Henderson Travel Service has a long and distinguished history in African travel and tourism. Henderson Travel first opened its doors in Atlanta, GA in 1955 as the first fully appointed African American owned travel agency in the U.S.
In 1955, the same year that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, AL-when African Americans could not freely travel across town in the deep South because of segregation, Freddye and Jake Henderson were coordinating and promoting African American travel to Europe and soon thereafter to Africa. In 1957, before commercial airlines were flying to Africa, and all of Africa was still referred to as the “Dark Continent”, it was necessary for the Hendersons to charter an airplane to take the first group of American tourists to Ghana to celebrate its independence and the inauguration of Kwame Nkrumah as Africa’s first Black President. That pioneering trip to Ghana’s Independence celebration was the catalyst for what became a multi-faceted company involved in heritage tourism and tourism development projects throughout the African Diaspora. That pivotal 1957 tour was also the beginning of Henderson Travel’s commitment to promoting travel to Africa, for which we have won numerous distinctions and awards over the last six decades from various heads of state of African countries and travel industry associations and organizations.