Malinda Russell publishes first cookbook by a Black author in 1866 - WS Chronicle

Malinda Russell publishes first cookbook by a Black author in 1866 - WS Chronicle

By David Winship   Malinda Russell was a culinary pioneer in the middle of the nineteenth century, whose “A Domestic Cook Book” was the first cookbook authored by an African American woman in the United States. It was printed in Paw Paw, Michigan, in 1866. Its story is a look at the heritage and history of the years leading up to and encompassing the Civil War from the perspective of a free woman of color. In the book’s introduction, she says, “…