Black tourism will be the subject of the annual Kenneth Robinson and Cyril Outerbridge Packwood memorial lecture on Wednesday.

The event, organised by the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, will be held at the New Hall Lecture Theatre, Bermuda College, at 6pm.

Theodore S Francis II, an assistant professor of history at Huston-Tillotson University, Austin, Texas, will speak on the topic ‘Dark and Stormy: Boycotts, Black Tourism and Desegregation in Bermuda’.

In his lecture outline, Dr Francis stated: “Black tourism played a central role in the process of Bermudian desegregation.

“As this address highlights, black tourism was a significant contextual factor in the turbulent journey towards Bermuda’s ‘second emancipation’ — the legal prohibition of racial segregation, well over a century after the abolition of chattel slavery in 1834.

“After the Second World War, black Bermudian entrepreneurs initiated a form of tourism that was tailored to the unique needs of African American visitors, who sought refuge from, and allies against, racial oppression in both societies.

“Utilising both established and new social, political, religious, collegiate and commercial networks with various African diaspora communities, black Bermudians such as Hilton Hill, Lillian Minors and others, promoted the Island’s black-owned guest houses, clubs and entertainers in African American newspapers and magazines.

“This included publications such as Jet, Ebony, Our World and the NAACP’s Crisis. In doing so, the social and political effects of black tourism influenced the dynamics of Bermuda’s civil rights struggle, as seen through boycotts and political actions, changes in legislation.”