Congratulations to Calvin Stovall!

​I am thrilled and delighted to observe that Calvin Stovall has been nominated by the NAACP’s Image Awards for Outstanding Literary Work, Non-Fiction, for his Hidden Hospitality: Untold Stories of Black Hotel, Motel, and Resort Owners from the Pioneer Days to the Civil Rights Era. I was privileged to work with Calvin on this book as his editor.

This was a passion project for Calvin, but also an intense investigation of Black hoteliery and hospitality from colonial days to the present. Given the realities of segregation, many Black travelers were prohibited from finding accommodation as they travelled. The response was a vibrant landscape of Black hotels, restaurants, and resorts where not only could weary travelers find respite, but several generations of Black entertainers found employment, started careers, and made names for themselves. It is therefore not only a story of Black entrepreneurship, but also of Black community and Black joy. Beyond that, Calvin also shows how many enterprises thrived, allowing proprietors to become stolid community members and even political power brokers in their own right. The upshot of this is that many Black-owned hotels and restaurants became vital headquarters and meeting grounds for activists during the long civil rights era.
 
Calvin’s work has inspired my current research into Daisy Lampkin. Lampkin’s husband, William, was a restaurateur in the Pittsburgh area. Daisy and William also spent many summers on the road, traveling to Idlewild in Michigan or Morris Beach, New Jersey, near Atlantic City, which Calvin shows were among the several vibrant resorts of which Black travelers availed themselves.
 
Great work, Calvin! Can’t wait to read what you’ve got in store for us next!