African Americans on Martha's Vineyard


Book Description

African Americans of Martha's Vineyard have an epic history. From the days when slaves toiled away in the fresh New England air, through abolition and Reconstruction and continuing into recent years, African Americans have fought arduously to preserve a vibrant culture here. Discover how the Vineyard became a sanctuary for slaves during the Civil War and how many blacks first came to the island as indentured servants. Read tales of the Shearer Cottage, a popular vacation destination for prominent blacks from Harry T. Burleigh to Scott Joplin, and how Martin Luther King Jr. vacationed here as well. Venture through the Vineyard with local tour guide Thomas Dresser and learn about people such as Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and President Barack Obama, who return to the Vineyard for respite from a demanding world.







Finding Martha's Vineyard


Book Description

A portrait of the thriving African-American community on the island of Martha's Vineyard describes the various groups who settled in Oak Bluffs, including vacationing families, local domestics, and multi-generational professionals.




Martha's Vineyard


Book Description




Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights


Book Description

Bloomberg • Best Nonfiction Books of 2020: "[A] tour de force." The basis of a major PBS documentary by Ric Burns, this “excellent history” (The New Yorker) reveals how the automobile fundamentally changed African American life. Driving While Black demonstrates that the car—the ultimate symbol of independence and possibility—has always held particular importance for African Americans, allowing black families to evade the dangers presented by an entrenched racist society and to enjoy, in some measure, the freedom of the open road. Melding new archival research with her family’s story, Gretchen Sorin recovers a lost history, demonstrating how, when combined with black travel guides—including the famous Green Book—the automobile encouraged a new way of resisting oppression.




The Negro Motorist Green Book


Book Description

The Negro Motorist Green Book was a groundbreaking guide that provided African American travelers with crucial information on safe places to stay, eat, and visit during the era of segregation in the United States. This essential resource, originally published from 1936 to 1966, offered a lifeline to black motorists navigating a deeply divided nation, helping them avoid the dangers and indignities of racism on the road. More than just a travel guide, The Negro Motorist Green Book stands as a powerful symbol of resilience and resistance in the face of oppression, offering a poignant glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of the African American experience in the 20th century.




Women of Martha's Vineyard


Book Description

Generations of women have traveled to Martha's Vineyard to find solace in its calming waves and varied shoreline. Many prominent and capable women set down roots, contributing to the fabric of the community on the island. Learn of the brilliant poet Nancy Luce, who lived in isolation with her chickens. Emily Post, whose name is synonymous with good manners, sought respite from her personal struggles on the Vineyard. Famed horticulturalist Polly Hill left a perennial legacy for islanders with her tranquil arboretum. In the twentieth century, novelist Dorothy West captured the beauty of Martha's Vineyard with her work. Historian Thomas Dresser provides a series of biographical sketches of these extraordinary women who were bound by their love of the island.




Lighting the Trail


Book Description

A look at Martha's Vineyard, where generations of African-Americans have lived, worked and played, year-round or for a summer.




Hidden History of Martha's Vineyard


Book Description

Celebrated local historian Thomas Dresser unearths the little-known stories that laid the foundations for the community of Martha's Vineyard. Behind the mansions and presidential vacations of Martha's Vineyard hide the lost stories and forgotten events of small-town America. What was the island's role in the Underground Railroad? Why do chickens festoon Nancy Luce's grave? And how did the people of the Vineyard react in 1923 when the rum running ship John Dwight sank with the island's supply of liquor aboard? Delve deep below the surface of history to discover the origin and meaning of local place names and the significance of beloved landmarks.




The Martha's Vineyard Table


Book Description

“A perfect Martha’s Vineyard guidebook” from the acclaimed culinary historian and winner of the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award (Publishers Weekly). Martha’s Vineyard has long been renowned as a popular vacation destination, but few are aware of the island’s rich culinary history. The Martha’s Vineyard Table celebrates the cuisine of this seaside escape with such treats as Codfish Fritters, Stuffed Quahogs, Corn Pudding, and Cranberry-Apple Crisp. In addition to 80 recipes, Jessica Harris captures the charm of the island’s gingerbread cottages, lobster fishermen, artisan fudge shops, and farmers’ markets in her short essays on Vineyard life. For the nostalgic visitor and for those who dream of vacationing there, The Martha’s Vineyard Table brings the island to life. “It includes culinary contributions from many groups that call the Vineyard home: Jamaicans’ Codfish Fritters and Red Pea Soup with Spinners; Portuguese specialties of Kale Soup and Jagacida (a dish of linguiça, beans, and rice); African American dishes like Cornbread and Collard Green Pie; and Wampanoag-inspired Corn Pudding and Cranberry-Apple Crisp.” —Martha’s Vineyard Magazine