Rufus Estes (b. 1857 - d.1939) was a former slave who worked as a chef aboard luxury railway cars operated by the

Pullman Company The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...

in the 19th century.

Biography

Rufus Estes was born in

Maury County Maury County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee, in the Middle Tennessee region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 100,974. Its county seat is Columbia. Maury County is part of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro ...

, Tennessee, one of nine children. Two of his brothers died during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. In 1867, the family moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, where Estes' grandmother lived. He attended school for one term. Estes first known job was as a cook's assistant at fine dining Hemphill's Restaurant in Nashville, but it is believed that he started working when he was very young, around five years of age, as a slave in the fields. Estes worked in Nashville between the ages of 16 and 21. Estes moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1881 where he continued to work in restaurants. Estes began to work for the Pullman Company in 1883. Throughout the course of his career he managed private Pullman cars for

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...

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, the Princess

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and others. These private cars, also known as "Palace Cars", were elaborately decorated in the style of the

Gilded Age In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...

with chandeliers, air conditions and beds, where gourmet meals were served by former slaves. Between 1894 and 1897, probably related to the

Pullman strike The Pullman Strike was two interrelated strikes in 1894 that shaped national labor policy in the United States during a period of deep economic depression. First came a strike by the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman factory in Ch ...

of 1894, Estes took another job aboard the RMS Empress of China, sailing from

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. He made the decision to leave Pullman, ending his employment with the company in 1897, and taking a new job managing a luxury private railway car for Arthur Stillwell. In 1907 he took employment with the Chicago subsidiaries of the

United States Steel Corporation United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in several countries ...

. His recipe book ''Good Things to Eat, as Suggested by Rufus: A Collection Of Practical Recipes For Preparing Meats, Game, Fowl, Fish, Puddings, Pastries, Etc.'' of over 600 recipes was published in 1911. Estes wanted to be recognized both as an accomplished professional chef and a former slave. It's among the first cookbooks written by a black chef ( Robert Roberts, Malinda Russell and

Abby Fisher Abby Fisher, sometimes spelled as Abbie Fisher (1831 – 1915) was an American former slave from South Carolina who earned her living as a pickle manufacturer in San Francisco and published the second known cookbook by a Black woman in the United ...

wrote earlier cookbooks).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Estes, Rufus 1857 births 1939 deaths 19th-century African-American people African-American chefs Chefs from Tennessee American male chefs American former slaves Pullman Company History of American cuisine American cookbook writers 20th-century African-American people