This picture book will acquaint many readers with Victor Hugo Green and his publication, The Green Book, first available in 1936 and yearly thereafter that apprised African Americans of places that would welcome Black travelers. Before the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s, many hotels, restaurants, gas stations, hospitals, and other establishments would not serve African Americans. When traveling they often had to pack cold food, blankets, pillows for sleeping the car, and make-do toilets. There was a large demand for information on whether there were any safe places they could go.

Green was a New York City mail carrier who was able to gather such information from all the people he encountered on his daily route. He decided to compile lists of places that were welcoming to Black Americans. His first guide was ten pages and related only to the New York area. People began calling Victor and begging that he expand his pamphlet to cover other states, so Victor wrote letters to other Black postal workers all over the country for the names and addresses of places that welcomed Black customers.

Two years later, The Green Book had more than doubled in size, and by 1940 it was 48 pages and listed places in big cities all over the country. It also began to cover more than friendly places to lodge and dine. As the author reports:

“It listed welcoming places to get a new hairdo or a tailored suit, places to get an oil change or a tire fixed, places for tapping feet and snapping fingers to some beats.”

By 1946 it listed some 3,500 places welcoming to Blacks throughout the country.

Victor Green retired in 1953, after which he availed himself of the guide to travel himself around the country. Bolden writes: ; “As much as Victor Hugo Green loved his book, he yearned for the day when it would no longer be needed…”

He died in 1960, but four years later, on July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Bill, making race discrimination illegal, was passed. (In the Introduction to the 1949 book, Green wrote, "There will be a day sometime in the near future when this guide will not have to be published. It will be a great day for us to suspend this publication . . .")

The book ends with an Author’s Note, timeline, footnotes, and selected sources.

Illustrator Eric Velasquez employs his signature painterly art work and cleverly intersperses collage images to give many pages the feel of a travelogue journal or scrapbook.

Recommended for ages 4 and over. ( )

Includes bibliographical references. "Illuminates the lesser-known history of Victor Hugo Green, a Black postal worker from Harlem in the 1930s, who created The Green Book, a guide for African Americans to stay safe while traveling around the U.S. during the era of segregation"--Provided by publisher.