Black History Month and Tourism

Hello, and Happy Valentine’s Day week! I love that you’re here and that you subscribe and read. <3

True story: I am tired this week and not that motivated to write. My brain feels like it is not in creative mode. I might not have a family or a high-stress job. But, I do work in customer service and that is demanding. I also probably mentioned I’m training for a marathon and I’m taking two circus classes this session, they are both in the evening and my sleep has not been great for the last 10 days. I’m in the thick of the long mileage weeks and some days after work all I want to do is read a book or knit. I don’t always want to use my brain to be creative or think about writing. This past weekend I went to a late movie on Saturday at 8 and a concert that started at 8 pm on Sunday, Feist. She was great, and the show was great, but maybe I didn’t set myself up for success with all of the doing and going.

But, I’m here and this month the theme is different from what I had originally planned. I just didn’t feel like writing about seasonality and climate change after Dark Tourism. It was not inspiring me. Instead, I am showcasing ways to learn about Black history when you travel. In this newsletter, I am just dipping a toe into this topic with links, some history, and a timeline. The next one will have a long article that I am just scratching the surface of with reading and digesting and it is about the Black Travel Movement. This might be the new format so I don’t overload you all with journal articles and so that I can pick one good one to dissect and share others for further reading.

Here are two quotes from that article that I am still thinking about and give you a sneak peek of what this article discusses.

“This is a result of slavery that has trickled down. Think about it—when our ancestors were enslaved people, we were prevented to learn . . . [and] you have to understand that the result of that is catastrophic. It’s still present today. Many of our parents didn’t travel, couldn’t travel. Although now we have the ability to travel and have access to knowledge, generational limits of beliefs still linger. You have to go back and correct all of what went wrong, and this is what the movement is doing for Black Travel. You have to get through all of that muck. And it’s hard, really hard. It’s gonna take generations.”

AND

“One thing that I’m doing now is I’m trying to work in a key part of my business to work with young girls. Because I feel like if you get them young and start to get them a passport and open their minds up to travel and the advantages that it can bring to their life, the benefits will be endless.”

Photo by Becky Phan on Unsplash

Links

Kicking it off with a timeline of the History of Black Travel

This link cannot be explained any better than by its title of “Black History Month and Tourism’s Connection”.

Looking for cultural tours that give back to local communities? Try some of these: I Like Local, Visit Natives, Black Cultural Heritage Tours, Destination Indigenous.

It’s Black History Month in the US and Canada, here are some places where you can learn about Black History.

And unrelated, but finally, airlines are making the overhead bins larger so that you don’t have to gate check.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Consuming

If you’re ever wondering why I have this section as part of a tourism newsletter, well, it’s because I’m probably doing one of these three things while on a flight to wherever I am going. I’m more likely to read than watch on a flight but if I can watch and knit, that’s a great combination too.

Reading:

Since the last time I’ve read: Black Cake, Horrorstor, and Such a Fun Age. I’m one-third into Tom Lake and enjoying it. I finished Tom Lake today and loved it. Have you read any of these? I enjoyed Black Cake and read that in three days even though it was bout 400 pages, I was that enthralled. I should mention that I’m a pretty fast reader especially when I prioritize it.

Black Cake - estranged siblings reunite after their mother’s death to learn about the untold story of her youth and who she really was. I LOVED this.

Horrorstor - A knockoff Ikea store in Ohio was built over an 1800s prison run by a tyrannical and cruel warden. Strange events in the store prompted employees to stay after hours to check for intruders and end up encountering the site’s former inhabitants. This was true horror and despite the title, I was not expecting that. Not for the faint of heart but I read it in 2 hours. I liked it.

Such a Fun Age - A babysitter is accused of being a kidnapper while on duty with her young charge and the mother of the child spends the whole book trying to make it up to her and being creepy and overbearing, quite frankly. Their lives are intertwined in some unexpected ways. I liked it.

Tom Lake - Three young adult daughters are home at their childhood cherry farm in Northern Michigan at the beginning(ish) of the pandemic and make their mother retell the story of how she dated a famous movie star in her early 20s. I loved this, it was a sweet story. Ann Patchett wrote one of my other favourite books, State of Wonder. I reminded a friend of that book the other day and she said “Oh I still think about that book a lot”. Me too.

On deck/already reading, the sequel to the Three Body Problem called The Dark Forest and it will take me a while. I’ll probably still be reading it in March. And an unpublished novel by a friend, Petya. I am honored to be one of her test readers and I am excited to keep going in it.

Watching:

Une Annee Difficile - watched this at the Victoria Film Fest. It was funny and had a lot of ups and downs. I would watch it again, it was in French with subtitles. Two men with considerable debt join a social justice group for free beer and food and get a bit more out of it than that.

Listening:

One of my favourite bands released a covers album late last year and Spotify just put it on my radar within the last 10 days. I’ve seen this band three times in my life and I am not ashamed of that. Fran Healy is a great songwriter. I’ve been listening to it on repeat. It is a lot of older songs like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Queen, Bowie, and the Ronettes. There’s also a Britney Spears cover that is fantastic. I particularly like the cover of “You’re a Big Girl Now” by Dylan and “All the Young Dudes” written by David Bowie. I have a very extensive covers playlist on Spotify so this type of release always makes me happy. In case anyone is wondering, I do actively seek out and listen to new music too. Also listening to a lot of Feist and Cat Power right now.

That is it for this edition. I am excited about the long article I have to share for the end-of-February edition!

-Sonya