Black Movement and Freedom: Questions of Cyclescapes, Cycling Planning, and Minstrelsy

This paper investigates the following central question: What are the outcomes of the historical and ongoing restrictions placed upon the Black diaspora's physical movement? Related to my research question, I consider what the literature and archives have to say about Black experiences with movement and I engage with cycling-related scholarship on class and race, particularly as it relates to Black communities. I explore this in this paper to sufficiently contextualize the subject-matter I am engaging with. I argue that the historical and ongoing restrictions of the movement of the Black diaspora is subjectivity-producing and provides an alternative lens to better understanding anti-Blackness, and liberatory ways of understanding and engaging with movement. Additionally, to contribute to advancing an underexplored research topic in Black Geographies and further the growing scholarship on cycling and racism. Additionally, I explore the experiences of cycling and Black communities and conduct a research analysis on late nineteenth-century minstrel and other anti-Black imagery featuring bicycles. This paper focuses on Canada and the United States, bringing cycling and transportation research into conversation with Black studies and Black geographies. I draw on archival materials from the late 1800s to early 1900s, alongside a counter-archival and discourse analysis. My sources include journalism, transportation planning data, and academic literature in social geography, anthropology, and history—all centred on cycling in North America.