
The Green Book Map - Thevet
http://publicdomain.nypl.org/greenbook-map/
======
marcusgarvey
I'm glad this exists. I think it's important to point out: it's not just that
black travelers had to find places to stay overnight that were welcoming
because Jim Crow laws meant that many hotels and boarding houses only accepted
whites. It has as much to do with the fact that there were (are?) towns known
as sundown towns, as in

>signs posted at their city limits reading, typically, "Nigger, Don't Let The
Sun Go Down On You In ___."[1]

It wasn't just about finding a warm smile to greet you and a place to lay your
head. It was about saving your black life by helping make sure you didn't find
yourself at night in one of these sundown towns.

It was not / is not just in the southern U.S., as the link below attests.

[1]
[http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/sundowntowns.php](http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/sundowntowns.php)

~~~
marcusgarvey
From a resolution passed last year by Goshen, Indiana, disavowing its past as
a sundown town.

A RESOLUTION ACKNOWLEDGING THE RACIALLY EXCLUSIONARY PAST OF GOSHEN, INDIANA,
AS A 'SUNDOWN TOWN'

WHEREAS the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America and
the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag establish liberty and justice for
all in this nation;

WHEREAS the U.S. Census reported that the “Negro” population of Goshen in 1890
was 21, but by 1910 it was 2;

WHEREAS historical studies by multiple independent researchers confirm that
Goshen was a “sundown town” for approximately the first two-thirds of the 20th
century;

WHEREAS such towns excluded—often by social and cultural means, including
police profiling—members of non-white racial and ethnic groups, particularly
African Americans, from living in said jurisdictions or even being inside the
city limits after sundown;

WHEREAS the Goshen City Utility, the Goshen Mayor’s Office, and the Goshen
Chamber of Commerce put the City’s exclusionary reputation in writing in a
number of publications from the mid-1930s to the late 1970s;

WHEREAS some real-estate developers and residents of Goshen subdivisions used
and reinforced restrictive language in property deeds and covenants that kept
African Americans from purchasing property and living in those subdivisions
for several decades in the 20th century;

WHEREAS there is written, oral, and pictorial documentation that some Goshen
residents did not support Goshen’s exclusionary attitudes and practices, but
there also is written, oral, and pictorial documentation that a pro-white
mentality prevailed among some of Goshen’s citizenry and leadership for many
decades in the 20th century;

WHEREAS the Goshen Ministerial Association (GMA) in 1964 issued a public
statement expressing dismay regarding residents’ fears of “Negroes” moving to
Goshen—and called for open and fair housing;

WHEREAS healthy individuals and healthy communities are able to recognize past
mistakes (“sundown town” activities in Goshen were and remain unacceptable and
contrary to our U.S. Constitution), admit when they have been wrong, and
resolve to make improvements in the future;

WHEREAS Goshen already has made significant progress in promoting racial
equality—as symbolized by establishing in 1996 an annual Diversity Day and the
Human Relations Commission (which had been part of the GMA), approving in 2000
the placement at Goshen’s City limits of welcoming signage that said “We
Promote Tolerance” and “Embracing Diversity,” and instituting in 2004 the
Community Relations Commission as part of City government;

WHEREAS the City of Goshen, Goshen Chamber of Commerce, Goshen Community
Schools, Goshen College and others are working together to tell the compelling
stories (past and present) of our increasingly diverse community—all for the
good of Goshen;

AND WHEREAS Goshen residents are justifiably proud of how we seek to work
toward the common good of everyone in the community—and in pursuing that goal
the City of Goshen would be uncommonly great in acknowledging our community’s
“sundown town” past.

[http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/GoshenRes.doc](http://sundown.afro.illinois.edu/GoshenRes.doc)

~~~
marcusgarvey
The widespread existence of such policies -- long after slavery ended,
sanctioned by the federal government and generations-long, is why folks like
Ta-Nehisi Coates can make a persuasive case for reparations.

[http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-
case...](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-
reparations/361631/)

------
tuxidomasx
Another positive benefit of the Green Book was that it was essentially an
early niche business directory. Ironically, some of the greatest economic
progress for Black Americans occurred during the oppressive Jim Crow era
because Black consumers had to buy goods and services from Black-friendly and
Black-owned & operated businesses.

Probably the best example of this was the Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma
(
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Tulsa#The_Black_Wal...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwood,_Tulsa#The_Black_Wall_Street)
), which was the wealthiest Black community in America at the time (and
subsequently the site of the worst race riot of the 20th century).

Resources like the Green Book benefited Black businesses as well as Black
travelers and consumers.

~~~
marcusgarvey
>Ironically, some of the greatest economic progress for Black Americans
occurred during the oppressive Jim Crow era because Black consumers had to buy
goods and services from Black-friendly and Black-owned & operated businesses.

On a very individualized basis, there were some inspiring gains for sure. But
policies like those mentioned in my other comments were so widespread that, on
a collective basis, the progress was and is quite abysmal.

------
evanjacobs
This post reminded me of the upcoming book by Matt Ruff ("Sewer, Gas &
Electric", "Set This House in Order", "Fool on the Hill") titled "Lovecraft
Country".

From the description on the author's website:

 _" Chicago, 1954. When his father goes missing, twenty-two-year-old Army
veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him,
accompanied by his uncle George—publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide—and
his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Samuel
Braithwhite—heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus’s ancestors—they
encounter both the mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits
that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours."_

[http://www.bymattruff.com/my-novels/lovecraft-
country/](http://www.bymattruff.com/my-novels/lovecraft-country/)

