Core of the Matter

Peeling back the layers of history gives this Mississippi café owner his purpose

- ERIN BYERS MURRAY

Once a bustling epicenter of Black business and culture, Farish Street in Jackson, Mississippi, has seen its share of ups and downs—but through it all, Big Apple Inn has been a mainstay. The original was opened in 1939 by Juan Mora, who had arrived in Mississippi from Mexico earlier that decade to work for a railroad company—he found his place, instead, on Farish Street, selling tamales from a cart. Eventually he took over a brick-and-mortar space, which became a beloved gathering space where Freedom Riders and Civil Rights leaders occasionally converged alongside the neighborhood’s Black and immigrant residents. Activist Medgar Evers rented an office above the café, and jazz musician Sonny Boy Williamson once lived upstairs.