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Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance
Join award-winning broadcaster Alvin Hall on a journey through America's haunted racial past, with the legendary Green Book as your guide. For countless Americans, the open road has long been a place where dangers lurk. In the era of Jim Crow, Black travelers encountered locked doors, hostile police, and potentially violent encounters almost everywhere, in both the South and the North. From 1936 to 1967, millions relied on The Negro Motorist Green Book , the definitive guide to businesses where they could safely rest, eat, or sleep. Most Americans only know of the guide from the 2018 Green Book movie or the 2020 Lovecraft Country TV show. Alvin Hall set out to revisit the world of the Green Book to instruct us all on the real history of the guide that saved many lives. With his friend Janée Woods Weber, he drove from New York to Detroit to New Orleans, visiting motels, restaurants, shops, and stores where Black Americans once found a friendly welcome. They explored historical and cultural landmarks, from the theatres and clubs where stars like Duke Ellington and Lena Horne performed to the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Along the way, they gathered memories from some of the last living witnesses for whom the Green Book meant survival--remarkable people who not only endured but rose above the hate, building vibrant Black communities against incredible odds. Driving the Green Book is a vital work of national history as well as a hopeful chronicle of Black resilience and resistance. Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
1 pages, Audio CD
First published January 31, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 151 reviews
November 26, 2023
3 stars
Sometimes the best clue to what a book is about is not the title, but the title add on. In this case "A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance". This book was not what I expected. I expected to learn more about the stops and places that were available to the Black population as they traveled from their home towns. Knowing a bit about the Green Book and what it was used for, I expected to learn more about the book itself.
This story is nonfiction and, in my opinion, is more a memoir of the author Alvin Hall's life. He wrote about his youth and the trips he took with his family. He spoke about segregation, racism, the Klu Klux Klan, Jim Crow, reconstruction, and a number of famous people including Martin Luther King Sr, Lena Horn, and Billie Holiday, but little about the places that were listed within the Green Book.
Having seen the movie Green Book, that I really enjoyed, I had hoped this story would even explain further the places that were listed in the original Green Books. So for me this read was a let down. Not that the book is not good - therefore the 3 star rating - it was just not what I was looking for or expected by the books title. I am aware of the racism that prevailed during the time frame. I was interested in learning more about the places that the green book provided for the traveling Black.
Sometimes the best clue to what a book is about is not the title, but the title add on. In this case "A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance". This book was not what I expected. I expected to learn more about the stops and places that were available to the Black population as they traveled from their home towns. Knowing a bit about the Green Book and what it was used for, I expected to learn more about the book itself.
This story is nonfiction and, in my opinion, is more a memoir of the author Alvin Hall's life. He wrote about his youth and the trips he took with his family. He spoke about segregation, racism, the Klu Klux Klan, Jim Crow, reconstruction, and a number of famous people including Martin Luther King Sr, Lena Horn, and Billie Holiday, but little about the places that were listed within the Green Book.
Having seen the movie Green Book, that I really enjoyed, I had hoped this story would even explain further the places that were listed in the original Green Books. So for me this read was a let down. Not that the book is not good - therefore the 3 star rating - it was just not what I was looking for or expected by the books title. I am aware of the racism that prevailed during the time frame. I was interested in learning more about the places that the green book provided for the traveling Black.
December 20, 2022
This book's value is not in what the author has to say--which is generally banal and offers little other than a sense that readers should find his experiences life-changing--but in the many interviews and other first-hand testimony about the Green Book and how Blacks traveled by car in the US, particularly in segregated places during Jim Crow. This information, which the author does not usually interrogate or explain beyond his own experiences and limited knowledge, is of great value. But there are other studies of the Green Book that provide much better contextualization and more extensive research for readers interested in it.
February 13, 2023
This book is amazing and wonderful. If you like to listen to people talk about different events from a topic, family reunion style, then this one is for you. Hall leaves the stories in the teller's own words, allowing the nuances of a wide cast to come through. Despite talking about some of the problems, the focus is on the positive. How do you talk about your vacations?
I have always taught the Green Book and have my students use it to plan their own road trip dueing that era. It's a really fun assignment and this brings so much more lived experience and context to those road trips. I learned so much from these stories - tangible and intangible.
I have always taught the Green Book and have my students use it to plan their own road trip dueing that era. It's a really fun assignment and this brings so much more lived experience and context to those road trips. I learned so much from these stories - tangible and intangible.
January 24, 2024
This was an eye-opening heavy read that answered a lot of questions I had as a child growing up, especially on our cross-country road trips. Recommend
June 16, 2024
This book is a must read.
January 16, 2024
I'm bummed that I didn't like this book more than I did. The subtitle promises a road trip, but the book does not really go on a road trip. It seems that this book came from a podcast, so maybe the podcast itself focuses more on the actual road trip--I hope so, anyway. The concept is that Hall, along with a couple others, take a couple road trips to go to sites that were included in The Green Book, a travel guide published between the mid-1930s and mid-1960s that helped Black people find hotels, restaurants, gas stations, etc., that would serve them.
The book doesn't quite deliver that. Hall details the history of the Green Book (actually created by someone named Green--Victor Hugo Green, to be exact) and a lot of the history of Jim Crow, the Great Migration, the hazards of driving while Black (then AND now), what those road trips were like, the history of Black car ownership, and much more. The highlight of the book are the excerpts of interviews with people who used The Green Book and lived through the period of The Green Book.
I felt let down, though, because Hay doesn't really talk about actually going to many of the places in The Green Book. They go to the Lorraine Motel and a few "Little Harlems" (Black business districts in various cities), but he admits that for expediency, the trips he took stayed mostly on interstates (which didn't exist at the time of The Green Book). Toward the end of the book, Hay mentions artists who did Green Book-inspired art, and I realized that one of them did what I wanted this book to be:
I wanted more of this kind of reflection. This book, instead, is some really great brief interview excerpts, a lot of history, and a bunch of reflections from Hall, too many of which are just "We were both flooded with thoughts about the people who traveled to freedom along the Underground Railroad and those who came north during the Great Migration" (p. 89) after speaking to someone at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (about which Hall said very little). I had gotten excited about the trip, as Hall, born in Florida in the early 1950s, was going to travel with a woman born in New England in the late 1970s and a first generation Nigerian American immigrant born in the 1990s. How fascinating to get those differing perspectives! I thought. Sadly, we...don't get any of that in this book.
There is a lot in this book that I found incredibly worthwhile, but sadly, I feel that it really could just be a much better book than what it is.
The book doesn't quite deliver that. Hall details the history of the Green Book (actually created by someone named Green--Victor Hugo Green, to be exact) and a lot of the history of Jim Crow, the Great Migration, the hazards of driving while Black (then AND now), what those road trips were like, the history of Black car ownership, and much more. The highlight of the book are the excerpts of interviews with people who used The Green Book and lived through the period of The Green Book.
I felt let down, though, because Hay doesn't really talk about actually going to many of the places in The Green Book. They go to the Lorraine Motel and a few "Little Harlems" (Black business districts in various cities), but he admits that for expediency, the trips he took stayed mostly on interstates (which didn't exist at the time of The Green Book). Toward the end of the book, Hay mentions artists who did Green Book-inspired art, and I realized that one of them did what I wanted this book to be:
This road trip and the travel guide inspired [Jonathan] Calm to create a performative, on-the-road art project. Using the guide's listings . . . Calm has since traveled to as many of The Green Book sites as he possibly can, to get "a sense of what are these locations today." What he's looking for is "the classic, quintessential 'What is America.'"
Calm, in essence, reenacts road trips that African American travelers might have taken during the era of The Green Book, and along the way he photographs locations and buildings--or what's left of them. . . . This body of work by Calm is about both the nostalgia surrounding the American myth of road travel and the loss of places that were vital and essential in African American lives, but not included in the widely accepted version of the myth. (pp. 239-240)
I wanted more of this kind of reflection. This book, instead, is some really great brief interview excerpts, a lot of history, and a bunch of reflections from Hall, too many of which are just "We were both flooded with thoughts about the people who traveled to freedom along the Underground Railroad and those who came north during the Great Migration" (p. 89) after speaking to someone at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (about which Hall said very little). I had gotten excited about the trip, as Hall, born in Florida in the early 1950s, was going to travel with a woman born in New England in the late 1970s and a first generation Nigerian American immigrant born in the 1990s. How fascinating to get those differing perspectives! I thought. Sadly, we...don't get any of that in this book.
