Leah Chase, who died this month, was an American civil rights activist and chef in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her restaurant is well-known. It serves people from all walks of life, from local men and women to famous personalities, such as baseball player Hank Aaron and singer Beyonc. Two other customers, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, served as president of the United States. But people who never visited the restaurant likely still know Chase, sort of. She was a main inspiration for Princess Tiana in the Disney movie “The Princess and the Frog.” In the early 2000s, a group of writers were seeking ideas for a movie about a princess in New Orleans. They easily found Leah Chase, says a report in The Oprah Magazine. Chase said she spoke to the film’s writers for hours about her life. In time, the Disney movie “The Princess and the Frog” told the story of a hard-working African-American waitress who dreams of owning a restaurant. “Now everybody wants to be Tiana,” Chase told the magazine in 2010. “I think it’s fantastic.”
