Years experience doctor Gretchen Sorin has consulted for more than two and 50 institutions include the smithsonian, the jewish museum, and the new York State Historical association. She is the director of the Cooperstown Graduate Program of the State University of new york, and the author of in the spirit of margins. The living legacy of doctor Martin Luther king junior. And through the eyes of others, African Americans identity in american art. In her new book, driving while black, just out today, professor Gretchen Sorin talks about the indispensable which reshape the africanamerican traveling experience throughout our segregated land and helped drive the nation Civil Rights Movement. Please welcome Gretchen Sorin to the free library of philadelphia. [applause] guest good evenings wonderful to be in this great city of philadelphia i apologize that rick was not able to join us this evening he had a little bit of an emergency and he is in italy. I hope that you will enjoy preview of our film that he sent along. So im in a talk, im sure many of you seen the green book movie and im going to talk this evening really about a broader story. That 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 that you can travel where you want to when you want to. How important that is that to american liberty . The ability to travel freely is something that all of us in this room take for granted. Butts, if you think about the role that liberty that mobility played 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 ordeal of the Middle Passage and then slave met begins the journey for africanamericans. It is central to be what it means to be black in this country. But the idea of travel is about forced travel. This is a pass, its a slave possum that says please let benjamin make daniel newmarket and shenandoah, virginia and return on monday tuesday next to montpelier for missus madison, june 1, 1843. So, africanamericans traveling had to have passes. They had to have permission. Freedom is so important to many enslaved persons, that they ran away. They sold themselves and exercise their freedom of movement. I have a 5yearold granddaughter and she has given me the kindergarten cold. [laughter] in the early 20th century, the great migration which is the next step in the journey for africanamericans is the story of the greatest Mass Movement of people in this countrys history. Seeking Job Opportunities in the north and fleeing racism and poverty in the south, as many as 7 million africanamericans left their homes seeking refuge in such cities as chicago, new york, detroit, newark, where my parents moved and philadelphia where my uncle moved. With expanding opportunities in education and employment became more and more black citizens among the ranks of the black middle class. Read him of mobility, to go where you wanted when you wanted became essential. But it also came to meet the ability to avoid the indignity of the jim crow bus and the Jim Crow Railroad car. Here is a jim crow bus. And the first half of the 20th century, behavior and etiquettes for africanamericans was prescribed by geography and by custom. If you were from a particular place, you knew what the rules were. Rules change from place to place. Throughout the united states. Each state had its own rules. Each community had its own expected etiquette. An did not know the rules of racial etiquette. Particular driving etiquette was also expected. Africanamericans faced segregation in most aspects of public travel and accommodation in the south where it was overt. But in the north, it was dictated by custom so it was the fact of segregation of buses, taxis, trains, hotels, restaurants, beaches, and just about any place that people gathered. This is a Jim Crow Railroad car. Insulting, emulating, as well as dependent on timetables. Although they were only supposed to write in the south, many of them ran in the north as well. Africanamericans, even if you purchase a firstclass ticket were often expected to go into the jim crow car. This is a colombian goal for rearward car from 19209. You can see the word colored on the backseats. The automobile gave African Americans freedom. It freed black travelers and the tyranny of the Jim Crow Railroad car and bus. It also offered freedom of movement and it offered dignity. Africanamericans found that the segregated train gave them no dignity. Heres your own private ruling liver room. If you were driving and your own car that a private space, it was protected, you are free from the segregated insults. You are free from listening to the bus driver telling you to move to the back of the bus. You are freed from the railroad car that might be right behind the engine. This was really an important change in africanamerican life, the automobile. By the 1950s, with the interstate highway system, upwardly 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 coffee percolators. They use the dollars in their disposal income to purchase automobiles and campers and hotel rooms and restaurant meals. With their history of forced travel, it was important for the black middle class to travel for leisure. They chose to travel in because they could. Often parents worked hard to make sure their children were not aware of the indignities they faced. So the children installed in the backseat of these cars, werent always even aware of the indignities their parents faced. No were they aware of the danger their parents face when they went out on the road. Now, if you think about the make and model of automobiles, the make and model was very much tied to identity. Africanamericans purchased larger cars. We know this from Market Studies that were done of africanamericans that were conducted in the 1940s and 50s by Research Firms for the black newspaper. Africanamerican motorists preferred large, heavy, u. S. And oldsmobiles. Those kind of cars we would now called gas pumpers. These are not small cars. I think africanamericans preferred large cars because they offered protection, they were hard to turn over, they were a place to sleep if necessary. You could carry blankets and pillows, you could sleep in your car. You could query water for the radiator, you carried extra fan belts those of big coleman coolers full of food because she couldnt stop at a restaurant. Black motorists created a home away from home and their automobile. This is an ad for the buick electra. It says all of the electrolux