The Soul of DFW tour calls itself a "food and Black history" bus tour. Attendee's ride around Dallas or Fort Worth in a charter bus, and experience not just delicious cuisine, but the history behind different neighborhoods and cultures.
NTX Now's Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning spoke with the founder of the tour, Deah Berry Mitchell, about how she aims to educate the community on the significance of Black culture through cuisine and local history.
These interview highlights have been edited for length and clarity. To hear the full conversation, click the 'listen' button above.
Picking stops
Berry Mitchell says picking out the stops for the Soul of DFW bus tour isn't usually rocket science.
"Honestly, a lot of times I will just be passing by somewhere and it will catch my attention," she said. "Then I'll go back because everything has a story."
She calls these expeditions "cultural emersion tours" because she tries to make the experience touch on a little bit of everything.
"I like to start from a bird's-eye view perspective, and then from there we start to center in on Texas history," Berry Mitchell said. "Then we lower it and we go to really more localized history."
Highlighting Black history and culture
Berry Mitchell's interests overlap with the Soul of DFW tours. She's a food writer and a historian, and shining light on history through different cuisine's is what she is trying to accomplish with these events.
She says highlighting different histories is ultimately her goal, but she looks forward to a day where all these stories are just considered American history.
"I know at the end of the day, it's just a part of American history," she said. "But unfortunately, I'm not able to say that and have people automatically assume that it will be inclusive towards other stories."
"So for now, I say Black history, I say Latino history, I say LGBTQIA history, and I really categorize it that way so that others will know what to expect when they're on the tour," she said. "But in a perfect world, it will just be history."
Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning are the hosts of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Miranda at msuarez@kera.org or Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
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