There was a time when a Black family couldn't just get in the car and drive across Georgia. You needed a book to tell you where it was safe to stop.
The Green Book, started in 1936 by Harlem mail carrier Victor Hugo Green, listed hotels, restaurants, gas stations, salons, and private homes across America that would actually serve Black travelers. Georgia had its own listings — Macon's Douglass Hotel, service stations on Atlanta's Auburn Avenue, and more.
A few things the video didn't have room for: mail carriers were the secret engine of the whole thing. Postmen knew exactly which homes on their routes would take in travelers, and they mailed reams of listings to Green. Readers sent in their own suggestions too — user-generated content decades before the internet. It sold about 15,000 copies a year at its peak, and being listed as a "tourist home" was considered an honor. It stopped publishing in the 1960s after the Civil Rights Act. Most of the buildings are gone now, but a few, like Thomasville's Imperial Hotel, still stand.
Georgia, did your family ever travel with the Green Book?
📚 Sources: Smithsonian NMAAHC; Atlanta History Center; NYPL Green Book Archive
#GreenBook #BlackGeorgiaHistory #JimCrow #BlackTravel #HiddenHistory
The Green Book, started in 1936 by Harlem mail carrier Victor Hugo Green, listed hotels, restaurants, gas stations, salons, and private homes across America that would actually serve Black travelers. Georgia had its own listings — Macon's Douglass Hotel, service stations on Atlanta's Auburn Avenue, and more.
A few things the video didn't have room for: mail carriers were the secret engine of the whole thing. Postmen knew exactly which homes on their routes would take in travelers, and they mailed reams of listings to Green. Readers sent in their own suggestions too — user-generated content decades before the internet. It sold about 15,000 copies a year at its peak, and being listed as a "tourist home" was considered an honor. It stopped publishing in the 1960s after the Civil Rights Act. Most of the buildings are gone now, but a few, like Thomasville's Imperial Hotel, still stand.
Georgia, did your family ever travel with the Green Book?
📚 Sources: Smithsonian NMAAHC; Atlanta History Center; NYPL Green Book Archive
#GreenBook #BlackGeorgiaHistory #JimCrow #BlackTravel #HiddenHistory
There was a time when a Black family couldn't just get in the car and drive across Georgia. You needed a book to tell you where it was safe to stop.
The Green Book, started in 1936 by Harlem mail carrier Victor Hugo Green, listed hotels, restaurants, gas stations, salons, and private homes across America that would actually serve Black travelers. Georgia had its own listings — Macon's Douglass Hotel, service stations on Atlanta's Auburn Avenue, and more.
A few things the video didn't have room for: mail carriers were the secret engine of the whole thing. Postmen knew exactly which homes on their routes would take in travelers, and they mailed reams of listings to Green. Readers sent in their own suggestions too — user-generated content decades before the internet. It sold about 15,000 copies a year at its peak, and being listed as a "tourist home" was considered an honor. It stopped publishing in the 1960s after the Civil Rights Act. Most of the buildings are gone now, but a few, like Thomasville's Imperial Hotel, still stand.
Georgia, did your family ever travel with the Green Book?
📚 Sources: Smithsonian NMAAHC; Atlanta History Center; NYPL Green Book Archive
#GreenBook #BlackGeorgiaHistory #JimCrow #BlackTravel #HiddenHistory
