::Sounds like Amber388 may be racially biased her/himself. If you look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GB-8297.jpg, the chef in this 1927 photo is clearly white. Thus, one can surmise that railroad cooks could be white during this period (even if this is guy is a model and not a real chef, it would be unlikely that the advertising agency or whoever would pick someone that would be so atypical if railroad cooks were universally black as Amber388 surmises). Thus, the "good idea" could have come from some white railroad cook. Of course, the sales executive could have been black for all anyone knows (albeit certainly highly unlikely given the period) since there is no further ID of him/her either. If this were the case, would this writer accuse the black saleman of stealing the white man's idea? Not every single event, however trivial, in American history is some racially motivated attempt by whites to steal from blacks - give it a rest.