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Safe Travels in the Segregation Era

Courtesy NY Public Library collection

During decades of Jim Crow, African-American travelers couldn’t be sure what they’d face at a strange restaurant, a hotel, even a gas station. Would the door be slammed in their face, or worse? The Green Book, an annual listing of establishments welcoming black customers, started in the late ‘30s. We speak with Anne Bruder, a State Highway Administration historian who is researching Green Book businesses in Maryland. We also talk with Traci Wright of the Park School, who discusses the Green Book with students from several high schools on an annual Civil Rights trip and also with civil-rights icon Dr. Helena Hicks, who recalls using the guide when she traveled for her work. 

Anne Bruder will speak about her research Aug. 5 at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. You can find more information on her talk here.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'