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30 Travel-themed Books by Black Authors That Will Fuel Your Desire to See the World

These page-turners will take you on a journey that crosses countries and cultures.

Hopping on a plane or jumping in the car aren't the only ways to go on an adventure. Books have a way of transporting us to new places, and the following list of novels is no exception. We've rounded up 30 travel-themed books by Black authors that will satisfy your thirst for adventure and possibly even inspire your next trip. Each book offers a rich narrative with fascinating characters and captivating settings around the world. Read on.

1. "Behind the Mountains" by Edwidge Danticat

This novel follows young Celiane as she leaves her small town in Haiti for Brooklyn, New York. Readers will fall in love with Danticat's description of Celiane's simple life in the lush mountains of Haiti.

For more information: edwidgedanticat.com

2. "Born a Crime" by Trevor Noah

"Born a Crime" is Noah's love letter to both his Black mother and life in South Africa. The memoir takes place in the years after apartheid and gives readers an intimate portrait of the comedian's home country.

For more information: trevornoah.com

3. "Black Girl in Paris" by Shay Youngblood

Paris is for lovers. It's also for Black girls from Alabama who travel to Paris to follow in the footsteps of writer James Baldwin. "Black Girl in Paris" explores the idealization versus reality of living in the famous French city.

For more information: shayyoungblood.com

4. "Queenie" by Candice Carty-Williams

"Queenie" is based on a young Black professional living in London, who comes from a traditional Jamaican family. Queenie struggles to find her place at her newspaper job, and also seems to have bad luck in her relationships. In the end, she learns to stand up to her family and for herself.

For more information: simonandschuster.com

5. "Stay With Me" by Ayobami Adebayo

Nigeria serves as the background for this emotional story about a modern African marriage. "Stay With Me" is about the contrast between old traditions and new ways, and what happens to a couple who is stuck in between.

For more information: ayobamiadebayo.com

6. "The Star Side of Bird Hill" by Naomi Jackson

"The Star Side of Bird Hill" centers on two sisters, Dionne and Phaedra, who are sent from Brooklyn to Barbados to live with their grandmother. The girls learn about their mother's secretive history, and when their father shows up, things get complicated. The novel is just as colorful as the Caribbean island.

For more information: naomi-jackson.com

7. "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston

Hurston's most popular work takes place in the all Black town of Eatonville, Florida, in the 1920s. The story follows Janie in her pursuit of love and happiness. And it has everything needed for a Florida setting: the heat, the Everglades, and even a hurricane.

For more information: zoranealehurston.com

8. "Here Comes the Sun" by Nicole Dennis-Benn

In "Here Comes the Sun," Dennis-Benn takes readers beyond the white sands and turquoise waters of Jamaica. In the novel, Margot works at a high-end resort and is faced with hard decisions in order to keep food on the table and her younger sister in school.

For more information: nicoledennisbenn.com

9. "Annie John" by Jamaica Kincaid

Kincaid's "Annie John" is a gentle novel that takes place on the quiet island of Antigua. Set in the 1950s, the coming-of-age story features a young Antiguan girl facing the difficult decision to leave her island and family for a new life in England.

For more information: us.macmillan.com

10. "Ghana Must Go" by Taiye Selasi

In this novel, the death of a patriarch in the opening chapters brings his children back home to Ghana from Boston, New York, and London. The book explores themes of migration, family, and what it means to be home.

For more information: penguinrandomhouse.com

11. "Land of Love and Drowning" by Tiphanie Yanique

If you like novels with a mix of magic realism, "Land of Love and Drowning" delivers. The novel tells the story of a family over three generations, from the 1900s to the 1970s, with the island of St. Thomas as a background.

For more information: tiphanieyanique.com

12. "An American Marriage" by Tayari Jones

Jones often sets her novels in Atlanta, and "An American Marriage" is no different. The book follows a couple who is torn apart by an accusation and must live with the fallout. Lovers of the Peach State can also read Jones' other novels, "Leaving Atlanta" and "The Untelling."

For more information: tayarijones.com

13. "From Scratch" by Tembi Locke

After reading "From Scratch," readers will want to book a flight to Sicily to wander through the cobblestone streets. The memoir begins with Locke falling in love with her future husband while studying abroad in Italy. The couple then moves to Southern California, where a tragedy occurs that brings Locke back to the Italian island.

For more information: tembilocke.com

14. "Dear Haiti, Love Alaine" by Maika and Maritza Moulite

The Moulite sisters' debut novel is just as dazzling as the front cover. The book features a young Haitian American, Alaine Beauparlant, as she travels from South Florida to Haiti to solve a family mystery. The story is unique in its depiction of the Haitian upper class in both Haiti and Miami.

For more information: maikaandmaritza.com

15. "Royal Holiday" by Jasmine Guillory

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to spend a week with the Duke and Duchess, "Royal Holiday" is the perfect read. Vivian Forest and her daughter, who is a stylist for the royal family, travel to England and spend Christmas and New Year's Eve in the English countryside. Over tea and crumpets, Vivian finds herself in an unexpected romance.

For more information: jasmineguillory.com

16. "Queen Sugar" by Natalie Baszile

"Queen Sugar" will pull you in with its family drama and captivating characters. The novel centers on three siblings who return to Louisiana to save their father's sugarcane field. The story is steeped in New Orleans history, while also depicting modern life in the Deep South.

For more information: nataliebaszile.com

17. "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

"Americanah," which was released in 2013, remains one of the best-selling novels set in Nigeria. The story traces young Ifemelu's journey from Nigeria to New York and back again. Readers will watch her grapple with her identity and love life, all while writing a popular blog about race in America.

For more information: chimamanda.com

18. "All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes" by Maya Angelou

Angelou is known for her signature storytelling, and in "All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes," the author brings readers with her as she recounts the years she lived in Ghana. In this captivating memoir, Angelou writes about trying to escape racism in America while also struggling to fit into African culture.

19. "The Turner House" by Angela Flournoy

Set in Detroit, "The Turner House" tells the story of the 13 Turner children over five decades. The novel follows the rise and fall of the Turner family, which mirrors the rise and fall of one of America's greatest cities.

For more information: angelaflournoy.com

20. "Another Brooklyn" by Jacqueline Woodson

Woodson uses Brooklyn as the background for this coming-of-age story of three Black girls in the 1970s. The novel will have you dreaming of hanging out on brownstone steps on a warm summer night.

For more information: harpercollins.com

21. "Transcendent Kingdom" by Yaa Gyasi

Both Ghana and Alabama are settings for this beautifully written novel that focuses on Gifty, a brilliant PhD candidate, who wrestles with her faith in trying to understand her family's tragedies. The novel is an examination of addiction and mental illness, and it also explores the idea that perhaps faith and science are not as contradictory as we think.

22. "The Other Black Girl" by Zakiya Dalila Harris

In "The Other Black Girl", Nella Rogers is the only Black girl at a New York publishing company. When another Black girl is hired, Nella is at first happy to have a coworker she can relate to, but things spiral quickly in this tense thriller. This book delivers NYC high-rises full of high-stakes drama.

For more information: zakiyadalilaharris.com

23. "Glory: Magical Visions of Black Beauty" by Kahran and Regis Bethencourt

"Glory" is a visual feast from husband-and-wife photographers Kahran and Regis Bethencourt. The couple traveled throughout the U.S., Europe, and Africa, capturing the beauty of Black youth. There are stories woven throughout the photos, revealing that from California to Paris, Ghana to Mississippi, Blackness is just as beautiful and diverse as the countries represented.

24. "The Woman Next Door" by Yewande Omotoso

South African neighbors Marion and Hortensia have a lot common, but there's very little they agree on. While Hortensia is Black and Marion is white, both are widows and live in the upscale South African neighborhood of Constantia. In this contemporary novel, the author digs into the history of apartheid in South Africa, while showing us it's never too late to change.

25. "The Field Guide to the North American Teenager" by Ben Philippe

Norris Kaplan is a Black French-Canadian teen who learns that he will be moving to Austin, Texas. The problem is, he's never been to Texas, and most of what he knows about America, he's learned from watching TV. In this quirky YA novel, Norris learns to let go of labels as he figures out exactly who he is and where he belongs.

For more information: benphilippe.com

26. "Where the Rhythm Takes You" by Sarah Dass

Sarah Dass' debut novel, "Where the Rhyme Takes You," features 17-year-old Reyna, whose family owns a resort in Tobago. Reyna is on the verge of adulthood, and without her mother, who passed away two years ago, and her first love Aiden, who moved away to follow his dreams of being a musician, she's not sure what her next move should be. To Reyna's surprise, Aiden unexpectedly comes back to Tobago, forcing her to make some hard decisions.

For more information: sarahdass.com

27. "His Only Wife" by Peace Adzo Medie

Afi Tekple's husband doesn't show up on their wedding day — not because he gets cold feet, but because the wealthy Ghanian is away for work, and he sends a stand-in instead. Afi learns that her husband is in love with another woman, and she has been chosen by his family to woo him away from the other woman. The novel raises questions about marriage, love, and a woman's right to control her own destiny.

For more information: peacemedie.com

28. "Love in Color" by Bolu Babalola

Travel around the world and through history with a collection of mythical tales retold by Bolu Babalola in "Love in Color." The anthology includes West African folktales, Greek myths, and Middle Eastern legends — all love stories retold from Babalola's fresh perspective. It's hard to choose a favorite — each one is more colorful and entertaining than the last.

29. "A Million Aunties" by Alecia McKenzie

Searching for healing, Chris heads to his mother's homeland of Jamaica. An artist from New York, he begins to learn about himself and his family during his stay on the tiny island. But before he can fully let go, Chris is called back to the United States to care for his ailing father. "A Million Aunties" is a novel about family, loss, and love, and finding our way back home.

For more information: aleciamckenzie.com

30. "The Yellow House" by Sarah M. Broom

"The Yellow House" is a reference to the New Orleans shotgun home that Sarah M. Broom grew up in. The stunning memoir traces Broom's family's history, from the purchase of the home in 1961 to its eventual destruction in Hurricane Katrina. Brown's memoir is a poignant reminder that home is more than a structure. Home is land; it's family, history, and memories — and these are things that can never be washed away.

For more information: sarahmbroom.com

Travel the world with these 15 books by Black female writers

Jan 31, 2022 • 8 min read

Travel narratives written by Black women are an important, but sometimes overlooked, part of the genre ©  F.J. Jimenez / Getty Images

Travel writing has been an important, but often overlooked, part of Black literature for centuries. As far back as the 18th and 19th centuries, African Americans chronicled their travels (and treatment) as enslaved people and wrote intimate portraits of how they live, work, and love in countries around the world.

Black women in particular have used this genre to weave tales of whirlwind romances, recount the experiences of racism and xenophobia that abound in many places and gain a better understanding of themselves and the world around them. Though each book tells a unique story, one theme remains constant: Black people – and Black women in particular –have settled, survived, and thrived everywhere.  

Here are 15 essential books written by Black women about their travels from Alabama to the Arabian Peninsula and beyond.

1. Black Girl In Paris by Shay Youngblood

Eden Daniel is a wide-eyed aspiring writer who travels to Paris in search of inspiration, and to follow in the footsteps of her heroes, Langston Hughes and James Baldwin. But when she arrives, she learns that it is not as free as she thought—neither financially nor racially. Although her own subjectivity as a Black American with a passport, a white lover, and a series of jobs shields her from the city’s most egregious social ills, she quickly learns that race and class are not just American issues, but global ones. Still, Eden’s sobering sojourn to the City of Love leaves room for romance, hilarity, and a little creative inspiration. 

2. Quicksand by Nella Larsen

Written at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, Quicksand offers an intimate portrait of early-20th century Black life in both the United States and abroad. From the fictional Southern town of Naxos, to Chicago , Harlem , Copenhagen , and, finally, rural Alabama , Helga observes and records the lives of wealthy and poor Blacks, the sometimes-patronizing nature of racial uplift, and what it’s like to live at the mercy of whites like Helga’s Danish relatives, who see her as an exotic pawn that could improve their social standing. Quicksand is both a travel narrative and a cautionary tale about the vulnerability of Black women in  many spaces, and the dangers of searching for the perfect place to fit in.

3.  Praisesong for the Widow  by  Paule Marshall

Still mourning the death of her successful husband, Avatara “Avey” Johnson sets sail on a cruise ship bound for the Caribbean and, hopefully, some new excitement in what has been a comfortable, but humdrum life. However, after a series of disturbing dreams about a deceased aunt and the summers the two spent together in South Carolina , Avey finds herself disembarking in Grenada , a place that she’s never been, but whose people, food, and customs reconnect her with her lost roots. 

4. Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

Vivian Forest has never been a globetrotter, but she jumps at the opportunity to spend the Christmas holiday in London with her daughter, Maddie, a stylist for the Royal family. What was supposed to be a simple and fun stint across the Atlantic gets delightfully complicated when Vivian meets the Royals’ private secretary, Malcolm Hudson. The two are a perfect match, and both agree to a holiday fling, but cutting things off at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve proves to be much easier said than done. 

5. Over the Lip of the World: Among the Storytellers of Madagascar by Colleen J. McElroy

Written while on a Fulbright fellowship to study the oral traditions of the Malagasy people of Madagascar,   Over the Lip of the World is part translated folklore, and part adventure narrative of an African American woman going deep into the land and culture of people whose traditions are not well known to the rest of the world. With McElroy’s ear for lyric language (she is, after all, a poet), and her knack for humor, this book offers a glimpse into a unique culture, but is also a fascinating study of the ways we can collect and preserve stories from around the Black Diaspora.

