Freda DeKnight

Freda DeKnight (1909–1963) was the first food editor of Ebony magazine and the author of A Date With A Dish: A Cookbook of American Negro Recipes, considered the first major cookbook written by an African-American for an African-American audience. She was a pioneer for the working class, who was able to articulate an unmatched love of food. DeKnight's legacy lives on through the continued use of her cookbook.

Early life

Freda Alexander was born in December 1909 while her mother, Elenore Alexander, a nurse from Boston, was traveling near Topeka, Kansas. Two years later her father, who was a steward on the Santa Fe Railroad, died, so her mother, a traveling nurse, sent Freda and her sister to live with a South Dakota farming family. The Scotts not only raised livestock and crops, but they also ran the most successful catering business in the area. Freda soon developed a passionate interest in cooking, which was nurtured by her adoptive family. DeKnight later recalled that the Scotts “were the inspiration for my early cooking aspirations, which gave me every opportunity to absorb all their fine recipes and rudiments of cooking, preparing food, and catering. Although Mama Scott’s education was limited, she could measure and estimate to perfection without any modern aids.” Later on, DeKnight would turn her love for cooking into a living. After she studied home economics at Dakota Wesleyan University, she moved to New York on a whim and began her tenure at Ebony in 1944.

Career

After college, Freda DeKnight traveled to New York, where she attended classes at Columbia University and New York University. She also worked teaching sewing and as a guidance counselor to vocational training schools in Manhattan including Yorkville High School, where she met René DeKnight, the arranger and pianist for The Delta Rhythm Boys who would become her husband in 1940. In 1946, DeKnight took a position as food editor for Ebony magazine, making her the first African-American food editor in the United States. The story goes that DeKnight prepared a meal at which publisher John H. Johnson was present, and she impressed him by sending the menu he requested after greatly enjoying the meal to him in a creative, narrative style that made it seem fun to cook. She continued to use this creativity in her column, with formats such as cooking directions appearing as photo captions. DeKnight published a regular column in the magazine called “A Date with a Dish.” Her husband, noted jazz pianist Rene DeKnight came up with the column's title.

In 1948, DeKnight published her only cookbook, A Date with A Dish: A Cookbook of American Negro Recipes. It is considered the first major cookbook written by an African-American for an African-American audience. Through Ebony, DeKnight reminded readers of the multinational roots of Southern cooking and the ingenuity so often displayed in the cuisine, an ingenuity that transcended the poverty from which traditional Southern cooking had emerged.

According to Charlotte Lyons, an Ebony food editor, “Freda DeKnight was a pioneer in translating the Ebony message of middle-class education, intelligence and dignity to the recipes she shared in her columns and cookbook”.

Without De Knight's work, we'd still be operating under the status quo argument that African American cuisine is represented by a narrow spectrum of food. Though her language can be somewhat encoded, "De Knight is essentially saying 'I've talked to middle class black people, and y'all don't really know what middle class black people eat!' Now, I no longer want to have a conversation about what black people should cook. We've been cooking everything from day one."

Death In 1960, Freda DeKnight underwent surgery for cancer. Still, she continued to travel with the fashion fair until 1962, when advancing illness left her increasingly weakened. She died in 1963 at age 53.

DeKnight's obituary appeared in the August 1963 issue of Negro Digest. It was titled "Tribute To A Lady Titan." Noting her role in revamping the image of African-Americans in the public sphere, the writer called DeKnight "a familiar figure at professional food and fashion gatherings where Negroes had been seen before only as servants." She opened the door to career choices for future generations.