fireplace. So the electra was a heavy car and you could sleep in it if you needed to. When civil rights worker needed a car to travel through rural mississippi, he chose an oldsmobile rocket 88. The rocket was large enough to enable edgar to stretch out to the night on the front seat and it responded immediately if he hit the accelerator, enabling him to get away from the pursuing car. This is a picture of the rocket 88. We know that he died by his car in the driveway shot by a sniper on june 12, 1963. Africanamericans also sought their automobiles as a symbol of class status. This is a cadillac on a harlem street. Africanamericans were often prevented by discrimination for purchasing houses. You couldnt buy a house because your neighborhood was redlined and banks would not give you a mortgage. Therefore, the car became their largest and most important purchase. Therefore, africanamericans use their disposable income to buy beautiful cars. Now you may have heard the stereotypes that all African Americans bought cadillacs. Africanamericans purchase catalogs exactly the same proportion percentage as white americans its 3 . 3 of africanamericans purchase cadillacs. That is the stereotype that all aftermath and had those cadillacs. The preferred car was the buick or oldsmobile. But for africanamericans travel by car posed a paradox. They had the freedom to travel, but they were forced to stay in segregated black neighborhoods in segregated black tourist accommodations that would accept them. Now, i would like to think for a minute about what it was like for all americans before they were cars. Before the automobile. Before the automobile, people generally stayed put. They didnt travel very far at all from their own neighborhood. Whites people generally stayed in white neighborhoods, black people generally state in black neighborhoods. In some port neighborhoods, black and white people lived sidebyside. The country was generally segregated by race. Now think about what happens with the automobile. With their cars, African Americans crisscross the country traveling through white spaces to get from a safe black space to another safe black space. To get from a black neighborhoods black resort they had to go through a variety of white spaces where they were unwelcome. They faced fines, billboards, posters and objects that range from insulting to frighting. They asserted their rights to unfettered travel by going where they wanted, when they wanted, and it could be dangerous. The landscape for american travelers was fraught with psychologically and emotionally damaging messages. This is just one example of those kinds of messages. Welcome to clan country sign. This is a restaurant chain that was popular on the west coast, started in Salt Lake City and diners entered the restaurant through the giant coons mouth. This is the banner that welcomes visitors to greenville, texas. Greenville welcomes the blackest land, the whitest people. Of course, there were hundreds of sundown towns in the united states. As africanamericans traveled, they were faced with towns that actually had signs that said if you are black you need to be out of town before sundown. These communities were all over the united states, many, many in the midwest. Many in the west and even a few in connecticut in the northeast. Theres a great story that a marshal told. He was standing on a train car or train platform waiting for a train to shreveport. A man came up to him and said, this was before he was the supreme justice it was ernies a lawyer for the naacp. The man said jim, nager boy, what are you doing in this town . He said im waiting for the train to shreveport. The man said will or boy you better be out of this town before sundown. The sun has never set with the nager in this town. Thats a story that he says in his autobiography. Some africanamericans face all kinds of intimidation and even real dangerous when they travel. This is a fair in colorado. I have to wonder why were they were in these outfits on the ferris will . So africanamericans also depended on travel guides. Like the negro motorist book that was produced in york city. How many of you have heard of the negro motorist book . How many of you. How many of heard of all the other travel guides that existed . There were many different travel guides for a variety of audiences. If you part of a church group, a fraternity, or sorority, there were guides that found special housing for you. There were guides for show people there were many different guides in the back of black newspapers and magazines their travel guides as well. So the green book is the most long lasting of the africanamericans travel guides. The reason it was so longlasting is because of their relationship with standard oil. Which is exxon or formally esso gas station. It was owned by standard oil and they saw africanamericans as they market. They had enlightened self interest. They thought these people have money and we would like to get some of it. And they had a policy of nondiscrimination in their bathroom. At their gas stations, so africanamericans very often preferred esso gasoline. And they gave away the green book. That helped victor green to make his green book successful. The idea for the green book was based on jewish travel guides. Victor green rights in the very first issue of the green book that is jewish brethren gave him the idea for the travel guide. If you are a jewishamerican and you are traveling, you also needed to be concerned about places to stay. Very often if you call the hotel and you said jim schwartz or ruben, you would find that suddenly they had no rooms available. Jewish newspapers and there were jewish guides that told you places you can stay. And places you can observe the dietary laws. Karine really believe travel is fatal to prejudice. He believed the people went out across the country it would help relieve prejudice in the country. This is a quote from marc twain from the innocents abroad. He says travel is fader for trip prejudice actor green adopt that is his mantra. This is victor green and his wife, alma. He was a postal worker, opened a business in harlem he open the Green Publishing Company. What is so important, and the reason i was talking show how much is because victor green died in 1960. The Green Publishing Company was and operated by alma greene and by four other women. It was a five woman operation. This was a business, Publishing