As scholars dedicated to spreading both research and educational resources around race, ethnicity and social equity in tourism, this page is designed as a collaborative space to host resources that may help others learn about and/or educate others about RESET work. If using as a tool in a workshop, classroom training etc, please be sure to reference Tourism RESET as the source.
These resources are FREE to the public
Listen to Drs. Alana Dillette and Stefanie Benjamin discuss their research around the Black Travel Movement during their RESET Lecture Series
The Place of Black Lives at Virginia’s Presidential Plantation Museums
The plantation homes of early American presidents are among the most consequential heritage sites within the United States for understanding tourism’s unrealized potential for confronting systemic racism. Traditionally characterized as “Founding Fathers,” George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe operated plantations in Virginia. In this role, these men owned, purchased and sold hundreds of enslaved people of African descent thereby denying Black people the liberty and rights they proclaimed as “self-evident.” Their famous homes – Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier, and Highland – have been transformed into national shrines where people go to learn American history and practice their national identity. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, these plantation museums together hosted more than 1.6 million visitors per year.
Final reports authored by TourismRESET research fellow Steve Hanna and his students delivered detailed results and recommendations to management at each site. In summary, the results indicate that the four museums continued to celebrate the contributions of the four presidents/enslavers to the development of the American nation while providing substantial opportunities for visitors to learn about the lives of Black people these men and their families portrayed. The roles of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe in sustaining slavery and contributing to how systemic racism became embedded in America’s foundations were almost absent from the average visitor experience, however. There were some notable variations among the four sites. These as well as links to the final reports including the team’s recommendations can be found below:
History Of Black Travel
The History Of Black Travel has been created by the Black Travel Alliance’s Research Committee in partnership with Tourism RESET. It provides insight on the early Black travel explorers and groundbreakers, major migration movements, and leisure travel developments of those from the African Diaspora. It also includes major judicial and legislative events as well as cultural events that have inspired Black travel.
Led by the Black Travel Alliance Research Committee, Ursula Petula Barzey, Kerwin McKenzie, Donna-Kay Delahaye, Martinique Lewis, Gabby Beckford, Patricia King, and Davida Wulff-Vanderpuije along with Tourism RESET Co-Directors Dr’s Stefanie Benjamin & Alana Dillette the initial launch of the History Of Black Travel timeline includes 130+ entries from the Americas, focusing mostly on the United States. Other Tourism RESET Contributors include Dr’s Lydia Warren, KangJae "Jerry" Lee, Matthew Cook & Rasul Mowatt. The plan is to continue building out the timeline to add Black leisure travel stories from all continents and countries across the globe. You can ontribute to the timeline by visiting the History of Black Travel website.
In 2016, The New York Times published a story about the distiller’s “hidden ingredient” – “help from a slave.” In the article, the brand officially acknowledged that an enslaved man, Nearest Green, taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey. Since then, scholars, researchers and journalists have descended upon Lynchburg, Tennessee, hoping to learn more about a man who, until then, had appeared as a mere appendage in the story of the country’s most popular whiskey brand.
In the fall of 2020, Dr. Stefanie Benjamin’s critical sustainable tourism students created a short documentary, “Uncovering Nearest.” They wanted to learn more about Green, since so many voices and faces of enslaved Africans and Black Americans have been silenced or erased from American history textbooks and heritage tourism sites.
Gone But Not Forgotten is a short documentary created by students in Dr. Stefanie Benjamin’s strategic marketing in tourism course in the spring of 2021. Students collaborated with the Beck Cultural Exchange Center in Knoxville, TN to help educate folks on Urban Renewal and the impacts still felt today.
The LGBTQI+ communities have become a significant consumer group and a more visible social segment. Given their growing prominence, it is essential for the researchers to be able to design studies that consider the nuances of the sub-culture – in order to effectively understand their unique needs. However, there appears to be some confusion in what the LGBTQI+ acronym encapsulates and the terminology that should be used when examining the demographic characteristics of gender and sexuality. This confusion originating from the sub-groups united under the LGBTQI+ label enforcing a perception of homogeneity amongst groups that are inherently heterogeneous. The presentation will unpack the LGBTQI+ acronym discussing the nuances between sex, gender, and sexuality with respect to the individual’s identity, and the associated implications for research. Common errors when conducting research with the LGBTQI+ community will be identified, and specific recommendations will be provided to guide the research process.