The Negro Motorist Green Book (at times titled The Negro Travelers Green Book) was an annual guidebook for African-American drivers, commonly referred to simply as the Green Book. It was published in the United States from 1936 to 1966, during the Jim Crow era, when discrimination against non-whites was widespread. Although mass automobility was predominantly a white phenomenon because of pervasive racial discrimination and black poverty, the level of car ownership among African-Americans grew as a black middle class emerged. Many blacks took to driving, often to avoid segregation on public transportation. As the writer George Schuyler put it in 1930, all Negroes who can do so purchase an automobile as soon as possible in order to be free of discomfort, discrimination, segregation and insult. Black Americans employed as salesmen, entertainers, and athletes also found themselves traveling more often for work purposes. African-American travelers faced a variety of dangers and inconveniences, ranging from white-owned businesses refusing to serve them or repair their vehicles, to being refused accommodation or food by white-owned hotels, to even facing threats of physical violence and forcible expulsion from whites-only sundown towns. New York mailman and travel agent Victor H. Green published The Negro Motorist Green Book to tackle such problems and to give the Negro traveler information that will keep him from running into difficulties, embarrassments and to make his trip more enjoyable. From a New York-focused first edition published in 1936, it expanded to cover much of North America including most of the United States and parts of Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, including Bermuda. The Green Book became the bible of black travel during Jim Crow, enabling black travelers to find lodgings, businesses, and gas stations that would serve them along the road. Outside the African-American community, however, it was little known. It fell into obscurity after it ceased publication shortly after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed the types of racial discrimination that had made the book necessary. Interest in it has revived in the early 21st century in connection with studies of black travel during the Jim Crow era.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 09:03:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015