Black Tour Companies are Showcasing Black History, One Step at a Time

Image: Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor. (Photo Credit: Stephen Grabis)

by Mariette Williams
Last updated: 7:00 AM ET, Sun August 25, 2024

A walking tour is one of the most enriching travel experiences. It can retrace the steps of famous history makers, include stops at local restaurants, and provide the little-known history of museums or landmarks. Another perk? Walking tours are often accompanied by expert tour guides who are available to answer real-time questions. And for these Black-owned tour companies, walking tours also serve the mission of showcasing and preserving Black history.

Raina Yancey founded The Black Journey: Black History Walking Tour in 2019. The tour company provides four tours around Philadelphia's Black history landmarks, and Yancey credits her mother with inspiring her love of history.

“My mother, Dr. Victoria Ward Yancey, was a park ranger at Independence Hall National Historical Park when I was growing up,” she says. “I would accompany my mother to work on holidays and run around the park behind the scenes, absorbing all the history like a sponge, which is where I developed my passion for history.”?

Philadelphia is one of the most historically significant cities in America, and through her tours, Yancy hopes to spotlight the city's often-overlooked Black history.

“It’s important to share Philadelphia’s Black history with travelers from all over the world because our history is significant to the foundation of this nation,” she explains. “Often, these stories are not told in traditional educational settings, so we feel we have a duty to share stories about these incredible individuals and events.”?

Yancey says that travelers booking tours can expect to hear engaging stories about the Underground Railroad, abolitionists who risked their lives, and enslaved Africans who survived the horrific journey of the Middle Passage. Ultimately, Yancey says the most rewarding part of giving tours is “meeting visitors from around the world and sharing new information that even lifelong Philadelphians might not have heard of.”

The Black Journey: Black History Walking Tour.

In Miami, Tap Tap Tours is also on a mission to spotlight Black history and culture, especially from Miami’s Haitian community. Jean Cidelca has been leading tours for eight years and says that sharing Black history with travelers is important because “Black history is human history.”

Some of the company’s most popular tours are the La Perle De Miami Little Haiti Tour,?the Overtown Home Tour includes stops in Miami's Historically Black Overtown neighborhood, and the Revolution Tour teaches about pioneers of The Haitian Revolution.

"It was important for us to create these walking tours in Miami to educate people, but also to connect locals to their roots and culture,” Cidelca says. “Though we have some tours with set itineraries, we can also create a customized experience based on the individual's interest.”

Cidelca says it’s rewarding when people say they learned a lot on the tours, but his tours go beyond education and have brought families together.?

“We had a really memorable moment on a recent tour,” he says. “We conducted a tour for a family that adopted two kids from Haiti. The parents came from Argentina to Miami to educate their children about their birth country and Haitian culture.”?

Terry Alford, Executive Director, Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor.

In Buffalo, New York, the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor has been offering walking tours of the neighborhood for four years. The tours share Buffalo’s African American history, which dates back to the 1830s and includes an Underground Railroad stop. Executive Director Terry Alford says the tours became necessary when several of the neighborhood's historic sites closed during the pandemic, and visitors were still eager to learn about the area’s Black history.?

“Developing walking tours allowed the Corridor to share stories of people and places that extend beyond the four remaining historic sites (Michigan Street Baptist Church, Nash House Museum, Historic Colored Music Club, and WUFO Black Radio History Collective),” Alford explains. “Through these tours, we are able to tell important stories, like that of John E. Brent, Buffalo’s first African American architect and designer of the Michigan Street YMCA.”

Travelers can sign up for 45-minute walking tours that include the four historic sites and a background of the neighborhood's history to its present state. Alford’s vision for the current neighborhood is to attract developers to build a “thriving Black-business district where visitors and residents can live, work, and play.”

Audrey Clark, the program’s Curator of Exhibits and Interpretive Programming, says that sharing Buffalo’s Black history with travelers highlights the often unrepresented part of the city’s identity and honors the struggles and achievements of past generations.?

“This history fosters a sense of connection and respect among visitors, allowing them to see Buffalo not just as a destination but as a place where Black agency, creativity, and resilience have left an indelible mark,” Clark says. “By promoting this history, we inspire future generations to appreciate the importance of inclusivity, social justice, and community empowerment. The Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor serves as a living testament to the power of Black history and its ongoing relevance today, making Buffalo’s story one that all travelers should experience.”

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