Black Beauty Tea Room

Black Beauty Tea Room was listed in the Green Book as “Black Beauty Tea Room” under “Restaurants” in Mount Olive from 1939-1941 and 1947-1954. An address was not given.¹

Black Beauty Tea Room was located in Mount Olive. The business was mentioned in passing in a local newspaper in 1939 but an address for the tea room was not given. Louise Powell, enumerated as owning a cafe in Mount Olive in the 1940 federal census, may have owned this business. No other African American cafe owners were enumerated in Mt. Olive that year. Her husband, Russell, owned a tourist home in 1950.²

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2022

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1939 Green Book, 33; Green, 1940 Green Book, 35; Green, 1941 Green Book, 35; Green, 1947 Green Book, 65; Green, 1948 Green Book, 62; Green, 1949 Green Book, 57; Green, 1950 Green Book, 63; Green, 1951 Green Book, 54; Green, 1952 Green Book, 54; Green, 1953 Green Book, 54; Green, 1954 Green Book, 53.
2. If you have additional information about this site please contact the NC African American Heritage Commission. “Colored Woman Dies of Gunshot Wounds, The Goldsboro Herald, December 28, 1939, 1, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org; 1940 United States Federal Census, Mount Olive, Wayne County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “Louise Bowell” or “Louise Powell,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1950 United States Federal Census, Mount Olive, Wayne County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “Russell L. Powell,” accessed from www.ancestry.com.