The Great American Road Trip    NEW!

Americans have a unique connection to long distance travel. Taking a journey to a new place has been central to the American story.

Some scholars have argued that whether it’s the arrival of early settlers on the Mayflower, or White settlers striking out West in wagon trains in the 1800s, or Black Americans making the great migration North in the 1930s, it’s this constant movement that makes Americans, American. That U.S. culture over the centuries has been animated and shaped by people striking out into the unknown, pushing themselves into new territory in search of better opportunity. 

In this presentation, Dr. Allen Pietrobon, historian and professor of Global Affairs at Trinity Washington University, will start by looking at the various ways Americans traveled in the past and what it was like to be aboard a wagon train in the 1840s or a transcontinental railroad in the 1880s. He will talk about the rapid growth of interstates in the 1960s, the associated rise of fast food and roadside motels, and, most importantly, the birth of the notion that the open road is the epitome of American freedom. Why are tales of cross-country travel such an integral part of American culture? What can our nation’s long tradition of road tripping teach us about our country and ourselves?

“The Great American Road Trip,” is a look at how long journeys and tales of them have shaped our nation. Back by popular demand, this instructor is presenting remotely.