6. Glory: Magical Visions of Black Beauty by Kahran and Regis Bethencourt  

In a collection of stunning photos of Black children in the US, South Africa , Ghana , Cuba , and elsewhere, this husband-and-wife team interweave their photography with stories of their world travels as well as of the children’s lives. It is a celebration of exotic places, Black beauty, natural hair, and the resilience of Black children surviving in a world that does not always protect and nurture them. 

7.  Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu

In her debut memoir, Owusu explores the fallout of a blended family whose patriarch dies early, and she details what can happen when a child is raised to believe she can live anywhere: she often feels like she belongs nowhere. Aftershocks traces Owusu’s life in Tanzania , England , Italy , Ethiopia , and Uganda , surviving civil wars and the emotional violence that children often experience at the hands of other children and sometimes, one’s own family members. In Aftershocks , Owusu struggles to find peace with the mother she never knew and reclaims a self that felt shattered in the wake of her father’s revealed secret. 

8.  A Fly Girl  by Amanda Epe 

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to travel the world while living a jet-set lifestyle, then this is the perfect book for exploring those possibilities. Epe takes us from North America to Arabia , telling stories of adventure and intrigue interlaced with the social and political histories of the places her fellow British Airways crew members traveled. But it is more than a memoir of the lush life. Epe also explores the ways race and gender impacted her treatment in many places, and discusses how travel can offer a deeper sense of personal identity, and heal some old wounds. 

9.  Searching for Zion  by Emily Raboteau

A book that began during a trip to Israel to visit a childhood friend, Searching For Zion became a decade-long exploration of the lives of Black people who left their homes to find a ‘promised land.’ Raboteau visits Jamaica , several countries on the African continent , and the American South to spend time with various groups, from Ethiopian Jews to transplanted Katrina survivors. This book, which the author herself has described as part travelogue, part cultural anthropology, and part cultural history, explores what ‘Zion’ means for different people, and how the ideal has changed throughout Black history.  

10.  The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou

In a series of autobiographies spanning five decades, Angelou details the many lives she lived: short order cook, nightclub singer, sex worker, dancer, and actress, but in The Heart of a Woman, Angelou discusses her life as a Harlem playwright, a civil rights activist, and, finally, the wife of an African freedom fighter. She travels from California to New York to London and Cairo , surviving a few romances and meeting a few famous people (like Malcolm X and Billie Holiday) in between. 

11. Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica  by Zora Neale Hurston

Many know Zora Neale Hurston as one of the Harlem Renaissance’s most famous writers and, most recently, as the recorder of a lost slave narrative, but she was also a trained anthropologist who completed extensive fieldwork in Jamaica as well as Haiti . Tell My Horse is a study of the religious practices, political histories and cultural norms of the two Caribbean nations, intermixed with folklore and a few harrowing tales of Hurston’s travels. Though the book’s contemporary critics lambasted her conversational style and seemingly disjointed mix of storytelling and field studies, Tell My Horse is now considered one of the first anthropological books of its kind to treat the Black Caribbean as a rich cultural repository. 

12. The History of Mary Prince by Mary Prince

Few people think of slave narratives when they think of travel writing, most likely because the accounts are rarely pleasant and the travel is hardly voluntary, but The History of Mary Prince, the first narrative of a Black woman published in Great Britain , is indeed a story of one woman’s international journey. Prince, who was born in Bermuda , worked as an enslaved person in her birthplace, as well as in the Turks Islands and Antigua before landing in Great Britain. This book is a searing portrait of slavery both in Britain and its territories, and it is one woman’s fearless account of her life and the violence committed against her, which she told for one reason: to secure her freedom. 

13. Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun by Faith Adiele

One of the most unique travel memoirs out there, Meeting Faith details the author’s journey to becoming Thailand's first black Buddhist nun. The narrative weaves the author’s experiences studying Buddhism in Thailand, with moments from her past to create a rich story about the ways in which traveling far outside of your comfort zone can be a catalyst for self discovery.  

14. Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain by Lori L. Tharp

Lori Tharp’s dream of finding an escape from racism is shattered when she travels to Spain as a college student and finds that the country has its own history, and present, with racism and bias. However, she also finds love and has to come to terms with the country and these experiences when she meets and falls in love with a Spaniard. The funny, but poignant book is part memoir, part travel essay and all love story. 

15. Traveling Black: A story of race and resistance by Mia Bay

Historian Mia Bay gives readers a look into what traveling was like for African Americans in the Jim Crow era, when segregation and racism so restricted the movement of this community. The book particularly asks why travel and free movement was one of the freedoms that was so restricted for African Americans during the Civil Rights movement in the first place and also explores the way that Black travelers continue to resist the remnants of these restrictions to this day.  

You may also like:  These books by African authors will transport you from Algeria to Zimbabwe 15 places in the US to mark Black History Month 10 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the US you need to visit

This article was first published February 2021 and updated January 2022

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Matador Original Series

12 Books by Black Authors That Will Feed Your Desire to Travel

J ust when the Black Travel Movement was gaining so much speed, we now all find ourselves confined to our houses. While the onset of COVID-19 has put the entire world on the no-fly list, we don’t have to pass this time idly. Instead, we can use these weeks we’ll be grounded to absorb the work of the legends that paved the way for us to be able to lead our nomadic lives. If you have been previously unfamiliar with the work of black travel writers, you’re in for a treat: Black travel writers can offer a perspective on cross-culturalism that you may not find elsewhere. If you’re unsure where to start, here are 12 exceptional examples of travel memoirs and other books written by black authors.

1. Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica by Zora Neale-Hurston

Photo: Harper Collins

As published in the Guggenheim Foundation’s annual report for 1935-36, Zora Neale-Hurston was awarded her fellowship that year for “the gathering of material for books on authentic Negro folk-life, in particular a study of magic practices among Negroes in the West Indies.” The resultant manuscript was Tell My Horse , a work that is part travelogue, part ethnography, part strict, addictive narrative.

Interestingly, she uses quite a bit of her bandwidth in this work ruminating on the existence and the validity of the black diaspora — something many of us take for granted to exist today — as if she had someone to convince of our mutual heritage and cultural touchstones. I would imagine that she would be satisfied to know that this work still resonated with contemporary black readers and that for us, those touchstones do exist.

2. Due North by Lola Akinmade Åkerström

Photo: Lola Akinmade Åkerström

This Nigerian-born, America-educated travel writer and photographer has had quite the storied career — one that included a stint right here at Matador Network as an editor. These days she’s based in Stockholm, and her book, Due North , is a 2018 Lowell Thomas Gold Award Winner for best travel book, and you should definitely read it if you’ve ever had a dream destination.

In this work, Akinmade Åkerström tells the origin story of her desire to see the world; of being a teenager fascinated by maps; of deciding that she would, one day, go to the north pole; and of how this elusive feat has shaped her life and travels. It is a must-read if you have a yet un-attained travel goal.

3. Mandela, Mobutu, and Me by Lynne Duke

Photo: Penguin Random House

A 1985 graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, the late Lynne Duke was nominated for a Pulitzer before the decade was over with her incredible reporting from Miami Florida, about the crack epidemic that was then ravaging black neighborhoods. Though she is also well known for her depictions of post-9/11 NYC life, she is maybe most popular for her reporting from Southern Africa in the ‘90s. This book one of the results of those travels.

Mandela, Mobutu, and Me is an account of what Lynne would call, her “Africa beat” — that time in her life when she gave up everything else to tell this story, when she gave her whole self to this time and place that saw so much history: the fall of apartheid; the rise of Mandela; the spiritual and literal end of the nation of Zaire and, with it, its leader, Mobutu Sese Seko. Long hailed as one of the best reports of southern Africa in the ‘90s, it offers a perspective that navigates western ideas about the African continent while accurately depicting the corruption that existed in African politics at the time.

4. Richard Wright’s Travel Writings edited by Virginia Whatley Smith

Photo: Amazon

Possibly most famous for his 1945 bestselling memoir, Black Boy , which details his life as a boy and young man, Richard Wright came a long way, literally, from Roxie, Mississippi, where he was born. Wright first relocated to Chicago, then New York, eventually fleeing the United States completely, where he famously became one of many black American expats in Paris, France in 1946.

This collection of essays details some of his travels and shows his proclivity to approach cultures as a student rather than a colonizer and vulnerably relate his awakening to the concepts of French existentialism and pan-Africanism. While now this type of immersive travel is commonplace, this was a radical approach at the time. Even now it is worth revisiting the unprecedented way he portrayed his relationship with African and black people in travel writing.

5. Kinky Gazpacho by Lori L. Tharps

Photo: Simon & Schuster /Shutterstock

An associate professor of Journalism at Temple University, Lori L. Tharps credits her time in Spain for helping her to understand her own blackness in a global context. Born in an all-white suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, her relationship to race was colored by the experience of frequently being the only black person in school or in her neighborhood.

Kinky Gazpacho tells the story of her personal journey after moving to Spain, and how she managed to navigate Spanish ideas of blackness while simultaneously maneuvering through life in a new country. This book is a very personal tale that is so very relatable to the scores of black women who have ever left the United States hoping to escape the racism that they have endured, only to have found it again in a slightly different package. This story is not devoid of hope or optimism though — it also chronicles the author’s story of falling in love, all with the backdrop of the Iberian peninsula.

6. All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou

American author, poet, and luminary civil rights activist Maya Angelou spoke frequently, throughout her entire body of work, about her relationship to blackness, Africanness, and her conflicts with nationality and sense of belonging. This is arguably the memoir that tells this origin story.

The fifth installment in a seven-volume memoir, All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes chronicles her time living in Accra, Ghana, between 1962 and 1965. Those who are looking to explore the relationship that Africanness has to American blackness will adore this poetic work, as her famous resiliency is tempered by the idiosyncrasies of her immersion in a different culture.

7. Looking for Transwonderland by Noo Saro-Wiwa

Photo: Noo Saro-Wiwa

Nigerian-British Noo Saro-Wiwa came to her intercontinental life by happenstance rather than choice. Born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and a member of the Ogoni — an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose traditional homeland was pillaged for its oil reserves — she is the daughter of famed revolutionary Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Ken was a poet, an academic, and, much to the chagrin of Sani Abacha and his dictatorial military regime, a radical environmental activist. Partially because of her fathers’ political leanings and the subsequent danger that could have put Noo and her mother and siblings, they moved to Surrey in 1977, leaving her father behind in Port Harcourt to continue his work with the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, the same work that precipitated his execution by military tribune in 1995.

Though Noo long vowed never to return to her native Nigeria, this work is the product of her doing exactly that. In it, she describes navigating the landscape that she finds both familiar and foreign while she oscillates between decrying and protecting Nigerian culture. If you yourself are a bi- or multicultural person, you will likely relate enormously to this dexterously crafted, humorously vulnerable book.

8. An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie

Born in Togo in 1941, Tété-Michel Kpomassie came across a book as a child that sent his life on a strange and singular trajectory. After having a run-in with a python that left him injured and indebted to a snake priestess to whom he credits with his recovery, he soon left his native Togo with the goal of reaching a land that he had only read about in Dr. Robert Gessain’s The Eskimos from Greenland to Alaska .

As one of the premier works of black travel writing in history, this book is an introduction to many of the particulars of the genre. While many are charmed by Kpomassie’s unyielding devotion to reaching Greenland, many disagree, finding the way he relates this long tale childish or naive. But maybe this work, rather than being the agent that divides people, merely shows us where we already divide ourselves as travelers: either we are inherently optimistic or we plan for the worst. This work may be perfect for you if you’d like to know which one you are.

9. Finding Faith by Faith Adiele

Photo: Adiele

Nordic/Nigerian/American travel writer Faith Adiele was Thailand’s first black Buddhist nun, and it was these very experiences that informed her brilliant debut, Finding Faith . More than just a travel writer, Adiele has centered her brand around recontextualizing what travel writing is by promoting a decolonized approach to navigating other cultures.

By contextualizing this pursuit within the microcosm of this one singular, though arduous, endeavor, the reader has the opportunity to learn the nuances of what it can be like to engage with people whose lifestyles may differ from your own without infantilizing their way of life. Those whose travel experiences have been inspired by works such as Heart of Darkness and Burmese Days are particularly invited to read this important work: For just as we need to decolonize travel writing, we need to begin decolonizing the way we travel.

10. Blue as the Lake: A Personal Geography by Robert Stepto

Dr. Robert B. Steptoe has had an impressive career in academia. Currently a professor of African American studies and English at Yale University, he is an alumnus of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, Trinity College, and Stanford University where he earned his Ph.D. It is maybe this affinity for and success within this arena that informs his ethnographic memoir, Blue as the Lake .

This is a book that weaves his personal tales and travels with those of his family, thus connecting their stories to those of black culture cumulatively. Stepto achieves this with a deftness that few in the world can emulate; engaging with his work imbues the reader with the sense that they are on a journey with him, one that makes many important stops along the timeline of black American history.

11. Hardly Working by Zukiswa Wanner

Photo: Black Letter Media

A South African journalist who currently resides in Kenya, Zukiswa Wanner puts her pan-Africanness on full display in her eighth book, Hardly Working: A Travel Memoir of Sorts . In this work we see her traveling about with her partner and young son on a book tour to mark the 10th anniversary of her debut novel, The Madams .

