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

Hear from acclaimed historian Gretchen Sorin how the automobile fundamentally changed African American life. Through much of our country's history, mobility has been limited for African Americans: first, by slavery and racism towards freed black people; then, little changed with Emancipation and Reconstruction. For most of the 20th century, many white Americans felt comfortable denying their black countrymen the right to travel freely on trains and buses. Driving While Black reveals how the car—the ultimate symbol of independence and possibility—allowed black families to evade the many dangers presented by an entrenched racist society. Automobiles spawned a parallel, unseen world of black motorists kept safe by black-only businesses, informal networks, and travel guides including the 1936 Green Book. Interweaving stories of Sorin's own family history, Driving While Black opens up an entirely new view onto one of the most important issues of our time.
 

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Category: Community | Libraries Time: 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm