08/12/2026
In 1967, hotel after hotel in Atlanta turned Dr. King away as he planned the SCLC’s convention. Standing with Xernona Clayton, he looked up at the brand-new tower rising over Peachtree and said, “Hopefully, this is the hotel of hope.” And John Portman, the man who built it, opened his doors when nobody else in town would.
Today I stood inside the Coretta Scott King Suite at that same hotel — surrounded by the Kings’ wedding portraits — filming an episode of GPB’s A Fork in the Road about my great-grandmother’s mac and cheese.
I’ve been trying to find the words all day. Here’s my best attempt.
Mac and cheese came to this country through James Hemings, an enslaved chef who perfected it in Paris and never got the credit. The recipe came to me from my great-grandmother, who taught me that hospitality isn’t service — it’s love with the door held open.
And the reason it ever left our family kitchen is Miss Edna Lewis. I was blessed to know her — to sit with her in her home in her last years, listening to her talk about what Southern food means and why it matters. She gave me one of her cookbooks. More than that, she sent me back to my own heritage. Our recipe is out in the world today because Miss Lewis got me to refocus on where I come from.
So when Hyatt — that same hotel — gave our family recipe a home six years ago, that was never just business to me. That’s the same door, still open.
Standing in that suite today, talking about her recipe on television, it felt like every one of them was in the room.
To Derrick Morrow and Chef Thomas McKeown — y’all didn’t just open a kitchen to us all those years ago. You kept the door open. Thank you.
Episode coming soon on Georgia Public Broadcasting. Y’all stay tuned. 🧀
