Amtrak Celebrates Black History Month with MyBlackJourney.com

MyBlackJourney.com is a microsite set up by Amtrak as part of their Black History Month celebration. As you can tell from the name, the focus is on African-American passengers. The site has a wealth of information regarding popular “African-American cultural destinations” that happen to be served by Amtrak. They also have information and travel advice geared towards family reunions and HBCU student travel.

“We celebrate diversity 365 days a year at Amtrak,” said Lorraine Green, Vice President Human Resources and Diversity Initiatives. “Coming as it does in February, Black History Month presents the first opportunity of the calendar year to demonstrate that commitment.”

The homepage features 3 main topics:

• Family Reunion – this section gives you a few reasons why you should choose Amtrak to organize your Reunion travel. They also offer a free Amtrak Reunion Travel Guide as a quick reference to use for your planning.
• The Yard – is an area focused on HBCU travel. It links to the Amtrak Travel Rewards program which, in conjunction with the United Negro College Fund, assists students with their travel needs. There is a link to a map of all HBCU cities serviced by Amtrak and a bunch of other related links for both students and parents.
• Girlfriend’s Escape – Amtrak invites you to take girls’ night out on the road…uh, tracks. This section talks about their three course meals and friendly atmosphere where you can kick back with your girls and talk bad about your men.

The homepage also features cultural destinations like the MLK Visitors Center in Atlanta, The Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, the Liberty Bell Center in Philadelphia, and the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. There seems to be a social networking component to the site and you can see avatars of people who have recently traveled on Amtrak and related videos. I couldn’t actually find out how to create an account, though.

MyBlackJourney is somewhat similar to BlackAtlas.com, an American Airlines branded site which claims to be your “passport to the black experience.” One major difference between the two is that BlackAtlas has contributors that write reviews about specific destinations, while MyBlackJourney reads more like a standard website.

It seems there is definitely a trend in popular brands (specifically in the travel industry) launching interactive initiatives that target minorities specifically. We talked about it with 365black.com a while back and McDonald’s is just a drop in the bucket when it comes to these specialized websites. While every year we see a slew of “Black History” focused microsites that pop-up that trend is morphing to include social networking features, and from what we hear at Black Web 2.0 the mobile forefront is not far away from being included in the fray.

About the Author
Rahsheen has been a certified geek since before it was the thing to do. He started programming and tinkering in the 4th grade. Now, Rahsheen mostly writes on various sites about technology trends in social media and mobile. . He is also a musician, singer, rapper, writer, and producer. @rahsheen - +Rahsheen Porter - coachrah.com
See all posts by rahsheen.