Business was very unusual for women to be working in publishing and this time period, much less running a Publishing Company. Alamo green continues to run the Publishing Company until the late 1960s. Victor green had a variety of ways of finding places to put in his green book. And almo, have to make sure is in there. One of the way sending out postcards and letters and asking his travelers, people who had a good experiences traveling to send him information about the places they stayed. The green book included gas stations, and this one of courses and esso station, hotels, motels, restaurants, ymcas but also churches, doctors, beauticians, barbers, and there was an article at least one article in each issue. An article might tell you about philadelphia and the things you could do and see in philadelphia. Or it might tell you about chicago. Usually they are geographically situated and they told you the places where you might be welcome to visit. The green book also recorded the black middle class and reflects black middle class values about polite and well mannered behavior. I think you can see that here, its a very charming middleclass couple with matched luggage. You can see a little bit of their car and you can see their suburban neighborhood. Thats in the background. It was the black middle class that could afford to travel. And green shows us the ideal black traveling couple. Over the course of the life of the green book, the content expanded from just new york, new jersey and connecticut, to the entire east coast. Then the entire united states, than all of north america and finally europe, africa and asia. But there were other travel guides like this one, this is the Baltimore Afroamerican travel map. It is part of the newspaper. Other guides were called the go guide, travel guide, though travel guide, and bronze americans just to name a few. You can also see the middle class here with a couple playing golf in the upper righthand corner. Many of the places that were listed in the guide, especially the early ones were either ymca storm rooms, or the home of africanamerican families. Few had an empty room or next to room, women rented their rooms out. They might provide a Good Breakfast as a way to make extra money for their family. This is a ymca room. This is the rock if in if you have visited the African American museum in washington d. C. , and seen the rock. It was a leisure place to stay in maine. As an africanamerican guesthouse that was read trent run by Hazel Mclaren this is the rock innocent regional environment. This was a place that was away from the beach, the beaches were segregated and enforced. You could go and stay for a week or two weeks at rock rest. You could enjoy your meals at rock rest, hazel was a very good cook. She catered meals for the White Community as well as the black community. There were other places to stay like mckenzies court in hot springs arkansas, which was eight motor hotel and perfect for the automobile. You could 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 from the green book, they offered the same values and products that were offered for whites in parallel establishments. Some of the folks that operated these places clearly placed themselves in the ad to show readers that they were black. This grainy picture is of Shenandoah National park. I know the National Parks like to say you are always welcome at the national park. The National Parks were always open to africanamericans. The problem was that all of the park facilities, the guesthouses, the hotels, the restaurants, were offered rated by private individuals and they discriminated. Said this is the picnic ground throat negroes at Shenandoah National park. It took a long time for the National Parks to become integrated. I would like to talk for a few minutes about the role of the automobile and the Civil Rights Movement. It was really very importance the automobile played a key and pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement spurred you could not have the Civil Rights Movement without the automobile. This is where supermarkets, and where its clearly tying themselves to doctor Martin Luther king. Very, very important and very dangerous. If you are in aye community was concerned about king coming to your community. Excuse me. The man at the front of this line is a jazz singer and he is traveling back to the gaston motel in birmingham after his participation in a picket line. This is the gaston motel as it was bobs. Gaston provided spaces for civil rights workers to say. The Civil Rights Movement, people working for civil rights needed places a stay when they went south. They needed places to eat. These places for the targets of bombings. Some of these places were listed in the green book, including the Lorraine Motel which is where doctor Martin Luther king was assassinated. Consider how important it would be to have an automobile if your job was to travel around in entire county and register voters. If you have to travel an entire county or travel in entire state and register voters. This is called the jenkins at microbus. Its a pretty marvelous part of it is part is at the Africanamerican Museum and the required the addition it was used to travel all over the state of alabama to register voters, is also used as a school to train voters in literacy so they could pass the literacy test. It was a haven for children, it was used as a meeting space. It was so important to be able to have mobility when you are trying to register voters and bring people into the Civil Rights Movement. The bus boycott is probably the most significant use of the automobile. There were busts of all over the south. Here you seep Martin Luther king helping some women into a car so that they can get to work. In order for them to bankrupt, really bankrupt the montgomery bus system, it was important for them to be able to be able to go to work. And to move about the city. The way they were able to move about the city was by purchase of a fleet of automobiles. So Martin Luther king, and the bus boycott purchased automobiles and people who already had cars helps 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. So the automobile becomes a weapon in the arsenal of the Civil Rights Movement. It was also key when people needed to get from the airport to their hotel. Since cabs were segregated and black cabs were not allowed to pick up people at hotels. People flying into various cities for protests would rentacar and that would be their way of getting to the hotel. So how does the story end . 