WEBVTT - 021024 Way Black History Fact - The Green Book

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<v Speaker 1>Right now, it's time for the Way Black History Fact.

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<v Speaker 1>And today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by Underground

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<v Speaker 1>Beach Club. From Streets to the Beach with the latest

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<v Speaker 1>in beachwab visit Underground Beach Club dot com. Today's reading

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<v Speaker 1>comes from history dot com and we're pull it from

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<v Speaker 1>History dot com. This man talk to them. It's just

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<v Speaker 1>so clean and so right there. You don't got to

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<v Speaker 1>do nothing. It's not Qan Rams' opinion. Ready to read

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. That's what they own, all right. Uh. The

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<v Speaker 1>green Book Black Travelers Guide to Jim Crow America. Though

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<v Speaker 1>for those that didn't know, we're about to share. For

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<v Speaker 1>nearly thirty years, a guide called the Negro Motorist green

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<v Speaker 1>Book provided African Americans with advice on safe places to

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<v Speaker 1>eat and sleep when they traveled through the Jimcrow era

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<v Speaker 1>United States. Quote. There will be a day sometime in

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<v Speaker 1>the near future when this guide will not have to

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<v Speaker 1>be published. That is, when we as a race will

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<v Speaker 1>have equal opportunities and privileges in the United States. It

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<v Speaker 1>will be a great day for us to suspend this publication.

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<v Speaker 1>But then we can go wherever we please and without

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<v Speaker 1>embarrassment unquote. To believe the author of that quote thought

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<v Speaker 1>that that day would have come and gone already, we

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<v Speaker 1>are still trying to get there. Well, okay, let me

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<v Speaker 1>keep you going. That was how the authors of the

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<v Speaker 1>Negro Motors Green Book ended the introduction to their nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>forty eight edition and the pages that followed. They provided

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<v Speaker 1>a rundown of hotels, guesthouses, and service stations, as well

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<v Speaker 1>as drugstores, taverns, barbershops, and restaurants that were known to

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<v Speaker 1>be safe ports of call for African American travelers. The

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<v Speaker 1>Green Book listed establishments in segregationist strongholds such as Alabama

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<v Speaker 1>and Mississippi, but its reach also extended to Connecticut. From

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<v Speaker 1>Connecticut to California, any place where its readers might face

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<v Speaker 1>prejudice or danger because of their skin color. With Jim

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<v Speaker 1>Crow still looming over much of the country, a model

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<v Speaker 1>on the guid's cover also doubled as a warning carry

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<v Speaker 1>your Green Book with you, you may need it. First

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<v Speaker 1>published in nineteen thirty six, the Green Book was the

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<v Speaker 1>brainchild of Harlem based postal carrier named Victor Hugo Green.

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<v Speaker 1>Like most African Americans in the mid twentieth century, Green

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<v Speaker 1>had grown weary of the discrimination black space whenever they

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<v Speaker 1>ventured outside their neighborhoods. Rates of car ownership had exploded

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<v Speaker 1>in the New Years before and after World War Two,

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<v Speaker 1>but the lure of the interstate was also fraught with

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<v Speaker 1>a risk. For African Americans. White's only policies meant that

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<v Speaker 1>black travelers couldn't find safe spaces to eat and sleep,

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<v Speaker 1>and so called sundown towns or municipalities that banned blacks

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<v Speaker 1>after dark were scattered across the country. As the forward

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<v Speaker 1>of the nineteen fifty six edition of the Green Book noted,

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<v Speaker 1>the white traveler has no difficulty in getting accommodations but

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<v Speaker 1>the negro. But with the Negroes it has been different. Sorry.

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<v Speaker 1>Inspired by early books published for Jewish audiences, Green developed

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<v Speaker 1>a guide to help Black Americans indulgent travel without fear.

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<v Speaker 1>The first edition of his Green Book only covered hotels

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<v Speaker 1>and restaurants in the New York area, but he soon

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<v Speaker 1>expanded its scope by gathering field reports from fellow poster

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<v Speaker 1>carriers and offering cash payments to readers who sent in

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<v Speaker 1>useful information. By the early nineteen forties, the Green Book

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<v Speaker 1>boasted thousands of establishments across the country, all of them

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<v Speaker 1>either black owned or verified to be non discriminatory. The

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen forty nine guide encouraged motorists passing through Denver to

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<v Speaker 1>stop for a bite at the dew Drop. In I

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<v Speaker 1>was looking for a bar. In Atlanta area were told

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<v Speaker 1>to dry the Yeah Man, Sportsman Smoke Shop or Butler's.

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<v Speaker 1>In Richmond, Virginia, rest A Bit was the go to

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<v Speaker 1>spot for a ladies beauty parlor. The Green Books listings

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<v Speaker 1>were organized by state and city, with the vast majority

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<v Speaker 1>located in major metropolis is such as Chicago and Detroit.

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<v Speaker 1>Motown or more remote places had fewer options. Alaska only

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<v Speaker 1>had a loan entry in the nineteen sixty guide, but

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<v Speaker 1>even in cities with no black friend the hotels, the

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<v Speaker 1>book often listed the address of homeowners who were willing

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<v Speaker 1>to rent rooms, and nineteen fifty four it suggested that

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<v Speaker 1>visitors to a tiny Roswell, New Mexico town should stay

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<v Speaker 1>at the home of a missus Mary Collins. I want

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<v Speaker 1>you to check out the movie Green Book for more

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<v Speaker 1>on this, or checkout history dot com the rest of

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<v Speaker 1>this article, because obviously we can't finish it, but this

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<v Speaker 1>is a fascinating piece of American history. I don't even

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<v Speaker 1>want to call it black history because it's funny how

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<v Speaker 1>we teach that American history is American history. But I

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<v Speaker 1>want you to check out more on this, so please yep.