The Locator -- [(subject = "Automobile travel--United States")]

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Author:
Sorin, Gretchen Sullivan, author.
Title:
Driving while Black : African American travel and the road to civil rights / Gretchen Sorin.
Publisher:
Liveright Publishing Corporationa division of W.W. Norton & Company,
Copyright Date:
2021
Description:
xviii, 332 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm
Subject:
African Americans--History--History--20th century.
African American automobile drivers--History--20th century.
Automobile travel--United States--History--20th century.
Segregation in transportation--United States--History--20th century.
African Americans--History--History--20th century.
African Americans--Social conditions--20th century.
Civil rights--United States--History--20th century.
United States--History--History--20th century.
HISTORY / United States / General.
African American automobile drivers.
African Americans--Segregation.
African Americans--Social conditions.
African Americans--Travel.
Automobile travel.
Civil rights.
Race relations.
Segregation in transportation.
United States.
Automobile travel--United States.
Discrimination in transportation--United States.
African Americans--Segregation.
African Americans--Social conditions.
Civil rights--United States.
United States--Race relations.
Familienurlaub.
Kraftfahrer.
Kraftwagen.
Schwarze.
Tourismus.
USA.
1900-1999.
History.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages [287]-318) and index.
Contents:
"Vacation without aggravation." "Humiliation stalks them" -- African Americans and the automobile -- "Through the windshield" -- Driving while black -- Travel guides for everyone -- Victor and Alma Green's The Negro motorist green book -- "Where will you stay tonight?" -- "Vacation without aggravation."
Summary:
It's hardly a secret that mobility has always been limited, if not impossible, for African Americans. Before the Civil War, masters confined their slaves to their property, while free Black people found themselves regularly stopped, questioned, and even kidnapped. Restrictions on movement before emancipation carried over, in different forms, into Reconstruction and beyond; for most of the twentieth century, many white Americans felt blithely comfortable denying their Black countrymen the right to travel freely on trains and buses. Yet it became more difficult to shackle someone who was cruising along a highway at forty-five miles per hour. In Driving While Black, acclaimed historian Gretchen Sorin reveals how the car--the ultimate symbol of independence and possibility--has always held particular importance for African Americans, allowing Black families to evade the many dangers presented by an entrenched racist society and to enjoy, in some measure, the freedom of the open road. She recounts the creation of a parallel, unseen world of Black motorists, who relied on travel guides, Black-only businesses, and informal communication networks to keep them safe. From coast to coast, mom-and-pop guesthouses, beauty parlors, large hotels--including New York's Hotel Theresa, the Hampton House in Miami, and the Dunbar Hotel in Los Angeles--and nightclubs and restaurants like New Orleans' Dooky Chase and Atlanta's Paschal's fed travelers and provided places to stay the night. At the heart of Sorin's story is Victor and Alma Green's famous Green Book, a travel guide begun in 1936 that allowed Black Americans to join in that most basic American rite, the family vacation. As Sorin demonstrates, Black travel guides and Black-only businesses encouraged a new way of resisting oppression. Black Americans could be confident of finding welcoming establishments as they traveled for vacation or for work. Civil rights activists learned where to stay and where to eat in the South between marches and protests. As Driving While Black reminds us, the civil rights movement was just that--a movement of Black people and their allies in defiance of local law and custom. At the same time, Sorin shows that the car, despite the freedoms it offered, brought Black people up against new challenges, from segregated ambulance services to unwarranted traffic stops and the racist violence that too often followed. Interwoven with Sorin's own family history and enhanced by dozens of little-known images, Driving While Black charts how the automobile fundamentally reshaped African American life, and opens up an entirely new view onto one of the most important issues of our time. -- From dust jacket.
ISBN:
163149869X
9781631498695
OCLC:
(OCoLC)1230144703
Locations:
ORAX826 -- Scott Community College (Bettendorf)
SAPG074 -- Cedar Falls Public Library (Cedar Falls)
CEAX572 -- Kirkwood Community College Library (Cedar Rapids)

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