Taking a Trip? How about The Road to Freedom

Man…I really wanted to post a rant about the foolishness of this ‘Black-Brown Divide’ mess that has consumed the nation with Barack’s campaign, but I didn’t want to immediately contribute to the negativity that has been spreading. The current primary of this country is a marvelous thing to witness, if not for the history it presents, and I think some positive ideas do our readers well.

With that said, check out a new book called ‘On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail’ by Charles E. Cobb, Jr. It’s a modern-day Rick Steves-esque guide book to explore the rich history of our culture when visiting states like Maryland, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama, including cool historical facts of Washington D.C.

“I wanted to write a book people could actually use, and a travel book seemed to be the way to do it,” said Cobb, who was a field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the Mississippi Delta in the 1960s. “But while this is a travel book, I also consciously wrote it as a story … I was trying to put things into the mix of the historical discussion, both in terms of place and in terms of people—especially women—who simply are virtually unknown.”

Cobb also notes that many familiar places have layers of connections to black history. “The U.S. Capitol and the White House were both built by slave labor,” Cobb said in an interview. “It gets to the founding contradictions of our country—all those eloquent expressions of freedom in the Declaration of Independence. On the other hand, you have slavery.”

I’m a big history fan and great books like this always make trips to cities for conferences more exciting. Nothing like a good ‘Did you know?’ to keep one’s mind its proper perspective. What’s more, you read these stories and appreciate the history we’re witnessing today even more!

(video below from chicagotribune.com)

[via: chicagotribune]
[link: buy book]