American Guide Tour of North Carolina

   The Federal Writer's Project was trying to give Americans a sense of pride with the American Guide Series. Because these were done at the state level it was important for the local people to highlight what they found interesting, important or of historic value and share that with the nation. Each guidebook included tours meant for out of towners to enjoy and see the best of that state. 

  However, as pointed out in the North Carolina guidebook's entry on Fort Fisher, not all states treated out of towners the same. When describing Fort Fisher, instead of using the term "Civil War" to describe a conflict between Confederate and Union soldiers, it's referred to as "the War between the States". This is a very telling way of describing the time period and conflict. What is most interesting is that this was 1939, when one would expect to see a more modern take. It highlights the ongoing injustice in the area at the time.

  Using the website "NAVIGATING THE GREEN BOOK" to look at the same North Carolina tour it is obvious that if the tourist was a person of color their experiences wouldn't have been the same. There are no safe places for African Americans on this tour. They would have been met with racism, disrimination and segregation at every stop. Many of the stops on this tour celebrate Confederate soldiers. For people who may have been enslaved, or children of enslaved people these sites would have been experienced very differently. 

*Image is a screenshot from Navigating the Green Book, using the 1947 heat map, from Greensboro to Wilmington. Accessed 11/26, 2019. Taken by Jessica Burgess.

Citation: 

Utah State University Libraries."The American Guide Series: American Culture Defined: The American Guide Series". 2019. Accessed 12/4/19. http://exhibits.usu.edu/exhibits/show/americanguideseries/americanguideseries