This West Baltimore family traveled the country

Local filmmaker Carla Joelle Brown is creating a documentary about her maternal grandparents, a postal worker and a schoolteacher, whobegan their travels while living on Arunah Avenue in West Baltimore. The film “Everyone But Two: The Life, Love & Travel of Benjamin and Frances Graham” recounts the adventures of a pair of African-American travelers from Baltimore.

They “were unintentional civil rights pioneers when they traveled across the country by recreational vehicle starting in 1965,” Brown wrote in an email to The Baltimore Sun. “This was a year after the signing of the Civil Rights Act [of 1964], prohibiting racial segregation in public accommodations, and the same week of the signing of the civil rights voting act and eruption of the Watts riots.”

She said they did not consult the guidebook “The Negro Motorist Green Book.”

“My grandfather kept meticulous records of their travel ... places, dates, routes taken, campingfeesandentertainment,” she wrote. “They hitched a trailer to their cars.”

Brown said they traveled over the course of 35 years in three trailers, went 94,219.80 miles and spent $32,600.05 to reach every state but Alaska and Hawaii.

TheGrahamsfeltunwelcometwice, both times in Montana. They were once yelled at, denied assistance at a gasoline station.

But it was mostly a wonderful adventure. “They met a lot of white friends who stayed in touch over the years,” said Brown. “It was a counter-narrative to what you might think.”