Hub City Press to Release Travel Guide to SC African American Cultural Sites

HUB CITY, WeGOJA FOUNDATION, IAAM TO RELEASE TRAVEL GUIDE TO SC AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL SITES

SPARTANBURG, SC, June, 2021—Hub City Press, the WeGOJA Foundation (on behalf of the SC African American Heritage Commission) and the International African American Museum (IAAM) announced today a collaborative release of a book version of the Green Book of South Carolina: A Travel Guide to S.C. African American Cultural Sites.  

The partnering organizations are teaming up to release a print version of the  Green Book of South Carolina, an award-winning online guide to more than 350 African American historic and cultural sites across the state. Created by the SCAAHC in 2017, the website is a user-friendly platform that offers visitors avenues to discover intriguing history and hidden gems about African Americans as they travel the state. The most visitor-friendly places from the website collection will be published in a accessible paperback edition.

“We are thrilled to be a part of this collaboration to publish a hard copy of the Green Book of South Carolina,” said Jannie Harriot, Chairperson of the SCAAHC. “Over the past several decades, we’ve identified and documented historic churches, cemeteries, districts and sites, schools, and cultural spaces that, together, tell a compelling story of African American history and culture in the Palmetto State. This partnership helps us publish this story into a guide for the consumer marketplace.”

The International African American Museum will provide photography and visual elements for the project. Set to open in Charleston in late 2022, the IAAM is a new museum of African-American history and culture that will highlight the often overlooked history of African Americans in South Carolina and share how they helped shape North America and the world.

“We are honored to be included in this unique project that highlights African-American history – past and present,” said Dr. Tonya M. Matthews, President and CEO of the museum. “The original Green Books were essentially 20th century underground railroads and their impact on the African American struggle for equity and human dignity cannot be underestimated. Combining IAAM resources with those of our incredible partner organizations to continue the legacy of the Green Book is an exciting opportunity to amplify compelling new stories of South Carolinian African American businesses and cultural sites. We hope the stories and places illuminated in this new Green Book of South Carolina inspire future learners, leaders, and entrepreneurs."

Hub City Press, now in its 26th year, is the South’s premier independent literary press. Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and focused on finding and spotlighting extraordinary new and unsung writers from the American South, their curated list champions diverse authors and books that don’t fit into the commercial or academic publishing landscape. Hub City Press books have been widely praised and featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, NPR, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and many other outlets.

The yet-to-be-named guidebook will be released in 2022 and will be for sale on the Hub City Press’s website and nationally distributed to the trade by Publishers Group West, making the book available in independent bookstores, gift shops, and other retail entities nationwide.

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About the SCAAHC

The mission of the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission (SCAAHC) is to identify and promote the preservation of historic sites, structures, buildings, and culture of the African American experience in South Carolina, and to assist and enhance the efforts of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. More can be found here.

About the WeGOJA Foundation

The WeGOJA Foundation supports the efforts of the SCAAHC by developing resources to carry out its mission. See its list of initiatives, projects and more here.

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