Born of a South African father and a Zimbabwean mother in Zambia, Wanner’s relationship to African multiculturalism may be one she was never going to be able to escape. A huge part of this work is spurned from the personal responsibility she feels to pass the importance of pan-Africanism onto her son, and like James Baldwin and Tá-Nehisi Coates before her, put this pursuit in print. So much of travel writing is reserved for those going at it alone, but this work is a must-read for those who believe a family can only enrich your relationship to the wide world.

12. A Stranger in the Village edited by Farah J. Griffin and Cheryl J. Fish

If this list has seemed a bit overwhelming and you’re not sure where to start, this may be the perfect book for you. A Stranger in the Village: Two Centuries of African American Travel Writing is an anthology of short essays, memoirs, personal letters, and lectures of black American nomads spanning 200 years. This book showcases luminaries you may be familiar with, like Angela Davis and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., alongside some authors you may be surprised to learn about.

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7 Great Travel Books By Black Authors

Until we can once again move freely around the world, trust these page-turners to take you away..

As lockdown drags on, books become even more precious for their ability to transport us to faraway places. Evocative descriptions help us put our toes in the sand, take a seat at distant tables, and feel emotionally connected to destinations we’re unable to physically enjoy. To take you to some of these places, we’ve selected seven engaging reads that encapsulate the vast and varied Black travel experience, exploring how it feels to experience countries and cultures from our point of view. Browse the list as you ask yourself: Where do you want to go today?

EUROPE Travel through the nightclubs, underground shops and gathering spaces of Black people in Lisbon, Stockholm, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris and Moscow in Afropean: Notes From Black Europe . A deep dive into what it means to be Black in Europe, Johny Pitts’ book transports readers to places rarely explored by the mainstream.

HAITI The beauty, cultural richness, and pain of Haiti is best understood through the voices of her children. And in Ayiti , acclaimed author and cultural critic Roxane Gay mines her Haitian heritage for a searing collection of short stories that translate the island’s spirit and tangled landscape.

It's time the world knew Black travelers better. Read our full BHM coverage

LIBERIA In The House on Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood , Helene Cooper tells the story of her privileged childhood in Liberia and what happened after her family fled the country following a violent coup, leaving her adopted sister, Eunice, behind. Decades later, settled in America, Cooper goes back to the former Black American colony to search for her, offering a deeply moving and personal account of tragedy and forgiveness.

SICILY In From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily and Finding Home , Tembi Loche tells a poignant tale of love and loss, tracing love at first sight on the streets of Florence and finding physical and spiritual nurturing around a Sicilian farm table after a tragic death. Reading this memoir is like taking a leisurely stroll through the Sicilian countryside, sampling fresh spices and produce along the way.

SPAIN Stroll the pink cobblestoned streets of Salamanca and discover the contemporary legacy of Spain’s relationship with Africa in Lori L. Tharps’ Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain . Traveling from Milwaukee to the Iberian Peninsula, we follow the author as she comes to terms with her African-American identity and Spanish culture, with comedic mishaps and distressing incidents par for the course.

TRINIDAD With masterful storytelling that weaves the sounds, flavors, and colors of Trinidad into a multi-generational tour-de-force, ‘Til The Well Runs Dry showcases the island’s complexity. Kicking off in a rural village in the north of the island, Lauren Francis-Sharma’s page-turner guides readers through the tumultuous life of Marcia Garcia, a smart-mouthed teen who, through scandals and political turmoil, guards her family secrets while raising her twin brothers. Each chapter is named for a Carnival song and takes us from the 1940s to the ‘60s, incorporating historical events and lyrical patois.

UNITED KINGDOM Filled with crackling wit and a sociologist’s insight, No Place Like Home: A Black Briton’s Journey Through The American South is a travelogue and historical overview of both the American South and Great Britain. Re-tracing the trail of the ‘60s’ Freedom Riders, the author reveals the effects of racism and the importance of belonging, on both sides of the pond.

All products featured are independently selected by our writers and editors. If you buy something through our links, Tripadvisor may earn an affiliate commission.

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40+ black travel bloggers to follow

09/11/2021 by Roobens Leave a Comment

Before reading the article, be aware that I wrote a 200+ pages book about traveling as a black person.  Click here for more info .

Are there any black travel bloggers out there? Hell yes! Traveling while black brings numerous challenges to overcome but that doesn’t mean that consequently, black people don’t travel. Just in the US, African Americans contributed more than $109 billion to the tourism industry in 2019! And many of them run a blog. Unfortunately black people are almost invisible in the tourism industry, an industry that painfully lacks diversity and inclusivity.

How ironic it is when you know numerous people say traveling opens their mind, makes them empathetic, blablabla… So here’s a list of black travel bloggers covering different travel niches: solo, adventure, budget, luxury, family, couple… I’m lucky enough to personally know most of them, running different black travel blogs! Here we go!

Table of Contents

Roobens (Been Around The Globe)

Let’s start with some shameless self-promotion. I’m Roobens, black travel blogger from France. I’m sharing my experiences as a black traveler, but I also share numerous travel tips. Oh and I wrote a self-published book, Traveling while black .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Roobens Fils | Black Travel (@beenaroundtheglobe)

Oneika (Oneika the traveller)

Oneika launched her blog in 2009! For a long time, she was one of the very few female black travel bloggers. She shares her experiences and doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind regarding the lack of diversity in the travel blogging field. She’s lived in Mexico, Hong Kong, France, Canada and the US. She worked with numerous brands and she also hosts Travel Channel’s One Bag and You’re Out  and  Big City, Little Budget . She’s encouraging black women to travel the world. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Oneika Raymond???? | TV Host (@oneikatraveller)

Francesca (One girl one world)

Based in Los Angeles, Francesca shares travel tips but also beauty tips for black women traveling (hair, skincare…). She’s the author of a Martinique travel guide, and she’s polyglot. Francesca is also a journalist. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Francesca • One Girl One World (@onegrloneworld)

Ciara (Hey Ciara)

Ciara worked for two years in corporate Human Resources and saved money. Then she quit her job and she’s been traveling solo since then. On her blog she share numerous tips and advice for solo female travelers (safety, how to take great photos…), but also cool stories to read. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ciara | Solo Female Travel (@hey_ciara)

Olivia (O.Christine)

Olivia also quit her job to travel the world. She’s sharing travel itineraries, remote work tips but also wellness tips. She loves outdoor travel and she’s still traveling, although she’s living with lupus. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by O. Christine • Travel+Wellness (@ochristine)

Nadeen (The Sophisticated Life)

Nadeen is a travel blogger but she’s also a physician. Her blog covers travel, food, wine, culture and art. She shares affordable luxury travel tips, so you can enjoy chic travel without breaking the bank. She wrote several travel guides, and she’s been on CNN as a medical expert. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dr.White|Travel|Medical Expert (@thesophislife)

Monet (The traveling child)

This is the family travel blog of Monet, James, Jordyn and Kennedy! Based in Miami, they realized there were no family travel blogs run by black people. They share tips for affording travel, but also itineraries to make planning process easier. Their blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Hambrick Family (@thetravelingchild)

Eulanda & Omo (Hey dip your toes in)

A couple travel blog run by Eulanda and Omo! Based in London, their blog shares travel tips but also focuses on food, lifestyle and culture. Their blog allowed them to win several awards, and they’re also speakers at conferences. Their blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Eulanda + Omo (@dipyourtoesin)

Erick (Minority Nomad)

Erick wants to be the first African American to travel to every country in the world! Unlike many travelers who have the same goal, Erick takes his time to reach this milestone. Erick is also a great photographer, journalist and philanthropist. His blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Erick Prince (@minoritynomad)

Lola Akinmade

She has her own Wikipedia page! Lola was first a travel blogger but she diversified and she’s also a speaker, photographer, and author of several books, one of them being the critically acclaimed In every mirror she’s black . Based in Stockholm, she visits popular countries as well as remote places, and shares her experiences through culture, food and tradition. Her website .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström (@lolaakinmade)

Ashlee (Will drink for travel)

The name of her blog speaks for itself. Ashlee likes to travel, and she also likes to drink! Her blog is a mix of travel and discovering new cocktails in the cities and countries she’s visiting. She shares tips about things to do but also what to eat and where to drink good cocktails. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Travel & Cocktail Enthusiast (@willdrinkfortravel)

Lauren (Outdoorsy diva)

Lauren runs an outdoor travel blog. She wants to show the world black people also go hiking, skydiving, canoeing, camping, fishing, and backpacking! She dis many things like sleeping in a tree house, going to a nudist camp… On her blog, she also shares her love for food. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lauren Gay (@outdoorsydiva)

Tomiko (Passports and grub)

A luxury travel blog! Tomiko shares on her blog the latest luxury trends but also where to eat all over the world. She also shares couple travel and family travel tips. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tomiko Harvey | Travel Blogger (@tomiko.harvey)

Gabby (Packs light)

Gabby’s energy is contagious, even through a screen! She runs a blog where she shares how to find fully funded travel opportunities. During her studies she won $40,000 in scholarship to study abroad. Her blog is a goldmine for those who would like to travel but don’t dare to take the leap. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Gabby Beckford, Travel Expert (@packslight)

Nicole (I luv 2 globe trot)

Nicole is a travel blogger, freelance writer and English teacher. She’s lived in South Korea, South Africa, Germany and now she lives in Oman. On her blog she shares numerous Oman tips. She also wrote a guide “ A Guide to Landing an English Teaching Job Abroad ”. And she’s the admin of a Facebook group with over 10,000 members to help those who want to be an expat. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by I Luv 2 Globe Trot (@iluv2globetrot)

Sarah (Jet Set Sarah)

Based in Miami, Sarah runs a travel blog focusing on the Caribbean islands. Her blog is a good mix of travel, lifestyle and fitness. Sarah is also a TV host. She shares numerous tips for those who want to spend some time the Caribbean islands. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by SARAH GREAVES-GABBADON✈️?? (@jetsetsarah)

Karen (The mom trotter)

A family travel blog! Karen wants to show people that having kids doesn’t mean not traveling anymore. She’s encouraging families to find the right balance between parenting, traveling the world with your family and homeschooling. She also shares budget travel tips for families. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kay – RV, Travel, Homeschool (@themomtrotter)

Ursula (Caribbean and Co)

This blog’s name speaks for itself. Caribbean and Co is a travel blog focusing on the Caribbean islands. Ursula promotes this area on her blog, with a touch of luxury lifestyle. She’s not just sharing beautiful pictures of idyllic spots, she also talks about the cultural heritage of the area. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ursula ¦ Caribbean & Co. (@caribbeanandco)

Annette (From Annette with love)

Annette defines herself as a ‘fat girl’. She wants to show the world fat people travel too. It seems like many women could relate to what she’s talking about, because she’s now running small group trips for plus-size women. On her blog, she also shares fashion tips for plus-size women. Her blog .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Annette ? (@fromannettewithlove)

The list goes on…

There are numerous other ones running black travel websites, blogs or just black travel influencers! I’m thinking about Lee ( Spirited pursuit ), Glo ( The blog abroad ), Jeff ( Chubby Diaries ) a plus-size blogger, Ashley ( Hey Ashley Renne ), or Martina & LJ ( That couple who travels ).

View this post on Instagram A post shared by LJ & MJ | Travel Couple (@thatcouplewhotravels)

There’s also Joanna ( Joannae.com ), Kay ( The awkward traveller ), Jessica Nabongo ( The catch me if you can ) who visited all the countries in the world, Sojourner ( Sojournies ), or Travis Levius who’s not really a blogger but a freelance travel writer.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Travis Levius (@misterlevius)

I have to mention Tausha ( The globe getter ),  Kellee Edwards a great adventurer who’s also a TV host, Jessica ( The ufuoma ), Monique ( An unstoppable journey ), Carole Cain ( Girl gone travel ), and Marty San Diego , a diversity in travel consultant.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Travel Content Creator (@marty_sandiego)

I’m gonna end this list with Ernest ( Fly Brother ) also a TV host, Kemkem ( Next bite of life ), Danielle ( The thought card ) who hosts an interesting podcast, Kerwin ( Passrider ) the flight expert, Philwaukee , and Xavier ( Black Voyageurs ) who owns a platform that curates one-of-a-kind travel experiences to Afro-descendant travelers, in destinations around the world.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kerwin McKenzie-Traveler (@loyaltytravels)

That’s it! You have numerous travel blogs to read, and not just mine! Bloggers of different age, gender and travel niches. You can also read this article listing black explorers who made a mark in history .

• Traveling soon? Check out my travel resources page. This list of travel accessories can also be useful.
• Never ever travel without travel insurance ! Here’s why get travel insurance !
• Traveling soon and you want a tailor-made trip? Get a free quote here !
• Always use a VPN when traveling. I use ExpressVPN and I love it. Here’s why use a VPN when traveling .

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8 Travel-Themed Books by Black Authors to Inspire Your Next Trip

Kiersten is a freelance writer and coach. As a writer,…

Are you looking for travel inspiration? While Instagram and Pinterest are the go-to sources to help plan your next destination, books about other lands may be a better source for igniting your wanderlust. Books by Black authors offer a way to see and experience the world that can’t be displayed through a screen. Through travel stories and memoirs, you can learn about cultures, places, and people that aren’t a part of the mainstream culture.

If you’re looking to crack open a travel book, here are eight books by Black authors that tell of unique and authentic travel experiences. Every page will allow you to see the world through a new perspective. 

