![]() The guide listed both Black- and white-owned businesses. The Travel Guide (1947–63) and Grayson’s Guide: The Go Guide to Pleasant Motoring (1953–59) were contemporaries of the Green Book, but neither was published as long nor reached as big an audience as the Green Book, which was dubbed the “bible of Black travel.” By 1962 there were more than two million copies of it in circulation. It was preceded by Hackley and Harrison’s Hotel and Apartment Guide for Colored Travelers (1930–31). The Green Book was not the only publication of its kind. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The guide included articles on safe driving, places of interest (“What to See in Chicago”), travel essays (“A Canadian Trip”), and special topics (“How to Guard Your Home During Vacation Season”), along with travel tips (“What to Wear” ) and consumer reviews of automobiles. In addition to motels, tourist homes, and restaurants, the book also had listings for taverns, nightclubs, tailors, barbershops, beauty salons, drug stores, liquor stores, gas stations, and garages. Early on Green also began soliciting recommendations from the guide’s users. ![]() ![]() He also received assistance from Charles McDowell, the collaborator on Negro Affairs for the United States Travel Bureau, an office of the Department of the Interior charged with promoting American tourism. To do so, he used his involvement with the National Association of Letter Carriers to reach out to postal workers across the country to gather information. The demand for the first Green Book was so great that by the publication of the second annual edition in 1937, Green had shifted his focus to a national scope. To address the uncertainty of attaining lodging, meals, and fuel, African American car travelers brought with them blankets and pillows, extra food, drinks, and gasoline, as well as portable toilets. ![]() The landscape was dotted with “sundown towns,” where the presence of people of colour was banned after nightfall. This was seldom the experience for African American travelers during the Jim Crow era, however.īecause segregation was pervasive not just in the South but throughout the country, Black travelers not only met with the inconvenience and humiliation of being turned away from businesses but also had to be ever mindful of the threat of racist violence, including lynching. The proliferation of tourist homes, roadside motels, restaurants, and tourist attractions offered convenience that made it possible for car travel to be a joyful spontaneous adventure for most Americans. Compiled by Victor Hugo Green (1892–1960), a Black postman who lived in the Harlem section of New York City, the Green Book listed a variety of businesses-from restaurants and hotels to beauty salons and drugstores-that were necessary to make travel comfortable and safe for African Americans in the period before passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964.Īutomobile travel exploded in the United States during the mid-20th century as more and more Americans were able to afford cars and had disposable income and leisure time (including paid vacations) that allowed them to explore the country. The Green Book, in full The Negro Motorist Green Book, The Negro Travelers’ Green Book, or The Travelers’ Green Book, travel guide published (1936–67) during the segregation era in the United States that identified businesses that would accept African American customers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |