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The food was brought in by a team of black, and white, waitresses in crisply starched uniforms practically before I’d been seated. What a fantastic feast it was: fricasseed chicken, roast duck, boiled beef, spareribs, fried sausage, lamb stew, liver and bacon, stewed tomatoes, spinach, brussels sprouts, string beans, asparagus tips, fruit salad, ice cream, and chocolate cake.

Next to me a young black girl named Miss Love Dove, a high ranking secretary, told me that people paid what they wished for the sumptuous feast, and that those who couldn’t afford to pay ate free.

The food at the banquets was passed down from the head table, where Divine sat, in such a way that the platter should not touch the table, lest the chain of blessings that flowed from Divine be broken. The food served ranged from traditional Southern fare to more-Europeanized items, like asparagus tips and brussels sprouts, in keeping with the mixed origins of the worshippers. While the faithful were eating, Divine spoke, preaching sermons that lasted for more than an hour and stressed positive visualization and the other virtues of his faith.

By 1931, his popularity had grown so much that some of his banquets drew as many as three thousand attendees. His doctrine of economic stewardship was a balm to the ears of blacks at the beginning of the Depression. The residents of Sayville did not approve of their neighbor, and he was brought up on charges of disturbing the peace and sentenced to a brief prison stay. The publicity, however, only increased Divine’s popularity, and his Peace Mission movement grew. Upon his release from prison, Father Divine moved to Harlem, where he began to acquire property: real estate and housing projects, called “heavens,” where members could live inexpensively and search for jobs, often within the cash-only businesses that Divine developed. The followers, called “angels,” were given new names as well: Miss Beautiful Child, Miss Buncha Love, Miss Universal Vocabulary, Miss Moonbeam, Mr. Humility, John Devout, and the like.

Charismatic Father Divine was a holy entrepreneur, and the thousands of members of his international flock, both black and white, worked to create his financial empire. In return, Father Divine provided income and shelter for his disciples and his message of racial and economic equality helped many blacks (and whites) weather the days of the Depression. Among the many businesses that Divine acquired were hotels and restaurants, and all were run according to his principles—small bands of cooperatives came together to purchase and run businesses for the Peace Mission. As Harris states it:

Divine restaurant owners want no return from the capital investments Father Divine has “blessed them to make.” They don’t want to earn from their restaurants any more than exactly what they absolutely need to live on … Divine restaurant owners are more than satisfied. Fifteen dollars provides them with board and lodging in approved hotels and kingdoms and with pocket money for approved outside expenses.

Father Divine’s restaurants, like all of Father Divine’s businesses, were housed in Father Divine-owned buildings and paid for in cash. Father Divine felt that “if you pay a million dollars for a hotel or ten cents for an item in F.W. Woolworth and Company, you must pay cash.” There were additional savings, as the ingredients for the restaurants came from Father Divine’s farms or stores operating for the good of the cause, and the waitstaff and kitchen help were Divine’s followers with minimal needs and wants who could be paid minimal wages. It was a masterful plan wherein little was necessary that was not provided by Father Divine’s organization.

It worked well. Father Divine’s following, though, began to ebb with the restarting of the economy. When Divine died, in 1965, his holdings were estimated at ten million dollars. Food remained an integral part of his ministry, and his Peace Mission was known up until the time of his death as a place where one could obtain