Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1515188
B M & T ••• January/February 2024 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com 31 Honoring the Legacy of those Who have Gone Before Us Enter Black America 250 ™ The publishers of BLACK MEETINGS & TOURISM magazine (BM&T) with endorsements from the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers (NABHOOD), the Travel Professionals of Color (TPOC), the National Policy Alliance (NPA), and MOJO Marketing + PR, have launched. Black America 250 ™ , a multiyear media and marketing initiative which showcases the legacy of African-Americans in this country by amplify- ing the TRIUMPHS, RESILIENCY, and RESOURCEFUL- NESS that they have demonstrated during this nation's 250 year history. This is in keeping with the mission of the non-partisan U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, created by Congress, (P.L. 114-196) to design and implement "initiatives and pro- grams that honor our first 250 years and inspire Americans to imagine our next 250." Using Travel as a barometer , the first component of the Black America 250 ™ initiative is an interactive web- site that provides an opportunity to SHARE and to HONOR African American culture and heritage, in real time, presenting Events, Personalities and Experiences that were and are still essential to the making of the United States of America. This allows Black America to acknowl- edge OUR LIVING HISTORY™, keeping it alive by telling OUR stories, with OUR voices, in OUR way, to a growing number of eager listeners throughout this nation and around the world. The works of renowned researcher and author Alex Haley, and Producer Wil Packer with his remake of Haley's record breaking T.V. series , ROOTS, along with New York Times journalist, Nikole Hannah-Jones' riveting The 1619 Project book and Emmy award-winning documentary, serve to bring center stage the haunting and far reaching realities about slavery in the U.S. Black America 250 ™ showcases the profoundly remarkable resiliency, triumphs and accomplish- ments of people spawned from enslaved Africans living in America. From STATE to STATE, City to City, Black America 250 ™ con- nects you to SITES, VENUES, EXPERIENCES and EVENTS that tell the stories of African-American Artists, Inventors, Athletes, Scholars, Educators, Soldiers, Entertainers, Writers, Scientists, and Politicians; histo- ry makers and contemporary Icons from every walk of life. Using Black America 250 ™ as your online resource GUIDE, plan to visit des- tinations across the country that make their stories REAL and enjoy your Journeys of a Lifetime! Creating Journeys of a Lifetime GLORIA HERBERT