Travel and Race
As a white, middle-class American woman, I will admit that I am not the expert or even close to being the most qualified person to be speaking on race. However, I have recently felt that the travel industry has gatekept certain people from traveling - maybe not intentionally, but in the inherent way we’ve been exposed to traveling.
This post focuses on my friend, Ro, an African American female in the south, and her experiences traveling as a person of color. There are a multitude of races and hardships that come with each one. But with the intersectionality of Ro’s womanhood AND “blackhood,” I felt this would be an informative conversation to have. and to discuss how the travel industry and traveling, while opens your eyes to other cultures and communities, also face issues of racism, and ways the travel industry is overcoming and/or working towards opening up travel opportunities more for POC.
Racism is everywhere, and while America is on the main stage in regards to how “open” we are with our racism and how it affects the black community, everywhere has their own form of racism.
What are your immediate thoughts on if and how race plays a role in travel?
It definitely plays a role while traveling. When I was younger, and even when I went to Italy in 2019, it was never in the forefront of my mind. I guess I became so accustomed to how people treat black people in America that if it happened overseas, I would be fine because how much worse could it be there than here? Which is honestly kind of horrible if you think about it.
What has been your experience traveling as a woman of color?
I’ve had great experiences everywhere that I’ve traveled, fortunately. I have definitely felt like an outcast in most places though, but I think that's it really. It does suck to feel out of place, but I still try to make the most of my trip despite that feeling.
What are some of the obstacles or hurdles you have to worry about when traveling as a woman of color?
I think the biggest thing for me is if the people, wherever I’m traveling to, will respect me and treat me like a human being since I am Black and also a woman. I wouldn’t want to go somewhere where people would constantly be screaming obscenities at me or looking at me like I shouldn’t be there. So really it’s doing a lot of research on how Black people and other people of color are treated in that country.
Personally, I’ve never done that kind of research. I just go on a hope and a prayer, but I think I’ll be more conscious and intentional about it moving forward.
What are your thoughts on black travel agencies and heritage trips?
I’m 1000% here for both! I think it’s beautiful to see Black people inspire other Black people to travel because I think it would make new travelers feel more comfortable with the traveling process if they’ve never been to a certain place before, and it may also feel safer to use a Black travel agency because they would know places that are good for other Black people to visit. I’m the first person in my family to travel internationally, and before I did, I felt like there was kind of a stigma that “Black people don’t travel out of the country” or something like that. So having those agencies can break that stigma to show others that it’s possible for us to do it.
As far as heritage trips, I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to do one, but one thing that stops me and probably a lot of other Black people is that we may be unsure of our heritage because colonizers took that away from us. Like yes, our ancestors may have come from Africa, but we don’t have the luxury of knowing the exact place. Africa has always been a destination of mine, and it would mean the world to me if I could go and experience the place of my ancestors.
Do you feel that being a Black female has a bigger impact on your travel experiences versus if you were a Black male?
I feel like it definitely can. Women are already oppressed and silenced, which people have always been aware of, but to be that and a minority, is a whole new level of that. I won’t say Black men have it any easier though because of the stereotypes that people have given to Black men over the decades.
Research shows that African Americans tend to only travel about 500 miles outside their home city, with the Caribbean, Mexico, Florida, and Atlanta being the main travel destinations. Having traveled a bit more extensively than that, what are your thoughts on getting people of color to travel wider?
I would love to see people of color travel to more places. Again, I think it starts with taking away that stigma of “Black people can’t travel there,” and also getting through the fear that comes with traveling to other places outside our comfort zones. For instance, I never would have considered going to Estonia on my own because 1. I had maybe only heard about it from school and you and 2. I was scared of being the only one.
The Caribbean, Mexico, Florida, and Atlanta, while fun to visit, are safe to us because we know other people that look like us have been there before, and it’s very likely we will see other Black and people of color in those places. In other places, you may not get that, and it’s kind of scary to think about. If you’re the only Black person in a place, you don’t have anyone (even though you wouldn’t even know this person) that knows your struggle or knows what it’s like to be in this space as a Black person or person of color. And that can be enough to turn people off from traveling anywhere else, which is totally understandable.
