This weekend, filmmakers Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Becky Wible Searles will interview relatives of the former publisher of the Negro Travelers Green Book for a documentary, according to the New York Times.
Victor Hugo Green, a letter carrier who lived in New York City, in 1936 began publishing the guidebook to help travelers find black-friendly motels, restaurants, gas stations and other services across the United States. The filmmakers’ work eventually will be a one-hour movie, “The Green Book Chronicles.”
Ms. Wible Searles, an animation professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Atlanta campus, and Mr. Ramsey, a writer who has developed theater and musical versions of “Green Book” stories, have tracked down families who owned sites mentioned in the books or who relied on it for travel suggestions.
At times during interviews, Mr. Ramsey said, “People start crying, because they remember things.” Some had been told protective lies as children about why particular tourist routes were off limits to their families.
One notable thing about the article was Green recommended New Mexico as a travel destination because most motel owners accepted overnight guests “on the basis of ‘cash rather than color.’”
Green died in 1960, but the Green Books, as they were called, continued publication until 1964, with the Civil Rights Act became law.
A 10-minute video of excerpts from the film:
The film’s website mentions the “Ruth and the Green Book” children’s book, which I highly recommend.
The article also provides an update on one of Candacy Taylor’s Green Book projects:
Next year Avalon Travel will publish her Route 66 tourism guide with “Green Book” locations. She said that she could also envision sites known for tolerance being commemorated with plaques. White and black business owners, she said, “should be celebrated for not accepting the status quo of the time.”
Taylor collaborated with the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program to identify black-friendly properties on or near Route 66 that were listed in the Green Books. The full list was released a few days ago. A University of South Carolina digital map by of Green Book sites is here, although I’m not sure how complete it is.
A full collection of Green Books have been digitized and may be perused here.
(Image of the cover of the 1949 Negro Motorist Green Book)
I am very proud that we included an entire gallery section devoted to discrimination (including a copy of the Green Book and an actual “sundown town” sign) as part of our Autry exhibition: “Route 66: The Road and the Romance”
Really looking forward to this documentary. Hopefully it will focus on the courageous business owners that made The Green Book and Negro travel possible. They have inspiring stories to tell.