October 10, 1957
A waitress at a Howard Johnson restaurant in Dover, Del., refused to seat Komla Gbedemah, the finance minister of the newly-formed nation of Ghana in sub-Saharan Africa. After reporters learned of the incident, President Dwight Eisenhower apologized to Gbedemah and invited him to breakfast at the White House. The incident began when Gbedemah and his secretary each ordered a glass of orange juice for 30 cents apiece. As they were handed the juice in containers, wrapped for them to carry outside, the waitress told them that they could not sit inside the restaurant because “colored people are not allowed to eat in here.” Gbedemah protested to the manager and told him “You can keep the orange juice and the change [from a dollar bill], but this is not the last you have heard of this.” That Howard Johnson’s restaurant changed its policy to serve whoever walked in the door.
