![]() Green was optimistic that the guide would no longer exists as the nation progressed towards an integrated union. In the guide, Green often produced editorial commentary in the guide on the social and civil issues of American society and the challenges of segregation. In 1952, Green retired from the postal service and became a full-time publisher. While the book was initially used as navigational aid through the Jim Crow era, as time went on the book expanded its listings to recreational spaces and vacation destinations. However, shortly after the return of many African American soldiers, the need for the book picked back up in the wake of the postwar travel boom in 1947. Publication of The Green Book was briefly suspended between 19, due to the war efforts during World War II. Copies of the book were sold at Black churches across the country, the Negro Urban League, and almost anywhere that African Americans were bound to encounter them in their city or along the highways. Esso was a rare gasoline distributor that franchised to African Americans. Green distributed the books by mail order, to black-owned businesses, and at Esso Standard Oil service stations. As the book became more popular, Green commissioned agents to solicit new business listings as well as to verify the accuracy of existing sites. ![]() Green compiled the listings through his connections in the postal workers’ union, as well as by asking Green Book users to submit information on sites in their areas. But the book’s use was more valuable to travelers crossing smaller towns in rural areas across the South and out West. The most high-volume listings were in cities with large populations of Black Americans, like New York, Detroit, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Businesses like hotels, motels, restaurants, beauty and barber shops, service stations, garages, nightclubs, resorts, and beaches were among the many types of spaces that the book offered. The directory included black owned businesses and tolerant white owned businesses that did not discriminate against Black customers. The context of the Greenbook was a directory of safe places for African American travelers to use as they enjoyed the liberties of automobiles and the roads that connected families and experiences. Within the first few months of being published the demand for the guide was so high that the following year it became national in both scope and distribution. The first edition of The Negro Motorist Green Book was produced in 1936 and was initially limited to listings in New York City. Green modeled the guide after those created for Jewish travelers, a group that had also experienced discrimination. Green originally cultivated the idea in 1932, when he encountered constant complaints from friends and neighbors about difficult and uncomfortable experiences they had while traveling by automobile. The Negro Motorist Green Book was the product. After years of frustrating travel experiences during his routes in segregated areas and among intolerant people, Green came up with the idea of publishing a travel guidebook for African American civilians. He served as a member of the Supply Company of the 350th Field Artillery, 92nd Division and rose to the rank of Regimental Supply Sergeant.įollowing World War I, Green returned to working as a postal carrier. Shortly after settling into newly married life, Green was drafted into the United States Army to serve in World War I. Harlem, during the early 20th century, was developing as the center of Black arts and culture, known as the Harlem Renaissance. After their marriage, the couple moved to Harlem, New York. ![]() Alma came to New York as part of the Great Migration from the South to northern cities in the early twentieth century. In September of 1917, he married a woman by the name Alma S. In 1913, Green started his career as a postal carrier for the US Postal Service working in Bergen County, New Jersey. Early in his childhood, Green’s family moved to Hackensack, New Jersey. ![]() Victor Hugo Green was born on Novemin Manhattan, New York City. The book was named after its founder Victor Hugo Green. The annual guide was designed to show businesses that did not discriminate against Black travelers. The Green Book, also known as The Negro Motorist Green Book, and later, The Negro Travelers’ Green Book, was a travel guide for African Americans, published from 1936 to 1966. "The Travelers' Green Book: 1960" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library.
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