Celebration that followed included menu items prepared by Washburne Culinary students and City Colleges’ chefs using the recipes in the newly donated cookbooks.
Today, Kennedy-King College and Washburne Culinary and Hospitality Institute accepted an historic and culturally significant book donation of 1,700 culinary books from the Free Frank McWorter Family (Feb 22, 2023).
The cookbooks, some pictured, were lovingly collected by Sandra Rosalie McWorter Marsh, the great-great-granddaughter of Free Frank McWorter. She collected the books for decades and the books date as far back as the 1930s to the present day. 
“We want to give the cookbooks to Kennedy-King College because Chicago has done so much for us, and it is where they will be put to good use and the recipes kept alive by the next generations,” said Abdul McWorter Alkalimat, the great-great grandson of Free Frank McWorter, speaking on behalf of his sister Sandra and their family.
“It is extremely important to share with our students that Black Culinary history has been a part of our collective history and often without acknowledgement. These recipes will live on through our student chefs and we are thankful to Sandra and the McWorter family for their generous donation,” said Chancellor Juan Salgado, City Colleges of Chicago.
The McWorter Marsh Book Dedication and Celebration of Black Culinary History was held at Kennedy-King College.
The book collection was graciously accepted from the McWorter family by the City Colleges of Chicago Foundation Vice Chancellor Rhonda Brown and Chancellor Juan Salgado.
“We are grateful to the distinguished McWorter family for their commitment to the study of cuisine, technique, and safe-guarding the recipes passed on for decades—and from cooks all over the world. This generous donation of their personal library will have a long-lasting impact on Washburne Culinary Institute students for generations to come.” Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Brown, City Colleges of Chicago Foundation.
“We are grateful for the donation of cookbooks from Sandra Rosalie McWorter Marsh. She is preserving more than culinary recipes, she and her family are preserving the legacy of the Black American contribution to our country’s culinary history,” said President Katonja Webb Walker, Kennedy-King College. “It’s been said that Black Culinary history is an examination of our past that supports building our culinary future, and I agree.”
During this celebratory event, Kennedy-King College and City Colleges of Chicago leadership will thank and acknowledge the McWorter Family for their substantial and generous culinary book donation. The program will include remarks about Black family legacy, Black Culinary history, and the importance of preserving our shared history.
“These books are rich with academic opportunities. Especially when it comes to the idea of “ordinary” people and how they lived,” said Dr. Adam Carey, Department Chair of the Kennedy-King College Library and Assistant Professor. “We are thrilled to add these revered books to our library.”
About Free Frank McWorter
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History shares the extraordinary story of Free Frank McWorter. He had planned his freedom for many years and as an enslaved person, was able to save money, purchase his wife’s freedom, and then negotiate his own freedom from a Kentucky planter in 1819 at the age of forty-two. Soon after, he purchased his oldest son. Over his lifetime he would go on to purchase his remaining thirteen family members. In 1830, McWorter migrated with his family members to the Illinois frontier near the Mississippi River, where he established a farm and founded the community of New Philadelphia, Illinois, the first pre-civil war town established by a free African American. The site was recently designated a National Historic Site and established as the newest national park to commemorate the history of early 19th century Black pioneers in Illinois.
