Black Girl Travel Problems: Southern Style
I’m a born and raised Southerner. I don’t like the cold, sweet tea is my jam, and cornbread is a gift from heaven. I cringe when I see the confederate flag, and I know what the term “sundown town” means. Being Black, female, and Southern requires a level of balance that I still haven’t reached. Now throw in a love of travel and photography, and you’ll see we have a problem.
Plantations
I can’t say that I don’t want to travel in the South because that’s a lie. This region of the country is full of beautiful places. It’s also full of spaces that represent cultural trauma. Often times those two things aren’t disparate. Many of those beautiful places are former plantations. Those grand old homes with beautiful grounds were built on the backs of my ancestors.
They were places of fear, degradation, and torture. Some of them still have old slave quarters or replicas of them. I think about everything that may have occurred on those lands, and the beauty drains away in my mind. I have been against the idea of plantations as backdrops for a long while. Now I find myself forced to reconcile that belief with reality. Those beautifully grand old Southern homes with the lovely grounds drenched in my ancestors’ blood aren’t going anywhere. They’ll always be “great places to photograph”, wedding venues, and historical sites. Maybe it’s time that I just consider them one more piece of my history.
Sundown Towns
If you’re Black and Southern, you probably know the meaning of “sundown town”. If you don’t well it’s not hard to guess. Sundown towns are cities/towns that aren’t safe for Black folks after dusk. You don’t get out of the car there, and if you’re smart you don’t stop there at all. It’s 2019, and places like this still exist. If I’m honest there are places I’m uncomfortable with during the day.
My best friend and I travel to Knoxville, TN a few times a year. There’s a town called Monterey along the way. We stopped because I had to pee…I always have to pee. We went into a place to use the restroom, and you could feel the stares as we walked through the space. I have never peed so fast in my entire life. We got back into the car, and both of us were like damn, let’s never stop here again. Am I saying that those people would have done us harm? No, I’m saying that they made both of us extremely uncomfortable. No one wants to be where they feel they aren’t wanted.
Suspicious Characters
“Looking suspicious” because you’re TWB isn’t strictly a Southern phenomenon by any means. It is a special kind of hell when you’re from the South though. We already know that there are spaces where we aren’t welcome. We know that it’s best to drive the speed limit and keep our heads down least we end up a hashtag. For me there’s always this internal twitch that happens when someone stares at me too long, or if I feel like I’m being watched in a store. I’m generally carefree but aware, but there are times where I’m leery of even pulling out my camera. You grow up knowing the signs, and it’s hard to not see them especially when you’re traveling deeper into the South.
99 Problems
Black girl travel problems range from sunscreen induced ashiness to fearing for our safety. I wonder if we’d travel more and worry less if sunscreen ash and poofy hair were our only issues. Me, I’m a Southern girl, and no matter where I go that’s not going to change. I’m always going to be mad about unsweet tea and trash ass mac & cheese. I will continue to to bless your heart, but I won’t stop being aware of what my Blackness means. Even if I photograph plantations, I won’t forget that my ancestors bled into the soul of those places. I got 99 problems they include ashy sunscreen, poofy hair, and the worrying about my safety in this world.
