How a Metro Detroit Cornbread Packs a History Lesson Inside Shoebox | Eater Detroit
"Owner Patrick Coleman began a tradition in 2018 of offering shoebox lunches in special cardboard boxes adorned with pictures of famous Black Americans and their stories, an annual promotion that nods to Black train commuters who were banned from dining cars thanks to Jim Crow-era racism. While enjoying fried chicken wings or catfish along with macaroni and cheese, customers can get a history lesson reading about luminaries such as civil rights activist Ruby Bridges, star baseball player Satchel Paige, and writer James Baldwin; Coleman works with a printer in Memphis, the lunches are especially popular during Black History Month in February but are available year-round, the boxes are also available for sale and many schools around Michigan and beyond have ordered them for educational use (Coleman even received an order from Ohio State University), and so far in 2025 the restaurant has gone through 8,000 boxes. Coleman says, “We just wanted to give a history lesson,” and adds, “When you really come down to it, it’s American history, not necessarily Black history.” He was inspired by what his grandmother and mother experienced as Black women in the ’50s taking the train from Detroit to Nashville—once the trains crossed the Mason–Dixon Line, segregation became more visible and Black commuters weren’t allowed on the dining cars, so they packed their own meals in shoeboxes (his great-grandmother would pack chicken, macaroni and cheese, and fruit, decorating the box with jewelry and other trinkets). As a child Coleman recalls his mother and grandmother reminiscing about how the times changed and the challenges they faced—“These were incredible stories, they were stories that needed to be passed down,” he says—and he reflects, “I stand on the shoulders of folks that couldn’t go to a restaurant [because] of their color, and here — today — I own a restaurant,” noting, “That was life in the South for Blacks.” In 2022, two years after the police killing of George Floyd, Coleman created a new limited-edition shoebox called the “Stop Racism” box, which he describes as “grittier” and which featured stories including Breonna Taylor, the Tulsa Massacre, and Ax Handle Saturday in Jacksonville, Florida; there has been talk of additional boxes to share more stories of historical figures and the movement for Black civil rights, and Coleman notes, “It’s very inspiring when you hear these stories of resourcefulness and resilience.”" - Ashok Selvam
