![]() Williams was never a slave, according to historical records, which indicate she was born three years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.ĭespite helping make Aunt Fanny’s Cabin famous, Williams did not appear to have any financial stake in the restaurant, according to Terry. It was a false narrative used as a marketing tactic. She was a pioneering civil rights activist who spoke out passionately against Cobb County’s Ku Klux Klan and helped raise money to build the state’s first all-Black hospital in Marietta.īut critics say Aunt Fanny’s Cabin reduced Williams to the subservient symbol of a “mammy” who sat on the front porch of the restaurant in a faded calico dress and headwrap regaling customers with stories of her days as a slave. The New York Times in 1976 reported that the walls were strewn with framed advertisements for slaves.įanny Williams was a beloved figure in the metro Atlanta community, according to Smyrna historian Mike Terry. They danced on table tops, gleefully proclaimed that the “South will rise again,” and pitched in when patrons sang anthems of the Antebellum South like “Dixie.” Black boys hired as servers wore wooden menu boards around their necks and welcomed the predominantly white customers by caroling the menu to them, the Washington Post reported in 1992. When owners first turned the two-room cabin into a restaurant, they designed it as a depiction of the Antebellum South.Īccording to critics, it became a nostalgic toast to Jim Crow-era racism served alongside Southern staples. ![]() Task force members are confronted with a side of Aunt Fanny’s Cabin’s legacy that many today find racially insensitive.īeyond the Smithfield hams, fried chicken and macaroni squash, there was something distasteful at the popular eatery. The price tag to tear the old cabin down and build a new version is close to $400,000, according to city estimates.īut the decision is not a strictly financial one. It could cost close to $550,000 to revamp it and turn it into a historic monument. Smyrna’s racially-mixed task force of three city councilmembers, two residents and a local historian will decide by the end of the month whether the city should preserve, rebuild, demolish or try to give away Aunt Fanny’s Cabin. Explore Kennesaw leaders vote to remove Confederate battle flag from memorial Kennesaw removed the Confederate battle flag, long regarded by detractors as a racially charged symbol of hate, from the city’s war memorial in June 2020. Hundreds of memorials dedicated to controversial icons of the past have been removed since. George Floyd’s death at the hands of police officers last summer triggered international unrest. Smyrna is at a crossroad many cities across the globe have come to grips with over the past 18 months. The city’s task force must now struggle to reconcile the cabin’s ugly past with its historical value to Smyrna. COMMERCIAL PHOTOGRAPHS / GSUĬredit: LANE BROS. 1956 – A server shows diners a blackboard of the day’s offerings.
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