Workrelated trip. However, the good news is that youre going to see a sneak preview of these new documentaries which will be aired on pbs later this year in which is based on ten years of research. A curator with more than 30 years experience, doctor gretchen has consulted for more than 250 institutions including the smithsonian, jewish and new York State Historical association. Shes the director of the Cooperstown Graduate Program of the State University of new york and the author of in the spirit of margin. Living legacy doctor Martin Luther king jr. Through the eyes of others, africanamerican and identity in american art. In her new book, driving while black, just out today, professor tells the story of the indispensable book which both reshaped the africanamerican traveling experience throughout our segregated land and help drive the Civil Rights Movement. Please welcome gretchen to the freak library. [applause] good evening. Its wonderful to be here in philadelphia. I apologize that rick wasnt able to join us this evening, he had a bit of an emergency but i hope you will enjoy the preview of our film that he sent along. Im going to talk, im sure many of you have seen a green book movie, im going to talk this evening about something, the story is about the automobile and the role the automobile played in africanamerican life. I would like you all to think about how important your mobility is to you. How important is it that you are able to travel where you want to, when you want to, how important is that to american liberty . The ability to travel freely is something all of us in this room take for granted. If you think about the role that liberty, that mobility place for africanamericans, very much american history, africanamericans were prohibited from traveling freely. Travel and the idea of journey is central to the africanamerican experience. The Middle Passage and it begins the journey for africanamericans. Its central to what it means to be black in this country. But the idea of travel is about work travel. This is our path and it says please in the newmarket, in virginia, return on monday or tuesday next from business medicine. June 1, 1843. Africanamericans traveling had to have passes. They had to have permission. Freedom is so important to many, they ran away. They sold themselves and exercised their freedom of movement. Excuse me. I have a 5yearold grandmother and shes given me a kindergarten [laughter] in the early 20th century, the great migration which is the next path in the journey for africanamericans is the story of the greatest movement of people in this countrys history. Seeking Job Opportunities in the north and racism and poverty in the south, as many as 7 million africanamericans left their home, seeking refuge in cities such as chicago, new york, detroit, moved in philadelphia where my philadelphia uncle moved. Education and employment became more and more black citizens among the black middle class. Freedom of mobility to go where you want, when you want became essential. The ability to avoid the indignity of jim crow bus and railroad car. Here is a jim crow bus. In the first half of the 20th century, behavior and advocate for africanamericans was prescribed by geography and by custom. If you were from a particular case, you knew what the rules work. Rules changed from place to place across the United States. Each state had its own rules. Each community had its own expected etiquette. It still didnt know the rules for etiquette. Particular driving etiquette was also expected. Africanamericans faced segregation in most public travel and accommodation in the south. In the north, it was dictated by customs. Buses, trains, hotels, restaurants, beaches and just about any place people gathered. This is a Jim Crow Railroad car. Insulting, emulating as well as dependent on them. Although they were only supposed to run in the south, many of them ran in the north as well, africanamericans, even if you purchased first class tickets. They were expected to go into the jim crow car. You can see the word colored on the backseat. The automobile African Americans freedom. Three black travelers from the tierney about railroad car and bus, freedom of movement and offered dignity. Africanamericans found the segregated train gave them no dignity, heres their own private rolling living room, if you are driving in your own car, you are free segregated insults and free from listening to the rest driver telling you to move to the back, you are free from the railroad car that might be right behind the engine. This was an important change in African American life. By the 1950s, with the interstate highway system every mobile black families were able to travel and become travel consumers. They started to consume travel, just as they consumed things like refrigerators and televisions and calculators. They used the dollars from her income to purchase automobiles and campers and hotel rooms and restaurant meals. With their history of travel, it was important for the black middle class to travel for leisure. They chose to travel in cars because they could. Often parents worked hard to make sure their children were not aware of the indignities they faced. The children installed in the backseat of these cars, werent always even aware of the indignities their parents faced north where they are aware of the danger their parents faced when they went out on the road. If you think about the make and model of automobiles, make and model was very much tied to identity. Africanamericans purchased large cards. You notice in studies done of africanamericans in the 1940s and 50s by Research Firms for the buck newspapers, africanamericans preferred large, heavy, u. S. And oldsmobiles. We would now call them gas pumpers. They are not small cars. I think they had them because they offered protection. They were hard to turn over, they were a place to sleep as necessary, carry blankets and pillows, sleep in your car on carry water from a radiator, you carried those big heavy coolers full of food because you couldnt stop at a restaurant. Black motorists created a home away from home in their automobile. This is