Here is a list of books on black travel. Each author gives her, or his, take on what their experience has been.
Many of the books/sites also offer tips on where to go, sites of historical importance, transportation, eating/dining, and what to expect from the locals.
BLACK TRAVEL BOOKS:
Below you will find a representative sample of Black Travel Books and Travel Books by Black Writers
Go Girl: The Black Woman’s Book of Travel and Adventure
by Elaine Lee, Eighth Mountain Press, 1997, $17.95 (52 riveting travel tales by and for African American women travelers. It includes a trip planning primer and a resource guide).
Steppin’ Out: An African American Entertainment Guide to Our 20 Favorite Cities
by Carla Labat, Avalon Publishing, 2000, 351 pages, $17.95 (It highlights historical landmarks, churches, restaurants, nightclubs, art and culture venues with over 1,000 entries.)
The African American Travel Guide
by Wayne Robinson, Hunter Publishing, 1998, 308 pages, $15.95 (A city by city guide to black sites, hotels, restaurants and clubs in the United States)
A Long Way from St. Louie: Travel Memoirs
by Colleen McEllroy, Coffee Table Press, 1997, 241 pages $13.95, which is a stunning collage of international travel stories by one of America’s classiest and sassiest poets. She puts the word lust back into wanderlust.
Stranger in the Village: Two Centuries of African American Travel Writing
by Cheryl Fish and Farah Griffin, Beacon Press, 1998, 366 pages, $25.00 (Dispatches, diaries, memoirs, letters from African American Travelers in search of home, justice and adventure.)
New News Out of Africa: Uncovering Africa’s Renaissance by Charlayne Hunter-Gault. This veteran correspondent is determined to deliver some “new news”—or good news—out of Africa, and to challenge facile assumptions that it is a dark, hopeless continent ravaged by the “four D’s”: death, disaster, disease and despair.
Caribbean Bound: Culture, Roots, People and Places
by Linda Cousins, Universal African Writer Press, 1994, 198 pages, $10.95 (A travel guide that includes valuable and exciting information about the Caribbean countries and their culture.)
Adventures of a Continental Drifter: An Around-the-World Excursion into Weirdness, Danger, Lust, and the Perils of Street Food, by Elliott Hester, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2005
Plane Insanity: A Flight Attendant’s Tales of Sex, Rage, and Queasiness at 30,000 Feet by Elliott Hester, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2003
Native Stranger: Black American’s Journey into the Heart of Africa by Eddy L. Harris, Simon & Schuster, 1992
A Black Man in Europe by Nathan A. Jones, SajeTanira Publishing, 190 pages, 12/20/2007, $15 (In his book we get to see the Western European continent through the lenses of an educated American-born Black man.)
Soul on the Seine: Your Hip Guide to Black Paris Book by Robin Bates, La Jolie Noire Publications, 200 pages, February 2008, $15 (It is a unique travel publication that looks at a modern, urban Paris from an African American perspective.)
Finding Martha’s Vineyard: African Americans at Home on an Island by Jill Nelson, Doubleday Publisher, 281 pages, 2005, $27 (This elegant book of photographs, personal narratives and historical facts convey the special magic of the Vineyard and the African Americans that summered or lived there)
Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain by Lori Tharp, is a memoir, a travel essay and a love story. It is the sometimes humorous and always heartfelt story of my racial coming of age.
Twilight People: One Man’s Journey to Find His Roots by David Houze, University of California Press, 328 pages, 2006, $14 (Twilight People is a stirring memoir that grapples with issues of family, love, abandonment, and ultimately, forgiveness and reconciliation. It is also a spellbinding detective story steeped in racial politics and the troubled history of South Africa and United States.)
Flying While Black: A Whistleblower’s Story by Cathy Harris, Milligan Books, 337 pages, 2000, $17 (The plight of a Black Woman who exposed the U.S. Customs Service for it racist practices.)
Girl In the Mirror
by Natasha Tarpley, Beacon Press, 1998, 181 pages, $22 (A family memoir told in the voice of three generations of travelers)
Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light
by Tyler Stovall, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996, 366 pages, $24.95. (Chronicles the life and times of the African American presence in Paris)
Black Girl in Paris
by Shay Youngblood, Riverhead Books, 2000, 256 pages, $12.00. (An intriguing examination of the twentieth century African-American history in the French capital through the dreams of a young expatriate)
Eugene Bullard: Black Expatriate in the Jazz-Age Paris
by Craig Lloyd, University of Georgia Press, 2000, $26.95 (profile of a jazz drummer and freedom fighter who live in Paris during the early part of the 1900’s)
Black Woman Walking: A Different Experience of World Travel
by Maureen Stone, BeaGay Publications, 2003, $17.95 (Chronicles the writers walks around in numerous countries around the world)
Richard Wright’s Travel Writings
edited by Virginia Smith, University of Mississippi Press, 2001, $18.00 (Chronicles the author’s travel writing from 1946 to 1960)
Satisfy Your Soul: A Guide to African American Restaurants
by Carla Labat, Impression Books, 1997, 205 pages, $10.95(This guide has information on over 250 restaurants in over 20 U.S. cities.)
