Victor Hugo Green

Victor Hugo Green, named for the noted French author, was born on November 9, 1892 in Manhattan, New York City.[4] He was the eldest of three children of Alice A. (Holmes) and William H. Green. His family moved and he grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey.[5] Starting in 1913 he worked in Bergen County, New Jersey as a postal carrier for the US Postal Service.[4][3]

On September 8, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York [6] Green married Alma S. Duke (1889–1978) of Richmond, Virginia.[7] She came to New York as part of the Great Migration from the South to northern cities in the early twentieth century. After their marriage, the couple moved to Harlem, New York, which was attracting blacks from across the country. It developed as a center of black arts and culture in the period of the Harlem Renaissance. They lived in an apartment at 580 St. Nicholas Avenue.[8]

Although Green was employed by the United States Postal Service as a letter carrier, he was drafted into the United States Army to serve in World War I,[9] although he had requested exemption from the draft due to his "employment in the transmission of mail."[10] He would ultimately serve as a member of the Supply Company of the 350th Field Artillery, 92nd Division, rising to the rank of Regimental Supply Sergeant.[11] He sailed for France with his unit on June 30, 1918 from Hoboken, New Jersey on the troop carrier SS President Grant. He returned to the United States from Brest, France on the troop carrier SS Maui on February 16, 1919, landing in Hoboken on the 28th.[12]

Green died on October 16, 1960 in Manhattan, New York City at age 67.[13]

As African Americans began to own automobiles and participate in developing American car culture, they were restricted by racial segregation in the United States. State laws in the South required separate facilities for African Americans and many motels and restaurants in northern states also excluded them. "For the Negro traveler, whether on business or pleasure, there was always trouble finding suitable accommodation in hotels and guest houses where he would be welcomed."[14]

In 1936 Green "thought of doing something about this. He thought of a listing, as comprehensive as possible, of all first-class hotels throughout the United States that catered to Negroes."[14] He collected information on hotels, restaurants and gas stations that served African Americans for his first edition of The Negro Motorist Green Book. Since some towns did not have any hotels or motels that would accept African American guests, he listed "tourist homes," where owners would rent rooms to travelers.[3][15] His first edition had data for facilities only in the New York metropolitan area.[3] In his introduction, 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 rights and privileges in the United States.[3]

Green created a publishing office in Harlem to support his guide. In 1947 he established a Vacation Reservation Service, a travel agency to book reservations at black-owned establishments. By 1949 the guide included international destinations in Bermuda and Mexico; it listed places for food, lodging, and gas stations.[16] In 1952 Green changed the name to The Negro Travelers' Green Book. His travel agency office was located at 200 W. 135th Street in Harlem, New York.[7]

Green printed 15,000 copies each year of The Green Book, marketing them to white as well as black-owned businesses to demonstrate "the growing affluence of African Americans."[3] At the time, Esso franchised gas stations to African Americans, when some other companies did not. The Esso stations became popular sales outlets for the book.[3] Similar guides had been published for Jewish travelers in some areas.[17]

Although Green died in 1960, publication continued, with his widow Alma serving as editor,[18] until 1966.[13] Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and legal end to racial segregation in public facilities marked the beginning of the guide's obsolescence; the goal that Green had described in his introduction to the first edition of his work.[3]

The Green Book was printed by Gibraltar Printing and Publishing Co. at 800 Sixth Avenue in New York City. The owner of Gibraltar Printing was Samuel Jacob Glener. Similar guides had been published for Jewish travelers.[17]

• Calvin Alexander Ramsey, The Green Book, a play that had a staged reading on September 15, 2010, at the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, DC;[17][19] It premiered in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2011.[20]
• The Dresser Trunk Project (2007), traveling exhibit about black travel during segregation, organized by William Daryl Williams, director of School of Architecture and Interior Design, University of Cincinnati.
• Green Book, 2018 film

• Complete scan of Green Book by The Henry Ford museum (92MB pdf).
• Cotten Seiler, Republic of Drivers: A Cultural History of Automobility in America, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2008, ISBN 0-226-74564-3
• "'Green Book' Helped African-Americans Travel Safely", Talk of the Nation, NPR, September 15, 2010
• Lacey-Bordeaux, Emma and Wayne Drash. "Travel guide helped African-Americans navigate tricky times." CNN. February 25, 2011.

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