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Meet The Fearless Cook Who Secretly Fed —

And Funded — The Civil Rights Movement
By Maria Godoy
2018

In Montgomery Alabama in 1955, civil rights protesters refused to use the bus system as a means to
challenge the segregation laws in place on public transit. The campaign lasted from December 5, 1955 until
December 20, 1956. In this informational text, Maria Godoy discusses Georgia Gilmore, a cook who
contributed to the civil rights movement, specifically the Montgomery Bus Boycott. As you read, take notes
on how Gilmore’s cooking helped the bus boycott.

[1] In December 1955, after Rosa Parks refused to

give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to a
white man, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and
other black ministers and community leaders
organized a citywide bus boycott in protest. That
part is well known.

Less well-known is the story of Georgia Gilmore,

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the Montgomery cook, midwife and activist
whose secret kitchen fed the civil rights
movement.

"pies {62 of 365}" by RebeccaVC1 is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

When King and others held meetings of the
Montgomery Improvement Association at the Holt Street Baptist Church, Gilmore was there, selling
fried chicken sandwiches and other foods to the African-American men and women gathered there
who’d pledged not to use the city’s buses until they were desegregated. Gilmore poured those profits
back into the movement, as John T. Edge recounts in his book The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the
Modern South.

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“In the process, her home kitchen became a locus for change,” writes Edge, the director of the
Southern Foodways Alliance, which is based out of the University of Mississippi and documents the
intersection of food and culture in the South.

[5] Gilmore organized black women to sell pound cakes and sweet potato pies, fried fish and stewed
greens, pork chops and rice at beauty salons, cab stands and churches. “She offered these women,
many of whose grandmothers were born into slavery, a way to contribute to the cause that would not
raise suspicions of white employers who might fire them from their jobs, or white landowners who
might evict them from the houses they rented,” Edge says.

1. a person trained to assist with childbirth

2. a particular or specific place

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 The money they raised helped pay for the alternative transportation system that arose in Montgomery
during the 381-day bus boycott: hundreds of cars, trucks and wagons that ferried black workers to and
from their jobs across town each day. Gilmore’s cooking helped pay for the insurance, gas, wagons and
vehicle repairs that kept that system going.

She called the group of women who worked with her in this project “The Club from Nowhere” because,
as Betty Gilmore, Georgia’s sister, told Edge years later, “It was like, ‘Where did this money come from?
It came from nowhere.”

Gilmore would attend MIA meetings at the church and announce how much she’d raised that week,
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eventually inspiring another group of women in town to start a similar endeavor, Edge says.

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In February 1956, a Montgomery County grand jury indicted King and dozens of other boycott leaders
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for unlawful conspiracy. Gilmore was among those who testified at King’s trial. As the late Rev. Al
Dixon told NPR in 2005, “Everybody could tell you Georgia Gilmore didn’t take no junk. You pushed her
too far, she would say a few bad words. You pushed her any further, she would hit you.”

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[10] Gilmore brought that fighting spirit to the courtroom. She fearlessly denounced the white bus driver
who had kicked her off a city bus from the witness stand. “When I paid my fare and they got the
money, they don’t know Negro money from white money,” she told the judge.

The testimony made Gilmore a hero to local blacks, Edge says. But “in the white world she became a
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pariah.” Gilmore lost her job as a cook at the National Lunch Company — though Edge says it’s not
clear whether she was fired or resigned “knowing her testimony would lead to her dismissal.”

King lived a few blocks from Gilmore and was a fan of her cooking and her activism. “Whenever VIPs
would come to town, he would always have Miss Gilmore cook up a batch of chicken,” Nelson Malden,
King’s one-time barber in Montgomery, recalled in a 2005 interview with NPR. “When she was fired
from her restaurant [job], Rev. King said, ‘Well, why don’t you go into business for yourself?’ “

So she did. With King’s support, Gilmore turned her house into an informal restaurant.

“[Robert F.] Kennedy came, [Lyndon] Johnson been here — Dr. King brought him,” Gilmore’s son, Mark
Gilmore, who died in 2008, told NPR in 2005.

