John Malveaux of
sends this link:
During the height of segregation and Jim Crow, many
African Americans owned copies of the “Negro Motorist Green Book,” a
guide that informed travelers of the safest places to eat, sleep or get a
haircut when on the open road. The book was first published in 1936 by a
Harlem postal worker, and it continued to be released in updated and
expanded editions until the mid-1960s and the passage of the Civil
Rights Act.
“There will be a day sometime in the near future when this guide
will not have to be published. That is when we as a race will have equal
opportunities and privileges in the United States. It will be a great
day for us to suspend this publication for then we can go wherever we
please, and without embarrassment.”
That was how the authors of the “Negro Motorist Green Book” ended the
introduction to their 1948 edition. In the pages that followed, they
provided a rundown of hotels, guest houses, service stations, drug
stores, taverns, barber shops and restaurants that were known to be safe
ports of call for African American travelers. The “Green Book” listed
establishments in segregationist strongholds such as Alabama and
Mississippi, but its reach also extended from Connecticut to
California—any place where its readers might face prejudice or danger
because of their skin color. With Jim Crow still looming over much of
the country, a motto on the guide’s cover also doubled as a warning:
“Carry your Green Book with you—You may need it.”
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