How social media is bringing together black travelers
Many incredulous folks around the world are unaccustomed to seeing black Americans traveling abroad.
“Where are you from?” I was asked in South America.
“The United States,” I said.
“But you don’t look American.”
“Who looks American to you?”
“Nicole Kidman.”
“But she’s Australian.”
-blank stare-
It’s not that we haven’t been traveling overseas: proto-Beyoncé Josephine Baker conquered Paris in the 1920s, followed by the likes of Richard Wright and James Baldwin, who are but two of the literary luminaries that penned their experiences about having black and brown faces in strange and exotic places over the past two centuries.
And now, social media has brought together thousands of intrepid black jet setters who trade tips on cheap airfares, most- (and least-) welcoming destinations, best places to get that quick trim or touch-up, and yes, where to get the best fried chicken on the road (one of the stupidest stereotypes around). This increased travel means increased marketability, with black travel spending estimated at around $50 billion.
The 9,000-member-strong Nomadness Travel Tribe, an invite-only Facebook group (with plenty of non-black members) requiring at least one passport stamp to join, is at the forefront of this surge in black travel consciousness, with educational outreach and group trips to Iceland and India among the collective’s activities.
Other sources of inspiration for black travelers include writer Tracey Friley’s Passport Party Project, which facilitates passports and international excursions for young girls of color, Travel Noire, an Instagram feed pulsing with a vibrant, started-from-the-bottom-now-we’re-here energy, and popular travel bloggers like Afro-Canadian Oneika the Traveller, Berlin-based Nicole is the New Black, "melanin-infused" Brown Girls Fly, and location-independent Minority Nomad, to name a scant few.
And with brown traveler blogs like Everywhere All the Time, Ishq in a Backpack, and Intrepid Motion added to the masala, venturing forth and being unabashedly American wherever they go, it’ll soon be evident in other countries that Kerry Washington and Lucy Liu look every bit as American as Nicole Kidman — more, actually, since unlike Kidman, they really are American.