Feb

Last Chance to see “The Negro Motorist Green Book” from SITES

It’s not every day we get the opportunity to have an exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) right in our own backyard.

“Green Book” cover, 1959.
Courtesy Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, New York Public Library.

That’s why you’re invited to visit The Negro Motorist Green Book currently on view at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library (MLK). This is a rare chance to explore the reality of travel for African Americans in mid-century America and how the annual guide served as an indispensable resource for the nation’s rising African American middle class.

While there, don’t miss The Green Book in D.C.: A Particular Place for Particular People, produced by DC Public Library to complement the national, traveling exhibition. This local exhibit presents the stories of the more than 150 businesses and organizations right here in the District that were featured in The Green Book.

The SITES exhibition will be on view through Sunday, March 2, 2025.

Gather your colleagues, take a break, and immerse yourself in this unique experience while you still can!

Learn more!

America’s love affair with the automobile has had its ups and downs, but piling the family into the car and heading off on a road trip is still a cherished tradition, despite the inevitable wail from the back seat, “Mom, I gotta go!”

But not long ago, the simple pleasure of a family drive was hardly carefree for Black Americans. Finding lodging, restaurants, even gas stations that would serve Black people was challenging and required careful planning.

The Negro Motorist Green Book highlights the history of The Green Book, an annual guide created in 1936 by Harlem postman Victor Green that helped African Americans travel the country with dignity by listing facilities that accepted blacks during the era of Jim Crow laws and segregation. The exhibition brings focus to a vibrant parallel world of African American businesses, the rise of the black leisure class in the United States and the important role The Green Book played in facilitating the second wave of the Great Migration.

How a little Green Book helped drive travelers to Black businesses

“Green Book” cover, 1940.
Courtesy Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, New York Public Library.

Posted: 28 February 2025