Files
Abstract
The rise of the automobile occurred during Jim Crow in the United States. This was a time in which African Americans faced legal discrimination and violence on a regular basis, making travel particularly difficult. Many business owners either refused service to African Americans or provided substandard service. In order to ease these difficulties, guide books were published for the African American community beginning as early as 1930. These books served as directories to catalog safe businesses, such as hotels, gas stations, and restaurants, for traveling African Americans. This thesis examines travel guide resources in Portsmouth, Virginia to investigate what they reveal about the history of segregated travel in America and to discuss the future of preservation for these sites.