Yesterday I mentioned some obsolete words associated with slavery. Today I have another one.
It didn’t used to be easy to travel through a segregated country when you were a minority. So in 1936 an enterprising postal worker named Victor Hugo Green began publishing a guide for black travelers. Originally called the Negro Motorist Green Book, it was nicknamed the Green Book, and was published almost every year until 1966. These handy volumes became so popular there was even an international edition. This is another detail of history that can easily be forgotten. I’m sure many today don’t realize why such a guide was even necessary.
Fortunately for our history, this year the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City has digitized its entire collection,. With any luck, this cultural contribution will be around for a long time to come.
For more information, visit http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2015/11/23/green-book-travel-guides-history