The Black Experience

Milan, Italy

October 27, 1997

To my granddaughter,

There is richness in our history. This I want you to know. Do not let anyone look down on your or make you feel less because of your skin color. You are beautiful. You are intelligent. Your skin radiates with brilliance, and from your mind flows excellence.

I’m glad you now have this little black book. I am currently writing this letter to you from Milan, Italy, while on a journey to discover the richness of the African diaspora and the experiences that many greats such as Langston Hughes and Mary Church Terrell had in Italy.

I came across a small shop selling small black books with soft covers called Moleskine and purchased one to document a journey that I want you to take. In the pages that follow, you will find many sights and wonders across the world that will allow you to experience and witness for yourself what our ancestors were able to make out of their circumstances. I am thrilled you will be taking this journey. Included in the notebook is everything you need, including all the money you will need to travel to the seven destinations I have chosen to help you learn more about your history.

Enjoy, sweet girl, and be sure to tell me about everything you learn when you return. Also, don’t forget to stop at the little shop in Milan to buy another small black notebook to create a journey for your own granddaughter to take. Let’s inspire knowledge and wonder by embracing each other and learning about the Black experience.

Jackson, Mississippi

October 27, 2019

My dear grandmother handed me a box with an old little black book in it today for my birthday. Excitement filled her eyes as she gave me the box that she had been holding onto until the day I turned 23, which was when she took her journey across the world while writing her dissertation on the Black experience in countries around the globe.

I wasn’t sure why she was so excited to give the journal to me. I thought maybe it was just a book with pictures and her notes from her travels, which would only serve to make me jealous that I couldn’t travel the world like she could. I had no clue what to expect.

I opened the journal and found a letter from my grandmother. The letter revealed all the money to follow her journey across the world was included in the notebook. I could barely contain my excitement and screamed, dropping the notebook and the massive wad of cash and a prepaid debit card — totaling $20,000 — as I rushed to give my grandmother the biggest hug I had ever given her.

"Grandma, you don't know how much this means to me. I thought this was just going to be a gift that told me about your travels, but this is life changing. I can’t wait to take this journey. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” I screamed.

I scrambled to pick up the little black book to which I now clung to for dear life as it would serve as my guide on my journey along with the money she included for me. The money was already converted into Mexican pesos, Dominican pesos, Colombian pesos, Brazilian reales, and euros.

"You're welcome, my sweet girl. All of your flights have already been booked and paid for in full,” my grandmother responded.

“Your first flight leaves tomorrow at 8 a.m.,” my mom said with a smile.

“Now go pack your things and be prepared for a monumental trip,” my grandmother said.

“But before you go, please promise me that you will document this experience. Also, please promise me that buy a notebook just like this one once you arrive in Milan that you will use to create a similar experience for your granddaughter," my grandmother said, grabbing my hand and looking me in the eyes.

“I promise," I responded as she pulled me in for another warm embrace.

Yanga, Veracruz, Mexico

October 28, 2019

I landed in a world of color, culture, and decadent Afro-Mexican cuisine in Yanga, Veracruz. My grandmother’s notebook led me to the house of Maria Yanga, a descendant of the famous Black slave Gaspar Yanga who escaped slavery and founded the first free community for Afro-Mexicans.

During my time with Maria, I learned about the slave trade in Mexico and the incredible impact African descendants have had on the Mexican culture. Maria and a group of Afro-Mexican women taught me how to make salsa macha, a peanut and chile salsa made by many Afro-Mexicans in Veracruz, as well as plantain empanadas. I had no idea that Africans had such an enormous influence on the culture and cuisine in Veracruz and that the food they made was completely different from the food I enjoyed at many Mexican restaurants back home.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

November 2, 2019

When I landed in Santo Domingo, I saw so many Black people that I thought I was in Mississippi for a moment. That was until my cab driver asked me where I was going in Spanish. I had never in my life seen so many Black people outside of the United States. It felt incredible to be embraced by the Afro-Dominican community.

In Santo Domingo, I visited a hair salon that was helping Black women embrace their natural curls and beauty. I learned a painful history of Black women and men being told not to marry those of darker skin to adelantar la Raza or "advance the race," a concept I repeatedly heard in Black communities across Latin America. However, many Dominicans are stepping out against anti-blackness and are instead embracing their African heritage. The Dominicans, who I had the pleasure of staying with, taught me how to dance bachata and make mangú (mashed plantains).

