Driving While Black

"Make[s] powerfully clear the magnitude of the injustices and harrowing encounters endured by African-Americans traveling by ‘open’ road, as well as of their quiet acts of rebellion and protest, which went far beyond having to find alternative places to eat, sleep and buy gas…. Deeply researched… Driving While Black is more focused on the history of African-American car ownership and travel, exploring why both have been so important to African-American life.... A scholarly examination of the history of black mobility in this country from the antebellum period to now, including the ongoing quest by whites in power to deny or restrict that mobility."
― Bridgett M. Davis, New York Times Book Review

"I’d never given much thought to how the ability of Black families to afford cars and go places influenced the course of history. Sorin weaves together gruesome tales of Black accident victims, the way Black affluence led corporations to try to profit from integration, and much more.... [A] tour de force."
― Stephen L. Carter, Bloomberg, "Best Nonfiction Books of 2020"

"Driving While Black is a marvel. It is the work of a brilliant mind and a beautiful heart. Sorin, a professor at State University of New York at Albany, dazzles with plain language. She writes in a way that academics and laypersons will both admire. Sorin combines impeccable, exhaustive research and personal stories with a seamless elegance, somehow managing to hold the object under examination far enough away to consider it fully and close enough to really inhabit it."
― Michael Kleber-Diggs, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"This excellent history illuminates how car ownership provided a measure of safety and independence and also played a vital role in the civil-rights movement."
― New Yorker

"The sweeping story of African Americans and automobiles―a tale of mobility and mobilization that helped fuel the Civil Rights Movement."
― Erin Blakemore, Smithsonian

"A riveting story on how the automobile opened up opportunities for blacks in the U.S…. In Sorin’s work, her prose and talent for turning examples into captivating stories prevent the book from being a mere sociological study of how black travel changed the nation. Instead, she blends her own family’s history, and those who experienced the black travel revolution, to make the book enjoyable and noteworthy since it shows how the changes ushered in civil rights."
― Russell Contreras, Associated Press

"Lucidly written and generously illustrated with photos and artifacts, this rigorous and entertaining history deserves a wide readership."
― Publishers Weekly [starred review]

"Driving While Black also chronicles the rise of car culture in tandem with rock ‘n’ roll music (Chuck Berry loved his Cadillacs), as well as the vast network of black-friendly establishments outlined in the popular Green Book. Feeling gassed up yet? Grab this book to-go and get to reading."
― Matt Gifford, BookPage

"Sorin’s engaging account of black motoring exposes a rough road in race relations but also a technology’s impact on black freedom. A great resource for people learning about black freedoms―and the fragility of those freedoms―in the automobile era and during the civil rights movement."
― Library Journal

"An eye-opening history of the terrible discrimination practiced routinely against African American drivers. . . [A] powerful story. . . The author provides an in-depth look at the significance of Victor Green’s (literally) lifesaving The Green Book. . . A pleasing combination of terrific research and storytelling and engaging period visuals."
― Kirkus Reviews

Gretchen Sorin is distinguished professor and director of the Cooperstown Graduate Program of the State University of New York. She has curated innumerable exhibits―including with the Smithsonian, the Jewish Museum and the New York State Historical Association―and lives in upstate New York.