Standing Firm in Power and Pride: A Black History Month Travel Series

Every October, Black History Month offers us a chance to pause, reflect, and celebrate the stories that shape who we are. This year’s theme, “Standing Firm in Power and Pride,” resonates deeply with me as both a traveller and a storyteller. Travel has always been more than movement for Black people — it’s been about survival, discovery, resilience, and leaving a legacy.

That’s why I’m excited to announce a new weekly blog series here on Travel With Tillyah. Each Friday throughout October, I’ll be sharing the journeys of Black travel pioneers from the UK and the Caribbean. Sharing stories about the people whose footsteps and flight paths paved the way for the freedoms and opportunities we all enjoy today.

We’ll begin with the trailblazers of the past — visionaries like Mary Seacole, Ignatius Sancho, and Olaudah Equiano, who used travel as a tool of healing, resistance, and testimony. The following week, we’ll turn to the great migrations of the 20th century, focusing on the Windrush Generation and sporting legend Learie Constantine. Mainly because their journeys between the Caribbean and Britain helped build modern society as we know it. And finally, we’ll reach for the skies in Part Three, exploring the inspiring stories of aviators and astronauts like Barrington Irving and Antigua’s very own Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers — the first mother-daughter duo to travel into space.

This series isn’t just about history. It’s about recognising how far we’ve come, reflecting on the barriers still to be broken, and finding pride in our shared journeys. It’s also a reminder that travel is not only about where we go, but how we carry ourselves — with dignity, with power, and with pride

The first post in the series will go live next Friday. I can’t wait to share these stories with you — and I’d love to hear your reflections too. What do these pioneers mean to you? And how do their journeys inspire the way you travel today?

Let’s celebrate Black History Month together, one story at a time.

— Tillyah