Celebrating 65 Years: Pioneering African-American Travel Agency Offers Unique Travel Experiences

The agency planned Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s trip to Oslo when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

Before the current boom of black travel nomads and influencers, there were African-American pioneers who charted a course that would revolutionize the way black travelers traversed the world. More than 80 years ago, postal service worker and travel writer Victor Hugo Green had the foresight to create The Negro Motorist Green Book, a travel guide that was initially the go-to source for black American travelers. It featured a list of recommended hotels, restaurants, and gas stations that catered to black patrons when Jim Crow laws and racial segregation were prominent in the U.S.

Born in Harlem, New York, Green published the first edition of The Negro Motorist Green Book in 1936, printing 15,000 copies every year. In 1952, he broadened the scope of the guide to encompass travel beyond road trips by changing the name to The Negro Travelers’ Green Book.

Moreover, come June, visitors to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, will be the first to see a traveling exhibition dedicated to the Green Book. The exhibit will provide insight into Green’s vision to inspire African-Americans to travel as well as inform a community of the safe spaces across the country. “We’re calling out some really great Green Book business owners and their stories with video and interviews,” said Candacy Taylor, the curator and content specialist for the exhibit. “I’ve found and tracked down family members about artifacts, so there’s about 50 objects, including my photographs of the buildings and businesses today.”

Taylor’s new book, Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America, will serve as the companion piece to the new exhibition, scheduled to make its way around the U.S. through 2024. The book chronologically traces the social mobility and history of African-Americans over the last century.

For the book, the cultural documentarian utilized her stepfather’s firsthand accounts of growing up in the segregated South, her own travels to dozens of businesses listed in the Green Book, and her experiences collaborating with literary scholars and cultural critics, like Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., an award-winning filmmaker and the director of the Hutchins Center for African & African-American Research at Harvard University. She poured all her hard work into telling the story of a resilient community and culture.

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“As much as black Americans have faced numerous challenges and have experienced some low points, it’s in those moments that we’ve accomplished incredible things,” stated Taylor. “We have this incredible legacy.” Part of that legacy, noted in the popular travel guide, includes black-owned and operated businesses that range from restaurants serving delicious soul food to vibrant nightclubs where patrons could enjoy performances by music icons such as Billie Holiday.

One of the key figures in Taylor’s book is Victor Hugo Green, who strived to provide African-Americans with the essential tools to travel in the U.S., and eventually abroad. In 1949, Green expanded his travel guide empire and launched Reservation Bureau in partnership with Maher Travel Bureau in New York. The company offered trips to the West Indies, Bermuda, Europe, South America, and Africa. As advertised in the Green Book from 1949 to 1957, this new collaboration was aimed not just at encouraging African-Americans to travel abroad but also at providing an underserved community with crucial travel logistics, from applying for passports and visas to organizing travel via airline, railroad, and, at that time, steamship.

The 1950s were hailed as the “golden age of travel.” According to Taylor’s book, international travel gained popularity among the black community. The airline industry emerged as the new mode of travel, offering perks such as arriving just 30 minutes before a flight and enjoying gourmet in-flight meals. As more black jet-setters traveled beyond U.S. borders, they quickly noticed the welcoming reception they received abroad, particularly during a time when African-Americans were still advocating for equality. Langston Hughes described how “colored performers live normally as human beings” overseas. He, along with other renowned artists and entertainers like Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald, felt accepted and were warmly welcomed while visiting Europe.

In 1954, Freddye Henderson, who later established Henderson Travel Service, the nation’s first African-American-owned travel agency, took a group of black female fashion designers to Europe. Much like the celebrities, they shared their remarkable travel experiences with family and friends. “My mother told my father how easy it was to organize the trip and how well-received they were as black women in Europe. This motivated her to open Henderson Travel a year later,” said Gaynelle Henderson, Freddye’s daughter and the company’s current president.

For Freddye, the journey sparked an epiphany. She recognized that if she shared the story of how African-Americans were treated well abroad, more people would be encouraged to travel internationally. In 1955, Freddye and her husband, Jacob, opened Henderson Travel Service in Atlanta to assist African-Americans seeking to explore international destinations. Coincidentally, it was also the same year that Rosa Parks stood her ground, refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

The agency organized thousands of trips for black travelers, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s visit to Oslo, Norway, where he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement. Freddye accompanied him on this significant journey.