There is a lot in this book that I found incredibly worthwhile, but sadly, I feel that it really could just be a much better book than what it is.
February 28, 2023
I first heard about The Green Book in 2021 reading fiction: "Lovecraft Country." It wasn't covered in detail there, but the concept sounded both scary and interesting. After finishing the book and reading a few articles, I didn't think about it in great detail until I stumbled across "Driving the Green Book."
This is a fascinating account of African American history and culture in the 40's, 50's, and 60's. Using The Green Book as a guide, the author sets out on the road to try to get a sense of what it must have been like to be African American during those times traveling through the south and the north. Along the way he shares anecdotes from those he interviews within the context of historical events, places, and people.
The pacing of this book was very well done, with a perfect blend of historical account and anecdote. I could not find any significant criticism of it, other than that it seemed short. I was hungry for more stories from people that lived through those times, and their more contemporary descendants.
I highly recommend for anyone interested culture, history, and the black experience in America.
This is a fascinating account of African American history and culture in the 40's, 50's, and 60's. Using The Green Book as a guide, the author sets out on the road to try to get a sense of what it must have been like to be African American during those times traveling through the south and the north. Along the way he shares anecdotes from those he interviews within the context of historical events, places, and people.
The pacing of this book was very well done, with a perfect blend of historical account and anecdote. I could not find any significant criticism of it, other than that it seemed short. I was hungry for more stories from people that lived through those times, and their more contemporary descendants.
I highly recommend for anyone interested culture, history, and the black experience in America.
May 23, 2023
3.75 Stars!
Review to come soon!
Review to come soon!
February 8, 2024
I, like many, had not heard of the Green Book until the 2018 movie. I found this look at Black history to be extremely informative and educational as a white reader. I highly recommend it.
July 25, 2023
This book is full of facts and is a very important history book. I learned the reasons behind some traditions in my own family related to cars. I want to internalize all of the collective power of my people instead of the rage I have every right to feel as well.
June 30, 2025
i had never heard of the green book before this one and apparently missed the blockbuster 2018 movie of the same name that seemingly does little to spread information about the need of the green book.
this was an incredibly enlightening novel. learning about disparate treatment on the roadways 70 years ago that persist today was wild. in essence, the green book originated as a guidebook of safe and welcoming establishments in states and cities across the united states.
as i understand it, following the great migration, black families still (obviously) wanted to see one another and the increasing availability of cars aided this desire. however, discrimination on roads was ubiquitous. driving in too nice of a car brought suspicion, along with driving in too beat-up of a car. restaurants and hotels were segregated or outright refused to serve black customers, necessitating families cook “shoebox” lunches for their thousand mile journeys ahead of time to avoid being shunned away from all-white establishments.
in terms of acquiring petrol, black families could sometimes get gas, only to be refused access to the bathroom, if they were even permitted to get gas. roadtrips were not equal for all. (and don’t forget to consider the establishment of sundown towns, further complicating the whole aspect of traveling while black)
thus came the green book, which gave black motorists information about locations they would actually be welcomed. starting small in only new york city published in 1936, the green book expanded to include all 50 states and even some international destinations. having a guidebook of welcoming establishments made road trips for black families safer, but only to a limited extent because of the continuation of blatant racism fixed upon them (that somehow persists today still).
of course there is much more to be said, but this is probably a book better gleaned information from when the person telling you isn’t white.
this was an incredibly enlightening novel. learning about disparate treatment on the roadways 70 years ago that persist today was wild. in essence, the green book originated as a guidebook of safe and welcoming establishments in states and cities across the united states.
as i understand it, following the great migration, black families still (obviously) wanted to see one another and the increasing availability of cars aided this desire. however, discrimination on roads was ubiquitous. driving in too nice of a car brought suspicion, along with driving in too beat-up of a car. restaurants and hotels were segregated or outright refused to serve black customers, necessitating families cook “shoebox” lunches for their thousand mile journeys ahead of time to avoid being shunned away from all-white establishments.
in terms of acquiring petrol, black families could sometimes get gas, only to be refused access to the bathroom, if they were even permitted to get gas. roadtrips were not equal for all. (and don’t forget to consider the establishment of sundown towns, further complicating the whole aspect of traveling while black)
thus came the green book, which gave black motorists information about locations they would actually be welcomed. starting small in only new york city published in 1936, the green book expanded to include all 50 states and even some international destinations. having a guidebook of welcoming establishments made road trips for black families safer, but only to a limited extent because of the continuation of blatant racism fixed upon them (that somehow persists today still).
of course there is much more to be said, but this is probably a book better gleaned information from when the person telling you isn’t white.
December 9, 2022
Victor Green was working as a New York postman in 1936 when he saw the need for an informative directory of safe places for black travelers. Not only did The Green Book list favorable motels, restaurants and service stations with usable restrooms but also included Negro colleges and schools to visit and vacation resorts- all updated regularly and only 25 cents. He sold , delivered and updated his published guide through word of mouth and mail. We all make a checklist before a trip making sure the car is ok, hotel reservations are made and a clear route is picked out and if something goes wrong we can adapt easily enough. For black families, musicians and businessmen no trip was this easy. You left the house before sunrise to avoid as much interaction as possible, packed shoebox food for roadside picnics and made sure you were off the road and not in a sundown town by nightfall plus you made sure your car was travel worthy as any detour could bring danger. Just like owning a car this guide gave them freedom and peace of mind. This is a riveting roadtrip in two parts - the first is a historical sense of what life was like for travelers and a visit to many of the towns along the way and the second is a personal accounting of The Great Migration and Civil Rights Movement. For all the personal stories of happy family roadtrips there are also horrific accounts of racism and injustice nationwide not just in the deep South. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
April 15, 2023
A trip along routes outlined in years of the Green Book. The very people who need to read it to know that racism is recent and real will not … and that is so sad. Like the books and history being banned in Floriduh, if you don’t know the why behind the Green Book you won’t understand that it was needed for safety in travel in the good old U S of A .. Author Hall connects the not subtle dots from the days of Jim Crow to current policing practices, access to education, and voter suppression, among other things. He also points out that younger folks may have a distorted view of the past including this quote about a young adult: ‘..she seemed to have the impression that the racial injustices of this period in American history had arisen more or less spontaneously as a natural outgrowth of racist attitudes and beliefs on the part of a few white people back then’.
August 6, 2024
A little dry here and there, but overall a lot of very interesting information about the history of our country from the perspective of a Black person(s), including Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Civil Rights, and more, AND why it was so important to have a Green Book - a survival guide of sorts that helped Black people find safe places to eat, sleep, etc. while traveling.
Of interest is the fact that prior to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where King was assassinated, had been listed in The Green Book for year's before King's visit.
It's important to read books such as these, because this type of detailed information is never going to make it into a standard high school history book. I never knew the Green Book existed, and I learned so much about the book, its legacy, and Black History by reading this book.
Of interest is the fact that prior to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where King was assassinated, had been listed in The Green Book for year's before King's visit.
It's important to read books such as these, because this type of detailed information is never going to make it into a standard high school history book. I never knew the Green Book existed, and I learned so much about the book, its legacy, and Black History by reading this book.
December 16, 2025
Outstanding. The "Green Book" was published between 1949-1961. It began publication by a Black postal worker who compiled listings which welcomed Black travelers.
I had never heard of The Green Book before.
This book explains the challenges and resilience of Black travelers. It is a vital part of American history. The author also had a podcast and documentary about the Green Book.
The author interviews people who relief in the Green Book.
I never had heard of "Sundown Towns" where Blacks were not welcome after sundown.
I had never heard of The Green Book before.
This book explains the challenges and resilience of Black travelers. It is a vital part of American history. The author also had a podcast and documentary about the Green Book.
The author interviews people who relief in the Green Book.
