"Juanita Harrison"(December 28,1891-?)

World traveler writer,was born in Mississippi.Little is known of her early childhood except that her formal education ended at age ten.Like many African Americans girls of her generation,she found employment as a domestic in homes of white families.At age sixteen she left the South,traveling as far north as Canada and even making her way deeper south to Cuba,where she learned Spanish and French.Sometime during these years of work and travel,Juanita saw a magazine article depicting temple spires in a foreign land. That image fueled her lifelong desire to travel around the world.
While working in Denver,Colorado,she managed to save $800 toward fulfilling her dream.Unforttunately the bank holding her savings failed.Juanita was left with just enough money to travel to California.Ther she secured a position with the family of George Dickison, a real estate broker who invested Juanita's monthly salary. His efforts established for an income of $200 a year.That income would enable her to maker her dreams of world travel a reality.oN June 25 1927 Juanita boarded the SS Sierra Ventana in New York with two suitcases.The largest held two blue dresses, two white dresses, and appropriate accessories for working as a domestic overseas.A smaller suitcase held, among other things,two jars of sour cucumber pickles to ward off seasickness. She was thirty-seven years old.
Juanita chose a momentous decade in which to begin her journey. For African Americans it was a time of cultural awakening,of the New Negro. Many people migrated from the South to northern communities like Harlem in New York City.With church support,academic scholarships,and in some cases independent wealth, African Americans were also traveling overseas to explore life in other countries. She stands apart from most other African American travelers of the period for traveling without a sponsor, without significant financing, and without a planned itinerary.She traveled alone, with limited funds, and without a concrete itinerary,Juanita capitalized on her strengths, including her inquisitive nature, her skills as a domestic,and her acquisitive of a YMCA membership. The YWCA directory ensured that she always had an address to seek out lodging in whatever country she chose to visit.Even if no rooms ere available she could still meet with other women and learn about local culture,politics,and work opportunities.As evidenced by the contents of her luggage,she was fully prepared from the outset of her journal to work for wages to supplement her small income.As Juanita worked,she talked with people of all races and classes,garnering invitations and suggestions and classes for future travel. While in Paris,just six months after leaving the United States,Juanita the United States she took a momentous position with Mrs.Felix Morris.It was Mrs.Morris who suggested that a written account of Juanita's trip might be of interest to other people.She pointed to her daughter Mildred,a writer,as someone Juanita could look to for help. She would later refer to Mrs. Morris as " the only American mother that I like."Eventually Juanita left Mrs Morris to continue her travels throughout Europe,the Middle East,the Far East, North Africa,and Asia.She was an observant traveler.Aided by her olive complexion and long dark hair,which she often wore in two braids hanging her back,Juanita was able to immerse herself in the culture of the countries that she visited. Unlike many Americans traveling abroad,she not only paid attention to what local people wore but also how they wore it and when. She also tried to speak the languages.She easily passed as European,Asian, and even Arab.Eight years later and twenty-two countries later,Juanita returned to the United States,settling in Honolulu,Hawaii.With the help of Mildred Morris she complied her letters and diary entries into the book My Great Wide Beautiful World. Atlantic Monthly published two advance installments in 1935. Macmillan released the book in 1936.The published chose not to edit Juanita's writing significantly.Even with its poor grammar and punctuation,her writing reflects her great intelligence and wit. With a simple style she paints vivid pictures of daily life for women.She astutely but without any apparent prejudice highlights differences between people defined by race, caste,class, and gender.In Bethlehem she noted that "there will never be any content here as long as there are Moslems and Jews.They are not really mean to each other."She spiced up her accounts of culture and politics with understated comments about her liaisons with men and their reactions to her, a free-spirited American woman of color.
Using money from her Atlantic Monthly earnings, Juanita purchased a seven-byseven-foot orange tent which she pitched in a vacant lot near Waikiki Beach. She called her new home Villa Petit Peep, a small home into which local children could peep with her blessing.Juanita's journey around the world began during a time of great social change. Having made her home near Pear Harbor,Juanita journey ended with her at the center great change about to envelop the world.