an ad for the Buick Electra and it says all the electras fireplace. It was a heavy car, you could sleep in if you needed to. When they knew the car could travel through rural mississippi, he chose a rocket 88. The rocket was large enough to enable to stretch out through the night and it responded immediately if the accelerator, enabling him to get away from a pursuing power. This is a picture of the rocket 88. Shot by a sniper on june 12, 1963. Africanamericans also author automobiles as a symbol of class data in this is a cadillac. African americans were often progressive by discrimination or purchasing houses, you can buy a house because your neighborhood was redlined thanks would not give you a mortgage. Therefore, the car became their largest and most important purchase. Therefore, africanamericans used their income to buy beautiful cars. Africanamericans purchased cadillacs in exactly the same proportion, percentage as white americans. 3 . 3 of africanamerican purchased cadillacs. That is a stereotype that all africanamerican old owned cadillacs. Africanamericans traveled by car, African Americans had the freedom to travel but they were forced to stay in segregated black neighborhoods and segregated black tourist accommodation. I would like you to think for a minute about what it was like for all americans before there were cars. For the automobile. Before the automobile, people generally stayed put, they didnt travel very far at all from their own neighborhood. People generally stayed in white neighborhoods, black people generally stayed in black neighborhoods. In some form neighborhoods, black and white neighbors would live state by side. With their cars, africanamericans could cross the country, traveling through white spaces to get from a safe space to another safe backspace to get from black neighborhood to a black result, they had to go through a variety of white spaces where they were unwelcome. They faced fines, billboard posters and objects that range from insulting to frightening. They asserted their rights by going for they wanted, when they wanted and it could be a merchant dangerous. Psychologically and emotionally damaging passages, this is just one example of those kind of messages. This is a restaurant chain popular on the west coast, started in Salt Lake City and diners entered the restaurant through the giant mouth. This is the banner that welcomes visitors to greenville, texas. Greenville markham, the blackest land, the widest people. Of course there were hundreds of son downtown from African Americans traveled, they were faced with towns that had signs, if you were black, he needed to be out of town. Before sundown. These communities were all over the United States, many in the midwest and even a few like connecticut in the northeast. Theres a great story that marshall told, he was standing on a train car, a train platform waiting for a train and a man came up to him and said, this was before marshall was Supreme Court justice. The man said to him, little boy, what are you doing in this town . He says, im waiting for the train. The man said, little boy, you better be out of this town before sundown because the sun has never set with a neighbor in this town. Thats a story he tells in his autobiography. Some africanamericans face all kinds of intimidation and its real dangerous when they travel. This is a fair in colorado, i have to wonder why they were wearing these outfits on the ferris wheel. Africanamericans intended on travel guides, produced in new york city. How many of you have heard of this book . Many of you. How many of you have heard of all the other dozens of travel guides that existed . There were many for a variety of audiences. If you are a church group or a fraternity or sorority, there were guides that had special housing for you. There were many different guides in the back there was a magazine, there were travel guides as well. The green book is the most longlasting of the African American public eye. The reason it was so longlasting was because of their relationship with oil. Which is formally esso gas station. As folk was owned by standard oil they had africanamericans in the market. They had selfinterest, they thought these people have money and we would like to get some of it. They had a policy of non determination in the bathroom. In the gas station so africanamericans very often preferred esso gasoline. They gave away that green book in that helped make his green book successful. The idea for the green book was based on jewish travel guides. He writes in his first issue of the green book that is jewish brother gave him the idea. If you were a jewishamerican if you are traveling, you also needed to be concerned about patient that very often if you called the hotel, if your name was ruben, he would find suddenly, they had no rooms available. Jewish newspapers and jewish guides told you places you could stay and basis where you could observe those laws. Greenville he believed travel was fatal to prejudice. He believed if people went out of the country, it would help prejudice in this country. This is a quote from mark twain, the innocents abroad. He says travelers, he adopted that as his mantra. This is Victor Greene and his wife. He is a postal worker and did business in harlem. Whats so important, the reason i talk about this because Victor Greene died in 1960. The Publishing Company was then operated by alma greene and four other women. It was a five woman operation. This was a business cap, Publishing Business that was very unusual for women to work in publishing in this time. Much less running a Publishing Company. He continues to ramp up a Machine Company until the late 1960s. Victor greenes had a variety of ways of finding places to put in his green book. One of the ways by sending out postcards and letters and asking his travelers, people who had good experiences traveling to send him information about the places they stayed. The green book included gas stations and this of course was a esso station, ymcas, hospitals, churches, beauticians, farmers and there was an article, at least one article in each issue from it might tell you about