ABSTRACT
The racial uniformity imposed by whites at public eating places was obvious during the days of legal segregation. It was not by chance that these public eating places were selected by civil rights activists in the 1960s as major targets for desegregation. This chapter examines the continuing reports of racial discrimination in Americas family restaurants, first in employment and then against black customers. The restaurant industry is the largest employer of service workers, white and black, in the United States. Henry and Billie Elliott, the white supervisors of a Captain D's restaurant in Florida, part of the Shoney's chain, said that they were dismissed for refusing to terminate black workers and put whites in their place. The Elliotts filed suit and recovered the lost wages. The Elliotts' experience signals a very important aspect of contemporary racial relations—that whites too can be victims if they stand against what they feel to be unfair racial discrimination.
