The Negro Motorist Green Book, commonly referred to as The Green Book, was published by Victor Green from 1936-1966. It outlined hotels, gas stations, and restaurants that would serve African Americans during Jim Crow.
Victor Green, an African American postal worker, saw the need to list places friendly to black travelers. As the black middle class grew, and car ownership increased, he began a travel agency, this book providing crucial information for safe travel. By 1952 the title was changed to The Negro Travelers’ Green Book to more accurately identify international modes of transportation.
If you’re curious what this book looks like, you can buy a facsimile of several editions on Amazon. To understand more about the dangers blacks encountered when traveling through the U.S. during Jim Crow, read Ruth and the Green Book. Told from the perspective of a little girl, Ruth, it offers insight into just how dangerous it was for blacks to travel through the South. And she’s just trying to see her grandma! But again, it illustrates a journey fraught with landmines based on skin color and how integral this book was for safety while on the road. If you’d prefer a more academic approach, read Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights or Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America. Last, but not least, there is the 2018 movie, The Green Book, based on the true story of an Italian American bodyguard and his employer, an African American classical pianist.