Driving While Black: African Americans on the Road in the Era of Jim Crow

The documentary film Driving While Black: African Americans on the Road in the Era of Jim Crow chronicles the history of African Americans on the road from the 1930s to the 1960s and the genre of travel literature aimed at helping black travelers navigate Jim Crow America. Preview clips from the film and join Senior Historical Advisor Gretchen Sullivan Sorin for a discussion on mobility and race in America.

Gretchen Sullivan Sorin holds a BA degree from Rutgers University in American Studies, an MA in Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program, and a PhD from Albany University in history.  Dr. Sorin has more than thirty years of experience as a museum consultant working for more than 250 museums. She has served as an exhibition guest curator for many exhibitions including the nationally acclaimed traveling exhibition, Bridges and Boundaries: African Americans and American Jews for the Jewish Museum in New York and Wilderness Cure: Tuberculosis and the Adirondacks for the Adirondack Museum. Dr. Sorin writes and lectures frequently on African American history and museum practice.  Her books include Touring Historic Harlem, Four Walks in Northern Manhattan with architectural historian Andrew Dolkart, In the Spirit of Martin:  The Living Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Through the Eyes of Others: African Americans and Identity in American Art and Case Studies in Cultural Entrepreneurship: How to Create Relevant and Sustainable Institutions.  She is currently working with Ric Burns and Steeplechase Films on a documentary film on African Americans and the automobile and travel during the era of Jim Crow.