1964, lbj passes major rights civilization rights that extends voting rights. It outlaws segregation and immediately, all public accommodations are open to africanamericans. That major chain hotels, the sheraton, howard johnson, the hilton, are open to africanamericans. Because they can stay at those places, they do staff those places. So the question i have does the story end . Or does it remain an issue in america . This man was murdered in his automobile by a Minnesota Police officer in 2016 and ms. Soda. The officer was acquitted of manslaughter. Because he was simply, he said he was afraid of him simply because the color of his skin. This is a cartoon by Stuart Carlson who was the former editorial cartoonist for the milwaukee journey sentinel. And 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 had dress the problem that we have now with African Americans and the automobile . The green book goes out of business. The irony of the black hotels is a gradually lose their clientele. The Large Chain Hotels flourish, but the black hotels go out of business. The landscape is forever changed with the help of ordinary men and women, choosing the automobile and travel as their weapon. [applause] see what if you have a question please raise your hand will bring a microphone to you. Please ask your question in the form of a question. [inaudible] someone open the carter was that you . Guest yes it was. [laughter] [applause] [laughter] [applause] guest my father was a photographer. It was a piece of film i found and i gave all of my old home movies to rick. He printed them digitally and thats one of the pieces of film. Civic how did you get interested in the topic . Guest im an exhibition curator primarily. I was doing an exhibition in Sarasota Springs new york and a colleague of mine had written a book about leisure in Saratoga Springs asked me if i ever heard about the green book. It was about 20 years ago. I had never heard of it at that point, i was intrigued. One of my graduate students from chicago found that they had one at the university of chicago in one of my graduate students copied it for me, and that was my first green book. I started with the green book, but as i got into the research i realize the story is much broader than the green book. Its really about the automobile. And the way the automobile changed africanamerican life. So the story expanded from there. You said the green book was at gas stations for free, is that right . Guest some of them were given away for free and others of them were sold for a dollar. Pirro guest green sold them and he sold them out of his harlem office. Some places they were sold. Standard oil purchase them, standard oil had a contract with dream to buy thousands of copies. Was there any effort but flags along the roads and some of the places where they went to say this was the green book station that people went to . Guest the National Trust for Historic Preservation has been trying to put out markers at some of the sites. A large number of the sites are no longer stand because they were urban renewed. In the late 60s when urban renewal went to the cities they often bulldozed entire black neighborhoods and many of those places are gone. So if you look even at capital city of albany, a large part of the black neighborhood was completely wiped out by urban renewal. Yes there are some markers that will be going up at historic green book sites. The trust has been working on that. I want to thank you for writing that book. Its be to thank yous two i want to know if many of the things that you have collected will be part of a permanent exhibit someday . Guest thats a good question. I think the movie film is going to premiere in detroit, motor city. And detroits Historical Society is going to be doing in exhibition. Im not sure if its going to bed automobiles, on travel, on the green book. You know the name of the jewish green book . And are there books about that . Guest the research i did, and i actually had a jewish historian help me on that i couldnt find anything. As a small volume called the daily kashrut, it was a publication that basically told you how to observe the dietary laws and what you could eat. You can have this or hersheys chocolate, certain things that were kosher. In the back of that there is a listing of places to stay. And that we decided was probably the guide, before the guide you and i were talking about the came out in the late 50s early 60s. A bout a modern copy of the green book thinking we could travel south and maybe learn something more. But the modern one, the reprint is only what the states have now and not really where you could 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 for something from the past. Guest 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 green book they will all pop up. I visited the holiday inn, specifically were founded as places that would not segregated, they would be all over the country. Was that right . Guest i dont know the answer to that. But wouldnt that be lovely. [laughter] so a few more questions. There wasnt a decreasing 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 the holiday inn, i will look it up though. I do know there is increasing interest in integrated accommodations and some liberal americans, white americans were seeking those places that were integrated. So what was the deal that allowed him to sell the books or gave us so specific rights to green book . Guest there were two men hired by standard oil to market to the black community. And both of them found that when they were traveling for company business, they had to use the green book. That led to a relationship between standard oil and the green book. So is there now now among the africanamericans to shop at exxon . Guest i dont think so i think its probably forgotten. So okay. [inaudible] [laughter] i think again ill start with that one, please join me in thanking Gretchen Sorin. [applause] [laughter] [applause] [background noises] [inaudible conversations] thank you for joining us i am the director of Public Programs and partnerships for the Historical Society tonight on the eve of the 250th anniversary hearing from the professor on the bat boston massacre a Family History we frequently pull together to highlight the matl