Nick Akins Jr. and Shannea "Nikki" Akins

Description

When Nick Akins Jr. looks around the soul food restaurant Nikki’s Place in Parramore he owns and runs with his daughter, he can remember how the restaurant was during the time of segregation.

“On the other side of that door (to the kitchen) was the place that you could buy ice cream, milkshakes and stuff,” Akins said. “Back in the day you couldn’t go nowhere else to buy milkshake and ice cream. You had to go to a Black place to buy it.”

Nick Akins Jr. and his daughter Shannea "Nikki" Akins both attended Jones High School in Orlando's Parramore neighborhood - Nick, during segregation, and Shannea, afterwards.

When she got to Jones, Shannea said it was a bit of “culture shock.”

“People thought that I was too white because I spoke well,” Shannea said. “I did enjoy it. I did enjoy getting assimilated to my Blackness and creating that space for myself to learn what I like, what I don't like.”

The two sat down for a StoryCorps One Small Step conversation.

Participants

• aaboraya
  
• Shannea Akins
  
• Nick Akins
  

Interview By

• aaboraya