1116
00:58:40,125 --> 00:58:43,345
This-- This person
who represents

1117
00:58:43,345 --> 00:58:47,001
the exact embodiment
of the kind of chef

1118
00:58:47,001 --> 00:58:49,351
that you're told
you're supposed to be,

1119
00:58:49,351 --> 00:58:51,745
in the form of this
fully formed Black man.

1120
00:58:53,399 --> 00:58:56,315
He, all of a sudden,
straightens your spine.

1121
00:58:56,315 --> 00:58:59,100
He tells you that you are
a uniquely American chef,

1122
00:58:59,100 --> 00:59:02,495
just by virtue of your--
your ethnic identity.

1123
00:59:02,495 --> 00:59:04,584
James Hemings represents

1124
00:59:04,584 --> 00:59:09,328
that first generation of
revolutionary era cooks.

1125
00:59:09,328 --> 00:59:16,074
Chefs who, despite their status
as enslaved Black men,

1126
00:59:16,074 --> 00:59:17,249
enslaved Black people...

1127
00:59:19,425 --> 00:59:22,820
...create a revolution
on the plantation.

1128
00:59:25,039 --> 00:59:27,868
Their knowledge, their
skills, and abilities

1129
00:59:27,868 --> 00:59:33,004
will be passed down and will be
spread throughout the community

1130
00:59:33,004 --> 00:59:35,528
as a means and force
of liberation.

1131
00:59:37,791 --> 00:59:44,755
Economic, spiritual, cultural,
mental, professional liberation.

1132
00:59:46,583 --> 00:59:48,802
And that's why
they're so important.

1133
00:59:48,802 --> 00:59:51,457
That's why the narrative of
James Hemings is so important.

1134
00:59:52,371 --> 00:59:53,764
And those that came after him.

1135
00:59:58,029 --> 01:00:04,513
[McElveen]
James, your achievements have
made the world a better place.

1136
01:00:04,513 --> 01:00:09,475
We recognize all of the unnamed,

1137
01:00:09,475 --> 01:00:13,566
enslaved peoples
who toiled with you

1138
01:00:13,566 --> 01:00:17,570
and we thank you all
for showing us

1139
01:00:17,570 --> 01:00:22,706
the template for fine
dining in America.

1140
01:00:22,706 --> 01:00:24,664
May you find peace.

1141
01:00:24,664 --> 01:00:27,885
Your life and your
achievement matter.

1142
01:00:27,885 --> 01:02:49,853
♪♪