Before you grab your passport, remember — there’s a story waiting for you right here at home.
These eight destinations trace the roads Black folks built, protected, prayed, and partied on.
Take the trip, roll your windows down, and let history ride shotgun.
1. Nicodemus National Historic Site — Kansas
What it is: The only remaining Western community established by formerly enslaved people after Reconstruction (1877).
What you’ll learn: Freedom wasn’t theoretical; they built it. See homesteads, churches, and stories of migration that mirror modern Black resilience.
Best time to go: July — Nicodemus Homecoming Emancipation Celebration.
Website: nps.gov/nico
2. Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument — Wilberforce, Ohio
What it is: The preserved home of Colonel Charles Young — West Point grad, scholar, and third Black man to achieve that rank in the U.S. Army.
What you’ll learn: Leadership, loyalty, and the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers.
Best time to go: Late spring or early fall for guided tours.
Website: nps.gov/chyo
3. Black American West Museum & Heritage Center — Denver, Colorado
What it is: A restored home of Dr. Justina Ford, Denver’s first Black female doctor, now celebrating the untold stories of Black cowboys and pioneers.
What you’ll learn: That the Wild West wasn’t all white hats — it was brown hands on reins and Black doctors on call.
Best time to go: Year-round; check for Juneteenth programs.
Website: bawmhc.org
4. Melrose Plantation — Natchitoches, Louisiana
What it is: Historic plantation and artist colony once home to folk artist Clementine Hunter.
What you’ll learn: The evolution from oppression to artistic liberation. Her paintings live where she once worked.
Best time to go: March–May (Azalea bloom season).
Website: melroseplantation.org
5. Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park — Hilton Head, South Carolina
What it is: The site of America’s first self-governed town of formerly enslaved people.
What you’ll learn: Freedom wasn’t granted; it was organized.
Best time to go: Spring or fall for coastal breezes and walking tours.
Website: exploremitchelville.org
6. St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church — Oakland, California
What it is: The first Black Episcopal Church west of the Mississippi.
What you’ll learn: Spiritual endurance — how faith communities anchored civil rights in the Bay Area.
Best time to go: February (Black History Month services).
Website: saintaugs.org
7. National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum — Chicago, Illinois
What it is: Tribute to the Black labor movement and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
What you’ll learn: How organized Black labor shaped civil rights infrastructure.
Best time to go: Year-round; pair with a Chicago architectural tour.
Website: aprpullmanportermuseum.org
8. American Beach — Amelia Island, Florida
What it is: One of the first beach resorts for Black vacationers during segregation, founded by Abraham Lincoln Lewis in 1935.
What you’ll learn: Joy as resistance. “Recreation and relaxation without humiliation.”
Best time to go: Summer — but go in May before peak crowds.
Website: americanbeachmuseum.org
Pack snacks. Bring a playlist. Leave space for the stories that still hum beneath the highway.
Because the road remembers — and so should we.