Winner of the Bancroft Prize Winner of the David J. Langum Prize Winner of the Lillian Smith Book Award Winner of the Order of the Coif Book Award Winner of the OAH Liberty Legacy Foundation Award A New York Times Critics’ Top Book of the Year “This extraordinary book is a powerful addition to the history of travel segregation...Mia Bay shows that Black mobility has always been a struggle.” —Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist “In Mia Bay’s superb history of mobility and resistance, the question of literal movement becomes a way to understand the civil rights movement writ large.” —Jennifer Szalai, New York Times “Traveling Black is well worth the fare. Indeed, it is certain to become the new standard on this important, and too often forgotten, history.” —Henry Louis Gates, Jr., author of Stony the Road From Plessy v. Ferguson to #DrivingWhileBlack, African Americans have fought to move freely around the United States. But why this focus on Black mobility? From stagecoaches and trains to buses, cars, and planes, Traveling Black explores when, how, and why racial restrictions took shape in America and brilliantly portrays what it was like to live with them. Mia Bay rescues forgotten stories of passengers who made it home despite being insulted, stranded, re-routed, or ignored. She shows that Black travelers never stopped challenging these humiliations, documenting a sustained fight for redress that falls outside the traditional boundaries of the civil rights movement. A riveting, character-rich account of the rise and fall of racial segregation, it reveals just how central travel restrictions were to the creation of Jim Crow laws—and why free movement has been at the heart of the quest for racial justice ever since.

What does it mean for Black diasporic writers to travel to Africa? Focusing on the period between the 1990s and 2010s, Isabel Kalous examines autobiographical narratives of travel to Africa by African American and Black British authors. She places the texts within the long tradition of Black diasporic engagement with the continent, scrutinizes the significance of Black mobility, and demonstrates that travel writing serves as a means to negotiate questions of identity, belonging, history, and cultural memory. To provide a framework for the analyses of contemporary narratives, her study outlines the emergence, development, and key characteristics of the multifaceted genre of Black travel writing. Authors discussed include, among others, Saidiya Hartman, Barack Obama, and Caryl Phillips.

What is it like for a Traveling Black Woman? What should she expect? How should she prepare? Diary of a Traveling Black Woman: A Guide to International Travel is a travel reference guide written to inspire and inform the journey of Black women who endeavor to travel the globe.

The first travel book for the sisters!

This is your diary. Buy it. Read it. Plan it. Go! Traveling provides an experience to venture beyond what you thought you knew and experiences the fullness of life. There is so much beauty to be seen, people to meet, and adventures to take in the world. This inspirational guide is designed to speak to the spirit of wonder that resides in every Black woman. This is not my diary, it is the beginning of yours. The experiences of the women in this guide and interactive journal will inspire you to travel to places you've never heard of, and grant you the courage to visit the places that your heart longs to explore.

Miriam Thaggert illuminates the stories of African American women as passengers and as workers on the nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century railroad. As Jim Crow laws became more prevalent and forced Black Americans to "ride Jim Crow" on the rails, the train compartment became a contested space of leisure and work. Riding Jane Crow examines four instances of Black female railroad travel: the travel narratives of Black female intellectuals such as Anna Julia Cooper and Mary Church Terrell; Black middle-class women who sued to ride in first class "ladies’ cars"; Black women railroad food vendors; and Black maids on Pullman trains. Thaggert argues that the railroad represented a technological advancement that was entwined with African American attempts to secure social progress. Black women's experiences on or near the railroad illustrate how American technological progress has often meant their ejection or displacement; thus, it is the Black woman who most fully measures the success of American freedom and privilege, or "progress," through her travel experiences.

Black Girls Take World is the global travel bible for adventurous explorers and travel newbies looking to engage with the concept of solo travel. Packed full of inspiring essays, advice on budgeting, eating alone, reducing carbon footprints and dealing with passport privilege and discrimination, as well as Q&A's with travel leaders such as Jessica Nabongo (the first black woman to travel to every country in the world), Annette Richmond (founder of Fat Girls Traveling), Rhiane Fatinikun (founder of Black Girls Hike), and Sasha Sarago (editor and founder of Ascension, Australia’s first Indigenous and ethnic women’s lifestyle magazine), this book is for the conscientious and the curious. Black women understand innately what it means to feel restricted, watched, unwanted. And historically, black female explorers have been overlooked by the travel industry. But social media has spawned a generation of story-tellers and change-makers determined to rewrite their own travel narratives and forcing brands to pay attention - there's never been a better time to situate yourself within the solo travel space! To travel while black and female is therefore to upend, and overcome, legacies of mobility impairment. It is to dispel myths and rewrite history. Black Girls Take World will inspire you to travel alone, help you engage with the world, and aid understanding of your particular experiences abroad. "We travel for ourselves, first and foremost, but attached to our journeys is the potential to rebuke stereotypes, to break moulds, to trace roots, foster inclusivity and give back."