Black Excellence in the19th Century: the Hiram S. Thomas Story

Chances are, you've never heard this remarkable success story. A version of this appeared in Brownstoner magazine and on line in 2019.

(Hiram Thomas, undated photo via The Schomberg Center for Black Culture, NYPL)

Before COVID-19, we couldn’t imagine a world without restaurants. Whether plain or fancy, no matter the culture or meal, we have all gotten used to the idea of being able to enter an establishment where we could sit, choose our food from a menu, be served, and eat a meal prepa…