Industry News - In Development
Black & Abroad’s Black Elevation Map is The Black ExcellenceVisual We’ve Needed By Parker Diakite
T
he founders of the travel company Black & Abroad have launched The Black Elevation Map – a new resource for travelers that shows where Black people are thriving. A few years after their powerful and awarding winning “Go Back To Africa” campaign that takes the derogatory phrase to show the beauty of African countries, Eric Martin and Kent Johnson have launched a tool to celebrate the contributions of Black people. “When the pandemic started, we were constantly seeing news around how Black businesses were impacted the most by the economic downturns,” Johnson told Travel Noire. “Eric and I came together and tried to figure out a way that we could help, through our platforms, to support those businesses that needed an additional push, some marketing, and opportunity for discovery.” Their solution was a data-driven resource that includes Black population data, historical markers, Black-owned businesses, and social media activity that’s visualized on digital typography as points of interest for travelers with the help of the creative-data advertising agency Performance Art. The way it works is when you’re searching on the map, the elevation rises. The greater the density of the data, the higher the elevation.
The Black Elevation Map “This map sheds light on places that need boosting and support,” Martin added. “We’re hoping that with this map, not only are people inspired but actually put forward a course of action to support these organizations and visit these historical landmarks. We have so much rich
history and culture here.” Through the map, travelers have the opportunity to create their own city guides with more than 30,000 businesses and historical landmarks they have already identified – and this number continues to grow. And if you don’t know where to start, the Black Elevation Map has something for everyone as it includes 12 curated city guides and 10 national guides. For starters, there’s a guide for Black-owned wineries identified as Melanin Vines on the map; notable start-up companies listed as Black Silicon Valley, and Black-owned
6 | ABA Publications | Africa TRAVEL | March 2022
