This fascinating look at how the automobile fundamentally changed African American life is now the basis of a major PBS documentary by Ric Burns. Acclaimed historian Gretchen Sorin reveals how black travel guides and black-only businesses encouraged a new way of resisting oppression. From coast to coast, mom and pop guest houses and tourist homes, beauty parlors, and even large hotels—including New York’s Hotel Theresa, the Hampton House in Miami, or the Dunbar Hotel in Los Angeles—fed travelers and provided places to stay the night. At the heart of Sorin’s story is Victor and Alma Green’s famous Green Book, a travel guide begun in 1936, which helped grant black Americans that most basic American rite, the family vacation. Hardcover, 352 pages, 74 B&W photos.
