![]() No one who reads Driving While Black can fail to be moved and wonderstruck by how far American society has come in the last century and a half in forwarding the dream of equal mobility for all, and by how far we still have to go. Gretchen Sorin has spent decades exploring this deeply researched, acutely felt, and penetrating study of race, space, and mobility in America-and a lifetime thinking about the issues and experiences that underlie it. A pleasing combination of terrific research and storytelling and engaging period visuals. The author provides an in-depth look at the significance of Victor Green’s (literally) lifesaving The Green Book. A great resource for people learning about black freedoms-and the fragility of those freedoms-in the automobile era and during the civil rights movement.Īn eye-opening history of the terrible discrimination practiced routinely against African American drivers. Sorin’s engaging account of black motoring exposes a rough road in race relations but also a technology’s impact on black freedom. Feeling gassed up yet? Grab this book to-go and get to reading. ![]() Lucidly written and generously illustrated with photos and artifacts, this rigorous and entertaining history deserves a wide readership.ĭriving While Black also chronicles the rise of car culture in tandem with rock ‘n’ roll music (Chuck Berry loved his Cadillacs), as well as the vast network of black-friendly establishments outlined in the popular Green Book. Instead, she blends her own family’s history, and those who experienced the black travel revolution, to make the book enjoyable and noteworthy since it shows how the changes ushered in civil rights. In Sorin’s work, her prose and talent for turning examples into captivating stories prevent the book from being a mere sociological study of how black travel changed the nation. The sweeping story of African Americans and automobiles-a tale of mobility and mobilization that helped fuel the Civil Rights Movement.Ī riveting story on how the automobile opened up opportunities for blacks in the U.S…. This excellent history illuminates how car ownership provided a measure of safety and independence and also played a vital role in the civil-rights movement. Michael Kleber-Diggs - Minneapolis Star-Tribune Sorin combines impeccable, exhaustive research and personal stories with a seamless elegance, somehow managing to hold the object under examination far enough away to consider it fully and close enough to really inhabit it. ![]() She writes in a way that academics and laypersons will both admire. Sorin, a professor at State University of New York at Albany, dazzles with plain language. It is the work of a brilliant mind and a beautiful heart. ![]() Carter, Bloomberg, "Best Nonfiction Books of 2020"ĭriving While Black is a marvel. Sorin weaves together gruesome tales of Black accident victims, the way Black affluence led corporations to try to profit from integration, and much more. I’d never given much thought to how the ability of Black families to afford cars and go places influenced the course of history. A scholarly examination of the history of black mobility in this country from the antebellum period to now, including the ongoing quest by whites in power to deny or restrict that mobility. Deeply researched… Driving While Black is more focused on the history of African-American car ownership and travel, exploring why both have been so important to African-American life. Make powerfully clear the magnitude of the injustices and harrowing encounters endured by African-Americans traveling by ‘open’ road, as well as of their quiet acts of rebellion and protest, which went far beyond having to find alternative places to eat, sleep and buy gas….
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