Mama Ayesha Abraham was born in Jerusalem in the late 1800s. Coming to the United States and Washington, DC in the late 1940s, she was hired as a cook for the Syrian Embassy. After her stint there, as well as working at several DC restaurants, she opened her first eatery in 1960, Calvert Cafe. She passed away in 1993.
To commemorate Mama Ayesha’s storied life and journey, a 60-foot-long mural was painted on one of her restaurant’s outer walls, featuring every President from 1960 to 2009, Dwight D. Eisenhower to Barack Obama.
Completed one day before President Obama’s inauguration in 2009, the artist, El Salvador born Karla Rodas, placed Mama Ayesha in the middle of the Commanders in Chief. They all stand in front of the White House with blooming cherry blossoms nearby. An eagle flies in the upper left corner, the Lincoln Memorial is in the background. On the right side of the painting is the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument and the United States Capitol. An American Flag mosaic flanks both sides of the painting. There is a space left on the far right for one more President.
All of the eleven Presidents are smiling, as is Mama Ayesha. Her great-nephew, Abu-El-Hawa, said, “She was the American dream. For a Muslim and Arab woman immigrant from Palestine to come here on her own and build this business, is a remarkable legacy.”
Of all the symbols of this nation found within this mural, Mama Ayesha could be considered the most significant.
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