Black Heritage Tour of Tucson, Arizona: Introduction

This is the introductory post of my photographs taken along the route of the Black Heritage Tour of Tucson, Arizona.

I discovered the Black Heritage Tour as part of a book written by Gloria L. Smith, Black heritage trails and tales of Tucson and old Fort Huachuca near Sierra Vista, Arizona: a tourist guide, a research guide at the Tucson public library.

The book was written in 1985 and was obviously self-published; well, not even that. It consists of copied pages of typing paper hand-stitched crudely together. But it's obviously a labor of love, by a woman with a love for history and for her community.

The tour consists of a crudely drawn map in very "Apple ][" graphics and font, and matching text description of the 16 sites in the Tucson area that relate to early black history. With photocopies in hand, I set out last Tuesday to photograph the current state of these sites, 20 years after the tour was first created by Gloria Smith.

Each of these sites will follow in subsequent posts, with tour description, photographs, and commentary by me.

Posts in this series:

• #1: Arizona Heritage Center Library
• #2: Old Urban League
• #3: First Black Elementary School
• #4: Tucson Transfer Company
• #5: Mrs. Lee's House
• #6: Dunbar High School (part 1 of 4)
• #6: Dunbar High School (part 2 of 4)
• #6: Dunbar High School (part 3 of 4)
• #6: Dunbar High School (part 4 of 4) -- not posted yet
• #7: Esteban Park
• #8: Blue Moon Dancehall
• #9: Old Mount Calvary
• #10: The Fish House
• #11: Levin's Park