Jason Fields slid into the driver’s seat while Curtis O’Dwyer attached a camera to the Mazda’s windshield. Then, they pulled out of the parking lot at Fountain of Life Covenant Church to traverse Madison on a scorching July afternoon.
Fields drove O’Dwyer to spaces he considers to be Black-affirming in the city, sharing stories along the way. The dashcam captured their conversation and the places they saw.
By interviewing Fields and other residents, O’Dwyer and other university researchers are essentially creating a Madison version of “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” which guided African Americans to safe businesses as they traveled around the country during Jim Crow laws and segregation…