The Green Book was a 1936–1966 travel book that included listings for accommodations (hotels, restaurants, pubs, petrol stations, etc.) that welcomed African Americans. You are welcome to explore the contents of the Green Books in innovative ways while NYPL Labs works to extract the data from them.
Published between 1936 and 1966, the directories commonly referred to as the Green Book were created by Victor Green, a postal worker residing in Harlem but employed in Manhattan. (The true names were The Negro Motorist Green Book, The Negro Travelers’ Green Book, and The Travelers’ Green Book, among others.) Here are a few places that accept Black tourists: hotels, dining establishments, spas, salons, bars, nightclubs, and petrol stations. The Green Book became an essential navigational aid during a time of lynchings, segregation, and sundown towns.
Goals
The initiative is intended for a non-Black audience as well. The goal of the Green Books itself implies this readership. Maps of these routes serve to highlight the areas of Jim Crow America, since travel guides indicated numerous “hotels, restaurants, bars [and] gas stations […] where black travelers would be welcome.”9. The fact that racial prejudice was not exclusive to the South is demonstrated by the Green Books. Navigating the Greek Book is inviting non-Black people to explore how travel planning would be different “in an age of sundown towns, segregation, and lynching” in addition to the digitizing project.10 Using data from the Books, the mapping tool facilitates the mapping and visualization of travel routes.
Values
Nationally, black women used the Green Book as a way to list their enterprises, challenge gender norms, and gain some sense of freedom. While women controlled or owned a wide range of listed companies, some stood out in particular for their significance and/or ubiquity.
Discipline
Marketing/Business
This project has allowed business to promote their business among the black community.
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