Black Meetings and Tourism

June / July 2018

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During the mid 1900s, as all Americans began traveling internationally and domestically in increasingly record numbers, African- Americans were well represented, especially among those in the Drive Market. During this period, the headlines in Black Newspapers across the country reported countless incidents of harassment and harm inflicted upon African-Americans traveling on the nation's expanding roadways. The very lives of African-Americans were literally at risk when they ventured outside of their immediate home environment. Clearly they were not welcome at business establishments across the country. The original GREEN BOOK was the essential key that allowed Black Travelers to enjoy The FREEOM of Travel. Calvin A. Ramsey, author, playwright, renowned Green Book Historian and co-producer of The GREEN BOOK Chronicles, a documentary film about the historic Green Book, often emphasizes in his lectures that Victor Green longed for the time when his Green Books would be obsolete. In a foreword to one issue of his early editions, Green wrote: "There will be a day sometime in the near future when this guide will not have to be published. That is when we as a race will have equal opportunities and privileges in the United States. It will be a great day for us to suspend this publication for then we can go wherever we please, and without embarrassment." 13 B M & T ••• May/June 2018 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com In today's world, almost every American citi- zen would consider the freedom to TRAVEL as one of those inalienable rights perhaps as precious as life, lib- erty and the pursuit of happi- ness. To African-Americans, travel represents an even greater level of freedom. One that did not come without years of struggle and challenge. Looking back on the long history of African-Americans in this country, certainly we are not strangers to travel. Black people have come from literally traveling across the oceans as cargo in slave ships to being first class passengers aboard the world's luxury cruise liners. Harriet Tubman could be deemed as one of the original African-American tour operators. She guided hundreds of enslaved Africans to travel on the dangerous trails of the treach- erous Underground Railroad escaping bondage to freedom in new places they dreamed about. Now their descendants travel to the most fascinating and exotic destinations on the planet. This year, if you are among the millions of African-Americans planning to take a road trip you might need; an updated map quest, an electronic device to research websites and to book hotel reservations, and, of course, a good GPS system. Taking that same trip 50 years ago, during a time of racial segregation and Jim Crow laws, the one indispensable item you would be sure to have, was a little publication known as THE GREEN BOOK that quickly became an Essential guide for African American travelers. Published annually between 1936 and 1966, by Victor Hugo Green, a postal worker from New York City, the actual titles of these guides varied and included; The Travelers' Green Book, The Negro Travelers' Green Book, and The Negro Motorist Green Book. These comprehensive directories listed SAFE places where African-Americans traveling in the U.S. could find: a room to sleep, food to eat, even service stations to get gasoline or use public rest- room facilities. VICTOR HUGO GREEN (1892-1960) planet. BY GLORIA & SOLOMON HERBERT immediate country. Black and about Green will to and this embarrassment." CALVIN A. RAMSY

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