Mr. Speaker, I rise today during Black History Month to celebrate the entrepreneurial legacy of Elihu and Carolyn Brayboy, owners of Chief’s Creole Café. Like a hearty bowl of gumbo, the Brayboy’s and their beloved café brought comfort and community to neighbors across the Deuces corridor. Their commitment to preserving and investing in Black-owned businesses remain a pillar of their community advocacy.

Carolyn was born and raised in Blakely, Georgia until in sixth grade, when she moved with her parents to St. Petersburg. Carolyn attended Perkins Elementary, now known as John Hopkins Middle School, Gibbs High School, St. Pete Junior College, and Florida State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in business and master’s degree in finance and marketing. Her parents were sharecroppers and were often financially strained. After school, she would get dropped off at the cotton field and was told to pick cotton.

Elihu was born and raised in Wahiawā, Hawaii, where his parents were civil servants during Pearl Harbor. His grandparents agreed to raise him until he moved to St. Petersburg in seventh grade to live with his mother. He attended Immaculate Conception Catholic School, Bishop Berry High School, now known as St. Pete Catholic, and Bethune–Cookman University, earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Elihu’s mother was a nurse at the segregated Mercy Hospital. His father was a mortician at Sanchez Funeral Home.

Both Carolyn and Elihu grew up in the height of the Jim Crow Era, where Black residents in St. Petersburg were forced to live in what is now called the Midtown area, just off 22nd Street South. When Elihu was attending Immaculate Conception, right next door to 16th Street Middle School, Carolyn spotted him and asked her friend who he was. They dated all throughout high school and separated in college. They were separated for 10 years during which Elihu moved to Louisiana, before deciding to move back to St. Petersburg and finding out Carolyn was now divorced. They have now been married for 46 years.

The Brayboy’s are proudly rooted in their faith. A year after Carolyn Brayboy had been diagnosed with stomach cancer and was recovering, her minister had a message for her from Isaiah, Chapter 61, Verse 4. ‘You are to restore the ancient ruins, the wasteland and devastation of many generations.” It was then; the Brayboy’s felt the calling to their service to the Deuces community.

As St. Petersburg changed and gentrification spread throughout the city, the Brayboy’s were instrumental in protecting Black-owned businesses and reviving the 22nd Street South Corridor, a historic African American Business District. In 2014, Elihu and Carolyn Brayboy purchased the Sidney Harden Grocery Store building, the only grocery store serving St. Petersburg’s Black community for decades and transformed it to a neighborhood corner diner. Despite the false perceptions of the Deuces and racial bias from lenders who repeatedly denied the Brayboy’s business loans, Chief’s Creole Café served customers renowned crawfish, po-boys, rice and beans drawing customers from across the Tampa Bay area for a decade until they closed their doors in 2023. With a large mural on the outside of Louis Armstrong, the vibrancy of Black culture can still be felt without even walking through the café’s doors.

Elihu and Carolyn Brayboy were not just culinary connoisseurs, but champions for affordable housing and historic preservation of Black culture and life in South St. Petersburg. In 2008, The Brayboy’s purchased the first black-owned commercial laundromat. Following the purchase of the café, the Brayboy’s purchased the old Ninth Avenue Service Station in 2021. From service station to a 1,900 sq. ft. commercial space has been divided into three separate affordable units, neighbors are able to call this renovated space their home. The Brayboy’s have additionally purchased The Dr. Gilbert H. Leggett Building, a rundown commercial building that belonged to Dr. Gilbert H. Leggett, one of the city's first African American dentists. Additionally, Carolyn looks to expand her garden with flourishing collard greens to alleviate the food desert crisis in South St. Petersburg. Through every season of their life, the Brayboy’s have remained steadfast in ensuring all people, regardless of race, deserve to live, work, and play in a healthy, affordable community.

The Brayboy’s are proud parents to their children Augustus Aikens III, Lynae Brayboy and Ramona, who has a servant’s heart as large and warm as her parents. She is at the helm of the Deuces farmers market, Sunshine Fresh Market, which hosts local vendors who sell fresh foods, homemade goods and often, local music by Black artists.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my St. Petersburg neighbors, I commend Elihu and Carolyn Brayboy for their determination to preserve Black history while renewing meaningful investments to current residents. In a time where division seeps deep in our community, we must all take a note from the Brayboy’s menu of wise lessons: “You can solve a lot of problems if you eat together.”