The Negro Motorist Green-Book: 1940 Facsimile Edition

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This is a historical curiosity. It is a reproduction of the book prepared annually by Victor H. Green to direct African-Americans traveling to new cities where they could find services and lodging that would cater to their race.

The book itself is a quotidian listing of names and locations of restaurants, hotels, barber shops, etc. Of course, I looked up Fresno and found “TRAILER PARKS & CAMPS Barnes Drive In - 1412 “F” Street,” which makes me want to take a trip downtown to see what's there now. Sprinkled throughout the book are safety tips for drivers, points of interests and a commentary on what to see in the South.

The interest of this book is that it preserves something of the past; these locations and these services existed at one time.

More importantly, it is something of food for thought. There was a time when travel was hard, difficult and dangerous. There was no interstate system in 1940. Travelers didn't have cell phones or the internet. They had folding maps, but those never provided much in the way of information about gas stations or hotels. In a far less populated country, services were often few and far between.

Now, imagine doing that in a country with the added degree of difficulty being legal and informal prejudice. Not everyone was hostile, of course, but the uncertainty must have been debilitating. Accordingly, this book and an informal network of support existed. It would have been common for African-Americans to head for the black part of town and ask people on the street where they could go for lodgings and dinner.

That this all happened spontaneously and without government organization speaks volumes about the stuff our ancestors were made of.