The D.C. woman who fed the Civil Rights Movement
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Virginia Ali behind the counter at Ben's Chili Bowl. Photo: Paul Natkin/Getty Images
Ben's Chili Bowl co-founder Virginia Ali still recalls Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s go-to order: a chili cheeseburger.
Why it matters: The Ali family's U Street restaurant was a gathering place for civil rights leaders and activists before and after the March on Washington — and it's still a community hub after 65 years.
Flashback: The Chili Bowl opened in 1958. King kept an office nearby and would chat with Ali over meals. Leading up to the March on Washington, King told Ali that the president was nervous about a big crowd. " If there's an incident, it will set your movement back," she recalls the president warning King.
At the march: Virginia and her husband Ben Ali rushed to the Mall and were met by "a sea of people from all walks of life," she says.
- "You just had a feeling after he made that 'I Have a Dream Speech' that change is going to come. We're going to get better opportunities. The whole march was about jobs and freedom. And we felt like, as he always said, we shall overcome."
After the march: The sea of people washed toward Ben's and U Street, then called Black Broadway. "I guess now it'd be referred to as our Pennsylvania Avenue of D.C.," says Ali. "It was very popular, and that's where people gathered to meet and exchange views."
Fast forward: After King was assassinated, the 1968 riots decimated U Street. But not Ben's, one of the only businesses to survive. "The folks that were angry and taking their frustrations out by doing destructive things — that didn't happen to my Chili Bowl because of the community, because of the support."
On King's legacy: After the March, Ali, now 89, remembers, "Dr. King could bring people together in his quiet, calm, strong manner. He had such a passion for wanting to make this a better world."
- "His nonviolent theory was just a beacon of light for all of us to follow. And that's what attracted all those people — 250,000! I'll never forget that day."