Celebrating 65 Years of Unique Travel Experiences at America's First African-American-Owned Travel Agency

Long before the rise of black travel nomads and influencers, African-American pioneers laid the groundwork for a new way for black travelers to explore the globe. Over 80 years ago, postal worker and travel writer Victor Hugo Green had the vision to launch The Negro Motorist Green Book, a vital travel guide for black Americans. This resource listed hotels, restaurants, and gas stations that welcomed black patrons during the era of Jim Crow laws and racial segregation in the U.S.

Hailing from Harlem, New York, Green released the first edition of The Negro Motorist Green Book in 1936, printing 15,000 copies annually. By 1952, he expanded the guide's reach beyond road travel, renaming it The Negro Travelers’ Green Book to include a broader range of travel experiences.

This June, guests at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, will be the first to experience a traveling exhibition focused on the Green Book. The exhibit will showcase Green’s vision of encouraging African-Americans to travel while highlighting safe spaces across the nation. “We’re featuring some incredible Green Book business owners and their stories through video and interviews,” explained Candacy Taylor, the exhibit's curator and content specialist. “I’ve tracked down family members for artifacts, resulting in about 50 objects, including my photographs of the current buildings and businesses.”

Candacy Taylor’s new book, Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America, will complement the upcoming exhibition, which will tour the U.S. through 2024. The book offers a chronological exploration of African-American social mobility and history over the past century.

In her book, the cultural documentarian drew on her stepfather's experiences growing up in the segregated South, her visits to numerous businesses featured in the Green Book, and her collaborations with literary scholars and cultural critics, including Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., an acclaimed filmmaker and director of the Hutchins Center for African & African-American Research at Harvard University. She dedicated herself to sharing the story of a resilient culture and community.

“Despite the many challenges and low points faced by black Americans, we have accomplished remarkable things even in those times,” Taylor remarked. “We carry an incredible legacy.” This legacy, reflected in the beloved travel guide, showcases black-owned businesses, from restaurants serving delightful soul food to vibrant nightclubs where patrons enjoyed performances by music legends like Billie Holiday.

A central figure in Taylor’s narrative is Victor Hugo Green, who sought to equip African-Americans with the resources needed for domestic and international travel. In 1949, Green expanded his travel guide enterprise by launching the Reservation Bureau in partnership with Maher Travel Bureau in New York. This company offered journeys to the West Indies, Bermuda, Europe, South America, and Africa. Advertised in the Green Book from 1949 to 1957, this partnership aimed to not only encourage African-Americans to explore abroad but also to assist an underserved community with travel arrangements, from obtaining passports and visas to booking air, rail, and steamship travel.

The 1950s were known as the “golden age of travel.” Taylor’s book highlights how international travel became increasingly popular among the black community. The airline industry emerged as a preferred travel method, featuring benefits like arriving just 30 minutes before flights and enjoying gourmet meals in-flight. As more black travelers ventured beyond U.S. borders, they experienced warm welcomes abroad, especially during a time when African-Americans were still striving for equality. Langston Hughes noted that “colored performers live normally as human beings” overseas, and celebrated artists such as Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, and Ella Fitzgerald received friendly receptions while visiting Europe.

In 1954, Freddye Henderson, who would later launch Henderson Travel Service, the nation’s first African-American-owned travel agency, took a group of black female fashion designers on a trip to Europe. They shared their amazing travel experiences with family and friends, much like celebrities do. “My mother told my father how simple it was to organize the trip and how welcomed they felt as Negro women in Europe. This inspired the opening of Henderson Travel just a year later,” recalled Gaynelle Henderson, Freddye’s daughter and the current president of the company.

For Freddye, the trip brought about a profound realization. She believed that by sharing stories of how well African-Americans were received abroad, more would be encouraged to travel internationally. In 1955, Freddye and her husband, Jacob, founded Henderson Travel Service in Atlanta to assist African-Americans eager to explore the world. Coincidentally, this was also the year that Rosa Parks famously stood her ground on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

The agency organized countless trips for black travelers, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s journey to Oslo, Norway, where he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for his pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement. Freddye accompanied him on this momentous occasion.

