Chapel Hill Town Council announcement of “Mama Dips” Mildred Council Day in Chapel Hill, May 14, 2002
Mildred "Mama Dips" Council, born to sharecroppers in North Carolina, opened her first restaurant in Chapel Hill in 1976 with the help of the town’s only black real estate agent. Beyond running a restaurant, Council hosted annual community dinners designed to break down barriers by having people ‘sit down with a stranger and make a new friend.’ Even after her death, the Mama Dips restaurant serves the same delicious southern staples on Rosemary Street. This memorandum from the Town of Chapel Hill shows the deep impact this iconic chef had on the entire community.