• Black Girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood

If you yearn to go to Paris, you’re not alone. Many influential Black artists, such as Langston Hughes and Josephine Baker , were drawn by the allure of one of the most romantic cities in the world. Because of their journeys, Shay Youngblood’s main character goes to Paris to seek the same inspiration found by other Black performers.

Black Girl in Paris is a novel based on a young girl’s move to a foreign city where she takes on various roles, such as a teacher, au pair, poet’s helper, and even thief. It is a story of one girl’s journey to discover her true self, which makes the story relatable for anyone looking to find themselves and is not afraid to take risks on the journey of self-discovery.

2. Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Here Comes the Sun is an award-winning book recognized by the New York Times , Entertainment Weekly , Buzzfeed, and other literary establishments as one of the best books of 2016.

The story takes place in a place known for its turquoise water and white sand beaches: Montego Bay, Jamaica. With the backdrop of paradise, the book tells heartfelt stories that occur beyond the tourism spaces. Nicole Dennis-Benn writes about two sisters working on the island and their fight for independence and freedom. Amongst their struggle for survival, Dennis-Benn weaves in a love story of one woman to another.

3. From Scratch by Tembi Locke

If you want a read about a love story that blossomed within the vibrant streets of Florence, Italy, then From Scratch is the perfect book. It tells the story of an African American woman, Tembi Locke, who meets and falls in love with an Italian man Saro. As their relationship grows and their bond becomes more robust, they face the challenge of their love not being accepted by Saro’s family. Nonetheless, the couple moves to Los Angeles to start a new life. The book is a classic tale of true love against the hardships of life. The story interweaves many important themes, such as the power of food, connection, and family.

4. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

There has often been a divide between African Americans born in the United States and Africans from the homeland. Although there is a connected heritage between the two ethnic groups, there are many cultural differences. In Americanah , Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie boldly explores these themes through the book’s characters. Two lovers originally from Nigeria become separated and end up on opposite sides of the world: Ifemelu lands in the United States, and Obinze gets stuck in London. Readers experience the journeys of these two characters living in entirely new cultures. Although they spent years apart, they are reunited in Nigeria fifteen years later. 

5. Catch Me If You Can by Jessica Nabongo

Did you know that author Jessica Nabongo is the first African American woman to travel to all 195 countries? As you can imagine, she has stories to tell. She has shared some of her most beautiful and adventurous journeys in her book, Catch Me If You Can . What makes this book fascinating and irresistible is the unique and authentic stories Nabongo tells. Unlike some popular travel books and guides filled with things to do while traveling, Nabongo’s book is a memoir of how she immersed herself in new cultures. It’s a story of taking risks and bold ly going in a direction few people have gone. If you need inspiration on where to travel, this book will make you want to see and experience the world. 

6. All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou

While the esteemed writer and poet Maya Angelou lived a vibrant life in the United States, she also lived in Ghana. In her book All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes ,  Angelou shares part of her life story of moving to Africa with her son. A continuation of her books I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Gather Together in My Name , this travel book explores the complexities of being in a country where her skin color doesn’t matter, but her place of origin does. 

7. Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain by Lori L. Tharps

Within the pages of Kinky Gazpacho , readers are taken on a journey of love and self-discovery. Author Lori Tharps tells her story of finding herself in a new country while struggling with the language, enduring racist comments, and falling in love. While the story focuses on Tharp’s life, readers are also introduced to the history and culture of Spain. Those that have read the book relate to the stories of joys and the struggles of fitting in. The book also includes anecdotes about being a Black woman. 

8. Go Girl by Elaine Lee  

Black women carry many titles, one of them being “world travelers.” Every time Black women cross the border into an unfamiliar land, they cultivate new stories. Within the pages of Go Girl , readers can experience some of the journeys of influential Black women such as Audre Lorde, Alice Walker, Gwendolyn Brooks, Maya Angelou, and many more. 

What's Your Reaction?

Kiersten is a freelance writer and coach. As a writer, she has written for Travel Noire, Passion Passport, BAUCE mag, and various travel and lifestyle blogs. As a writer, her goal is to write content that inspires others to take action. As a coach, her goal is to empower women to be their most authentic selves. In her free time, you can find her dancing to any song any where.

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5 books every black woman must read.

What It Took to Write a Modern Day ‘Green Book’ for Black Travelers

By Shauna Beni

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Growing up in a household with parents who enjoyed traveling a lot, Martinique Lewis caught the travel bug at any early age. It's why she's made a career of it, wearing multiple hats as the creative lead for the Nomadness Travel Tribe and as a diversity and travel consultant, while also serving as one of the founding members of the Black Travel Alliance . Now, she's adding author to her resume with the release of her first book, The ABC Travel Green Book , a modern-day version of Victor Hugo Green's Green Book .

Though times have changed since the segregation era, when the Green Book was essential for the safety and wellness of Black travelers, racism and injustice remains ever-present both in the U.S. and abroad—yet there's still little content out there that speaks directly to the concerns of Black travelers today. Lewis' book seeks to remedy that, with global city guides that highlight Black-owned businesses and communities where Black travelers are more likely to feel safe. We spoke to Lewis, who is currently based in Oakland, about what it took to put the book together, and why it's essential for all travelers to understand that the Black diaspora is everywhere.

Why was it important for you to write this book and release it now?

I ended up winning an Essence pitch competition for their new voices campaign in 2018, and that's when this started for me. Originally I wanted to release it in December 2019, in time for Christmas, but then decided to wait for Black History Month in February 2020. Then COVID-19 hit. Then George Floyd was murdered, and there was this equality burst. I always told myself I'd know when the time was right, and I wanted to strike while the iron is hot, while people are celebrating Black culture, amplifying Black voices, and looking for literature and resources to be able to identify these communities and companies. Even if we can't travel to some of the places in the book right now, if you live in the areas that I listed, you can still patronize your dollars there.

Tell me a bit more about your journey to creating the book.

I wanted to be able to celebrate Black businesses globally, that has been my passion. I started working in the Black travel space at the end of 2016 and the positive effects of social media for the Black travel community were tremendous. I started seeing more about Black travel movements and influencers in all these beautiful places. I would visit those places and realize that there were Black communities, and I wanted to share that with the rest of the world. In Honduras, for example, there's a pocket of Garifuna people, and there are endless Black History tours in Amsterdam . It's mind-blowing that I don't see any of these communities advertised in the in-flight magazines.

I [also] feel like Victor Hugo Green does not get enough credit in our society. When I learned about his Green Book , it was probably three years ago. I was like, Why didn't I know about this? There's something wrong with the fact that we do not know about this as a whole. The Green Book was as crucial as an encyclopedia.

Did you come across any difficulties when writing The ABC Travel Green Book ?

I got discouraged when researching Africa and finding out that, of the businesses I wanted to show, foreigners or white people owned 90 percent of them across the continent. It was a low blow for me because after the Year Of The Return campaign, many people are traveling to the continent to connect, and there aren't many places owned by people born and raised there. A few CEOs from different businesses told me my book would shed light on many of the ugly truths and inequalities within the continent. You have people who come [to Angola] from Portugal, and they'll build hotels on the land but won't employ any Angolans. Not all of Africa is like this, though—Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal are filled with Black-owned businesses. Hopefully, this book will encourage people to buy back the continent and help us to be our own entrepreneurs.

The ABC Travel Green Book is out August 23

How did you go about choosing the places that made it in the book?

I had to be okay with the fact that I don't know everything and that I am putting in as much stuff as I have access to. The first thing I did was join Facebook groups for Black people in different places: there are Black communities in Oman, Kuwait, South Korea; brothers and sisters in Brazil . From there, I began searching for Black-owned businesses.

I knew that Google wouldn't be able to tell me everything, but if I knew where the Black community was in, say, Bolivia , then I could search for restaurants around there and see if they had social media. I would just reach out to them and ask, Is this a Black-owned restaurant? Is this a Black-owned accommodation? It was challenging when I got to places in Africa because they have so many different languages, so I would reach out to an influencer from the country for help. Nomadness played such a massive role in this as well, and it took a multitude of different research techniques.

Anna Borges

Jessica Puckett

Karthika Gupta

What place in the book you are most excited to visit?

One of the first places I'll be visiting is Ireland because I had no idea that the Black Irish community was so bountiful. There's a President Barack Obama square there, and so many welcoming accommodations that I just had no idea about. Switzerland is another place; they have the African Film Festival and art shows. There's also a soul food restaurant in Taiwan . It's fascinating to see how expats go to places and open up businesses.

Do you feel that travel plays an important role in transforming people and communities?

Absolutely. Travel just has a way of educating your mind about new territories and helping you receive experiences you will never get anywhere else. I always say this is not only a book for Black travelers; this is a book for the whole industry. It'll serve as a wake-up call to many. It is a book for my white colleagues, my Asian colleagues, and my Mexican colleagues, to go to these places and find the Black history. Many people are clueless about the types of oppression and systematic racism we went through as Black people and that we still go through. Once their eyes open up when they visit some of these places, they'll realize this is real.

It's also essential for those who call themselves allies. You can prove it by giving back to these communities, visiting these places, and educating others about it. I'm excited for people to get these experiences and see how much Black people and Black culture has shaped the world. I want people to realize that Black people not only went to places because of slavery. We got to places because we were also explorers . Our culture and history are so rich, and it's been left behind or buried. This is one way to revive it.

Buy now: $10, amazon.com

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Black Travel Books

Best travel narratives by people of color (70 books).

ABC Travel Greenbook: Connecting the African Diaspora Globally by Martinique Lewis (independently published, 2020)

Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney (The University of North Carolina Press, 2014)

Black Girls Take World: The Travel Bible for Black Women with Boundless Wanderlust by Georgina Lawton (Hardie Grant Publishers, 2021)

Colored Travelers: Mobility and the Fight for Citizenship before the Civil War by Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor (North Carolina Press, 2016)

Diary of a Traveling Black Woman: A Guide to International Trave l by Nadine C. Duncan (self-published, 2015)

Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance by Alvin Hall (‎HarperOne Publisher, 2023)

Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights by Gretchen Sorin‎ (Liveright Publisher, 2020)

Due North: A Collection of Travel Observations, Reflections, and Snapshots Across Color, Cultures, and Continents by Lola Akinmade Åkerström (Geotraveler Media, 2017)

From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by Tembi Locke (Simon & Schuster, 2020)

Historic Black Landmarks: A Traveler’s Guide by George Cantor (Visible Ink Press, 1991)

Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors edited by Rue Mapp (Chronicle Books, 2022)

Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America by Candacy Taylor (Abrams Press, 2020)

Riding Jane Crow: African American Women on the American Railroad by Miriam Thaggert (University of Illinois Press, 2022)

The Catch Me If You Can: One Woman’s Journey to Every Country in the World by Jessica Nabongo (National Geographic, 2022)

The Global Green Book: 2022 Healthcare Edition (independently published, 2023)

Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance by Mia Bay (Belknap Press, 2023)

Traveling While Black: What It’s Like to Travel the World Independently as a Black Person by Roobens Fils (self-published, 2020)

Travelling While Black: Essays Inspired by a Life on the Move by Nanjala Nyabola ‎(Hurst Publisher, 2021)

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.)

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). Black Girl in Paris is now available in digital form in the amazon kindle store along with my other works. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Shay+Youngblood

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. 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, [email protected]

Other Publications: 

Pathfinder’s Magazine: A Travel Magazine for People of Color Produced 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(www.pathfinderstravel.com)

Black Meetings and Tourism Established by Solomon and Gloria Herbert 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.(www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com)

The Best Books of 2022

This Year's Must-Reads

The Ten Best Books About Travel of 2022

After two years of limited travel opportunities, we’re ready to explore the world once more

Jennifer Nalewicki

Travel Correspondent

Traveling is about much more than your destination—it’s about the people who live there, and for many travelers it’s the experiences they have alongside locals that are the most memorable. Take, for instance, the story of a journalist who lived with an Iñupiaq family of whale hunters in Alaska before setting off with her toddler to follow the gray whale migration, or a young woman who traveled solo 6,800 miles by bike from Europe to the Middle East, often turning to local farmers and villagers to help her navigate unfamiliar territory. Both women adapted their experiences into books where they relive the laughter (and the pain) they shared with members of the local communities that go far beyond anything found in a guidebook.

Here are ten travel book releases from 2022 that are inspiring us to dust off our passports and experience new locales alongside the people who make them unforgettable.

The Catch Me If You Can: One Woman’s Journey to Every Country in the World by Jessica Nabongo

Visiting all 195 countries in the world is no small feat and a goal that most people can only dream of. Luckily, armchair travelers can live vicariously through author Jessica Nabongo’s epic worldwide adventure in her book The Catch Me If You Can . From retelling the blow-by-blow of a scooter accident in Nauru (an island nation in Micronesia that also happens to be the world’s least visited country) and dog-sledding in Norway to swimming with humpback whales in Tonga and learning the art of making traditional takoyaki (octopus balls) in Japan, the 38-year-old, who’s also the first Black woman to travel to every nation in the world, introduces readers not only to bucket-list-worthy places but also to the people who live there.

The Catch Me If You Can: One Woman's Journey to Every Country in the World

In this inspiring travelogue, celebrated traveler and photographer Jessica Nabongo―the first Black woman on record to visit all 195 countries in the world―shares her journey around the globe with fascinating stories of adventure, culture, travel musts, and human connections.

