"Henry Perry, Kansas City's Barbecue King" tells the story of a Black entrepreneur who traveled to Kansas City from Memphis in the early 1900s and coined the local style has mostly gone untold.Henry Perry was equal parts pitmaster and entrepreneur. As Kansas City’s self-professed “Barbecue King,” he was the first person in the city to open a barbecue stand and truly make a living selling his meat, which included possum, hog, raccoon and mutton, among other things. Part of his success is thanks to a ...
"Henry Perry, Kansas City's Barbecue King" tells the story of a Black entrepreneur who traveled to Kansas City from Memphis in the early 1900s and coined the local style has mostly gone untold.
Henry Perry was equal parts pitmaster and entrepreneur. As Kansas City’s self-professed “Barbecue King,” he was the first person in the city to open a barbecue stand and truly make a living selling his meat, which included possum, hog, raccoon and mutton, among other things. Part of his success is thanks to a robust marketing strategy, but it’s also because legend had it he could barbecue better than anybody. His sauce was supposedly so fiery, it would literally bring tears to customers' eyes.
Despite it being the Jim Crow era, he regularly attracted both Black and white customers. According to one historian, “segregation ended when you walked through the door.” It’s not like barbecue was the great unifier. But, like jazz at the time, it was a place where Black and white people coexisted in ways they weren’t doing elsewhere.
Perry died of pneumonia in 1940, at age 66. But his influence didn't end there. He had taught three apprentices everything he knew and they carried on his legacy in two big ways. Arthur Pinkard became the first cook for the Gates family of Gates Bar-B-Q fame. And brothers Charlie and Arthur Bryant went on to create Arthur Bryant’s.
It all makes you wonder... Would Kansas City even be known for barbecue without Henry Perry? Many historians don’t think so.
Today, there is no longer a Perry’s Barbecue in downtown Kansas City. But there’s Gates. And Arthur Bryant's. Elsewhere, there’s Joe’s, LC’s, Jack Stack, Q39 and countless others. Some of these restaurants truly wouldn’t be around today—and Kansas City might not even be known for barbecue—if it wasn’t for Henry Perry.
And while they might not cook the meat exactly the way he did, they’re still carrying on the tradition of barbecue excellence in Kansas City that Perry started in the early 1900s.
These days, there’s just less possum on the menu.
Mackenzie Martin, a podcast producer and reporter at KCUR, created this episode of "Gravy." She helps make A People’s History of Kansas City and Hungry For MO. An earlier version of this story aired on the KCUR Studios podcast, A People's History of Kansas City.
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