Faculty Research Fellows Lunch with Allyson Hobbs

Allyson Hobbs: "Far From Sanctuary: African American Travel in Twentieth-Century America"

Professor Allyson Hobbs' talk takes mobility as its central theme and calls for a reconsideration of the automobile and its iconic role in American culture. How might the social and cultural meanings of travel and the car change once removed from their mythic place in Americana and placed in the context of African American life? The car and the ability to travel are emblematic of freedom and autonomy. What might they mean to people who have experienced countless forms of unfreedom and whose movements have been limited, controlled, and constrained? Professor Hobbs centers the experiences of African American women -- as drivers, as hotel owners, and as hosts who welcomed weary travelers into their homes.

Allyson Hobbs is Associate Professor of History.