Travelin' Shoes

Travelin' Shoes

Travelin' Shoes depicts memories of traveling to South Carolina with my mother.

As a child, I didn't realize that "shoebox lunches" were a necessity when traveling down south: colored people couldn't eat in the dining car. Culinary prowess and survival instincts combined to meet daily challenges facing African-Americans. Hearty fried chicken, delicious pound cake, portable fruit and sandwiches packed in a shoebox travelled well.

Traveling' Shoes also pays homage to the Civil Rights Movement by featuring the shoes of protest marchers and young bombing victims from the Birmingham church. Lastly, America's first Black President, Barack Obama, is memorialized by shoes that are, literally and figuratively, too big for his successor to fill.

Glendora Simonson
2018