WEBVTT - How Did 'The Green Book' Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum here. As he was growing up in Baltimore

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<v Speaker 1>in the nineteen fifties, the author and playwright Calvin Alexander

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<v Speaker 1>Ramsay never really questioned why his family, like all the

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<v Speaker 1>other black families he knew, would leave for vacation car

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<v Speaker 1>trips at two or three in the morning, and he

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<v Speaker 1>never thought twice about the fact that the family always

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<v Speaker 1>slept at private homes instead of in hotels, used the

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<v Speaker 1>side of the road as a restroom, and packed their

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<v Speaker 1>own food with them for the length of the journey.

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<v Speaker 1>Only years later did Ramsey realize that his parents avoided restaurants,

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<v Speaker 1>gas stations, and hotels in order to protect him from

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<v Speaker 1>the racist degradations and very real dangers of traveling will

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<v Speaker 1>black in nineteen fifties America. The nineteen sixty four Civil

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<v Speaker 1>Rights Act formally ended segregation and made it a crime

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<v Speaker 1>to discriminate on the basis of color, But the tradition

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<v Speaker 1>of the Great American road trip has always been very

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<v Speaker 1>different for families of color. Especially before the Act passed,

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<v Speaker 1>Black motorists traveling outside of major city centers had no

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<v Speaker 1>way of knowing if the local service station would sell

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<v Speaker 1>them gas or if there were any restaurants serving black

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<v Speaker 1>customers within a day's drive. In nineteen thirty six, a

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<v Speaker 1>black mailman living in Harlem, New York, decided to do

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<v Speaker 1>something about it. That's when, inspired by Jewish publications that

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<v Speaker 1>listed safe places for Jewish travelers to eat and sleep

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<v Speaker 1>on the road, Victor Hugo Green published the first edition

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<v Speaker 1>of the Negro Motorist Green Book, of that being the

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<v Speaker 1>accepted nomenclature for Black Americans at the time. Inside the

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<v Speaker 1>pages of the Green Book, as it became known, black

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<v Speaker 1>travelers could find state by state listings of hotels and

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<v Speaker 1>private tourist homes to spend the night, plus restaurants, barbershops,

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<v Speaker 1>service stations, and stores where their business was welcome. You

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<v Speaker 1>might be familiar with the Green Book through the twenty

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<v Speaker 1>twenty television series Lovecraft Country, or the novel it was

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<v Speaker 1>based on of the same name, or through the film

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<v Speaker 1>Green Book, though the film has been widely denounced for

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<v Speaker 1>its cloying and inaccurate portrayals of real life people like

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<v Speaker 1>black pianist Dr Donald Waldridge Shirley. The aforementioned author, Calvin

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<v Speaker 1>Alexander Ramsey himself wrote a popular children's book in ten

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<v Speaker 1>called Ruth and the Green Book, as well as a

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<v Speaker 1>play called The Green Book. When we spoke with Ramsey,

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<v Speaker 1>he explained that Green relied on a network of fellow

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<v Speaker 1>black mailmen across the country to compile listings of businesses

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<v Speaker 1>and private residents and mail the addresses back to Green's

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<v Speaker 1>wife in Harlem, who would add them to the always

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<v Speaker 1>expanding publication. A new edition of The Green Book was

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<v Speaker 1>published every year from nineteen thirty six through nineteen sixty

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<v Speaker 1>four and sold at Esso service stations and other smaller retailers.

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<v Speaker 1>So a brand that's today part of ex On Mobile,

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<v Speaker 1>was known for being widely welcoming of black employees, franchisees,

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<v Speaker 1>and customers. The Green Book was a lifeline for black travelers,

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<v Speaker 1>many of whom carried fresh memories of humiliation by white

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<v Speaker 1>business owners. Not only in the Jim Crow South, plenty

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<v Speaker 1>of northern and western towns and cities had sundown laws

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<v Speaker 1>stating that no black person could be within the city

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<v Speaker 1>limits after nightfall. Conducting interviews for a forthcoming documentary on

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<v Speaker 1>The Green Book, Ramsey spoke with a woman who can't

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<v Speaker 1>forget being a little girl on a family road trip

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<v Speaker 1>through Florida in the early nineteen fifties when she suddenly

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<v Speaker 1>became ill and needed a place to rest. Ramsey said

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<v Speaker 1>her father went to three or four different hotels and

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<v Speaker 1>motels and they turned him away. He said, my daughter

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<v Speaker 1>is really ill and needs a bed to rest peacefully

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<v Speaker 1>for a while, and they all said no. She remembers

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<v Speaker 1>it was the first time she had ever seen her

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<v Speaker 1>father cry. The Green Book was created to ensure that

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<v Speaker 1>other black families didn't have to endure such degradations, difficult teas,

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<v Speaker 1>and potential dangers. Flipping through the ninety edition, there are

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<v Speaker 1>paid advertisements from black owned businesses, in addition to detailed

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<v Speaker 1>listings for every major city in each state. In some locales,

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<v Speaker 1>options were limited. South Dakota, for example, had only two listings,

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<v Speaker 1>a service station and the private tourist home of one

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<v Speaker 1>Mrs J. Moxley. Included in the forty eight page booklet

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<v Speaker 1>is a letter from a grateful reader named WILLIAMS. Smith

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<v Speaker 1>from Hackensack, New Jersey, who wrote, we earnestly believe the

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<v Speaker 1>Green Book will mean as much, if not more, to us,

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<v Speaker 1>as the Triple A means to the white race. Ramsey

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<v Speaker 1>explained that roadside assistance organizations like Triple A often didn't

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<v Speaker 1>accept black members, and that savvy black travelers would bring

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<v Speaker 1>along extra fan belts and spark plugs for long journeys.

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<v Speaker 1>Seven edition of the Green Book starts with a section

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<v Speaker 1>on automotive preparedness and how to keep a car up

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<v Speaker 1>and running. Victor Greene may have left school after the

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<v Speaker 1>eighth grade, but his brilliant publication opened up America's roads

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<v Speaker 1>and highways to millions of black families. Green died in

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixty four, years shy of the passing of the

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<v Speaker 1>Civil Rights Act, a moment he had long awaited. Green

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<v Speaker 1>wrote in the introduction to the nine edition, quote, there

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<v Speaker 1>will be a day sometime in the near future when

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<v Speaker 1>this guide will not have to be published. That is,

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<v Speaker 1>when we as a race will have equal opportunities and

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<v Speaker 1>privileges in the United States. It will be a great

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<v Speaker 1>day for us to suspend this publication, for then we

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<v Speaker 1>can go wherever we please and without embarrassment. But until

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<v Speaker 1>that time comes, we shall continue to publish this information

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<v Speaker 1>for your convenience each year. Today's episode was written by

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<v Speaker 1>Dave Ruse and produced by Tyler Clang for more in

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<v Speaker 1>this and lots of other topics, visit how stuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i

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