I never had heard of "Sundown Towns" where Blacks were not welcome after sundown.
February 17, 2023
I got a lot of good information from this book, which is a sort of companion to the 2020 podcast of the same name. It contains a ton of first-person accounts and insight from a variety of sources. I'm impressed with the amount of research Hall did, and I found this book to be thought-provoking and inspiring. The irony of The Green Book is that while it met a need that should never have been a thing in the first place, it also brought people together and fostered a sense of community.
March 27, 2023
Despite the Oscar-winning movie, surprisingly little has been known about the actual Green Books (published 1936-67 by Victor Hugo Green, a postal worker in Harlem in the mid- 1900s). Alvin Hall constructs his engaging historical and cultural narrative around the various editions of the Green Book as well as his own road trips and interviews in the early 2000s. A fresh take on our dismal history of racism and discrimination. Extremely readable with many thought-provoking observations.
April 5, 2025
Wonderful book that combines history and contemporary events and people. I highly recommend it to anyone who has never heard of The Green Book, or believes racism or fear of white supremacy died immediately after the not 1960s.
April 15, 2025
An engaging history and ethnography of the Green Book and its echoes. My only wish is that we'd gotten more of the actual road trip itself--but I'm also a sucker for a quest narrative.
March 26, 2024
a really good non-fiction book. it is just awful. I do not ever think about getting in my truck & driving wherever I want.
May 23, 2024
A well written and thoughtful book. It is very emotional, in the sense of just understanding what African American motorist had to go through during this time period. This book gave me a deeper appreciation of being able to do simple things like drive, and stop at a gas station without worrying. The testimonies in this book really put into perspective of how resilient Black people were and how we continue to make a way out of no way.
September 15, 2023
A must-read for all those who take travel for granted. Made me sad, mad, yet inspired. Compare to AAA travel guides. Can't imagine fearing for my life on a road trip to visit family at a holiday.
June 16, 2023
I read this book in a day. I just couldn't put it down. I first learned of the Green Book when I read One of the Good Ones a few years ago, and the whole concept stuck with me. When I saw this book was coming out, I added it to my To Be Read list.
I am so glad I picked this up. The stories are so moving, and Hall's comments about the why and how of the need and impact of this book is inspiring. A must-read!
I am so glad I picked this up. The stories are so moving, and Hall's comments about the why and how of the need and impact of this book is inspiring. A must-read!
January 22, 2023
Historical and very interesting - the journey kept me interested as I read along their travels. The personal stories and photos are the best part of the book - they really bring it all together and make it more meaningful.
I really learned a lot reading this book. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.
I really learned a lot reading this book. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a temporary, digital ARC in return for my review.
November 28, 2023
A quote early in the book resonated with me as I read it. "Open-minded and as honest as they may be, white people simply have few, if any, opportunities to observe racism firsthand and therefore have no way to judge its reality." His point, elucidated further along, is that the life stories of Black people who experienced (and continue to experience) racism are key to understanding history.
Indeed, all of history is to be interrogated, not through dry facts and memorized dates of battles and laws, but through the lived experiences of the people. As a northern suburban woman in my 50s, my childhood experience of racism against Black people was limited to the media. I watched Roots and "very special episodes" of Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons. In my childhood and youth, I had (what I thought) was a thorough education of the evils of colonialism and slavery, the devastation of indigenous people, the evils of intolerance and racism, the Holocaust, etc. Even as a Jewish child, my personal experience of bigotry was incredibly muted.
As an adult, obviously, I did realize the degradations of poverty, and while I never bought into the common trope of what author Hall states as, 'If Black people bring poverty upon themselves and therefore "deserve" to be poor, there's no need for white people to accept any responsibility for the legacy of racism — a comforting rationalization." But not buying antiquated, right-wing BS is not the same as making oneself aware of the complexities of lived experience of others and recognizing the ongoing legacy of the past. (As Faulkner said, "The past is not dead. It's not even past."
