# The Green Book **URL:** **By** Michael Scott **Published:** February 24, 2021 --- During Jim Crow segregation, black motorists turned to the “Green Book” to guide them to safe accomodations and restaurants. During the era of Jim Crow segregation, Black Americans faced grave dangers while traveling the highways and byways of the United States. Many hotels and restaurants refused to serve Black customers and certain “sundown” cities went so far as to [ban](https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/156584887X/) all Black travelers after nightfall. These harsh realities created a demand for an authoritative guide known as the _Negro Motorist Green Book_ (or _Green Book_ for short) listing safe havens for Black folks to frequent while traveling. First released in 1936, the book was the brainchild of a Harlem-based postal carrier named [Victor Hugo Green](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo_Green). Inspired by similar works published for Jewish travelers trying to avoid anti-Semitic locations, the goal of the guide was to help Black Americans travel without fear. Victor *Victor Hugo Green (1892-1960)* When the _Green Book_ was created, Victor and his wife Alma Green lived in the Sugar Hill district of [Harlem](https://www.libertarianism.org/articles/harlem-renaissance-black-cultural-innovation-unleashed), across the street from Duke Ellington. Sugar Hill was a symbolic reference to the “sweet life” found in this illustrious neighborhood that was filled with Black luminaries such as Langston Hughes, [Zora Neale Hurston](https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/portraits-of-liberty/a-lover-of-individualism-zora-neale-hurston), and Thurgood Marshall. But like most Black Americans in the mid-20th century, the Greens had grown tired of the discrimination Blacks faced whenever they traveled outside of their neighborhoods. Being subjected to “Whites Only” policies meant they often couldn’t find safe places to eat or sleep. The need for the Greens’ book wasn’t confined to the Jim Crow South. As the motto emblazoned on the guide’s cover said, “Carry Your Green Book With You — You May Need It.” [1](#_ftn1) The book began as a short, 15-page list of hotels and restaurants in the New York metropolitan area, which was Green’s home territory. But its coverage grew rapidly thanks to the support of his fellow postal carriers, who gathered field reports to support the guide. Soon, black travelers themselves, in a modern-day form of crowdsourcing, became the eyes and eyes for the guide. > The need for the Greens’ book wasn’t confined to the Jim Crow South. In later years, cash payments were sent to readers who forwarded useful information. For many Black Americans it became an honor to have one’s home or business listed in the _Green Book_. During the guide’s early days, the _Green Book_’s taxonomy of locales were organized by city and state, with the vast majority of listings centered in major urban centers like New York, Chicago, and Detroit. Over time it became a rich source for Black travelers seeking safe havens at hotels, guest houses, nightclubs, restaurants, service stations, state parks, golf courses, drug stores, and barber shops. Listings in the guide were either Black-owned or, if not, known to be non-discriminatory. According to Candacy Taylor author of the [book](https://www.amazon.com/Overground-Railroad-Green-Travel-America/dp/1419738178), _Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America:_ > More than 80 percent of the listings were clustered in traditional African American neighborhoods such as Harlem, South Central Los Angeles, and Bronzeville in Chicago. The majority were black-owned, but there were also black-friendly white-owned establishments, such as Macy’s, Brooks Brothers, the Drake Hotel in Chicago, the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, and even Disneyland.[2](#_ftn2) The _Green Book_ also reflected Black advancement in the world of free enterprise and entrepreneurship. The guide became an indispensable marketing tool for Black-owned business establishments interested in serving travelers seeking safe harbors. Says author Taylor: > By 1930, Blacks in the United States owned approximately 70,000 small businesses and over the _Green Book_’s nearly thirty-year reign, it listed more than 9,500 of these, including hotels, restaurants, gas stations, department stores, tailors, nightclubs, drugstores, hair salons, haberdashers, sanitariums, funeral homes, real estate offices, and even a dude ranch. [3](#_ftn3) By the early 1940s, the _Green Book_ boasted that it covered thousands of establishments nationwide. As Evan Andrews wrote for [History.com](https://www.history.com/news/the-green-book-the-black-travelers-guide-to-jim-crow-america): > The 1949 guide encouraged hungry motorists passing through Denver to stop for a bite at the Dew Drop Inn. Those looking for a bar in the Atlanta area were told to try the Yeah Man, Sportsman’s Smoke Shop or Butler’s. In Richmond, Virginia, Rest-a-Bit was the go-to spot for a ladies’ beauty parlor. In 1952, Green retired from the postal service and became a full-time publisher. He was able to yield a modest profit from the _Green Book_ — 25 cents for each copy sold of the first edition, $1 for the last edition—but never became wealthy. At the height of the guide’s circulation, 20,000 books were sold annually through outlets like the Negro Urban League, Esso gas stations, and Black churches. The _Green Book_ expanded from its origins catering strictly to motorists into a guide to international travel; later editions included listings on airline and cruise ship travel to numerous global destinations. In 1960, Victor Green died after more than two decades of publishing the travel guide. His wife [assumed](https://abitofhistoryblog.com/2019/03/25/the-mother-of-the-green-book-ignored-by-history/) the editorial role and continued to release updated editions of the _Green Book_. But in 1964, with the advent of the Civil Rights Act which banned racial segregation in restaurants, theaters, hotels, parks and other public places, the _Green Book_ quietly ceased publication. > The Green Book also reflected Black advancement in the world of free enterprise and entrepreneurship. The enduring legacy of the _Negro Motorist Green Book_ in fostering travel freedom and independence is best captured in the introduction of the 1948 edition. “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.” [4](#_ftn4) ## Endnotes [1](#_ftnref1) [The Green Book: The Black Travelers Guide To Jim Crow America, The History Channel,](https://www.history.com/news/the-green-book-the-black-travelers-guide-to-jim-crow-america) (Evan Andrews/The New York Public Library) March 13, 2019 [2](#_ftnref2) [Taylor, Candacy —Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America](https://abramsbooks.com/product/overground-railroad_9781419738173/), Abrams press, NY 2020 [3](#_ftnref3) Ibid. [4](#_ftnref4) [The Negro Motorist Green Book: 1948: A Classified Motorist & Tourist Guide Covering the United States & Alaska](https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/70651400-893f-0132-f4b5-58d385a7bbd0#/?uuid=6fa574f0-893f-0132-1035-58d385a7bbd0), New York Public Library