[15] “Gilmore’s house became a clubhouse for King,” Edge writes, and often the first stop for people in the
civil rights movement who visited Montgomery. “When King arrived in Montgomery during the 1965
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march from Selma, he beelined to Gilmore’s kitchen for pork chops.”

Gilmore died on the 25th anniversary of the civil rights march from Selma. She’d spent the morning
preparing chicken and macaroni and cheese to feed people marching in observation of the
anniversary. Her family served that food to those who came to mourn her.

3. Endeavor (noun): an attempt to achieve a goal

4. to formally accuse of a crime
5. a secret plan to do something unlawful as a group
6. Denounce (verb): to publically declare to be wrong or evil
7. an outcast
8. to go straight to somewhere

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© 2018 National Public Radio, Inc. News report titled "Meet The Fearless Cook Who Secretly Fed — And Funded — The Civil Rights Movement"
by Maria Godoy was originally published on NPR.org on January 15, 2018, and is used with the permission of NPR. Any unauthorized
duplication is strictly prohibited.

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 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.

1. PART A: Which statement best expresses the central idea of the text?
A. Gilmore showed women how they could be involved in the bus boycott, a
protest that was mostly dominated by men.
B. The bus boycott would not have succeeded without the food and transportation
that Gilmore donated to protesters.
C. Martin Luther King, Jr. helped grow Gilmore’s fame by making her restaurant the
unofficial headquarters of the Civil Rights Movement.
D. Gilmore’s cooking provided food for civil rights activists and helped to fund
transportation during the bus boycott.

2. PART B: Which TWO details from the text best support the answer to Part A?
A. “Gilmore was there, selling fried chicken sandwiches and other foods to the
African-American men and women gathered there who’d pledged not to use the
city’s buses” (Paragraph 3)
B. “‘She offered these women, many of whose grandmothers were born into
slavery, a way to contribute to the cause that would not raise suspicions of white
employers who might fire them’” (Paragraph 5)
C. “The money they raised helped pay for the alternative transportation system
that arose in Montgomery during the 381-day bus boycott” (Paragraph 6)
D. “‘Everybody could tell you Georgia Gilmore didn’t take no junk. You pushed her
too far, she would say a few bad words. You pushed her any further, she would
hit you.’” (Paragraph 9)
E. “‘When I paid my fare and they got the money, they don’t know Negro money
from white money,’ she told the judge.” (Paragraph 10)
F. “‘Gilmore’s house became a clubhouse for King,’ Edge writes, and often the first
stop for people in the civil rights movement who visited Montgomery.”
(Paragraph 15)

3. According to the text, how did Gilmore’s role in the Civil Rights Movement develop over
time?
A. Gilmore’s work in the Civil Rights Movement became more secretive over time,
as she became a target of the public.
B. Gilmore’s role in the Civil Rights Movement grew over time, as she inspired
others and became well-known by activists.
C. Gilmore’s role in the Civil Rights Movement decreased over time, especially after
she lost her job and could not support protesters.
D. Gilmore’s work in the Civil Rights Movement fell to the side over time, as she had
to focus on owning her own business.

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4. How does paragraph 5 contribute to the development of ideas in the text?
A. It emphasizes all the hard work that Gilmore put into helping the Civil Rights
Movement.
B. It stresses how important the actions of women were during the Civil Rights
Movement.
C. It explains how Gilmore was able to provide women with a safe way to
contribute to the Civil Rights Movement.
D. It suggests that African American women contributed less to the Civil Rights
Movement than men did.

5. What connection does the author draw between Gilmore’s actions and the success of the
Montgomery Bus Boycott? Cite evidence from the text in your response.

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 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to
share your original ideas in a class discussion.

1. Georgia Gilmore did what she could to contribute to the Civil Rights Movement. How did
her actions contribute to the changes that took place in Montgomery? Do you think the bus
boycott could have succeeded without her? Why or why not?

2. Georgia Gilmore encountered obstacles while supporting the Civil Rights Movement. How
did she respond to these obstacles? Describe a time when you encountered something
difficult. How did you overcome it?

3. In the text, the author describes Georgia as feeding and funding the Montgomery Bus
Boycott. Do you think this makes her a hero? Why or why not? How do her actions compare
to other significant leaders and contributors of the Civil Rights Movement?