This exercise helped me gain knowledge on different locations throughout the United States and how mapping places/things digitally is quite simple. It makes me question how people used to use paper maps vs. digital ones on phones or a GPS. It proved to me that the advance in digitalizing maps and directions has made a lot of people’s lives much easier, and this tool really proved that.
Mapping/spatial history can teach us about different locations/landmarks/etc that existed and might have been replaced by newer things today. A lot of the places I mapped from my Colorado Guide were small towns that have grown into much bigger towns or different small trails that aren’t found on maps because they are so small. It was interesting to realize how locations back then may have been a bigger location in the past, compared to how people value them now. If they’re not on a map anymore now, I translated that as it now being an important place anymore or just not existing.
The trip that I found from the Green Book project ran through many locations in Denver, Colorado and even had a rest stop in Boulder, Colorado. The trip that I had mapped ran through Boulder and the surrounding towns near it, so seeing that this trip had a rest stop in Boulder made sense to me. Many of the points I mapped in Boulder were small towns or resorts, so I translated that as it was clearly a very residential city and so were the towns/locations surrounding it.
Segregation and racial bias affect tourism because different parts of the country are viewed as being more racist than others. It’s a stereotype that white people from the south may hold older views towards segregation and racism versus other parts of the country such as the north. If someone followed that stereotype, they might avoid being a tourist somewhere in the south. My friends that are POC have even expressed this to me saying that it’s something they do consider when they travel to different locations. The article, “Mapping Racism and Accessing the Success of the Digital Humanities“1 was a really great read and lets people be able to view racism in a different way. Letting people see it through a map takes a different approach and also raises awareness.
Another project we looked at that really caught my eye was the Mapping Inequality project. 2 The key it used to describe whether a part of a city is doing well with racism or bad is really interesting. I think using a map view versus someone just typing something out about a city brings a more interactive approach and makes people more interested to learn more.
I think by using this mapping tool it allowed me to get a better sense of how the country valued different locations differently than they do now. Also, incorporating the different mapping tools that showed segregation and racism was a really great approach and I think it’s a great tool for teachers to use to teach students about racism.
Tour.
Works Cited:
“Mapping Inequality.” Digital Scholarship Lab. Accessed November 17, 2019. https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=11/42.593/-87.82&text=intro.
Mapping Racism And Assessing the Success of the Digital Humanities.” History From Below, October 20, 2017. https://sarahemilybond.com/2017/10/20/mapping-racism-and-assessing-the-success-of-the-digital-humanities/
- “Digital mapping has changed our understanding and access to issues regarding race, segregation, and social justice in the United States.”, Jr, Vincent S Artale. “Mapping Racism And Assessing the Success of the Digital Humanities.” History From Below, October 20, 2017. https://sarahemilybond.com/2017/10/20/mapping-racism-and-assessing-the-success-of-the-digital-humanities/.
- “Mapping Inequality brings one of the country’s most important archives to the public.”, “Mapping Inequality.” Digital Scholarship Lab. Accessed November 17, 2019. https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=11/42.593/-87.82&text=intro.