No Place Like Home: A Black Briton’s Journey through the American South
by Gary Younge, University of Mississippi Press, 2002, $18 (The story of a black Englishman’s amazing trek through Dixie to connect with his racial identity)
Kat Tracking Through Paris
by Kat St. Thomas, Regent Press, 2002, $20 (Veteran tour guide provides the inside scoop on Black Paris)
Paris Reflections: Walks Through Black Paris
by Christianne Anderson and Monique Wells, McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, 2002, $17.95 (The book outlines six detailed walks through Black Paris)
The African-American Travel Guide to Hot, Exotic and Fun-Filled Places
by Jon Haggins, Amber Books, 2002, $15 (A guidebook geared to group traveler interested in travel to select locations in Africa, Caribbean, South America and South Pacific).
Blue as the Lake: A Personal Geography
by Robert Steptoe, Beacon Press, 1998, $18 (Chronicles his summer vacations at an African American resort in Northern Michigan)
An African in Greenland
by TETE-Michel Kpomassie, New York Review Books, 2001 (Chronicles the author’s travels in Greenland)
Mandela, Mobuto and Me: A Newswoman’s African Journey
by Lynn Duke, Doubleday Press, 2003, $16 (This Washington Post’s Johannesburg bureau chief [1995-1999] takes readers on a memorable adventure through Southern and Central Africa).
Yet a Stranger: Why Black American Still Don’t Feel at Home
by Deborah Mathis, Warner Books, 2002, $18(Though not a travel book it explores and explains why many African Americans still feel excluded in America and why some chose to become expatriates)
Black Paris: The African Writer’s Landscape
by Benetta Jules-Rosette, University of Illinois Press, 2000, $17.95 (Focuses on the Parisian Negritude movement from the perspective of writers of African descent. Includes interviews, poetry and insightful essays)
In Their Footsteps: A Guide to African American Heritage Sites
by Henry Chase, Holt Publishers, 1994, 584 pages, $35 (Covers over 1,000 landmarks, including museums, churches, cultural centers, parks and much more. Includes essays by famous writers)
Historic Black Landmarks
by George Cantor, Visible Ink Press, 1991, 372 pages, $17.95 (This fully illustrated book takes you on a guided tour of over 300 landmarks uniquely related to black history and culture.)
African American Historic Places
by Beth Savage, Published by the National Park Service, 1994, 623 pages, $25.95 (A compressive guide to African American landmarks with an impressive forward on black history)
Roots Recovered: The How To Guide for Tracing African-American and West Indian Roots Back to Africa and Going There for Free or on a Shoestring Budget
by James White and Jean-Gontran Quenum, 2004, self published. http://www.rootsrecovered.com
The Travel Professional’s Guide to Black Paris:A guide designed to help you help your client discover Black Paris and to help you sell Paris as a heritage destination. The treatment of Blacks in Paris; museums and monuments from an Afro-centric perspective; contemporary music, fashion and other cultural venues; and Afro-centric restaurants are among the many topics that we address in this publication.The 77-page document is currently available as a downloadable PDF file at the following link: http://www.discoverparis.net/details.html?item=1164712852783148#Travel%20Professional’s%20Guide For more info contact: Monique Y. Wells, info@discoverparis.net
Other Publications:
Pathfinder’s Magazine: A Travel Magazine for People of Color
by Weller and Pamela Thomas.Pathfinders is published five times per year. The magazine, which enjoys a circulation of 100,000 copies, reaches an affluent audience of African American travelers interested in enjoying the good life. Pathfinders tells readers where to go, what to do, where to dine and how to `get there from a cultural perspective. Pathfinders covers domestic and international destinations. The slick, glossy, color magazine is available nationally in Barnes & Nobel, Crown, Borders, Hastings and other independent bookstores. $5 per issue(http://www.pathfinderstravel.com)
Odyssey Couleur: Travel in Color
by Idamar Enterprises. The nation’s first high-end travel magazine for affluent multicultural travelers, Odyssey Couleur offers its readers something they won’t find anywhere else: inspiring images of multicultural groups diving into thrilling adventures around the world. With gorgeous pictures, insightful articles and essential tips to allay travel stresses. $5 per issue, 6 issues per year, founded in 2004, circulation, 300,000 (http://www.odysseymc.com)
Black Meetings and Tourism
by Solomon and Gloria Herbert was established in 1994. They have an award winning, international, full color, bi-monthly trade publication for and about the $40 billion plus African-American group and leisure travel, incentives and meetings market.(http://www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com)
The Journal of African Travel Writing
A semi-annual journal published by University of North Carolina Press