Black Hotel History Still Being Written

Nearly 30 years ago, Calvin Stovall gave up on his plan to be an architect when a friend convinced him his personality is too big to be contained behind a desk.

"Have you ever thought about working in hotels?" this friend asked.

Stovall did his research. He took a front-desk clerk job at a Holiday Inn in downtown Chicago, and he started taking night classes to turn that job into a career.

With that, Stovall started writing his own chapter in Black hotel history.

Years later, he was challenged to write a presentation on Black hoteliers. He fell down a research rabbit hole that he's still exploring, and it's become the basis of a book that he expects to publish later this year.

In the latest episode of the Hotel News Now podcast, Stovall shares some of the stories he's compiled for his book that is tentatively titled "Hospitality Historiography, a historical depiction of significant contributions made by African Americans to the hospitality industry."

Those stories include the well-known "Green Book," a guide for Black travelers seeking safe lodging that was published from the 1930s to the 1960s by Victor Green and his wife Alma, and in 2018 was the inspiration behind a film starring Mahershala Ali as Black pianist Don Shirley touring the Deep South in 1962.

But the book also will include a chapter on Black hotel icons making history today, including Davonne Reaves, co-host of the "Next Gen in Lodging" podcast on the HNN podcast network and founder and CEO of Vesterr, a crowd-funding platform for first-time Black hotel investors, among others.

For more on the book, Stovall's own history and hospitality inspiration and more, listen to the podcast above. Subscribe to the Hotel News Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to listen.

Follow Stovall on LinkedIn, or at ICONIC Presentations, where he is the CEO ("Chief Experience Officer") and "Iconicity Enthusiast."

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