Quibdo, Choco, Colombia

November 7, 2019

I was beginning to see and embrace the African diaspora's strong connections and influence throughout my journey. My visit to Quibdo, Colombia, was no different. The people greeted me with warmth and love as if I were family.

In Colombia, I learned about the land rights of the Afro-Colombian people and how Afro-Colombians were struggling to recover their ancestral lands along the coasts of Colombia. I spent several days with Catalina, a young Afro-Colombian around my age who taught as a schoolteacher during the week and helped her parents run a fruit stand in a market owned by her grandparents on the weekends. Catalina and her family also took me to San Basilio de Palenque, the Americas' first free Black town. San Basilio de Palenque was my favorite place in Colombia. Colorful murals lined the walls of buildings. My favorite mural read: “I Love Being Black.”

Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

November 12, 2019

Antônia, a friend of my grandmother's, greeted me with a warm bowl of feijoada, a mixture of meat, beans, and rice, when I entered her home in Bahia, Brazil. She explained that feijoada was the national dish of Brazil and could be traced back to slavery in Brazil. Afro-Brazilian slaves used the scraps of food received from their masters to make this dish to feed their families. As in the Dominican Republic, I was amazed to see so many Black people in Brazil. I learned that Brazil has the largest population of African descendants outside of the continent of Africa, which was mindboggling.

No wonder my grandmother added Brazil as a stop in the notebook!

I explored the elegant architecture in the state of Bahia and took several capoeira classes. I learned that capoeira was a martial arts form used by Afro-Brazilians as a brilliantly strategic way to mask defense techniques with dance. And of course, my trip to Brazil would not have been complete without learning about “o Jogo bonito,” the incredible soccer technique Afro-Brazilians adapted to avoid racial tensions on the soccer field.

This journey made me realize how much of a positive impact people of African descent have had globally.

Madrid, Spain

November 22, 2019

I was a bit disoriented when I landed in Madrid due to jetlag, but I was grateful to finally have set foot in Europe.

My grandmother’s notebook led me to the villa of Dr. Daniela Pérez, an Afro-Spanish woman who taught Afro-Spanish history. Dr. Pérez taught me about the history of the slave trade in Spain and the racial tensions in Spain.

Dr. Pérez also introduced me to many Afro-Spanish women who were starting a movement to raise awareness of Black consciousness and Black women's beauty in Spain. We also toured the Group of African Studies, a group created two years before my grandmother arrived in Spain at the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid.

Milan, Italy

November 27, 2019

My final destination was Milan, Italy, where I thought there was not much information on the Black experience. But little did I know, my grandmother had several places for me to tour in the little black notebook.

My historical tour of Italy led me to the home of Alessandria de Gesu, an Afro-Italian woman who told me stories of slavery in Italy, and Saint Benedict the Moor, a saint of the Catholic church who was born to African slaves. She also took me to Italy's famous sites visited by prominent Black Americans, such as Langston Hughes and Mary Church Terrell.

The journey to learn more about the Black experience abroad was humbling and eye-opening.

I didn’t forget my grandmother’s request for me to stop at the little shop she went to in 1997. Alessandria gave me directions on how to get to the shop. As I walked up to the shop, I thought about my grandmother as a 23-year-old walking along the same path after taking the same journey and learning a great deal about our history. I walked into the shop and bought a small black notebook with a softcover. I carried the notebook with me to a tea shop and began writing a letter to my granddaughter as I drank tea and ate cannolis. I should have known that this would be the trip of a lifetime know that my grandmother Dr. Carter is a historian and former history professor.

Jackson, Mississippi

December 2, 2019

“So tell me how it went,” my grandmother said as we sat down at her kitchen table to have tea and tea cakes. Her eyes were wide with curiosity as she spoke.

"It was incredible! Words cannot express how amazing the trip was. It's amazing how a little black book could open a world of opportunities, knowledge, and exploration. Thank you, grandma. You’re the best,” I responded.

I reached inside my backpack and pulled out something that brought a smile to her face. It was a little black notebook with a letter written to my granddaughter dated November 27, 2019, in Milan, Italy.