I think another thing is that Black people, or my family at least, believe that international travel is super expensive and pretty much unattainable so the places you mentioned are their only options. They think you have to spend $1000s on flights and stuff, but we have to find ways to teach/show them that that’s not really the case. It’s possible to go to these places without spending upwards of $3000 or $4000. Whenever I tell my family about cheap flights I found, they are always in shock because they didn’t think it was possible.
We also have to talk about the fact that sometimes travel is nearly impossible for Black people and other people of color because society made it that way. Socioeconomic status and wealth are unequally distributed among white and Black people, and there are plenty of studies that show this. The fact that most minorities live in poverty, are in poor health, and/or have less education is part of the reason why we don’t see many of them travel. They literally cannot afford to. As we’ve seen with this pandemic, a lot of minorities work low-wage jobs and can barely afford to take care of themselves, so we can’t really expect them to be able to travel anywhere outside of our country that won’t do anything to fix the real, underlying issue. All of our current systems are rigged against us, so it makes it that much harder for us to get the wealth that we deserve in order to get the benefits that white people have had for years.
History of Black Travel in the US
Prior to the end of slavery, Black Americans could not travel. Any “traveling” they did was part of the slavery movement. Post-slavery, they had to endure Jim Crow-era obstacles to traveling. This is where The Green Book comes in.
The Negro Motorist Green Book, also known simply as The Green Book, is a book published for African American travelers with the intention to help them travel and avoid social obstacles prevalent during Jim Crow. However, it is still a widely used book for Black Americans when traveling, especially on road trips.
During our research for our possible road trip in the Fall of 2021, we had to research Sundown Towns. Sundown Towns are all-white communities, neighborhoods, or counties that “exclude POC through the use of discriminatory laws, harassment, and threats or the use of violence. The name comes from verbal and posted warning issues to Black travelers that though they may be allowed to work or travel in a community during the daytime, they must leave by sundown." The unofficial slogan of Anna, Illinois, which had violently expelled its African-American population in 1909, was "Ain't No N***** Allowed."
“There will be a day sometime in the near future when this guide will not have to be published. That is when we as a race will have equal opportunities and privileges in the United States.”
— Victor Hugo Green, “The Negro Motorist Green Book”
White supremacists also have a history of restricting black mobility, especially while driving. They were subjected to racial profiling by police departments ("driving while black") and risked harassment on and off the highway. While cars made it much easier for Black Americans to be independently mobile, the difficulties they faced in traveling were such that, as Lester B. Granger of the National Urban League puts it, "so far as travel is concerned, Negroes are America's last pioneers." Black travelers often had to carry buckets or portable toilets in the trunks of their cars because they were usually barred from bathrooms and rest areas in service stations and roadside stops. Travel essentials such as gasoline were difficult to purchase because of discrimination at gas stations.
15% of African American travelers say that concerns about racial profiling play a role in their travel decisions.
Why We Should All Encourage Black Travel
Not only do Black Americans deserve to feel like they can travel as freely as their white counterparts, but it is also great for the economy. “The economic value of African American travelers has increased in 2018 to $63 BILLION from $48 billion in 2010,” says a study done by Mandala Research.
Mandala added, “We’ve been able to confirm through our many studies among domestic and international travelers that the African American story in America is one that resonates with cultural travelers of all types – the general market traveler, the international visitor -- because the story of African Americans is the story of America. African Americans have contributed to the evolution of almost every facet of our culture – music, food, dance, art, literature, academics, and social change movements. The success of attractions such as the Civil Rights Trail, Mississippi Blues trail, historic Overtown in Miami, and tours of Harlem gospel choirs, all of which are attended heavily by Germans, Japanese as well as American travelers, is testament to the universal draw of the African American experience.”
There are now some wonderful Black travel agencies that can be a tremendous resource for Black travelers. Some even offer heritage trips for those wanting to explore their roots pre-slavery. At Uprise Travel, they say, “we design cultural heritage tours for members of the African diaspora, and for students of Africa looking to dig deeper into West African history and culture.
We don’t pretend to create inspirational homecoming moments for our guests, but we promise to design tours that allow our guests to safely and comfortably dig into their ancestral culture and history.
Many of our clients of African descent will do DNA testing before their arrival in West Africa in order to choose their itinerary based on their specific ancestry, while others choose trips based for other personal reasons.”
There is no way for me to end this post on a happy note, except that I am very happy and grateful that Ro has shared her experiences with me and I hope this opens your eyes and a heart a bit to how travel and race are intersected.