In the agency's formative years, the Hendersons recognized the opportunity to specialize in travel to Africa. In the 1950s, they aimed to organize trips that would encourage travelers to immerse themselves in the continent's rich and diverse cultures. At that time, there were only a few travel companies offering services to what was then referred to as the 'Dark Continent.' This agency distinguished itself by providing exclusive services, including chartering planes to West Africa, where commercial flights were unavailable. Their commitment to planning trips and tours to Africa not only generated revenue for the company but also filled a gap in the travel market and strengthened ties within the black community.

“Our niche in African tours gave us a significant advantage,” Gaynelle explained. “We built a solid reputation because my parents, in particular, collaborated closely with nearly all the major African-American professional associations during those early years.” These organizations included the National Bar Association, the National Medical Association, historically black colleges and universities, as well as black fraternities, sororities, and churches.

Despite their established reputation in the travel sector and a strong bond with African-American travelers, Henderson Travel Service faced some transformations in the 1980s, over three decades after its inception. In 1984, Gaynelle, one of Freddye and Jacob’s four children, opened a new office in Washington, DC, while her parents continued to run the Atlanta location. However, by 1989, the Atlanta branch closed, passing the family business torch to their daughter.

From a young age, Gaynelle learned the intricacies of the business from her parents. “I recall writing airline tickets alongside my siblings. My mother would give us names and a template for creating tickets with city segments, airlines, and departure times,” she reminisced. “We would manually replicate that ticket, changing only the names.” On weekends, Gaynelle and her siblings used a mimeograph to produce travel details for their mother to send to clients.

Transitioning from handwritten tickets to printed ones and eventually electronic boarding passes, Henderson has adapted to the evolving landscape. As the new president, Gaynelle aimed to broaden the company's revenue sources. She pursued her AA certification in Small Business Administration to help the agency compete for federal travel contracts, especially with its new base in Washington, DC. Initially facing challenges in securing contracts, she pivoted to expand the company’s services to include conference management, leveraging skills in logistics and booking.

In 1989, this strategic move proved beneficial. “Our first proposal for a contract was a success,” she recalled. “We secured a $1 million deal with Health and Human Services to organize a series of conferences on AIDS and the minority community across various cities.” This successful venture led to the establishment of Henderson Associates as a consulting division under Henderson Travel Service, creating an additional revenue stream that helped the agency navigate tough economic times, including the Great Recession from 2007 to 2009.

Henderson Travel Service has strengthened its reputation as a specialist in African tours, with popular destinations including Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa. Meanwhile, Henderson Associates is dedicated to securing federal contracts and helping other nations enhance their market presence. This strategy revitalized the company, fostering valuable partnerships. For instance, in 1990, Ghana Airways appointed Henderson as the national manager for North America to boost African-American tourism to the West African country.

In 2001, Henderson Associates received a contract to collaborate with Bermuda’s Minister of Tourism, David Allen, on the African Diaspora Heritage Trail conference, a gathering where countries and people of African descent came together to explore the historical and cultural impacts of enslaved individuals on their communities.

In the past decade, Henderson Travel Service has thrived despite the rise of travel apps and online aggregators by leveraging its stellar reputation and expanding tours to popular group-requested destinations like India, the UAE, and Australia, while still hosting a few African tours annually. Henderson believes Africa remains intriguing due to its status as an unfamiliar travel destination. “People often lack information about Africa, which complicates travel planning. They don't know where to begin,” she noted. “Some are hesitant to plan independently, making it ideal to consult a specialist for travel to Africa.”

Celebrating 65 years in the travel industry this year, Henderson Travel Service continues its legacy through Freddye and Jacob’s daughter, who provides travelers with exceptional experiences in Africa. Henderson mentioned that she is semi-retired and considering the agency’s next chapter. For now, she’s focused on organizing more tours and writing a book started by her mother, aimed at offering travelers, historians, and cultural documentarians insight into the lives of an African-American family that became trailblazers in the travel sector.