Mayor Dinkins Honored at Harlem Eatup! Festival

June 12, 2019

Mayor Dinkins Honored at Harlem Eatup! Festival

Celebs Celebrate The Best in Black Cuisine at the Annual Harlem Eatup! Festival

By Dwight Brown - May 30, 2019
Essence Magazine

Uptown comes alive every May when the Harlem Eatup! Festival begins and is hosted by world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson.

Perhaps the most intimate and touching event in this one-week neighborhood celebration of Harlem restaurants, local and international cuisine, culinary skills, arts, and culture, is the prestigious Luminary Awards Dinner.

Local figures, celebrities and festival guests gathered at Ginny’s Supper Club, in the basement of Samuelsson’s Red Rooster restaurant, to honor award recipients: Harlem cultural doyenne Lana Turner; New York’s 106th mayor, David N. Dinkins; and the life and career of entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker.

Before the Honorable David Dinkins was called to the stage, Marcus Samuelsson, recalled his experience of receiving negative feedback in Europe when he shared his ambition about opening his own restaurant. His dad gave him good advice: “Move to New York … They elected a black mayor … There will be room for a black chef.” There Samuelsson stood, winner of the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef in America in 2003, giving the festival’s high honor to a man who has been a guiding light to so many, Mayor Dinkins.

A’Lelia Bundles graciously accepted a Luminary Award on behalf of her great-great-grandmother Madame C.J. Walker. Proceeds from Walker’s hair products helped make her the wealthiest African-American in America in the early 1900s. Showing just how small the world is, Bundles acknowledged David Dinkins’ presence: “Mayor Dinkins and my mother went to Howard together.” She then shared how her famous ancestor viewed her success: “She thought real power was her ability to provide jobs.”