How does your research frame and expand on the information already out there? I decided to do my dissertation on the Green Book, but I discovered that this travel guide was only a small part of the story. She asked me if I had ever heard of the Negro Motorist Green Book and I was intrigued. I started thinking about this topic more than 15 years ago when a colleague and I were working on an exhibition in the resort community of Saratoga Springs, New York. Driving While Black is a very extensive and complex account of the African American experience of transportation in America.

I'll discuss the important role of the automobile in African American life. While there is considerable scholarship on the overall importance of the automobile in American history, there has not been an exploration of how cars changed the lives of black Americans in ways that were both significant and unexpected. Be sure to check out her reading recommendations toward the end! What will you discuss at your upcoming NYPL Talk? Sorin kindly answered some questions about her process and work. Her years of research have also been used by Ric Burns in an upcoming PBS documentary. Sorin will discuss her new book, Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights.

On February 20, 2020, Grand Central Library is hosting Gretchen Sorin, Director of Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies.

Driving while black gretchen sorin