My community was multicultural, and I thought the richness of that experience (and of community honoring these differences) signified that, at least here, the problems were of the past. My teen and college years were focused on Apartheid, on problems elsewhere. Only in adulthood did I come to realize the ongoing power of systemic bias (in banking and lending, in city planning and urban renewal, in policing and incarceration, and the variety of microaggressions and language use of which even well-meaning individuals might be guilty).
Thus, it's essential to read and understand the past to comprehend the present and the future. The problem is that it's too easy to turn historical evidence into the equivalent of "disaster porn," to focus on the harshest evils so as to experience relief and not believe that anything so terrible exists today. But that's another form of privilege. White supremacy doesn't merely exist in the harshest of evils any more than anti-Semitism exists only in the Holocaust. We must keep our eyes open.
All the preceding is to say that while I knew (second-hand) much of the harshness of what Hall's first-person tales (his own and that of his interviewees) experienced, reading it added textured layers to my understanding. I knew about the Green Book and I knew about Jim Crow laws, but this book made me feel like I was sitting in the car with people on their journeys. I have long known about the Great Migration, but hadn't thought about the likelihood that those families who'd moved north after Reconstruction and into the 20th century would still have families to visit in the south and would have had to brave complex difficulties to do so.
The richness of the stories brings the lives of these people to the forefront. Having to awaken to leave at 3 or 4 or 5 a.m. in the "golden hour" to get on the road before policing of Black travelers would have been highest. The packing of a rich variety of road-trip food (and the complex sense memory of that delicious food framed against the reason for it — the inability to dine in restaurants along the way).
I knew about redlining, but did not know that the inability to get a mortgage or buy a home because of the biased practice led to the historical (and, I learned, not falsely stereotypical) 20th century practice of Black luxury car ownership. I knew how bigotry kept Black families from using public swimming pools, hotels, and resorts, but did not know about Idlewild and other Black summer resorts (much like how Jewish entrepreneurs were led to create the Borsht Belt because we were not allowed to stay in "white" resorts).
Some aspects of the books were heartbreaking with regard to how so-called progress can also have deleterious effects. I particularly found the section on "Little Harlems," eye-opening. Black communities of the 20th century, without white entrepreneurship, thrived with richness. I hadn't heard of most of these communities, and was surprised and saddened to understand how the end of Jim Crow laws actually led to the demise of so many Black-owned businesses. (I shouldn't have been; the same thing has happened with the demise of Jewish-owned resorts and communities.)
I understand the complaints of some reviewers that they were hoping to learn more (and more in-depth) about the locations in the Green Book, but the subtitle makes it clear that this is not a travelogue but a path to understanding how the Green Book itself, and the businesses, communities, and individuals reflected in the guide, were examples of resistance against a tyranny of bias that has extended since the start of colonization on this continent. Yes, I'd like to know more about each of the businesses; just knowing that Black-owned funeral homes would have served as a safety net in that era was eye-opening. I can't imagine what more is there to be examined.
I found every chapter fascinating, not because of the facts, per se (as not that much of the information was surprising), but for the tapestry the book weaves in explaining how all of the experiences fit together. By steeping the reader in the Great Migration and Jim Crow Laws, Hall sets the foundation for understanding why the Green Book was necessary and useful, but if it had been a pure history book at that macro level, even Hall's talents might have come up short. But by sharing the stories of the interviewees, I got the same sense one gets from watching a Ken Burns documentary, that feeling that history (good and bad) has come alive.
The only aspect of the book that didn't resonate with me was the final one, on the legacy of the Green Book, possibly because so much of it focused on the work of artists. I lack an affinity for the visual arts (as opposed to the written ones) and found it hard to fully embrace and understand the artistic aspects; however, the sections of that chapter related to sociopolitical legacies of the book, especially with relation to other writings, resonated more.
The problem with the book isn't what is written, but what is missing. We need more exploration of these stories, particularly of the Little Harlems and the Black resorts. We all, Black and white, privileged and not, should know of the rich economic and cultural heritage of Black communities, not to absolve systemic bias and generational guilt but to help us understand how these systems were both the cause of the rise of them, but also, in some ways, led to their downfall. Hall's book is excellent, and in being so, creates a demand for more depth and breadth of related content.
