The Negro Travelers Green Book was published until the summer of 1964. Thats when the last edition came out. Lets do some simple math. Lets say youre eighteen years old and black in 1964 America. There are satellites buzzing overhead. Television and vaccines and super sonic jet travel and The Beatles and Dylan. Somewhere in Baltimore a teenaged John Waters was shooting his first short film. Dr. Strangelove and Goldfinger are showing in movie theaters. And yet you and your parents still need to carry a magic book, like some relic out of a dark, German fairy tale, if you dare to explore this amazing country full of advanced technology, cutting-edge ideas, and progressive social engineering. Because out there, among the jet engines and early computers and modern highways? There are restaurants and hotels and simple drinking fountains. And should you even begin to approach them, the white faces of this advanced civilization will suddenly bare their teeth and descend on you.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 00:31:59 +0000