New exhibition presents “The Green Book,” a life-saving guide for black travelers

CINCINNATI — In the early 1900s, a travel guide was published that some people said was life-saving for African Americans.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opens an exhibit Saturday highlighting the guide, its impact and more.

In 1936, Victor Hugo Green published The Green Book, a travel guide that helped African Americans travel safely in segregated areas in the mid-20th century.

“In the era of Jim Crow laws and ‘sundown towns’ (places where African Americans were not allowed to be after sunset), knowledge of these businesses was not only helpful, it could save lives,” the National Underground Freedom Center said in a press release.

The Green Book listed several places that black travelers could safely visit. These places included the following:

• Restaurants
• Hotels
• Petrol stations
• Department stores

Initially, Green focused only on New York City, where he was born, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Due to the guide’s popularity, he later included other cities and states in his guide.
The annual guide was published until 1967 – about 31 years – and distributed throughout the country.

“We are delighted to share the story of The Green Book with our community. It is a story that transcends history because its legacy and those who lived through it are still with us,” said Woodrow Keown Jr., president and COO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. “The Green Book is a light in a dark period of American history. It showed, like the Underground Railroad a century earlier, that African Americans were not going to let their freedom be taken away and were willing to stand up against the systems designed to oppress them.”

The new exhibition at the Freedom Center – developed by the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibition Service – is titled “The Negro Motorist Green Book.”

“The exhibition highlights a vibrant parallel world of African-American enterprise, the rise of the black leisure class, and the important role the Green Book played in facilitating the second wave of the Great Migration, allowing African Americans to escape the hostility of the South and pursue their American dream,” the National Underground Freedom Center said in a press release.

According to the Freedom Center, the exhibition will feature company signs, film footage, images and other artifacts from the Smithsonian “to express the anxieties of African-American travelers and to celebrate the resilience, innovation and elegance of people who choose to live a fulfilling American life.”

The exhibition is open until October 13 and is included in the admission price. The Freedom Center said visitors can also “experience” the exhibition with Candacy Taylor, the author of The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in Americaon Saturday at 11 a.m.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center at 50 E Freedom Way is open Sunday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed Monday and Tuesday. Visitors must enter before 4:30 p.m.

The prices for general admission tickets are:

• $16.50 for adults
• $14 for people aged 60 and over
• $11.50 for children ages three to twelve
• Free for children under three years

Click here for further ticket information.

To learn more about the Freedom Center, click here.