It was published in the United States from 1936 to 1966, during the Jim Crow era, when discrimination against non-whites was widespread. Although pervasive racial discrimination and black poverty limited ownership of cars among African Americans, the emerging black middle class became car owners. Many blacks took to driving, in part to avoid segregation on public transportation. As the writer George Schuyler put it in 1930, "all Negroes who can do so purchase an automobile as soon as possible in order to be free of discomfort, discrimination, segregation and insult."[1] Black Americans employed as salesmen, entertainers, and athletes also traveled frequently for work purposes.African American travelers faced a variety of dangers and inconveniences, such as white-owned businesses refusing to serve them or repair their vehicles, being refused accommodation or food by white-owned hotels, and threats of physical violence and forcible expulsion from whites-only "sundown towns". New York mailman and travel agent Victor H. Green published The Negro Motorist Green Book to tackle such problems and "to give the Negro traveler information that will keep him from running into difficulties, embarrassments and to make his trip more enjoyable."[2]From a New York-focused first edition published in 1936, he expanded the work to cover much of North America including most of the United States and parts of Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, including Bermuda. The Green Book became "the bible of black travel during Jim Crow",[3] enabling black travelers to find lodgings, businesses, and gas stations that would serve them along the road. Outside the African American community, however, it was little known. Shortly after passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed the types of racial discrimination that had made the book necessary, Green ceased publication and the work fell into obscurity. Interest in it has revived in the early 21st century in connection with studies of black travel during the Jim Crow era.Continue reading at Wikipedia