Book Event: Ebony Walden & Deborah D. Douglas

Join Ebony Walden to discuss her new book, Where I'm From: A Poetic Journey Across Five Continents, in conversation with Deborah D. Douglas, author of The U.S. Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler's Guide to the People, Places, and Events That Made the Movement. Ebony's soulful memoir follows her journey backpacking and volunteering across five continents and fifteen countries, where she wrote "Where I'm From" poems with new friends. Together, they will explore Black diasporic travel, cultural memory, and how journeys across landscapes shape history, identity, and belonging, followed by an audience Q&A and book signing.

About Where I'm From:

Perfect for fans of Eat, Pray, Love, this soulful travel memoir blends poetry, global adventure, cultural connection and personal transformation with reflections on race, identity, and belonging.

In 2010, twenty-nine-year-old poet Ebony Walden quits her job to go to on an eight-month solo journey across fifteen countries and five continents. Propelled by a sense of purpose and adventure, she moves from teaching English and volunteering in places like Guatemala and India to conducting poetry workshops in Kenya, walking the ruins of Machu Picchu, and paragliding over the Swiss Alps.

Along the way, Ebony writes “Where I’m From” poems with the people she meets—intimate reflections that capture family, identity and culture, weaving their voices into her own unfolding journey. But each destination also challenges her in unexpected ways, forcing her to reckon with the hardships of growing up in New York in the ’80s and ’90s. Through breathtaking landscapes, unexpected setbacks, and profound encounters with strangers, Ebony begins to understand that travel is not just about seeing the world—it is about allowing the world to change you.

Part travel memoir, part coming-of-age story, Where I’m From invites readers to take their own journey beyond borders and come home to themselves.

About U.S. Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler's Guide to the People, Places, and Events that Made the Movement:

The U.S. Civil Rights Trail offers a vivid glimpse into the story of Black America's fight for freedom and equality. From eye-opening landmarks to celebrations of triumph over adversity, experience a tangible piece of history with Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail.

• Flexible Itineraries: Travel the entire trail through the South, or take a weekend getaway to Charleston, Birmingham, Jackson, Memphis, Washington DC, and more places significant to the Civil Rights Movement
• Historic Civil Rights Sites: Learn about Dr. King's legacy at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, be transformed at the small but mighty Emmett Till Intrepid Center, and stand tall with Little Rock Nine at their memorial in Arkansas
• The Culture of the Movement: Get to know the voices, stories, music, and flavors that shape and celebrate Black America both then and now. Take a seat at a lunch counter where sit-ins took place or dig in to heaping plates of soul food and barbecue. Spend the day at museums that connect our present to the past or spend the night in the birthplace of the blues
• Expert Insight: Award-winning journalist Deborah Douglas offers her valuable perspective and knowledge, including suggestions for engaging with local communities by supporting Black-owned businesses and seeking out activist groups
• Travel Tools: Find driving directions for exploring the sites on a road trip, tips on where to stay
• Detailed coverage of: Charleston, Atlanta, Selma to Montgomery, Birmingham, Jackson, the Mississippi Delta, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Raleigh, Durham, Virginia, and Washington DC
• Foreword by Bree Newsome Bass: activist, filmmaker, and artist

Journey through history, understand struggles past and present, and get inspired to create a better future with Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail.

Ebony Walden is an author, filmmaker, speaker, and leadership consultant whose work explores travel, identity, and transformation. She is the author of Where I'm From: A Poetic Journey Across Five Continents, a memoir inspired by her eight-month journey through seventeen countries across five continents. Ebony has traveled to nearly fifty countries and all fifty U.S. states.

She is the creator of Black Beyond Borders, a documentary series exploring Black life across the African diaspora. Ebony also writes Beyond Borders, a weekly Substack newsletter on travel and transformation. She lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Deborah D. Douglas is the author of Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler's Guide to the People, Places, and Events That Made the Movement, the first-ever travel guide to follow the official civil rights trail in the South, now in its second edition. She is founding director of the Medill Solutions Journalism Hub and a clinical associate professor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.

Douglas is among 90 contributors to Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, and she spearheaded the Hub's Solutions Journalism Rapid Response Kit: The Fire Next Time, which showcases Chicago media as a standard-bearer for response-driven coverage of federal immigration enforcement and other systemic challenges.

Among her many recognitions, she received the Society of American Travel Writers 2021 Guidebook of the Year Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and Chicago's very own Studs Terkel Award.

Accessibility: This event is hosted at the bookstore, which is a wheelchair accessible space. Masks are strongly encouraged for this event but not required. We have one industrial air purifier, two smaller air purifiers, and four ceiling fans throughout our space. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. To request ASL interpretation for this event, please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com by no later than 14 days before the event. For other access needs please email events@womenandchildrenfirst.com.