Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance

Broadcaster and educator Hall (Driving the Green Book podcast) explores the importance of the travel guide that Black motorists used during the Jim Crow era. Published annually between 1936–67 by Alma and Victor Hugo Green, the Green Book provided lists of Black-owned businesses, which offered safe and friendly accommodations to Black people. Using listings provided in that directory, Hall and his podcast producer, Janée Woods Weber, took a 2,000-mile round trip from Detroit to New Orleans exploring what remains of the businesses—often little more than abandoned buildings—and their legacy. Men and women who had used the guide explained all the preparations that went into travel in the age of Jim Crow to ensure their safety, such as leaving in the middle of the night, packing food in foil-lined shoeboxes, and having to use roadside bushes to relieve themselves. They also relayed the vibrancy and quality of many Black-owned establishments, which provided needed food and rest. Based on interviews and primary research, this book provides a window into an overlooked position that discrimination forced Blacks into.