Longtime hotelier pens new book of untold history of Black hotel owners

For hundreds of years, Black entrepreneurs have been owning and operating hotels, but few know the stories of these trailblazing individuals. That is, until Calvin Stovall Jr. decided to write a book chronicling the history of Black hospitality leaders. The book, “Hidden Hospitality: Untold Stories of Black Hotel, Motel, and Resort Owners from the Pioneer Days to the Civil Rights Era,” published last month. Stovall describes it as a coffee table book, with dozens of photos from throughout the decades.”The book starts in late 1700s, it goes all the way through, of course, the Jim Crow era, Harlem Renaissance, all the way through the Civil Rights era,” Stovall said on a recent episode of the Next Gen in Lodging podcast. “And then there’s a last chapter in there where I talk about current Black hotel owners and those that are impacting the hospitality industry.”Now serving as CEO, chief experience officer and iconicity enthusiast for Iconic Presentations, Stovall has more than 25 years of experience in hospitality and nonprofits. His interest in Black hospitality history was originally piqued when he was pursuing his Master’s of Hospitality Management from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration in the ’90s.Stovall said on the podcast that he researched the subject for a monograph study — a less intense version of a thesis presentation — and recently rediscovered the project among his belongings in 2020. He said he felt motivated to turn the work into a book.”I wanted to give you a chronological walk through Black history from a hospitality lens,” Stovall said. “That’s exactly what this book is.”Black-owned hotels opened out of necessity, Stovall said, because Black travelers couldn’t stay anywhere else.”We had no choice. We were kind of coerced and forced to build these spaces for us, and we’ve been doing it for a long time,” he said. “We are standing on the shoulders of people that have been doing this for a very long time. But the thing is, you just didn’t know about it. So, I know this book is going to open up the eyes of a lot of people.”Stovall said he hopes his work on this book allows readers to realize the impact Black entrepreneurs have had on the industry — as well as get inspired by the successful business leaders who he wrote about.”It is a labor of love,” Stovall said. “I just believe there is so little known about our impact on the industry, because there’s so little written.”Hear more from Stovall about his book by listening to the podcast embedded above.Learn more about CoStar News Hotels podcasts, listen to the latest episodes and subscribe on your favorite podcast service.Click here to read more hotel news on CoStar News Hotels.



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