Indeed, all of history is to be interrogated, not through dry facts and memorized dates of battles and laws, but through the lived experiences of the people. As a northern suburban woman in my 50s, my childhood experience of racism against Black people was limited to the media. I watched Roots and "very special episodes" of Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons. In my childhood and youth, I had (what I thought) was a thorough education of the evils of colonialism and slavery, the devastation of indigenous people, the evils of intolerance and racism, the Holocaust, etc. Even as a Jewish child, my personal experience of bigotry was incredibly muted.
As an adult, obviously, I did realize the degradations of poverty, and while I never bought into the common trope of what author Hall states as, 'If Black people bring poverty upon themselves and therefore "deserve" to be poor, there's no need for white people to accept any responsibility for the legacy of racism — a comforting rationalization." But not buying antiquated, right-wing BS is not the same as making oneself aware of the complexities of lived experience of others and recognizing the ongoing legacy of the past. (As Faulkner said, "The past is not dead. It's not even past."
My community was multicultural, and I thought the richness of that experience (and of community honoring these differences) signified that, at least here, the problems were of the past. My teen and college years were focused on Apartheid, on problems elsewhere. Only in adulthood did I come to realize the ongoing power of systemic bias (in banking and lending, in city planning and urban renewal, in policing and incarceration, and the variety of microaggressions and language use of which even well-meaning individuals might be guilty).
Thus, it's essential to read and understand the past to comprehend the present and the future. The problem is that it's too easy to turn historical evidence into the equivalent of "disaster porn," to focus on the harshest evils so as to experience relief and not believe that anything so terrible exists today. But that's another form of privilege. White supremacy doesn't merely exist in the harshest of evils any more than anti-Semitism exists only in the Holocaust. We must keep our eyes open.
All the preceding is to say that while I knew (second-hand) much of the harshness of what Hall's first-person tales (his own and that of his interviewees) experienced, reading it added textured layers to my understanding. I knew about the Green Book and I knew about Jim Crow laws, but this book made me feel like I was sitting in the car with people on their journeys. I have long known about the Great Migration, but hadn't thought about the likelihood that those families who'd moved north after Reconstruction and into the 20th century would still have families to visit in the south and would have had to brave complex difficulties to do so.
The richness of the stories brings the lives of these people to the forefront. Having to awaken to leave at 3 or 4 or 5 a.m. in the "golden hour" to get on the road before policing of Black travelers would have been highest. The packing of a rich variety of road-trip food (and the complex sense memory of that delicious food framed against the reason for it — the inability to dine in restaurants along the way).
I knew about redlining, but did not know that the inability to get a mortgage or buy a home because of the biased practice led to the historical (and, I learned, not falsely stereotypical) 20th century practice of Black luxury car ownership. I knew how bigotry kept Black families from using public swimming pools, hotels, and resorts, but did not know about Idlewild and other Black summer resorts (much like how Jewish entrepreneurs were led to create the Borsht Belt because we were not allowed to stay in "white" resorts).
Some aspects of the books were heartbreaking with regard to how so-called progress can also have deleterious effects. I particularly found the section on "Little Harlems," eye-opening. Black communities of the 20th century, without white entrepreneurship, thrived with richness. I hadn't heard of most of these communities, and was surprised and saddened to understand how the end of Jim Crow laws actually led to the demise of so many Black-owned businesses. (I shouldn't have been; the same thing has happened with the demise of Jewish-owned resorts and communities.)
I understand the complaints of some reviewers that they were hoping to learn more (and more in-depth) about the locations in the Green Book, but the subtitle makes it clear that this is not a travelogue but a path to understanding how the Green Book itself, and the businesses, communities, and individuals reflected in the guide, were examples of resistance against a tyranny of bias that has extended since the start of colonization on this continent. Yes, I'd like to know more about each of the businesses; just knowing that Black-owned funeral homes would have served as a safety net in that era was eye-opening. I can't imagine what more is there to be examined.