Soundings: Journeys in the Company of Whales by Doreen Cunningham

In an everchanging world threatened by climate change, whales have learned to adapt. Irish British author Doreen Cunningham takes that notion to heart in Soundings , which blends science and nature writing with memoir as she shares her own experiences as a struggling single mother and journalist. Together with her toddler, she follows the migration route of gray whales as they make the long journey between Mexico and Alaska (where years earlier she spent time with Iñupiaq whalers), experiencing from a distance the familial bonds, not unlike her own close relationship with her son, of the marine mammals. “What at first seems a reckless, near-mystical pursuit of an imagined being leads her to find a human pod of her own,” writes the Guardian ’s Edward Posnett.

Soundings: Journeys in the Company of Whales: A Memoir

A story of courage and resilience, Soundings is about the migrating whales and all we can learn from them as they mother, adapt, and endure, their lives interrupted and threatened by global warming.

Bridges of the World by Giancarlo Ascari

Italian cartoonist and journalist Giancarlo Ascari has a degree in architecture, so it’s no wonder why he’s fascinated with bridges. Packed with illustrations by Pia Valentinis , Ascari’s book Bridges of the World highlights recognizable spans like the brightly painted Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Victorian Gothic-style Tower Bridge in London, while also highlighting less obvious examples, including the stretch of wire French high-wire artist Philippe Petit strung between the Twin Towers in New York City and dangerously crossed in 1974. In total, Bridges of the World features 50 human-made and natural wonders accented by interesting facts and anecdotes.

Bridges of the World

Fifty bridges from all over the world to be crossed on foot or with one's imagination.

Black Lion: Teachings from the Wilderness by Sicelo Mbatha

When Sicelo Mbatha was a child, he watched in horror as a crocodile viciously attacked his cousin. Rather than shy away from the cruel realities of nature, the Zulu author, who goes by the nickname Black Lion, confronted them head on to become a wilderness guide. Over the years, he’s volunteered at Imfolozi Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, a province located along the coast of South Africa. Because of his childhood encounter, he has learned to approach the savanna and the lions, elephants and other animals that inhabit it from a spiritual perspective. He has since fostered a deeper connection with the local fauna and hopes to pass that mindset on to visitors on his guided excursions as well as readers of Black Lion , his debut book.

Black Lion: Alive in the Wilderness

Wilderness guide Sicelo Mbatha shares lessons learnt from a lifetime’s intimate association with Africa’s wildest nature.

The Writer’s Journey: In the Footsteps of the Literary Greats by Travis Elborough

Ask any writer, and they’ll likely confirm that a story’s setting plays as critical a role as its plot. Case in point: Would Bram Stoker’s Gothic novel Dracula be as compelling if it wasn’t set in macabre Transylvania? Like Stoker, many literary greats were inspired by places they traveled to before sitting down to write. In The Writer’s Journey , British author and cultural commentator Travis Elborough explores 35 experiences around the globe that influenced authors and helped shape their writings, including Herman Melville’s perilous 1841 whaling voyage on the Atlantic and Jack Kerouac’s cross-country escapades in the late 1940s over “all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast.”

The Writer's Journey: In the Footsteps of the Literary Greats

Follow in the footsteps of some of the world’s most famous authors on the journeys which inspired their greatest works in this beautiful illustrated atlas.

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry

What comes to mind when you think of the American South? The Civil War? College football? Gone with the Wind ? Imani Perry , an award-winning author and African American studies professor at Princeton University, tackles all of these topics in her New York Times best seller South to America . Combining history with culture, Perry brings readers on an eye-opening journey south of the Mason-Dixon line, from her native Alabama to Appalachia, focusing not only on past civil atrocities that have scarred the region and the country as a whole, but also on the immigrant communities, artists and innovators leading the way to a brighter future.

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

An essential, surprising journey through the history, rituals, and landscapes of the American South—and a revelatory argument for why you must understand the South in order to understand America

The Slow Road to Tehran: A Revelatory Bike Ride Through Europe and the Middle East by Rebecca Lowe

While the Syrian War rattled the Middle East in 2015, journalist Rebecca Lowe embarked on a yearlong 6,800-mile grand tour via a bicycle she affectionately named “Maud” from her home base of London to Tehran. During her epic ride, she cycled through Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan and the Gulf, often relying on the knowledge and assistance of farmers, villagers and other locals she met along the way. For her travel memoir The Slow Road to Tehran , she weaves her own experiences as a woman traveling alone through the mountains and deserts of the Middle East with tales about the people and cultures she encountered. Tom Chesshyre of the Critic calls it “modern travel writing at its very best, full of vim and vigor, painstakingly researched, laced with wry humor, political (without being too political), adventurous and rich with anecdote.”

The Slow Road to Tehran: A Revelatory Bike Ride through Europe and the Middle East

One woman, one bike and one richly entertaining, perception-altering journey of discovery.

Antarctica: A History in 100 Objects by Jean de Pomereu and Daniella McCahey

On January 17, 1773, Captain James Cook made the first crossing into the Antarctic Circle aboard the Royal Navy sloop Resolution . Now, on the 250th anniversary of this monumental journey, historical geographer Jean de Pomereu and historian Daniella McCahey have come together to highlight 100 objects (culled from the National Maritime Museum in London, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and many other collections) that define the world’s least-visited continent. Items that made the cut and are featured in their co-written book Antarctica include the tiny, 22-foot lifeboat used by Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton and his crew after their ship struck ice and sunk in 1915; a sealing club fashioned out of the penis bone of an elephant seal; and skis that Norwegian explorer Olav Bjaaland used in the early 1900s.

Antarctica: A History in 100 Objects

This stunning and powerfully relevant book tells the history of Antarctica through 100 varied and fascinating objects drawn from collections around the world.

This Contested Land: The Storied Past and Uncertain Future of America’s National Monuments by McKenzie Long

Despite their federal designation as protected land, national monuments in the United States come under threat. Just look at Bears Ears National Monument, a 2,125-square-mile expanse of red sandstone, cliff dwellings and petroglyphs in the Utah desert held sacred by many Native Americans. The Trump administration decreased the monument in size by 85 percent to allow for oil drilling (only for the Biden administration to later restore its protections). In her debut book, This Contested Land , author and graphic artist McKenzie Long sets out by ski, foot and fin to explore 13 sites across the country, including Maine’s Katahdin Woods and Hawaii’s Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, in a series of compelling essays that convey the importance of protecting these natural resources from the threats of development and climate change.

This Contested Land: The Storied Past and Uncertain Future of America’s National Monuments

One woman’s enlightening trek through the natural histories, cultural stories, and present perils of 13 national monuments, from Maine to Hawaii

Crossed Off the Map: Travels in Bolivia by Shafik Meghji

The world’s highest metropolis is La Paz, Bolivia, home to two million inhabitants living at 13,600 feet above sea level (higher than Mount Fuji). However, not many people know this fact, nor much about the South American country, for that matter. In Crossed Off the Map , author, travel expert and Amnesty International editorial consultant Shafik Meghji introduces readers to the landmarks, history and current issues of Bolivia. Fellow travel author Tim Hannigan says in the book blurb, “Shafik Meghji is a natural travel writer with a ready mastery of history, anecdote and atmosphere, and [this] is the best sort of travel book—an informed and informative portrait of Bolivia that doubles as a vicarious journey for readers on an epic scale, through high mountains, across the altiplano [high plains] and into deep tropical forests.”

Crossed Off the Map: Travels in Bolivia

Blending travel writing, history and reportage, Crossed off the Map: Travels in Bolivia journeys from the Andes to the Amazon to explore Bolivia’s turbulent past and contemporary challenges.

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Jennifer Nalewicki | | READ MORE

Jennifer Nalewicki is a Brooklyn-based journalist. Her articles have been published in The New York Times , Scientific American , Popular Mechanics , United Hemispheres and more. You can find more of her work at her website .

A look inside the Green Book, which guided Black travelers through a segregated and hostile America

The guide's creator knew the racist dangers black motorists faced in the 1940s through the 1960s and hoped one day his green books wouldn't be needed.

For Black travelers driving across segregated America in the '40s, '50s and '60s, the Negro Motorist Green Book was more than a travel aid – it was a guide for keeping them safe.

The Green Book – named after its creator, not the color of its covers – was pocket-sized, about 5 by 7 inches, and published nearly every year from 1937 to 1966.

The guide was an indispensable list of Black-friendly businesses essential to travel: hotels, restaurants, gas stations, garages and more.

"It was one of many things African Americans had to develop to survive a hostile environment," says Scot Brown, professor of African American Studies and history at the University of California-Los Angeles. "A modern-day equivalent could be a Black GPS."

• The 2018 Oscar-winning movie 'Green Book,' has inspired a  new generation of Black travel guides and podcasts .

African Americans of that time were restricted by Jim Crow laws , harsh legislation passed in Southern states that limited rights of Black people from 1877 to the mid-1960s.

Those laws promoted white supremacy in every aspect of daily life, including travel. White-owned businesses could legally turn away Black travelers seeking a meal, a room for the night or even a restroom. Those who protested risked horrific violence or worse.

From the Green Book:

"They were a series of laws designed to impose segregation," Brown says. "They restricted voting rights, limited access to mobility and controlled Black bodies, turning them into a pliant labor force."

The Green Book was in response to Jim Crow.

It was created by Victor Hugo Green – reputedly named after Victor Hugo, French author of "Les Misérables" and other works – a Black postal worker and entrepreneur in Harlem who saw the need for a guide.

The guide was established in 1936, but "there's no known copy of a 1936 edition," Maira Liriano of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the New York Public Library, told USA TODAY.

"Some have suggested that the Green Book was established in 1936 but that 1937 was the first printed guide," Liriano says. "There is no way to know for sure."

The 1937 edition, titled "The Negro Motorist Green Book," had 16 pages and   focused on New York City businesses. It cost 25 cents, about $4.60 today, calculating for inflation.

The guide proved popular, and Green expanded it to 24 pages covering 21 states and the District of Columbia the following year. It doubled in size in 1939, to 48 pages and 44 states. Though other guides for Black travelers existed, none was published as long as the Green Book.

Pages from the 1954 edition:

The Green Book appeared as Black Americans were on the move. The First and Second Great Migrations saw as many as 6 million African Americans relocate from the South to the North and West from 1910 to 1970, according to the Schomburg Center.

They sought better economic opportunities and wanted to escape the violence –  the legalized racism of Jim Crow, the lynchings  and attacks such as the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 .

Those who moved left family members behind. They naturally returned to visit, which often meant long trips through unfriendly or even hostile areas.

"It wasn't just about safety, it was also knowing about problem areas, where police could be very aggressive in handling Black motorists," Brown says.

Some of those travels can be heard in the stories of the Macmillan Podcast series " Driving the Green Book ," which launched in September . It's available on multiple platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher:

Better-paying jobs in Northern cities made it possible for African Americans to purchase automobiles and avoid indignities and confrontations of bus and train travel.

But problems remained. For traveling, Black motorists had to pack their cars with extra food and water in case they could not find a restaurant that would serve them, blankets and bedding if motels turned them away, and coffee cans for roadside bathroom breaks if service stations refused entry.

By word of mouth and advertising, Black motorists began using the Green Book to find safer places for meals, lodging and gas. The guides were sold at churches, Black businesses and at Esso gas stations , the only major retailer to offer them. Esso not only welcomed Black customers – more than a third of its dealers in the 1940s were African American.

Green regularly expanded the guide, changing the title in 1952 to The Negro Travelers' Green Book, with advice on train, bus and airplane travel. He asked fellow postal carriers for recommendations and implored readers to reach out to suitable businesses. Later editions included information on vacationing in other countries. By 1960, it was known as The Travelers' Green Book.

Black-owned businesses and travel experiences: 'Green Book' inspires new generation of Black travel guides, podcasts

It's not known how many Green Books were published. Candacy Taylor, in her authoritative book "Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America ,"  says no official publication records are available. Some sources estimate 15,000 were sold annually; others say 2 million were sold in 1962 alone.

Original Green Books are nearly impossible to find, though reproductions are available. These covers are from the digital collections of the Schomburg Center, which include inside pages.

Driving the Green Book routes

In addition to storing Green Book pages online, the Schomburg Center offers a mapping program that shows readers the paths Black travelers could have chosen in 1947 and 1956.

Here are route changes for those years for a Detroit-to-New Orleans drive, and a non-interstate highway alternate route a driver could take today: 

For many African Americans, parts of Green Book-style planning and preparation endure to this day.

"Traveling by road is not the same now, but calling ahead, about certain towns, checking on safety, is still a part of Black life," Brown says. "Segregation by custom is just as effective as segregation by law."

Many of the Green Book businesses travelers used are gone, but some remain. The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, was noted in the guide for years. It's now the National Civil Rights Museum .

Other businesses are still in operation. Below is an image of the Mona Lisa Motel in Inkster, Michigan, outside Detroit, from page 49 of the 1962 Green Book.

Sundown towns across the USA

Jim Crow laws were associated primarily with the South, but Northern states held other dangers. “Sundown towns” were white communities that used threats of violence or death to force Black travelers into leaving. Some towns posted signs warning Black visitors to be out by sundown.

Here are locations of towns, communities and counties considered to be sundown towns at some point in their history, according to research by sociologist James Loewen, author of "Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism ."  Tougaloo College in Mississippi maintains the database.

"Victor Green did not know of the astounding prevalence of sundown towns across the North, so his Green Book didn't do much to help Black folks avoid them," Loewen told USA TODAY.

"Of course, the point of his book was to tell folks where they could stay, eat and play, not where they couldn't, " Loewen says.

Who was Victor Hugo Green?

