Posted in: Comics | Tagged: about comics, green book

Comic Publisher Puts The Negro Motorist Green Book Back Into Print

Comic Publisher Puts The Negro Motorist Green Book Back Into Print

The Negro Motorist Green Book and The Negro Travelers Green Book are one of the most famous American guidebook series of the twentieth century. Originally created by postal worker Victor H. Green and published in 1936, they were intended as a guide for African-Americans travelling the country looking for safe places. It provided a guide to places, restaurants, service stations, hotels, motels, and diners that welcomed black visitors and towns that didn't have curfews for black citizens in a time when that was often the exception.

The Green Book listed the places you could travel to, or travel through, without fearing for your life.

There has been much media coverage of the Green Book recently, including the Washington Post, CNN, PBS, and more. Even here in the UK, BBC Radio 4 ran a recent documentary on the publication, which I listened to with great interest.

But the book itself hasn't actually been available for purchase. As civil rights laws changed the country, making such segregation illegal, the direct need for the book lessened.

But, in a work of archival publication, a comic book publisher About Comics, which specialises in heritage revivals of forgotten works from the likes of Charles Schulz, Kurt Busiek, Bill Mumy, and Gail Simone, is reprinting The Green Book in two facsimiles editions, one from 1940 and one from 1954.

The Negro Motorist Green-Book: 1940 Facsimile Edition (ISBN: 1936404672) and The Negro Travelers' Green Book: 1954 Facsimile Edition (ISBN: 1936404664) are cover priced at $8.99 and primarily available through Amazon.com, with other outlets to come.

"In the segregated US of the mid-twentieth century, African-American travelers could have a hard time finding towns where they were legally allowed to stay at night and hotels, restaurants, and service stations willing to serve them. In 1936, Victor Hugo Green published the first annual volume of The Negro Motorist Green-Book, later renamed The Negro Travelers' Green Book. This facsimile of the 1940 edition brings you all the listings, articles, and advertisements aimed at the Black travelers trying to find their way across a country where they were so rarely welcome."

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!