philadelphia and the things he could do and see in philadelphia or it might tell you about chicago. Usually clear its geographically situated, they told you the places he might be welcome to visit. The green book also quoted the black middle class and reflects back values about plight, wellmanaged behavior. You can see that here, a very charming middleclass couple with luggage, you can see a limit of their car into their suburban neighborhood. In the background. It is the black middle class to travel and the ideal black traveling couple. Over the course of the life of the queens content expanded from just new york, new jersey and connecticut the entire east coast, the entire United States and all of north america and finally, europe, africa and asia. But there were other travel guides like this one, this is the baltimore travel map part of the newspaper. Other guides were called the growth guides, travel and american just to name a few. You can see the middleclass here with the couple playing golf in the upper right hand corner. Many of the places listed in the guide, especially the early months were either ymca dorm room or the home of africanamerican families. If you had an empty room or extra room from women rented their rooms out. A way to make extra money for the family. This is a ymca room. This is the rock, if youve been to the africanamerican museum in washington d. C. , it was a leisure place to stay, it was an African American guesthouse run by hazel and plaintiff and claire, this is the rock in the original. This was a place away from the beach, the beaches were segregated and you could go and stay for a week or two weeks. You could enjoy your meals, is apparently a really good book. She catered meals to the White Community and the black community. There were other places like mckenzies part and arkansas which was a hotel and perfect for the automobile. The park right outside your door. Most of these places were owned by africanamericans. Some were owned by white americans. But catered only to black people. These are some advertisements in the green book, they offer same values and product offered for parallel establishments. Some of those folks operated these places clearly place themselves in the ad to show readers that they were black. This is a National Park, i know the National Park today, youre always welcome at the National Park. The parks were always open to africanamericans, the problem was that all of the parks facilities, the guest houses and hotels and restaurants were operated by private individuals and they discriminated. So this is the picnic grounds for negroes at the National Park. It took a long time for the parks to be fully integrated. I would like to talk for a few minutes about the role of the automobile and Civil Rights Movement. It was very important for the automobile played a key role in the Civil Rights Movement. You can have the Civil Rights Movement there. This is where supermarket and where it clearly ties itself to doctor Martin Luther king. Very important and very dangerous. If you were in a White Community concerned about them coming to your community. Excuse me. The man at the front of this line is a jazz singer and traveling back to the hotel in birmingham, after this pickup line, this is the hotel, it was bombed. Gaston provided spaces for civil rights workers but Civil Rights Movement, people needed places to say and they needed places to eat. These places were the heart of bombings. Some of these places were listed in the green book, including the brand hotel, thats the place Martin Luther king was. How important it would be to have automobiles if your job was to travel the entire county and register voters. Or if you had to travel in entire state and register voters. This is called the jenkins microbus, its a pretty marvelous book, apparently part of it is not the africanamerican museum recently acquired addition, it was used to travel all over the state of alabama for registered voters but also the school train voters in literacy so they could pass the literacy test and it was a haven for children and used as a meeting space. It was so important to be able to have mobility when you are registered voters and brought people into the Civil Rights Movement. The book boycott is the most significant use of the automobile. There were bus boycotts all over the south. Youre using Martin Luther king helping some women into our car so they can get to work. In order for them to bankrupt the montgomery bus system, it was important for them, for people to continue to be able to go to work and move about the city. The way they were able to move about the city was by the purchase of a fleet of automobiles. Martin luther king, bus boycott purchased automobiles and people who already had cars helped people drive to work so they could continue to keep their jobs. They were able to cut the bus revenue by 69 and still keep their jobs. Only because they had automobiles to take people to work. The automobile becomes an arsenal of the Civil Rights Movement. It was also key when people needed to get from the airport to the hotel. They were segregated and black cabs were not allowed to pee people up at hotels. People flying into various cities would rent a car and that would be their way of getting to the hotel. So how does this story end . In 1964, major civil rights legislation that extends bunny rights and outlaw segregation and immediately, all public accommodations are open to africanamericans, the major chain hotel, the sheraton, howard johnson, the hilton are open to africanamericans. Because they can, they do stay at those places. So the question i have, does the story end . Or doesnt remain an issue in america . He was murdered in his automobile by Minnesota Police officer in 2016 and minnesota. The officer was acquitted manslaughter. Because he was simply afraid of him. Simply because of the color of his skin. This is a cartoon by stuart, a former editorial cartoonist, milwaukee sentinel. Its funny but its also not funny. I guess the question is, are we still in this place . Has this story ended . Or does it continue . How do we address the problem we have now