American saw a luxury status symbol, but the Black middle class saw an armored personnel carrier.
In the Jim Crow South, the road wasn't just a path—it was a battlefield. A Black driver in a cheap car was a target; a Black driver in a broken-down car was a victim. So, they didn't just buy cars. They engineered a 5000 pounds of Detroit steel.
Discover why the Cadillac became the "Motel on Wheels" From the V8 engines that could outrun local police cruisers to the massive trunks packed with "Shoebox Lunches" and extra gasoline to bypass sundown towns, the big car wasn't an indulgence. It was a fortress.
SOURCES:
Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights by Gretchen Sorin.
Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance by Mia Bay.
Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism by James W. Loewen.
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