Cultural Documentarian Candacy Taylor’s "Negro Motorist Green Book" Exhibition Travels to Houston Museum

ABOVE: Author and Exhibition Curator Candacy Taylor speaks during “The Negro Motorist Green Book” opening reception

The Holocaust Museum of Houston recently hosted the debut of an exhibition featuring The Negro Motorist Green Book, a travel guide for African Americans. The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition, sponsored by ExxonMobil, officially opened to the public on September 1^st but members of the press were treated to a special preview and tour on August 31^st.

The 1940 Green Book (Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

The Green Book was published from the mid-1930s until the mid-1960s and was a crucial resource at a time when Jim Crow discrimination made travel dangerous for Black people. Not only were they turned away from segregated establishments, but they also faced the possibility of racist violence or even lynching.

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods hinted at those dangers during his remarks at the opening reception. “What we think of today as a ‘road trip’ — the classic American experience — was anything but routine for many Americans, who were treated as second class citizens because of the color of their skin. Pulling up to a restaurant, a rest stop, a hotel, was a dangerous roll of the dice. Black Americans didn’t know if they’d be refused service, met with hostility or even violence. Thankfully, there were safe places where African American travelers could find the goods and services they needed. And because of Victor and Alma Green, there was a booklet that black travelers could turn to for places where they’d be welcomed and safe. We’re extremely proud to be along those places of refuge: the Esso and Humble service stations, operating under the Standard Oil company, the predecessor of ExxonMobil.”

“We welcomed all people to our retail locations. In fact,” Woods continued, “we were the only major retailer in any industry to carry the Green Book. When I think back on our company’s modest role in this meaningful part of our history, I can’t help but be proud and grateful that we did the right thing, at the right time, for the right reason.”

Candacy Taylor, who curated the project, spoke next. “I’ve been working on this project for over a decade. You know, it’s been a labor of love and being a curator for this exhibition has been one of the highlights of my career.”

Author and Exhibition Curator Candacy Taylor speaks during “The Negro Motorist Green Book” media tour

“I’ve driven over 100,000 miles, scouted nearly 7,000 Green Book sites; I photographed about 300 of them,” Taylor revealed. “I could scout up to 30 sites a day. And there were times that I would drive for days and days and not see a single one…On the rare occasion when I would see one, it was like a beautiful force of nature. Sometimes I’d actually get out of my car and jump up and down, if I was in an OK neighborhood,” she said, to laughter. “But I would get so excited. Less than 3% of these businesses are still operating. And so, it’s so important to celebrate the ones that we have left, and that’s what this exhibition helps us to do.”

It also tells the story of race in America — a story that’s not all about struggle, but Black ingenuity, resourcefulness and strength.

“You know, the Green Book was so much more than a traditional travel guide. It was this formidable weapon, and a fight for equal rights, and it really functioned more like a black Yellow Pages. It was in publication for about 30 years. The Green Book listed more than just hotels and food and lodging. It was called ‘the AAA for black people.’ But it was really so much more, because there were funeral homes, sanitariums and real estate offices. There was even a dude ranch,” Taylor said.

“The dude ranch was actually one of my favorite Green Book sites. It’s been gone, but it was a 40-acre ranch in the Mojave Desert [in California]. It was owned by a Black couple. Lena Horne used to hang out there. Pearl Bailey bought it in the late ‘50s. It was one of the first places in that part of the country where Black and White children swam together, and I was out there many times digging in dirt in 115° weather, trying to find some kind of something that could have been left over, and I actually did! I found bedsprings; I found little tiles. I found car parts and barbed wire, and that’s part of this exhibition.”

U.S. Representative Al Green, Holocaust Museum Houston Board Chair Barbara J. Herz, and ExxonMobil Foundation President Alvin Abraham

Taylor shared that Houston was home to at least 65 Green Book sites, highlighting the recently renovated El Dorado Ballroom. She concluded: “I know this history is hard, and we did not shy away from those stories. But I also want you to walk away feeling inspired by our resilience and grace as Black folks, to persevere despite incredible obstacles.”

KPRC meteorologist Khambrel Marshall also spoke during the Green Book’s opening reception. “I was born in 1952,” he said. “I spent most of my summers in Arkansas, and my grandfather was the principal of the colored school; my grandmother was a teacher there, and my mother was a teacher there. So that group was a well-educated group, and that was one of the reasons why someone, some group of people, decided to burn a cross in front of my yard as a young child. That was one of those things that really scared me as a child. But that was also one of the things that made me depend upon my parents even more so for safety.”

Because his grandparents and parents had the Green Book, that provided them some level of safety, Marshall said. “So when I knew that this exhibit was coming, I thought: ‘Hallelujah.’ It gives us an opportunity to expose many of you who don’t know about the Green Book — to this part of our history, and also to this wonderful museum that we have here that tells the story about what happened to the victims of the Holocaust.”

Marshall added: “This exhibit is an example of the kind of things that sometimes — even our own country right now, there are places where they don’t want to tell this story! So that’s why it’s important for us to be here.”