JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The Big Apple Inn in Jackson fuses cultures together.
Geno Lee, fourth generation owner of this well-loved establishment, says that in the 1930s, his great-grandfather moved from Mexico City to Jackson with his mother’s hand-made and hand-rolled special recipe of hot tamales. This particular street for the family start-up was intentional.
“Farish Street, back then, was the place that all African Americans and I can’t even just say just African Americans – all minorities gathered,” said Lee. “There were a few Hispanics, my great-grandfather, and a few Lebanese that were peppered in down here. This was the only place in town that they could gather and trade. They couldn’t go to the white sections of town because they weren’t accepted. So, this was the melting pot for Black folks.”
A melting pot and retreat. Most of the buildings on Farish were built by a millionaire named Dr. Sidney Redmond, a Black professional known to be one of the wealthiest men in the state of Mississippi and in the Southeast…