Artifacts from one of the District’s most famous eateries will now have a permanent home on campus.
Virginia Ali, co-founder of the restaurant along with her late husband Ben Ali, officially turned over original pieces from Ben’s Chili Bowl to GW President Steven Knapp in a special ceremony at GW’s Gelman Library Feb. 16.
The collection includes the original 1963 menu, payroll books from the early years of the business and one of the original 6,000 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. calendars that Ben Ali distributed to patrons in honor of Dr. King following his assassination. The collection is now on permanent display at the George Washington University Libraries’ Africana Research Center.
“I was so moved and so touched at how well [the exhibit] was done,” said Ms. Ali. “It’s so professional, beautiful and in depth. I was brought to tears when I first laid eyes on it.”
“I couldn’t imagine this ever happening to this little chili bowl,” she added. “We opened it to make a living in 1958 and here we are. It’s just a wonderful feeling to know your history is being preserved.”
Dr. Knapp said he was grateful to the Ali family for entrusting “this remarkable collection” to the George Washington University. “This rich educational and scholarly resource will link the university more strongly than ever to the life and history of Washington, D.C.”
During the ceremony, legendary comedian Bill Cosby, a longtime patron of Ben's Chili Bowl, called to congratulate the Ali family on the exhibit.
“It’s just wonderful to see this for you and Ben and your wonderful children,” said Mr. Cosby. “I want to thank [GW Assistant Vice President for D.C. Relations] Bernard Demczuk, President Knapp, George Washington and all who have come for this wonderful time. I also want to thank my mother-in-law who picked up the tab every time we went to Ben’s.”
University Librarian Jack Siggins; Meredith Evans Raiford, director of the GW Special Collections Research Center, which houses the Africana Research Center; senior Sesen Gidey, chair and coordinator of the George Washington Williams House; and senior Sally Nuamah, co-president of GW’s chapter of the Black Student Union, also offered remarks to the crowd, which included GW Provost Steve Lerman and his wife, Lori, and members of the Cosby family.
Ben and Virginia Ali established Ben’s Chili Bowl on in 1958. At the peak of what was known as the “D.C. Renaissance” in the rich U Street corridor known as “Black Broadway,” African American luminaries including Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole and Redd Foxx were often seen at the landmark eatery, which survived the riots that ensued following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968.
The restaurant, which is still family owned and operated, has also served the nation’s first black president Barack Obama.
Dr. Evans Raiford said the exhibit is the “first major collection” that GW Libraries’ Africana Research Center has in the realm of African American business.
“The exhibit is for Ali family fans and scholars alike,” she said. “It truly reflects the history of African-American culture, a successful black family and business.”
GW’s Foggy Bottom Campus is blocks from the homes and birthplaces of prominent Washington African Americans including Charles Drew, who discovered blood plasma and grew up at 1806 E Street, NW, and African American musician Duke Ellington, who was born at 2129 Ward Place in Foggy Bottom.
“For more than 150 years, Foggy Bottom was a predominately working-class, middle-class African-American community,” said Dr. Demczuk, an African American historian who launched the effort to bring the Ben Chili’s Bowl collection to GW. “The Ali family wanted to house their historical documents in a community with roots entrenched in black culture and society.”
The ceremony included a panel, “Before there was the Harlem Renaissance, there was the D.C. Renaissance,” featuring GW Research Professor of History Adele Alexander and moderated by Dr. Demczuk, a video chronicling the history of Ben’s Chili Bowl and a reception featuring the eatery’s signature chili dogs and a jazz band from the School Without Walls.