The Legacy of Segregation on Route 66

Route 66 has represented American society and culture since its inception, including the practice of segregation. Segregation existed formally or informally in all the states along the historic highway and affected ethnic or racialized groups in different ways.

Like many areas of the country, Black Americans were often explicitly denied access to service establishments such as gas stations, lodging, rest stops, and restaurants along Route 66. The Threatt Filling Station was one of the few places where Black travelers could safely stop.

While Asian Americans could sometimes access services along Route 66 forbidden to Black motorists, they often lived in segregated communities, attended segregated schools, and struggled to get business loans.

During World War II, Japanese immigrants and Japanese American citizens were forcibly imprisoned in “Internment Camps” throughout the country. Many people sent to these camps lost their homes and businesses, and they were forced to start over at the end of the War.

Other people, particularly elderly people, lost their lives in these incarceration camps. Japanese families along Route 66 were part of this forced exodus, some being relocated temporarily to a makeshift facility at Santa Anita Racetrack in Los Angeles before being sent to camps in other parts of the country or state.

During the first two decades of the twentieth century, there was a wave of Mexican immigration. While there were many Spanish American communities already established in the Southwest, Mexican immigrants were treated as a separate group with fewer rights and privileges.

Mexican Americans who lived along Route 66 often lived in segregated communities and, like Black and Asian Americans, they were not given the same access to services unless they appeared to be white.

As Route 66 became more popular, some travelers began to visit Indigenous reservations in order to purchase arts and crafts or learn about their cultures, but these visits, at times guided by white Americans, did not always happen with the consent of the tribe or community.

Native American women also set up roadside stands to engage with tourists directly.  As a result, Route 66 introduced more cash into tribal economies, empowering some women to become breadwinners.

Route 66 enabled unprecedented movement and mixing of people from all backgrounds, pushing existing social and racial boundaries and creating more opportunities for all. Despite many challenges, people of color created businesses, started new lives, and took road trips along the iconic highway.