with africanamericans and the automobile . The green book and the back hotel, the irony is that the black hotel gradually lose their clientele and the large chain hotel flourish for the lack hotels go out of business. The landscape is forever changed with the help of ordinary men and women, choosing the automobile and travel as a weapon. If you have a question, raise your hands. The microphone will come to you. Please ask your question in the form of a question. It was a piece of film that i found and he printed them digitally and that was one of the pieces of film. [inaudible question] on the next expedition curator primarily and i was doing an expedition in new york and a colleague of mine who has written a book about leisure in Saratoga Springs asked me if i ever heard about the green book. It was about 20 years ago. They say, i had never heard of it at that. I was intrigued. I found that they had one in one of my graduate students copied it for me and, that was my first green book. But as i got into the research i realize storage was much broader than the green book. Its really about the automobile. And to the way the adam mobile changed africanamerican life. So, the story expanded from their. You said the green book was at gas stations for free, was that right . Some of them are given away for free and others were sold for 1 dollar. Green sold them and sold them out of his harlem office. And in some places they were sold, but, standard oil purchase them and they had a contract with agreeing to buy thousands of copies. Was her effort to put flags along the roads and the efforts that they went to say that this was the green brick stations people went to . The National Truck for Historic Preservation has been trying to put up markers at some of the sites, a large number of the sites are no longer because they were been renewed. In the late 60s when urban renewal went through cities they often just bulldozed entire black neighborhoods in many of those places are gone. So, if you look at my capital city of albany, the large part of the black neighborhood was completely wiped out by urban renewal. So there are some markers that will be going up at historic greenbrook sites and they have been working on that. I want to thank you for writing that book. I want to know if many of the things that you have collected will be part of a permanent exhibit sunday . That is a good question. I think the film is going to premiere in detroit. Motor city. And Detroit Historical society is going to be doing a exhibition im not sure if its going to be on automobiles come on travel, on the green book. Do you know of a jewish greenbrook . And to other books about that . So, the research i did and i had a jewish historian helping me on that because i cannot find anything. There is a small volume called daily kashrut and it was a publication that basically told you had to observe the dietary laws and what you could eat. You could have this or that for her shes chocolate. Certain things that were kosher. A common the back of that there is a listing of places to stay. And that we decided was probably the guide that you and i were talking about in the late 50s and early 60s. Another question from the audience. I brought a modern copy of the green book thinking we could travel south and learn something more. But the modern one, the reprints is only what the state have now and not really where you go and learn something. More of what the state laws are in terms of racial equality rather than what it was in the past. I was looking more something from the past. You can actually buy reprints of the original green books but they are also on the New York Public Library website. If you just type in New York Public Library greenbrook they will all pop up. I visited the holiday inn were specifically founded as places that would not segregated would be all over the country, was that right . I do not know the answer to that. But wouldnt that be lovely. [laughter] a few more questions there was an increasing number as we get into the late 60s there was an increasing number of people who were looking for integrated accommodations. I dont know the specific history about holiday inn, i will look it up, though. I do know there was an increasing interest in integrated accommodations and some liberal americans, white americans were seeking those places that were integrated. What was the deal that allowed to sell the books or gave specific rights . There were two men that were hired by standard oil to market to the black community. And, both of them found that when they were traveling for Company Businesses they had to use the greenbrook. That led to a relationship between standard oil and the greenbrook. Is there now among africanamericans to be shopping at exxon . I dont think so. I think it is probably forgotten. Okay. [laughter] the please join me in thanking gretchen. [applause] [laughter] heres a look at some of the events book to be will be covering this week. On monday at George Washingtons estate in mount vernon, virginia, Jonathan Horn will look at the final years of americas first president. Also that they will be at the Atlanta History Center for a talk with historian, leanna kee who will discuss the abolitionists who recreated the Republican Party at the lead up to the civil war. On wednesday at the Chicago Council of joint journal Affairs George friedman will announce his that the United States could see in the coming decade. On thursday look for us at the new school in new york city for the National Book critics circle awards. All of these events are open to the public. If you are in attendance take a picture and take us book tv on twitter, facebook, or instagram. Book tv recently visited the home of psychotherapist jeannie schaefer, National Review Senior Editor to talk about how they maintain the relationship despite their opposing political views. Here, they offer their thoughts on the current political climate. It has gotten much worse, every day it gets worse. When the confirmation hearings were going on i got another email. My brother unfriended me on facebook over kavanaugh, my sisterinlaw broke her engagement over