Victor Green Publishes 'The Negro Motorist Green Book' for Safe Black Travel

Victor H. Green, a Harlem postal worker, published the first Negro Motorist Green Book in 1936, listing hotels, restaurants, beauty parlors, and businesses that would serve Black travelers without harassment, discrimination, or danger across the country. The guide reflected the reality that Black Americans traveling by automobile faced hostile sundown towns, gas stations that refused service, hotels that turned them away, and regular danger of violence. The Green Book grew to list thousands of establishments and sold through Esso gas stations nationwide. Published annually until 1967, it documented both the geography of racism and the geography of Black community institutions.