Evelyn Jones Frazier was born on March 21, 1912, in Raleigh, North Carolina. She attended the Berry O’Kelly Training School in Method, North Carolina, for all her early education, graduating in May 1932. After high school, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in search of greater opportunities. Following brief work as a nanny and domestic worker, she entered the restaurant business in 1935 as a partner of her landlady, Mary Ola Martin, who owned the Chicamauga Cafeteria. The next year, Frazier and her sister, Prentice, opened the Evelyn Jones Cafe.
Photo courtesy of the archives held at the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American History and Culture, Atlanta, GA
In 1940, she married Luther Frazier, a chauffeur for golfer Bobby Jones, and he joined her in the restaurant business. By the mid-1940s, the couple had expanded their restaurant at 880 West Hunter Street—now Martin Luther King Jr. Drive—near the Atlanta University Center and renamed it Frazier’s Cafe Society. Over the following decades, Frazier used her proximity to the Atlanta University Center complex to continue her education and strengthen her business skills. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Morris Brown College in 1952 and later completed a certificate in restaurant personnel training. Today, Morris Brown College has a penchant for the restaurant and hospitality industry, which was honed by Frazier’s influence.
Photo courtesy of the archives held at the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American History and Culture, Atlanta, GA
During the modern civil rights movement, Frazier’s Cafe Society became a regular gathering place for prominent African American civic, political, and religious organizations in Atlanta because of its fine dining, porcelain plate settings, and polished silverware. It hosted groups including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, as well as Black Greek-letter organizations and women’s clubs such as the Chautauqua Circle. Notable patrons included Benjamin Mays, Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, and Thurgood Marshall. This respected establishment also served as a social hub for students at the Atlanta University Center.
Beyond running Frazier’s Cafe Society, Frazier contributed her time and talents to civic and political organizations. She volunteered with the American Cancer Society and the United Negro College Fund. She also served on the NAACP Executive Board and belonged to the Atlanta Chapter of the Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc., and the Morris Brown College National Alumni Association. During her 22 years with the Metropolitan Atlanta Republican Women’s Club, she gained national recognition within the Republican Party when President Richard Nixon appointed her to the Advisory Board for the Minority Women’s Group in 1970, and she later served on the Special Minority Committee during the Ford administration.
Frazier received numerous awards and honors for her achievements in business, civic service, and leadership. In 1961, WAOK radio recognized her as an Outstanding Business and Civic Leader, and Iota Phi Lambda Sorority named her Bronze Woman of the Year. Five years later, she received the Outstanding Citizen’s Award from WERD Radio and the Atlanta Federal Savings and Loan Association. In the 1970s, she received a Hugh Downs Public Service Award. In 2005, the National African American Culinary Arts and Hospitality Association honored her contributions to the African American community. Evelyn Jones Frazier died in Atlanta on September 3, 2007.
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