Green, Victor Hugo, 1892-1960

Between 1936 and 1967, the Negro Motorist Green Book was essential for the survival of thousands of black Americans in an era of segregation cemented into the American legal system through Jim Crow laws, sundown towns where African Americans were under threat of violence after sunset, and a sharp increase in lynchings and other forms of hate crimes.

Victor Green worked as a postal carrier in Hackensack, New Jersey, and lived with his family in Harlem. Allegedly, Green was frustrated with his own experiences attempting to travel the United States as an African American and heard similar stories from friends and family. In 1936, he decided to publish the first edition of the Negro Motorist Green Book, based on similar guides for Jewish travelers. The first issue of the Green Book was limited to black-owned and non-discriminatory businesses in New York City.

Exploring the true story of the Green Book is an aspect of the National Trust's work to tell the full American story through its African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.

The first edition of the Green Book was so popular, Green expanded it the following year to include more states and distribute it nationally. Green eventually opened a publishing office in Harlem to support the Green Book and in 1947, he established Vacation Reservation Service, a travel agency that booked reservations at black-owned establishments. In its heyday, the Green Book sold 15,000 copies per year. Green died in 1960, but his widow, Alma, published the books until 1962. Subsequent issues of the books were published by Langley Waller and Melvin Tapley until 1967three years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The places listed in Green Books range from hotels and restaurants to night clubs, grocery stores, gas stations, and even "tourist homes," where homeowners welcomed weary travelers to spend the night when they had nowhere else to go. The longest groups of listings are in large cities with significant African American populations, in contrast to small towns in Midwestern states, most of which only include a few listings in later editions of the Green Book.

All of the places listed in the Green Books were either black-owned or known to be non-discriminatory, and the books, which are available for free online, list the names and addresses of places that represent 20th-century African American stories. A few notable places, including National Treasure of the National Trust A.G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham, Alabama, have been preserved and recognized for their significance.

But, outside the travel guides themselves, little is known about the vast majority of Green Book sites. Learn more about the places—many of which are abandoned or demolished—that mark an important chapter in American history.

Victor Hugo Green (November 9, 1892 – October 16, 1960) was an American postal employee and travel writer from Harlem, New York City, best known for developing and writing what became known as The Green Book, a travel guide for African Americans in the United States. During the time the book was published, choices of lodging, restaurants and even gas stations were limited for black people in many places, both in the South and outside it. It was first published as The Negro Motorist Green Book and later as The Negro Travelers' Green Book. The books were published from 1936 to 1966. Green reviewed hotels and restaurants that did business with African Americans during the time of Jim Crow laws and racial segregation in the United States. He printed 15,000 copies each year.

In the 1930s, Green began his work by compiling data on stores and motels and gas stations in New York City area that welcomed black travelers, and published his first guide in 1936. Green's guide was so popular that he immediately began to expand its coverage the next year to other US destinations, adding hotels and restaurants as well. After retiring from the Postal Service, Green continued to work on updating issues of The Green Book. In addition, he developed the related travel agency business he had established in 1947.

Victor Hugo Green, named for the noted French author, was born on November 9, 1892 in Manhattan, New York City. He was the eldest of three children of Alice A. (Holmes) and William H. Green. His family moved and he grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey. Starting in 1913 he worked in Bergen County, New Jersey as a postal carrier for the US Postal Service.

On September 8, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York Green married Alma S. Duke (1889–1978) of Richmond, Virginia. She came to New York as part of the Great Migration from the South to northern cities in the early twentieth century. After their marriage, the couple moved to Harlem, New York, which was attracting blacks from across the country. It developed as a center of black arts and culture in the period of the Harlem Renaissance. They lived in an apartment at 580 St. Nicholas Avenue.
Although Green was employed by the United States Postal Service as a letter carrier, he was drafted into the United States Army to serve in World War I, although he had requested exemption from the draft due to his "employment in the transmission of mail." He would ultimately serve as a member of the Supply Company of the 350th Field Artillery, 92nd Division, rising to the rank of Regimental Supply Sergeant. He sailed for France with his unit on June 30, 1918 from Hoboken, New Jersey on the troop carrier SS President Grant. He returned to the United States from Brest, France on the troop carrier SS Maui on February 16, 1919, landing in Hoboken on the 28th.

Green died on October 16, 1960 in Manhattan, New York City at age 67.

As African Americans began to own automobiles and participate in developing American car culture, they were restricted by racial segregation in the United States. State laws in the South required separate facilities for African Americans and many motels and restaurants in northern states also excluded them. "For the Negro traveler, whether on business or pleasure, there was always trouble finding suitable accommodation in hotels and guest houses where he would be welcomed."

In 1936 Green "thought of doing something about this. He thought of a listing, as comprehensive as possible, of all first-class hotels throughout the United States that catered to Negroes." He collected information on hotels, restaurants and gas stations that served African Americans for his first edition of The Negro Motorist Green Book. Since some towns did not have any hotels or motels that would accept African American guests, he listed "tourist homes," where owners would rent rooms to travelers. His first edition had data for facilities only in the New York metropolitan area.

Green created a publishing office in Harlem to support his guide. In 1947 he established a Vacation Reservation Service, a travel agency to book reservations at black-owned establishments. By 1949 the guide included international destinations in Bermuda and Mexico; it listed places for food, lodging, and gas stations. In 1952 Green changed the name to The Negro Travelers' Green Book. His travel agency office was located at 200 W. 135th Street in Harlem, New York.

Green printed 15,000 copies each year of The Green Book, marketing them to white as well as black-owned businesses to demonstrate "the growing affluence of African Americans." At the time, Esso franchised gas stations to African Americans, when some other companies did not. The Esso stations became popular sales outlets for the book. Similar guides had been published for Jewish travelers in some areas.

Although Green died in 1960, publication continued, with his widow Alma serving as editor, until 1966. Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and legal end to racial segregation in public facilities marked the beginning of the guide's obsolescence; the goal that Green had described in his introduction to the first edition of his work.

The Green Book was printed by Gibraltar Printing and Publishing Co. at 800 Sixth Avenue in New York City. The owner of Gibraltar Printing was Samuel Jacob Glener. Similar guides had been published for Jewish travelers.