During the agency’s early years, the Hendersons recognized the potential of specializing in travel to Africa. In the 1950s, they endeavored to plan trips to promote exploration of the continent’s diverse cultures. There were only a few travel companies offering services to what was then referred to as the “Dark Continent,” but this agency provided exclusive services, including chartering flights to West Africa, where commercial flights were not available. Their decision to focus on organizing trips and tours to Africa would not only become a significant revenue stream for the company, but also serve an underserved travel market and establish valuable connections within the black community.

“We really had the advantage because our niche specialization was African tours,” said Gaynelle. “We had a well-known reputation because my parents, in particular, collaborated closely with nearly all the major African-American professional organizations during those early years.” These social and professional organizations included the National Bar Association, National Medical Association, historically black colleges and universities, as well as black fraternities, sororities, and churches.

With their credibility in the travel industry and long-standing trust among African-American travelers, Henderson Travel Service did not escape a few changes in the 1980s – more than 30 years after opening their doors. In 1984, Gaynelle, one of Freddye and Jacob’s four children, launched a new office in Washington, DC. Meanwhile, the Atlanta office continued operations with her parents still at the forefront. However, in 1989, Henderson Travel Service closed in Atlanta, and the Hendersons passed the baton to their daughter to take charge of the family business.

From an early age, Gaynelle recalls learning the ropes from her parents. “I remember writing airline tickets with my sisters and brother. My mother would give us a list of names along with a prototype of how to write the ticket, including city segments, airlines, and departure times,” she said. “We would literally copy that ticket and manually change the names by hand.” On weekends, Gaynelle and her siblings would use a mimeograph to print travel information that their mother would mail out to clients.

From handwritten tickets to printed tickets to electronic boarding passes, Henderson has experienced it all. As times changed, the agency adapted its operations as well. As the new president of the agency, Gaynelle aimed to diversify the company to enhance its revenue streams. Consequently, she obtained her AA certification in Small Business Administration to enable the agency to compete for federal government travel contracts, especially since it was now based in Washington, DC. Initially, her dedication and efforts did not secure her a spot at the table, leading her to expand the company’s offerings to include conference management, which involved similar skills, including logistics planning and booking.

In 1989, this strategy was validated. “The first time we submitted a proposal for a contract, we won it,” she said. “That happened to be a $1 million contract with Health and Human Services to plan and manage a series of conferences focused on AIDS and the minority community in various cities across the country.” From this fruitful endeavor, Henderson Associates emerged as a new consulting division under the Henderson Travel Service brand. This new revenue stream proved essential for the agency’s survival during difficult times, including the Great Recession from 2007 to 2009.

Henderson Travel Service continues to enhance its reputation for specializing in tours to Africa, including its most popular destinations such as Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa. Meanwhile, Henderson Associates focuses on federal government contracts and assisting other countries in building their market shares. This initiative has revitalized the company, fostering valuable partnerships and connections. In 1990, for instance, Ghana Airways approached Henderson and appointed her as their national manager for North America, aiming to increase the number of African-American travelers visiting the West African nation.

In 2001, Henderson Associates secured a contract to collaborate with Bermuda’s Minister of Tourism, David Allen, on the African Diaspora Heritage Trail conference, where countries and individuals of African descent convened on the island to discuss the historical and cultural influences of enslaved people on their communities.

Over the past decade, Henderson Travel Service has adapted to the rise of travel apps and online aggregators by capitalizing on its well-established reputation and expanding its tour offerings to include group-requested destinations such as India, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia while still managing a few tours to Africa each year. Henderson believes that the intrigue surrounding Africa is due to its unfamiliarity as a travel destination. “People remain uninformed about Africa, which poses a challenge in travel planning. They often don’t know where to start,” she assessed. “Some travelers still prefer assistance from a specialist who can adeptly plan their journeys to Africa.”

Celebrating 65 years in the travel industry this year, Henderson Travel Service endures through Freddye and Jacob’s daughter as she and the agency continue to offer travelers unique experiences in Africa. Henderson mentioned that she’s semi-retired and contemplating the agency’s next chapter. However, for now, she is focused on planning more tours and writing a book that her mother initiated, which will provide travelers, historians, and cultural documentarians a glimpse into the lives of an African-American family that rose to prominence in the travel industry.