I found every chapter fascinating, not because of the facts, per se (as not that much of the information was surprising), but for the tapestry the book weaves in explaining how all of the experiences fit together. By steeping the reader in the Great Migration and Jim Crow Laws, Hall sets the foundation for understanding why the Green Book was necessary and useful, but if it had been a pure history book at that macro level, even Hall's talents might have come up short. But by sharing the stories of the interviewees, I got the same sense one gets from watching a Ken Burns documentary, that feeling that history (good and bad) has come alive.
The only aspect of the book that didn't resonate with me was the final one, on the legacy of the Green Book, possibly because so much of it focused on the work of artists. I lack an affinity for the visual arts (as opposed to the written ones) and found it hard to fully embrace and understand the artistic aspects; however, the sections of that chapter related to sociopolitical legacies of the book, especially with relation to other writings, resonated more.
The problem with the book isn't what is written, but what is missing. We need more exploration of these stories, particularly of the Little Harlems and the Black resorts. We all, Black and white, privileged and not, should know of the rich economic and cultural heritage of Black communities, not to absolve systemic bias and generational guilt but to help us understand how these systems were both the cause of the rise of them, but also, in some ways, led to their downfall. Hall's book is excellent, and in being so, creates a demand for more depth and breadth of related content.
April 10, 2023
I learned so much from this book! I will never again be able to just hop in the car and go wherever without realizing what a privilege that is.
May 2, 2023
I was hoping for a lot more from this book, given its premise. Three Black Americans, with very different backgrounds, decide to drive from Detroit to New Orleans to gain a sense of what Negro travelers by automobile had to endure in the 1930s through the 1960s. Their trip was based on the famous series of books for the Negro traveler, "The Green Books". That world has vanished, and the author was barely able to paint a picture of it from limited memories expressed through interviews.
Several topics did strike me. First, the rules of segregation generated small but vibrant Black communities with Black-owned businesses, social groups, and entertainment venues. Most of those have vanished since the Civil Rights era of the 1960s. That loss seems parallel to the joy of integration of baseball through Jackie Robinson, which nonetheless led to the disappearance of the Negro Leagues. Second, the author makes clear why big, expensive cars, a source of scornful characterization of Blacks by white Americans, made sense and were important in the Black communities.
Perhaps the problem of the book is the difficulty in expressing the persistent fears of the Black Americans who lived in the segregated South or in the Blacks who drove through the South in those years. Those fears are palpable at EJI's Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. How can those horrors and the feelings engendered be properly expressed in writing?
Several topics did strike me. First, the rules of segregation generated small but vibrant Black communities with Black-owned businesses, social groups, and entertainment venues. Most of those have vanished since the Civil Rights era of the 1960s. That loss seems parallel to the joy of integration of baseball through Jackie Robinson, which nonetheless led to the disappearance of the Negro Leagues. Second, the author makes clear why big, expensive cars, a source of scornful characterization of Blacks by white Americans, made sense and were important in the Black communities.
Perhaps the problem of the book is the difficulty in expressing the persistent fears of the Black Americans who lived in the segregated South or in the Blacks who drove through the South in those years. Those fears are palpable at EJI's Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. How can those horrors and the feelings engendered be properly expressed in writing?
April 5, 2023
I couldn’t finish this book. Because of what perceived as a prejudice that seemed to appear on every page. Examples: the author capitalized the words Black/ Black, but not white/whites. On pts 78,79: “makes the current twenty-first century state-level voter suppression and disenfranchisement efforts by right-wing Republicans . . .” Whew! Such broad brush applications of motive and labeling are indicative of the very prejudices he is illustrating in his book.
I’m disappointed because the subject matter of the book, the Green Book, is very interesting to me, and I wanted to know more.
I’m disappointed because the subject matter of the book, the Green Book, is very interesting to me, and I wanted to know more.
August 25, 2023
Mr. Hall's account of driving with Ms. Woods Weber while using the Green Book as a guide was quite interesting and added for me a deeper appreciation of the struggles of Black travel in America. I read this after reading Overground Railroad and Driving While Black . I also listened to the Driving the Green Book podcast.
March 17, 2023
The first hand interviews in the book are heart breaking and deserve attention, but on the whole this is a superficial gloss of a profoundly important moment in the history of African-Americans in the US, poorly organized, disjointed, and not well written.
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