Green was born in New York City in 1892 and became a mailman for the U.S. Postal Service at age 21. He and his wife Alma moved to Harlem in the late 1920s and he managed Robert Duke, his brother-in-law and a musician, while working at the post office.

Duke toured as a musician and experienced firsthand the threats and difficulties African Americans suffered in white establishments. Green heard Duke's stories and decided to create a travel guide for Black travelers, using guides published for Jewish people who often faced discrimination from non-Jewish whites.

Not surprisingly, musicians valued the guide as they traveled from gig to gig.

"The Green Book was also a map of sorts to the  Chitlin' Circuit ," Brown says. The circuit was a network of clubs and theaters in African American neighborhoods that hosted some of the best musicians in American history.

The Chitlin' Circuit operated when many mainstream venues either didn't allow African American performers or maintained segregated audiences, if Black people were welcome in the venue at all.

Green used nights and weekends to work on the guide and kept his job at the Postal Service before retiring in 1952. Taylor says he made a comfortable living as a postal carrier and probably broke even while publishing the Green Book.

Green died Oct. 16, 1960, at the age of 67, four years before passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, sex or national origin in the USA.

Alma Green and an all-female staff continued publishing the Green Book after his death. The last was published in 1966 as the Green Book International Edition, 1966-67.

Green himself looked forward to the last issue, as early as 1948:

Top illustration: Colored waiting room at bus station in Durham, N.C., 1940, photo by Jack Delano; “We cater to white trade only” sign in restaurant window in Lancaster, Ohio, 1938, photo by Ben Shahn, Farm Security Administration; Police Chief George Guy beside the “white waiting room” sign at the Greyhound bus station in McComb, Miss., 1961, Associated Press photo; a white mob rocks an out-of-state car with Black passengers passing through Clinton, Tenn., 1956, photo by Robert W. Kelley, LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images.

SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; "Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America" by Candacy Taylor, 2020; "Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights" by Gretchen Sorin, 2020; "Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism" by James Loewen, 2005; Tougaloo College, Jackson, Miss.; Constitutional Rights Foundation; Associated Press; National Association of Letter Carriers; U.S. Census

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55 Books by Black Authors That Deserve a Spot on Your Bookshelf

Put these books on your must-read list.

G rowing up as a young Black girl in the South, I saw positive representations of Black and Brown excellence: My family members were college-educated, working professionals and pillars in their communities. They owned churches, shoe stores, homes and property, and they held themselves in high esteem despite some of the negative stereotypes presented on the news and in the media. I fondly remember my mother, who received her bachelor's in English Literature, bringing home books by Black authors—titles like Before the Mayflower: A History of the Negro in America , Africans in America: America's Journey Through Slavery , The Souls of Black Folk , The Color Purple and The Bluest Eye .

Even in my youth, I was aware of the power of reading , and when my parents shared with me that it was once illegal for Black people to know how to read, I embraced it even more. I devoured books that showcased the vast and uniquely diverse spectrum of Black life. And despite often reading books in school that presented Black people and their ancestry homogeneously, I have always felt empowered in my identity as a result of the knowledge I gained from books and the wise people around me.

In my teenage years, I decided to become an English Literature major, like my mother. I always understood that books provide an entry point into the minds of others. Like an invitation to a well-thought-out event, the best books leave an indelible imprint. Whether teaching or entertaining, the written word has a way of moving people while providing a greater understanding of a person, place or thing. That is certainly true of books by Black authors, which can highlight certain experiences and issues that often don't receive the attention they deserve.

The books on this list include novels, memoirs, biographies and more, all written by Black authors in the past several years. While they deal with a wide range of issues—some are feminist stories, some are books about racism and others are pure entertainment—they all offer important and thought-provoking perspectives. They're also page-turners, and many of them have racked up numerous awards and earned a place in the hearts of millions of readers. You're about to see why.

Join the free Reader's Digest Book Club for great reads, monthly discussions, author Q&As and a community of book lovers.

1. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

There has long been an unspoken connection between the Black and Jewish communities, both of which take center stage in The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store . The story opens with a mystery in 1970s Pennsylvania before jumping back in time to 1925. Here, in the thriving Chicken Hill neighborhood, Black and Jewish people live together, bound by secrets, ambition and survival. With his latest novel, New York Times bestselling author James McBride showcases his powerful storytelling and suggests love and a sense of community have the power to transcend the weight that is often placed on matters of race. It's an excellent read worth savoring. Need more proof? A mere four months after its August 2023 publication, it earned the title of the best book of the year from both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

2. The Queen of Sugar Hill by ReShonda Tate

Hattie McDaniel is known for her roles in films like Gone with the Wind , Alice Adams and Song of the South , and she was the first Black woman to win an Oscar. Yet her journey was marred with racism, caricatures and, at times, rejection, not just by Hollywood but also by some of her Black contemporaries as well. Though she was a trailblazer who broke many barriers in Hollywood, many felt as if her portrayal of the mammy stereotype did more damage than good. But bestselling author ReShonda Tate's The Queen of Sugar Hill —a dynamic fictionalized account of McDaniel's life spanning immediately after her Oscar win in the 1940s to the time of her death in 1952—highlights her grit, tenacity and Hollywood experiences, along with the pain she endured at the hands of racist institutions during the height of her career. What I loved most about this novel is that it entertainingly shares the glamour of old Hollywood without shying away from some of the ugly truths about racism in America's history. Lovers of old Hollywood and meaty historical fiction books will adore this one!

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3. Purple Rising: Celebrating 40 Years of the Magic, Power and Artistry of The Color Purple by Lise Funderburg and Scott Sanders

Named one of Oprah's favorite things of 2023, Purple Rising pays homage to Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize–winning book The Color Purple . When it was published in 1982, Walker's novel became a global phenomenon, giving birth to a 1985 film adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg, a 2005 Broadway musical and a 2023 film adaptation of the Broadway show. Purple Rising , published in November 2023, celebrates The Color Purple and its contributions to America's literary and film canons with more than 50 original interviews and new images from the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Taraji P. Henson, Blitz Bazawule, Oprah Winfrey and many others. But this book isn't just aesthetically pleasing; it's truly a beautiful compilation of The Color Purple 's legacy.

4. This Is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets edited by Kwame Alexander

Kwame Alexander is a literary force: He's won the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal, Coretta Scott King Award and countless other accolades. He recently received an Emmy for his television show The Crossover , based on his YA book of the same name. And he's currently the new literary and artistic director of the nonprofit education center Chautauqua Institute. So it's not surprising that his new poetry anthology, T his Is the Honey , was named by Publisher's Weekly and Lit Hub as one of the most highly anticipated books of 2024.

This Is the Honey features works by Amanda Gorman, Nikki Giovanni, Clint Smith, Rita Dove and Alice Walker, among many new voices, and centers themes that range from love and parenting to heritage, Black joy, politics and more. If you were a fan of Alexander's recent memoir Why Fathers Cry at Night , you will appreciate this compilation of prolific Black poets , which was published on Jan. 30, 2024.

5. 27 Summers: My Journey to Freedom, Forgiveness and Redemption During My Time in Angola Prison by Ronald Olivier and Craig Borlase

Life in prison and redemption are not often synonymous with one another. Yet in 27 Summers , author Ronald Olivier delivers the true story of his life sentence in prison and the power of God's grace and mercy. His tale is that of an overcomer, and this memoir candidly shares how he gained hope for a renewed life while in a prison cell for 27 summers. Olivier grew up in the Eighth Ward of New Orleans, and by the time he was 12 years old, he'd already witnessed a murder. At 16, he killed someone.

What I love most about this 2023 memoir is that it's not just another sad story about Black men and the prison system. Contrarily, this book is an aspirational testimony to how Olivier believes that it was God who stepped in and changed his life. Though he was convicted of second-degree murder and served almost 30 years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Olivier's life changed, and he eventually became the director of chaplaincy at the Mississippi State Penitentiary. This feel-good book sends a message to readers of all backgrounds that even when the odds are against you, you can change for the better.

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6. Sex, Lies and Sensibility by Nikki Payne

If you're a fan of Jane Austen's romance novels , you'll love the latest book from the author of Pride and Protest . Nikki Payne's Sex, Lies and Sensibility , which hits shelves on Feb. 13, 2024, has been dubbed the sexy, modern adaptation of Austen's Sense and Sensibility . When two sisters find out that the only thing they've inherited from their father is a worn-down inn in a quaint Maine town, they roll up their sleeves and get to work revamping it. The only thing standing in their way is a good-looking squatter. If you value diversity and lead characters of color, this is the romance for you: It centers on the rich culture of Black and Indigenous people.

7. Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Take My Hand was one of the most highly anticipated fiction books of 2022 , and for good reason. It delves into the forced sterilization of Black women in the American South during the 1970s. Based on true events, the timely story sheds light on the history of the health-care system in America and how it often negatively impacts the lives of those who are Black and poor. Our grim history is explored through the lives of tween sisters Minnie Lee and Mary Alice Relf, who are not sexually active and are being coerced into sterilization without knowing it. Dolen Perkins-Valdez masterfully makes an argument on behalf of the disenfranchised and marginalized and uses historical fiction to amplify the history of racial inequality and injustice in the health-care system. Take My Hand diplomatically cuts to the core of America's long-hidden legacy of traumatizing the Black body.

8. The Personal Librarian by Victoria Christopher Murray and Marie Benedict

The New York Times bestselling The Personal Librarian has been hailed by the Washington Post as "historical fiction at its finest" and tells the story of Belle da Costa Greene, a "White-passing" Black woman who became a powerful force in the art world. Not only was da Costa Greene the personal librarian of J.P. Morgan, but she also built his famous rare books and manuscript collection and became one of America's most prominent librarians. In 1924, she was named the first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library. The Personal Librarian , which came out in 2021, centers her story and provides an opportunity for readers to explore and further examine what it means to be Black in America.

9. Wahala by Nikki May

Published in 2022, Wahala centers on three Anglo-Nigerian pals whose longtime friendship is upset when the charming Isobel bursts into their group. Hailed as a mix between My Sister, the Serial Killer , Sex in the City and Big Little Lies , the book delicately delves into the dynamics of female friendship and explores themes of colorism, multiculturalism and even internalized racism. If you're curious about Nigerian cooking and fashion and want a refreshing take on culture through a biracial lens, this book is the perfect read for you.

10. Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

Landing on the New York Times bestseller list when it came out in 2022, Black Cake opens with the death of matriarch Eleanor Bennett. She's left her two adult sons a small inheritance: a voice recording and a traditional Caribbean black cake. They raise more questions than answers, hinting at long-buried family secrets. As the men puzzle out their mother's history, they grapple with their estrangement from each other and the spiritual and emotional ramifications of their mother's hidden past. As readers soon find out, secrets, once discovered, can make or break a family. If you find yourself hungry for more after devouring Black Cake , you're in luck. It recently premiered as a Hulu original TV show produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films.

11. Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb

If you were mesmerized by Brendan Slocumb's The Violin Conspiracy , there's good news: The author is back with another music-inspired story. (No surprise there: He's a violinist and spent years as a music teacher.) One of Reader's Digest 's most anticipated books of last year, Symphony of Secrets follows a music professor who gets the shock of a lifetime when he discovers that the object of his longtime study may have stolen his music from an unknown Black woman living in the 1920s. The modern-day mystery at the crux of the book uncovers a twisted history that could change the music world.

12. Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman

Presidential inaugural poet—the youngest in U.S. history—Amanda Gorman captured the nation's attention in 2021 with her poem "The Hill We Climb." Published later the same year, Call Us What We Carry is a meditation on identity, history and language. This inspirational book is a definite must-read for anyone looking for a powerful poetry collection that shares messages of hope and reckoning.

13. Lone Women by Victor LaValle

From the award-winning author of The Changeling comes another tense horror novel that'll have you flipping pages faster than you can say "keep the lights on." Lone Women takes readers to the American West in 1915, where Adelaide Henry arrives with a steamer trunk. It's locked and must be kept that way—otherwise, people will die. A well-plotted, genre-blending tale that ratchets up the suspense and weaves mystery throughout (what, we ask, is in that trunk?), Lone Women is must-read fiction.

14. Decent People by De'Shawn Charles Winslow

A taut mystery that explores the types of murders that make headlines and see police action, De'Shawn Charles Winslow's 2023 novel, Decent People , tackles race, money and class in segregated '70s North Carolina. When three Black people are murdered and the police seem uninterested in solving the crime, a retiree who has just returned to town takes it upon herself to uncover the secrets.

15. Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

In her powerful 2022 debut novel, Tara M. Stringfellow explores three generations of a Southern Black family, along with long-buried secrets, matrilineal tradition and the healing power of art. When Joan, her mother and her little sister return to the family's ancestral home, family secrets come to light, and the family's lineage becomes an open gateway through which history and unspoken memories can pass. Memphis is a page-turner, and it's the perfect pick for simultaneous mother-daughter reads .

16. Y ou Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays by Zora Neale Hurston

In the words of literary powerhouse Toni Morrison, "Hurston was one of the greatest writers of our time." And You Don't Know Us Negroes provides another opportunity to step into the mind of the great cultural anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. This collection of essays spans more than 35 years and further solidifies the vibrant Harlem Renaissance writer's place in literary history. Throughout her long career, she reshaped literature, took ownership of words (especially Black vernacular) and archived Black culture in the process.

Edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Genevieve West, this 2022 compilation of Hurston's essays offers her thoughts on Black vernacular, historically Black colleges and universities, religion, voting, jazz, folklore, race relations and many other topics. It includes essays like "What White Publishers Won't Print" and "How It Feels to Be Colored Me." If you're looking to dig deeper into the mind of an unapologetic literary genius, you will definitely want to read this book.

17. Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead

If you loved Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad and devoured The Nickle Boys (or any of his other works), you'll consider this good news: The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner released another must-read novel in the Ray Carney series in 2023. So if you haven't read the first ( Harlem Shuffle ), now's the time to do so. In Crook Manifesto , you'll visit seedy New York City of the '70s, where Carney and his crew are running heists and other crimes. The city comes alive in Whitehead's skillful hands—it's as much a character as Carney and his endearing partner in crime. If you're looking for outstanding books by Black authors, you can't go wrong with Whitehead.

18. You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen

A powerful YA novel that shines a spotlight on characters often overlooked in literature, You Truly Assumed explores what it means to be both Black and Muslim. When a terrorist attack happens in a community, hatred and Islamophobia begin to grow. That's why Sabriya, a studious and thoughtful teenager, turns to her blog for comfort. But when a post she shares goes viral, it creates a wildly popular space for other Muslim teens to share their thoughts and experiences. Laila Sabreen's You Truly Assumed centers teen voices, the Muslim faith and Islamophobia with great care.

19. God Is a Black Woman by Christena Cleveland

When Christena Cleveland had a crisis of faith, she ended up on a 400-mile walking pilgrimage to the Shrines of the Black Madonnas to find healing. Readers will be able to draw a line from that experience to the publication of this 2022 book. God Is a Black Woman boldly rejects the notion of White, patriarchal Christianity while encouraging readers to connect with the divine outside the context of Western perceptions of the religion. A work of nonfiction , the book tackles themes of theology and healing while exploring the notion of the sacred Black feminine.

20. T he Great Mrs. Elias by Barbara Chase-Riboud

Barbara Chase-Riboud, author of the award-winning Sally Hemings , is back with another book about a powerful woman hidden in history. The Great Mrs. Elias brings to life the story of Hannah Elias, one of the wealthiest Black women in the early 1900s. An unsolved murder and case of mistaken identity prompt the police to knock on Hannah's door, setting off a suspenseful tale studded with scandal and intrigue.

21. Black Girls Must Be Magic by Jayne Allen

The second installment in the Black Girls Must Die Exhausted book series, this 2022 title tackles what it means to be a Black woman and single mother. In Black Girls Must Be Magic , Tabitha Walker is at a crossroads in her life: She recently found out that she's pregnant. As the pressures of life mount, she must balance and prioritize self-love all while trying to keep her proverbial village together. This debut novel is a bit magical itself, combining an engaging plot, relatable situations and characters you'll absolutely root for.

22. Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray

Hailed as the "buzziest book of 2021" and optioned by Netflix in a seven-figure deal, Beasts of Prey is your new reading obsession. The first in a three-book fantasy series , it follows two Black teens as they journey into a magical jungle to track down a monster that has been menacing their city for a century. The book takes inspiration from Greek and Roman mythology, as well as Ayana Gray's discovery of Octavia Butler. It's packed with monsters, mythos and lots of Black girl magic.

23. We Are N ot Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza

Many believe that the bonds of true friendship can never be broken, but what happens when issues of race fray the ties that bind? In We Are Not Like Them , a childhood friendship is tested by the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager by a White police officer. In this riveting book club pick , themes of friendship, marriage and career ambition collide against a backdrop of racial tension. Published in 2021, this is a timely story that's perfect for a buddy read with friends.

24. Hope and Glory by Jendella Benson

Jendella Benson's Hope and Glory , a heartbreaking yet hopeful family drama published in 2022, centers on a Nigerian immigrant family in London. With the death of her father, Glory Akindele returns home after living her most fabulous life in California to find her family has fallen apart. In her quest to reunite them, she learns a secret that could totally destroy everything she's working to reconcile.

25. Something Good by Vanessa Miller

If women's fiction is your go-to genre, you'll want to snap up this 2022 story that's sure to inspire. Vanessa Miller's Something Good is a redemptive tale about three women linked through an accident that left a man paralyzed. This inspirational story delves into themes of guilt, anger and forgiveness—read it when you need a pick-me-up. And if you love a good story about strong Black women, be sure to check out Miller's latest book, The American Queen .

26. Black Love Matters: Real Talk on Rom ance, Being Seen and Happily Ever Afters edited by Jessica P. Pryde

A play on the phrase Black Lives Matter , the title of this 2022 essay collection is a reminder that all aspects of Black lives have significance. And that includes Black romance, something modern entertainment is still sorely lacking. Black Love Matters is an insightful essay anthology that centers the voices of Black readers, writers and cultural commentators. It shares the diverse ways in which Black people express and perceive love.

27. Peace Is a Practice: An Invitation to Breathe Deep and Find a New Rhythm for Life by Morgan Harper Nichols

Life is stressful, but Morgan Harper Nichols's 2022 self-help book is a balm for trying times. In Peace Is a Practice , she invites readers to live in the present while actively pursuing and embracing peace. The beautiful book gently nudges us to let go of regrets, pursue meaning and purpose in life, and allow faith to usher in confidence while shoving anxiety and fear out the door. Through it, we can explore different ways of pursuing peace in our daily lives. It's one of the best books by Black authors for finding inspiration. And if you like to keep your bookshelves stocked with encouraging books, check out Nichols's You Are Only Just Beginning , a beautiful, colorful read full of motivation .

28. Don't Cry for Me by Daniel Black

Jacob and Isaac haven't spoken in years, but now that he's on his deathbed, Jacob has something to say about family history, relationships and the terrible way he reacted when Isaac came out. With 2022's Don't Cry for Me , Daniel Black provides a peek inside the often-strained relationships between Black fathers and their gay sons. Poignant, timely and beautifully written, this LGBTQ book centers on themes of ancestral legacy, generational pain and family dynamics.

29. Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson

Pheby Brown isn't simply enslaved. The protagonist of Sadeqa Johnson's 2021 novel, Yellow Wife , lives in one of the most harrowing slave jails in all of Virginia. Though promised her freedom at the age of 18, she soon learns that nobody keeps a promise to a slave. This book, which details her fight for freedom, incorporates elements of the true story of Robert Lumpkin, one of the most brutal slave traders in the South. A definite must-read, it has drawn comparisons to Solomon Northup's 12 Ye ars a Slave and Dolen Perkins-Valdez's Wench .

30. Ida B. the Queen : The Extraordinary Life an d Legacy of Ida B. Wells by Michelle Duster

Ida B. Wells was born into slavery in 1862, but in 2020—nearly nine decades after her death—she won a Pulitzer Prize. Written by Wells's great-granddaughter Michelle Duster, 2021's Ida B. the Queen brings to life the legacy of a woman who was a force during the civil rights era and was considered a threat to the FBI. A truly incredible Black American you probably didn't learn about in history class, Wells was an investigative journalist, suffragist and anti-lynching activist who lived a life committed to fighting racial injustice and inequality. This nonfiction book dynamically delves into the impact she had on American society during a pivotal time in this country.

31. The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

Released in 2021, Zakiya Dalila Harris's debut novel, The Other Black Girl , delves into the microaggressions that editorial assistant Nella Rogers experiences as the only Black employee at her job with Wagner Books, a story Harris wrote while working as an editorial assistant herself. This smartly written satire examines issues of race, authenticity and workplace culture in a way that many of us can relate to. But it does so much more—expect thrills, twists and a genre-bending story you won't be able to put down. When you've turned the final page and are hankering for more, give the Hulu television series, which debuted in September 2023 to great critical acclaim, a binge-watch.

32. Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

The caste system isn't something that happens only in faraway places—it's something that happens right here in America. That's what Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson explores in Caste , her 2020 book about the rigid hierarchy of human rankings. In addition to her unflinching look at the United States, she delves into the caste system in India and Nazi Germany as well.

So what, exactly, does caste mean? "Caste is the granting or withholding of respect, status, honor, attention, privileges, resources, the benefit of the doubt and human kindness to someone on the basis of their perceived rank or standing in the hierarchy," Wilkerson has said. "What some people call racism could be seen as merely one manifestation of the degree to which we have internalized the larger American caste system."

Want more? Wilkerson's bestseller was adapted for film, and the resulting flick—2023's Origin , directed by Ava Duvernay—was recently released to rave reviews.

33. Lifting as We Climb: Black Women's Battle for the Ballot Box by Evette Dionne

Evette Dionne won a Coretta Scott King Author Honor award for her 2020 novel, Lifting as We Climb . In it, she examines the contributions of Black women and their efforts in ending slavery, fighting for the right to vote and more. This book also examines the fight for Black women to be treated equally by their White peers, highlighting the reality that many White suffragists did not treat their Black female counterparts well or fairly.

34. Just as I Am by Cicely Tyson

In this poignant memoir , legendary actress Cicely Tyson shares her truth about her six decades in the entertainment industry, as well as the lessons about love, life and loss she learned along the way. Just as I Am was published just two days before Tyson passed away in late January 2021, and it quickly topped multiple bestseller lists. If you don't know much about Tyson, now is the time to learn. She was known for her integrity, her elegance and grace, and her unflinching commitment to taking on only those roles that elevated the consciousness of others and presented Black female characters with dignity.

35. Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

Black Buck is a New York Times bestseller that gets real about the many compromises Black people make while navigating America's workforce. Mateo Askaripour's debut novel is a racial satire, and it centers on a Black salesman who works at an extremely successful start-up and comes up with a plan to help young people of color infiltrate the country's sales force. It dives into code-switching and ultimately shows how this linguistic back-and-forth takes a toll psychologically and emotionally over time.

36. How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith

Released in 2021, this nonfiction book by Atlantic writer and poet Clint Smith explores America's history as a slave-owning nation and examines its many monuments and landmarks in relation to slavery. How the Word Is Passed reveals how important aspects of our country's history are often hidden in plain sight and how they have shaped our world.

37. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Are you a fan of historical fiction? You won't want to miss this page-turner, which reveals how the memory and residue of captivity still lingers generations later. It tells the story of two sisters—one who was captured and sold into slavery and the other who marries an Englishman and lives in a castle. Themes of generational trauma, blood memory and colonization run deep. Since its publication in 2016, Homegoing has received numerous literary accolades, including the Hemingway Foundation PEN Award, the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature and the American Book Award.

38. Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

Open Water , Caleb Azumah Nelson's 2021 debut novel, digs into race, masculinity and love. In this beautiful story, two Black British adults who both received scholarships to private schools, fall in love. She's a dancer, and he's a photographer, but while the two artists seem akin to soul mates, their relationship is tested by fear and violence. This novel explores the psychological and emotional trauma that can accompany being seen as just a "Black body."

39. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Set in a fictional Louisiana town in 1848, The Vani shing Half follows twin sisters Stella and Desiree. Both have light skin and hazel eyes. Both feel the impact of the hierarchy of racial constructs. Yet their futures stand in stark contrast. This sweeping, generational novel examines themes of "passing," colorism and the concept of race. This thought-provoking work from Brit Bennett, author of The Mothers , was named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR , the Washington Post, the New York Times and even Barack Obama.

40. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Yaa Gyasi's follow-up to Homegoing is equally stunning and completely different. In 2020's Transcendent Kingdom , she tells the story of a Ghanaian family based in Alabama that is greatly impacted by depression, grief, science, faith and love. Gifty, who's working on her PhD in neuroscience at Stanford, is determined to understand the science behind all the pain she has seen in her family. But in the process of looking for answers, she is drawn back to the faith of her youth.

41. Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

The 2021 prequel to the blockbuster YA novel The Hate U Give offers a glimpse into Garden Heights nearly two decades earlier. Familiarity with Thomas's debut novel is nice but not necessary. In Concre te Rose , she provides a thorough and introspective look inside the psyche of the 17-year-old son of an infamous drug lord and the many challenges he faces. While the protagonist, Maverick Carter, appears to have everything under control, his world is upended when he finds out he has a child. He's forced to decide whether he wants to aspire to the drug-lord legacy of his father or break free from that generational pattern to give his child a different life. Some good news for bargain hunters: The e-book is free on Kindle Unlimited .

42. The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les Payne and Tamara Payne

This biography of Malcolm X chronicles the iconic leader's life from his childhood in Nebraska to his death in Harlem in 1965, focusing on his integral role in the struggle for Black freedom. The Dead Are Arising made quite a splash when it debuted in 2020, and it has since racked up a number of accolades, including the 2021 Pulitzer Prize and the 2020 National Book Award for Nonfiction.

43. Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink

Travel back to 1921 with Randi Pink's Angel of Greenwood . In this YA novel, set in a neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, dubbed Black Wall Street, 17-year-old Isaiah Wilson, an avid reader, and Angel Hill, a studious, Bible-loving 16-year-old, come together to help their English teacher run a mobile library. All is well until one fateful day—May 31, 1921—when their city is attacked by a White mob. For those who aren't aware, that event subsequently became known as the Tulsa Race Massacre, and it left 36 people dead. The 2021 publication of Pink's novel marked the 100-year anniversary of the massacre and serves as a reminder of the events that get lost in history.

44. White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue … and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation by Lauren Michele Jackson

In 2019's White Negroes , author Lauren Michele Jackson calls for a brutally honest look at cultural appropriation . The book's message asserts that while America and Americans have profited from Blackness, Black pioneers are often left behind when it comes to the benefits. A mixture of narrative, scholarship and critique, Jackson's exploration of the topic is insightful and highlights how this cultural theft has exacerbated inequality in this country.

