Route 66 has been forgotten. The once-vital artery connecting Chicago and Los Angeles—and hundreds of towns in between—was America’s Main Street. John Steinbeck famously dubbed it “the Mother Road.” Passing through and bringing life to towns and cities across the heartland, Route 66 captured the imagination, delivering tourists, families, and misbegotten souls from one end of the country to the other. Even its rosy past has a dark undercurrent. Those diners, motels, and other roadside establishments played played host to rampant segregation. For black Americans, the Mother Road was rife with danger.
