Podcast
99% Invisible
The guide was described as a nationwide travel handbook that listed safe restaurants, hotels, and service stations for AfricanAmerican travelers, printed in large numbers until its final edition in 1968.
State by state, he'd been putting together a travel guide with listings of restaurants, hotels and service stations that would welcome African-American travelers. He called it the Negro Motorist Green...
— Episode: The Green Book
Episode: The Green Book
The guide was described as a nationwide travel handbook that listed safe restaurants, hotels, and service stations for AfricanAmerican travelers, printed in large numbers until its final edition in 1968.
State by state, he'd been putting together a travel guide with listings of restaurants, hotels and service stations that would welcome African-American travelers. He called it the Negro Motorist Green Book, the Green Book for short.
They printed about 15,000 copies a year. Victor Green had changed travel for thousands of AfricanAmerican tourists. He wrote in a 1956 introduction to the guide.
There will be a day sometime in the near future. 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.
They are green books. They're just little jewels. I mean, I just buzz with this kind of good energy that I just feel like, oh, my God, they're actually here.
The Smithsonian bought one at auction recently for $22,500.