Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights

Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights | Gretchen Sorin

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Interesting history of black travel from slavery to today. Each chapter included historical anecdotes , personal stories, connections to today, and economic and societal impacts. Good book, and pares well with Overground Railroad.

Aims42 I‘m reading ‘Overground Railroad‘ right now, it‘s beyond fascinating!! 5y

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WanderingBookaneer

Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights | Gretchen Sorin

The “nationally famous” Coon Chicken Inn, an eatery founded in Salt Lake City in the 1920s, grew into a chain of profitable West Coast restaurants. Operating well into the 1950s, the Coon Chicken Inn used a logo featuring the large bald head of a grotesquely caricatured African American man with swollen red lips and a round bellhop hat. caricatured African American man with swollen red lips and a round bellhop hat. ⬇️

WanderingBookaneer The grinning, comic “coon” winked at restaurant patrons, suggesting that they shared a joke. Diners entered the restaurant through the huge, toothy mouth, an idea that the founder, Maxon Lester Graham, thought would delight and attract children. 5y

Amiable Oh my God 😳 5y

ravenlee There are no words. 5y

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JackOBotts Wow. Just no. 🤦🏻‍♀️ 5y

JoScho WTF 5y

Avanders 😟 5y

Hooked_on_books Holy 💩 5y

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WanderingBookaneer

Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights | Gretchen Sorin

Aims42 That‘s horrible! I can‘t believe that custom continued for soooo long 😢 5y

rockpools Speechless. 5y

Amiable 1998?? That is shocking to me. 😳 5y

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RamsFan1963 Born and raised in the South, I'm used to hearing things like this, but it's interesting see the North wasn't so enlightened either. 5y

WanderingBookaneer @RamsFan1963 : This book does not shy away from the racist north, or midwest. 5y

MayJasper Til 1998!!!!!!!! 5y

Karkar 1998 is unreal. 😱 5y

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WanderingBookaneer

Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights | Gretchen Sorin

“In Greenville‘s defense, you have to remember that “white” had a whole other meaning then. It was the highest compliment you could give a person. It meant that he or she was above reproach. Honest and trustworthy and pure. And incidentally, probably white.” The article was published in 2016.

Lindy 🤯 5y

BiblioLitten 🤭🤯 5y

TrishB 😮☹️ 5y

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Leftcoastzen 😡 5y

Amandajoy 😞 5y

ravenlee 🤮 5y

Megabooks Gag! 5y

Hooked_on_books 😧🤬 5y

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WanderingBookaneer

Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights | Gretchen Sorin

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Five years ago I was chosen to recreate the march from Selma to Montgomery for its 50th anniversary. It was at the Lowndes Interpretative Center (the midway the midway point) that I first heard of the famous Green Book and saw a pee can (among other articles) in an exhibit about taking road trips to/through the segregated south if you were African American. ⬇️

WanderingBookaneer Last year I saw the Smithsonian‘s documentary titled The Green Book: Guide to Freedom and it painted a fuller picture about the perils African Americans faced, but also of the sanctuaries they found along the way.⬇️ 5y

WanderingBookaneer This book rounded out my education. It begins by talking about automobiles in general and the changes they brought to the American lifestyle; then explains how the African American middle class started to buy cars and what their preferences were-big cars to accommodate their traveling needs. ⬇️ (edited) 5y

WanderingBookaneer The chapter “Driving While Black” deals with the threat of stopping anywhere that was predominantly while including how African Americans preferred to drive through the night so that they wouldn‘t have to deal with the hassle of finding accommodations along the way. Then we come to the guides themselves, including a chapter dedicated to The Negro Motorist Green Book, which is followed by a chapter on accommodations along the way. ⬇️ 5y

WanderingBookaneer All in all this is a very thorough book. It is easy read and I would recommend it to anyone who wanted to learn more about the indignities African Americans faced until fairly recently when they tried to do something as innocuous as take a road trip. Although who are we kidding, driving while black can still be perilous, as the author of this book also points out. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5y

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