Zephyr Wright (1915-1988) served as President Lyndon B. Johnson’s personal chef for nearly three decades. While her southern cooking filled stomachs and won hearts, her experiences as a Black woman in the Jim Crow South inspired Johnson’s signing of the Civil Rights Act.
Zephyr Wright (1915-1988) served as President Lyndon B. Johnson’s personal chef for nearly three decades. While her southern cooking filled stomachs and won hearts, her experiences as a Black woman in the Jim Crow South inspired Johnson’s signing of the Civil Rights Act.
Food has been a unifier for millennia, not just gathering people together to share a meal, but acting as a warm introduction to new histories and traditions. This February on Womanica, we’re celebrating Tastemakers - the Black chefs, cooks, and food historians who created new foodways and preserved important culinary stories of the past. The impact of chefs like Pig Foot Mary, Mama Dip, and Georgia Gilmore stretch far beyond the culinary scene - uplifting their local communities and inspiring those who came after them.
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Hi, I’m Kia Damon. I'm a Florida born chef, writer, host and recipe developer. I served as an executive Chef of New York City restaurant Lalito at the age of 24 and became Cherry Bombe magazine's first Culinary Director at 25. Since leaving I've founded Kia Feeds The People, a budding mutual aid effort. I’ll be your guest host for this month of Womanica.
This month, we're talking about Tastemakers. We're celebrating the Black chefs, cooks, and food historians who created new foodways and preserved important culinary stories of the past.
Today’s Womanican served as President Lyndon B. Johnson’s personal chef for nearly three decades. While her southern cooking filled stomachs and won hearts, her experiences as a Black woman in the Jim Crow South inspired Johnson’s signing of the Civil Rights Act.
Let’s talk about Zephyr Wright.
Zephyr was born in 1915 in Marshall, Texas, a town just west of the Texas-Louisiana border. She was raised by her grandparents on a farm outside of town. After graduating high school, she attended Wiley College, one of the first Black universities west of the Mississippi River. There, Zephyr studied home economics. She planned to become a domestic worker or private cook in Marshall.
But two of Zephyr’s professors had another destination in mind for her. When Lady Bird Johnson paid a visit to Wiley College one September, looking to hire a family cook, they immediately recommended Zephyr for the job.
Zephyr had never met the Johnson family, but it turned out she had a bit in common with Lady Bird. They both grew up in the rural outskirts of Marshall and graduated from Marshall High School. Zephyr’s aunt even previously worked for Lady Bird’s father.
Zephyr agreed to take the job. She left Marshall for Washington, D.C., where Lyndon B. Johnson was serving in the House of Representatives. Zephyr would make fried chicken, hash, peach ice cream, spoon bread, and her Pedernales River Chili — comforting southern classics that reminded the Johnson family of their home in Texas. Soon, Zephyr’s cooking became famous among the political crowd in D.C.. Former Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn called Zephyr, “the best southern cook this side of Heaven.”
In 1964, Zephyr was seated front and center in the Presidential Box at President Johnson’s inauguration. At the start of his presidency, the White House executive chef was the classically trained René [ren-AY] Verdon [VER-don]. Zephyr joined the White House kitchen to continue cooking just for the family and for small gatherings. But it didn’t take long for René to grow frustrated with President Johnson’s requests for homey southern meals and Tex-Mex. Once, the president asked him to switch from fresh to frozen vegetables, and that was the final straw. René resigned.
Another classically trained chef, Henry Haller, took over as executive chef. Even without the official title of head chef, Zephyr’s influence in the White House kitchen was large. When President Johnson would come back to the White House late with extra unexpected dinner guests, Zephyr was the one who came up with the idea to serve extra booze to keep them distracted while additional food was prepared. Zephyr was the one who cooked President Johnson’s low-fat diet following a heart attack, and scolded him whenever he didn’t follow it.
Zephyr’s cooking became so famous, Americans would write in to the White House requesting recipe cards for her more well known dishes. When the White House released a recipe card for Zephyr’s Pedernales Chili, it caused quite a stir, now known as the “Great Chili Controversy of 1964.”
According to many, chili is a stew consisting of chili powder, tomatoes, meat, and pinto beans. But according to Texans, chili is a beanless dish. As such, the Texan chef’s chili recipe did not call for beans. Now, Americans were writing into the White House expressing confusion and even outrage. Was it a misprint? Did President Johnson eat chili with beans? Did President Johnson like beans at all?
Zephyr assured the public: the President does like beans, just not in his chili. According to Johnson, “Chili concocted outside of Texas is usually a weak, apologetic imitation of the real thing. One of the first things I do when I get home to Texas is have a bowl of red. There is simply nothing better.”
Zephyr didn’t just influence the president’s diet. She also influenced his policy. President Johnson would often ask Zephyr how well he was addressing the needs of Black Americans. And Zephyr would explain to him the realities of racism.
Throughout Johnson’s political career, he would frequently make trips between D.C. and his hometown of Stonewall, Texas, accompanied by his favorite chef. But whenever they made pit stops in the South, Jim Crow laws meant Zephyr and other Black staffers were denied hotel accommodations. Eventually, Zephyr had enough of the racist treatment. So when President Johnson again requested she drive back to Texas with her husband, Sammy, Zephyr refused.
“When [we] drive to Texas and I have to go to the bathroom, like Lady Bird or the girls, I am not allowed to go to the bathroom. I have to find a bush and squat.” Zephyr once told Johnson. “When it comes time to eat, we can't go into restaurants. We have to eat out of a brown bag. And at night, Sammy sleeps in the front of the car with the steering wheel around his neck, while I sleep in the back. We are not going to do it again."
President Johnson told this story many times when arguing his case for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Zephyr was in the room when the president signed the bill into law. When he was done signing, he gave her the pen he used, saying “you deserve this more than anyone else.”
Zephyr’s job in the White House was tiring.. Working such long hours, juggling so many meals and events, took a toll on Zephyr’s health. She’d enjoyed her job more when she was simply the Johnson’s family chef. So In 1968, she announced she would retire from cooking at the end of President Johnson’s administration.
When he left the presidency in 1969, the Johnsons returned to Texas. Zephyr remained in D.C. where she spent the rest of her days until she passed away in 1988.
All month, we’ve been talking about tastemakers. Tune in tomorrow for the beginning of a new theme!
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Special thanks to co-creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan, for having me as a guest host.