Black Travel: More than just a Movement

Historically, Black travelers have dealt with harassment and humiliation when traveling. In response to these ongoing issues, Black travelers have taken things into their own hands, creating companies and organizations ‘for us, by us’ – Black men and women organizing and leading trips and tours around the world. This collective of Black travelers has morphed into what is now known in the industry as ‘The Black Travel Movement’ (BTM). Despite the growing popularity of these groups, academic research in this area remains sparse, with only a few studies published to date (Alderman, 2013; Butler, Carter & Brunn, 2002; Carter, 2008; Dillette et. al., 2018). Therefore, we thought it important to explore the roots of this Black travel movement through the eyes of its founders. Using social movement theory as a theoretical lens, a preliminary analysis of ten in-depth interviews was conducted to answer: What are the lived experiences of leaders in the Black Travel Movement