45. Aftershocks: A Memoir by Nadia Owusu

Family secrets leave an emotional residue, and the people involved in them have to somehow press through the pain. That's the throughline of 2021's Aftershocks , which deeply cuts into Nadia Owusu's experiences as a woman who has lived in many different nations, has had many different career paths and has grappled with secrets come to light. Of her writing, Owusu has said, "A story is a flashlight and a weapon. I write myself into other people's earthquakes. I borrow pieces of their pain and store them in my body. Sometimes, I call those pieces compassion. Sometimes, I call them desecration."

46. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Warning: You won't be able to put this one down. Kiley Reid's debut novel, published in 2019, examines race and privilege , raising powerful questions about identity, class, interpersonal relationships and more. Emira, a babysitter in the home of Alix, a blogger and public speaker, learns of her employer's racist past through Alix's ex, who Emira is coincidentally dating. But nothing is ever as it seems when it comes to well-meaning racists. Such a Fun Age immediately became a New York Time s bestseller and went on to win the African American Literary Award in 2020. If you're a fan, be sure to check out Reid's newest novel, Come and Get It .

47. You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

Leah Johnson's debut YA novel, which came out in 2020, centers on Liz Lighty, a high schooler who devises a plan to leave her small town of Campbell, Indiana. With no other way to earn the cash, she joins a prom contest with the hopes of winning scholarship money and finds herself with a crush on one of the other girls in the competition. Yo u Should See M e in a Crown is the fun, queer romance novel you (and your teen) have been waiting for. And don't miss Johnson's sophomore effort, Rise to the Sun .

48. Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam

How's this for the punishment not fitting the crime: Amal, a talented 16-year-old, is put in prison for throwing a punch. So begins this novel in verse, a story about the fiercely sympathetic Amal and his fight for justice. Award-winning author Ibi Zoboi co-wrote this gem with Yusef Salaam, who spent six years in prison as a result of a wrongful conviction. Published in 2020, Punching the Air humanizes the many multidimensional human beings behind bars who have had their lives interrupted by an unjust and racially biased judicial system and institutional racism .

49. Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

This thought-provoking, riveting mystery shines a bright light on rape culture, impressionable teenage girls and the older male predators who can spot vulnerability a mile away. Enchanted Jones aspires to become a professional singer, so she's thrilled when R&B artist Korey Fields notices her at an audition. But things don't turn out as she planned. See, Korey is dead. And though she can't remember the night before, Enchanted knows that's blood on her hands … Like Tiffany D. Jackson's gripping debut, Allegedly , 2020's Grown is a tightly plotted mystery full of twists and turns.

50. T he Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person by Frederick Joseph

It's not enough to say that you're not racist—you need to be anti-racist . And even if you mean well, there are a few things you need to learn to be a true ally. This honest and powerful book, published in 2020, offers up the author's personal experiences with everyday racism, along with the experiences of well-known artists and activists. It features interviews with Toni Tone, writer Angie Thomas and April Reign, creator of the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. What makes The Black Friend so potent is that Frederick Joseph speaks directly to White people as a Black person—a Black friend—and highlights the dangers of Black tokenism in an honest, unapologetic manner.

51. Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard by Echo Brown

Morris Award finalist Black Girl Unlimited —a semi-autobiographical tale infused with magical realism —centers on a girl from the East Side whose childhood in a rough neighborhood has been far from perfect. When she transfers to a wealthy school on the West Side, she finds inspiration. But at the same time, depression creeps in as she struggles to understand the intersection of the two worlds she's living in. The guilt and pressure that often accompany those who "make it out" of their disenfranchised neighborhoods and communities make for an important sub-narrative in the book, which came out in 2020.

52. Black Girl Magic by Mahogany L. Browne

Designed to encourage young Black girls and teens to embrace their beauty and brilliance, this poem was published in 2018 as a form of resistance to society's message that Black girls aren't enough. Within the pages of this poetry book , Mahogany L. Browne has crafted words of empowerment and strength that will inspire young Black girls to embrace their own unique "magic." If you have little ones, this is one of the best children's books by Black authors to read with them.

53. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

This thrilling fantasy novel received one of the biggest YA publishing deals ever, had film rights scooped up by Fox 2000 Pictures and became an instant No. 1 New York Times bestseller when it was released in 2018. The first in a three-book YA series , Children of Blood and Bone is a West African–inspired fantasy that will appeal to teens and adults alike. Pick up this novel for exquisite world-building, well-drawn characters, magic and a fight for power. Children of Blood and Bone is a thrilling read that, while strictly fantastical, explores relevant issues of police brutality, discrimination and violence.

54. Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown

Next time you're in the mood for magic, pick up Diane Marie Brown's multigenerational historical fiction novel, Black Candle Women , which will transport you to 1950s New Orleans. The 2023 novel introduces readers to four generations of Black women dealing with a family curse: Anyone they fall in love with ends up dead. The narrative sails through a present timeline and the past, when the women's line was originally cursed. Fans of Practical Magic will go wild for this story—it's a perfectly witchy read for Halloween.

55. Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson

Based on the true story of the women of the Six Triple Eight—the primarily Black postal battalion of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps—Kaia Alderson's 2021 novel, Sisters in Arms , is like a slice of hidden history. Dive into the lives of the fictional Grace Steele and Eliza Jones, two Black women members shipping out with the battalion on a mission to deliver mail in the European Theatre of World War II. This timely book is a great read for history buffs looking to learn more about Black women and the role they played in World War II.

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At Reader's Digest , we're committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. For this piece, Lynnette Nicholas tapped her background as an entertainment journalist with more than 10 years of experience writing about culture, books and the arts to curate this list. We relied on reputable primary sources, verified all facts and data, and backed them with credible sourcing. We will revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team , our contributors and our editorial policies .

The post 55 Books by Black Authors That Deserve a Spot on Your Bookshelf appeared first on Reader's Digest .

• Cast & crew

Travel Writer

• Episode aired Apr 8, 2004

Fran & Manny become enamored with a dashing travel writer giving a talk at the shop, while Bernard contends with a most unorthodox new landlord. Fran & Manny become enamored with a dashing travel writer giving a talk at the shop, while Bernard contends with a most unorthodox new landlord. Fran & Manny become enamored with a dashing travel writer giving a talk at the shop, while Bernard contends with a most unorthodox new landlord.

• Martin Dennis
• Kevin Cecil
• Dylan Moran
• Bill Bailey
• Tamsin Greig
• 1 Critic review

• Bernard Black

• Jason Hamilton

• Roland the Exterminator
• (as Paul Hunter)

• Keen Customer
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia Manny opens the door to what used to be the shops bathroom to put a delivery of solicitors letters with other solicitor letters. The bathroom from season 1 is now a closet full of solicitors letters.
• Goofs An analogue slide/transparency projector is set up for the lecture. However no black band (the slide's frame) is seen as the image changes. The images are therefore produced by a digital projector.

Manny : Bernard, I was wondering if you might have a word with Fran. Tell her that I'm looking after Jason and he doesn't appreciate her trying to flirt with him.

Bernard : Ssssh!

[meowing is heard]

Bernard : You hear that? He's up there... mewing in the nerve centre of his evil empire. A ground rent increase here, a tax dodge there? he sticks his leg in the air, laughs his cat laugh... and dives back down to grooming his balls!

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• April 8, 2004 (United Kingdom)
• United Kingdom
• Assembly Film and Television
• Big Talk Productions
• Channel 4 Television Corporation
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 29 minutes

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The Green Book: The Black Travelers’ Guide to Jim Crow America

By: Evan Andrews

Updated: March 13, 2019 | Original: February 6, 2017

“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. It will be a great day for us to suspend this publication for then we can go wherever we please, and without embarrassment.”

That was how the authors of the “Negro Motorist Green Book” ended the introduction to their 1948 edition . In the pages that followed, they provided a rundown of hotels, guest houses, service stations, drug stores, taverns, barber shops and restaurants that were known to be safe ports of call for African American travelers. The “Green Book” listed establishments in segregationist strongholds such as Alabama and Mississippi, but its reach also extended from Connecticut to California—any place where its readers might face prejudice or danger because of their skin color. With Jim Crow still looming over much of the country, a motto on the guide’s cover also doubled as a warning: “Carry your Green Book with you—You may need it.”

First published in 1936, the Green Book was the brainchild of a Harlem-based postal carrier named Victor Hugo Green. Like most Africans Americans in the mid-20th century, Green had grown weary of the discrimination blacks faced whenever they ventured outside their neighborhoods. Rates of car ownership had exploded in the years before and after World War II , but the lure of the interstate was also fraught with risk for African Americans. “Whites Only” policies meant that black travelers often couldn’t find safe places to eat and sleep, and so-called “ Sundown Towns ”—municipalities that banned blacks after dark—were scattered across the country. As the foreword of the 1956 edition of the Green Book noted, “the White traveler has had no difficulty in getting accommodations, but with the Negro it has been different.”

READ MORE: Was Jim Crow A Real Person?

Inspired by earlier books published for Jewish audiences, Green developed a guide to help black Americans indulge in travel without fear. The first edition of his Green Book only covered hotels and restaurants in the New York area, but he soon expanded its scope by gathering field reports from fellow postal carriers and offering cash payments to readers who sent in useful information. By the early 1940s, the Green Book boasted thousands of establishments from across the country, all of them either black-owned or verified to be non-discriminatory. The 1949 guide encouraged hungry motorists passing through Denver to stop for a bite at the Dew Drop Inn. Those looking for a bar in the Atlanta area were told to try the Yeah Man, Sportsman’s Smoke Shop or Butler’s. In Richmond, Virginia, Rest-a-Bit was the go-to spot for a ladies’ beauty parlor.

The Green Book’s listings were organized by state and city, with the vast majority located in major metropolises such as Chicago and Detroit. More remote places had fewer options—Alaska only had a lone entry in the 1960 guide —but even in cities with no black-friendly hotels, the book often listed the addresses of home owners who were willing to rent rooms. In 1954, it suggested that visitors to tiny Roswell, New Mexico, should stay at the home of a Mrs. Mary Collins.

READ MORE: How Freedom Rider Diane Nash Risked Her Life to Desegregate the South

The Green Book wasn’t the only handbook for black travelers—another publication called “Travelguide” was marketed with tagline “Vacation and Recreation Without Humiliation”—but it was by far the most popular. Thanks to a sponsorship deal with Standard Oil, the Green Book was available for purchase at Esso gas stations across the country. Though largely unknown to whites, it eventually sold upwards of 15,000 copies per year and was widely used by black business travelers and vacationers alike. In his memoir “ A Colored Man’s Journey Through 20th Century Segregated America ,” Earl Hutchinson Sr. described purchasing a copy in preparation for a road trip he and his wife took from Chicago to California. “The ‘Green Book’ was the bible of every Negro highway traveler in the 1950s and early 1960s,” he wrote. “You literally didn’t dare leave home without it.”

As its popularity grew, the Green Book expanded from a motorists’ companion to an international travel guide. Along with suggestions for the United States, later editions included information on airline and cruise ship journeys to places like Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe. “We know a number of our race who have a long standing love affair with the tempestuous city of Paris,” the 1962 Green Book noted. The guide also offered travel tips and feature articles on certain cities. The 1949 edition shined the spotlight on Robbins, Illinois, a town “owned and operated by Negroes.” In 1954, readers were encouraged to visit San Francisco, which was described as “fast becoming the focal point of the Negroes’ future.”

In offering advice to its readers, the Green Book adopted a pleasant and encouraging tone. It usually avoided discussing racism in explicit terms—one article simply noted that “the Negro travelers’ inconveniences are many”—but as the years passed it began to champion the achievements of the civil rights movement . In one of its last editions in 1963-64, it included a special “Your Rights, Briefly Speaking” feature that listed state statutes related to discrimination in travel accommodations. “The Negro is only demanding what everyone else wants,” the article stressed, “what is guaranteed all citizens by the Constitution of the United States.”

READ MORE: The Silent Protest That Kick-Started the Civil Rights Movement

Victor Hugo Green died in 1960 after more than two decades of publishing his travel guide. His wife Alma took over as editor and continued to release the Green Book in updated editions for a few more years, but just as Green had once hoped, the march of progress eventually helped push it toward obsolescence. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act finally banned racial segregation in restaurants, theaters, hotels, parks and other public places. Just two years later, the Green Book quietly ceased publication after nearly 30 years in print.

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DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Moscow Paperback – March 18, 2013

There is a newer edition of this item:.

Purchase options and add-ons

You'll find detailed listings of the best hotels, restaurants, bars, and shops for all budgets in this fully updated guide, plus insider tips on everything from where to find the best markets and nightspots to which attractions appeal most to children.

This DK Eyewitness Travel Guide 's in-depth coverage of unforgettable sights is completed by the free pull-out city map, clearly marked with sights from the guidebook and an easy-to-use street index. The map has detailed street views of major areas, plus transportation maps, a chart of walking distances between major attractions, and other information on getting around the city.

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Moscow shows you what other guidebooks only tell you.

• Print length 264 pages
• Language English
• Publisher DK Eyewitness Travel
• Publication date March 18, 2013
• Dimensions 5.1 x 0.7 x 8.7 inches
• ISBN-10 0756694914
• ISBN-13 978-0756694913
• See all details

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ DK Eyewitness Travel; Revised edition (March 18, 2013)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 264 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0756694914
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0756694913
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.1 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.1 x 0.7 x 8.7 inches
• #62 in Moscow Travel Guides
• #663 in General Russia Travel Guides

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