Thread by @karlajstrand

Now listening to @candacytaylor as part of @Neon_Speaks talking about "Highway Life: Roots of Black Travel in America" and her book Overground Railroad.

The Green Book published 1936-1967; covered US and international destinations. Distributed by Black owned businesses and via mail order. Victor Green strategized to increase circulation via word of mouth. Provided ideas for safe accommodations for black people.

When the Green Book was first published, over half of the towns along Rt 66 were sundown towns. Most people who wrote about Rt 66 were white males. Taylor wanted to stop the romanticizing of it.

Black families took road trips despite sundown towns and absence of places to eat or stay. Black people began offering places for Black families to eat/stay. Often nearby sundown towns. Alberta's, Murray's Dude Ranch, Clifton's Cafeteria were places that catered to all.

Majority of Green Book establishments were Black owned but not all. And some were really fancy. Most GB sites in San Francisco were in the Fillmore District. Some music sites were featured in the GB, but not The Fillmore itself.

Green Book Site Tour is featured at the end of Taylor's book, featuring her own photos from sites. She's driven over 50k miles just for this project and catalogued about 10k GB sites. Only approximately 5% still exist.

This project has impressed upon Taylor the importance of preservation. She's seen the effects of poverty and awful government policies, the scars of mass incarceration.

Taylor has a Nat Geo grant to catalog sundown towns, GB sites, and more. [Sounds like an amazing project!] She's also currently has a touring exhibit of the project. Opens at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel taylormadeculture.com

Overground Railroad is not a book about the history of Black people and road tripping. It's about the conditions that made something like The Green Book even necessary. About how we got here and how far we have to go.

Taylor wanted to ensure she had a balance of text and photos in Overground Railroad. There are so many types of photos but the book has a seriousness that honors our time. @ABRAMSbooks

Taylor discusses the precarity and danger -- still -- in POC traveling the US. Mentions Noirbnb. Racism is still a huge problem. "We have a long way to go."

The automobile was a better way to get around for Black people. It was safer and liberating to not have to ride segregated trains; it was freeing. But it was challenging for Black people to purchase cars and get car insurance.

Also a discussion of how redlining affected travel and neighborhoods. Taylor: How do you change the present or future if you don't know the past? Until we get to the root of the problem of racism, we will continue doing this indefinitely.

Thanks to @Neon_Speaks and @candacytaylor for this amazing presentation. Your work is fascinating and so necessary - thank you.