Sankofa Tour Guide: Nur Shoop

There were many variations of “Negro” travel and vacation guidebooks. All are evidence of the resilience that black communities had to survive the 20th century’s age of segregation. The book was used as a tool by African Americans who went places to enjoy themselves without concerns of experiencing racism. Civil rights activists used the travelers’ guides as part of their work, finding black guest houses and church people’s parlors as meeting spots. When the Civil Rights Act gets rid of this de jour legal segregation is when small independent businesses begin to disappear. This Sankofa Tour describes some of the local people and places that would help African American travelers find safety and avoid the humiliation often experienced in the North where less formal systems of discrimination could, without warning, prohibit black people from entering the same spaces as whites. The Green Books are a valuable resource, but what is not written on those pages is where the real stories and histories are. This is our story.