Harbor Springs Library

Open to the Public Since 1894

 

 

206 S. Spring St.
Harbor Springs, MI 49740

231.526.2531

Gilmore Car Museum: Driving Through the Jim Crow Era
Wednesday, March 20, 2019, 01:00pm - 02:00pm
Contact 526-2531

The Gilmore Car Museum is touring the state again with a series of talks. Last year, they spoke at the HSL about the first all-woman cross country road trip in 1909. This year, they're coming back to talk about the experience of African Americans driving through the Jim Crow era. African Americans faced severe discrimination on the road, being met by white-only gas stations, restaurants, hotels, etc. "To ease their way, Victor Hugo Green published “The Negro Travelers’ Green Book” with a listing of places — some commercial, some private homes — where dark-skinned people could stay and eat, where they could buy gas and even which towns to avoid for their own safety. Green, an African-American mail carrier, was outlived by his annual book. He started it in the mid-1930s and his company kept it going until passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s." (From the Gilmore Museum website).

 

If you watched the movie "The Green Book" and would like to learn more about this episode of American history, or if you've never heard of it before, please join us for this free lecture on March 20th at 1pm in the center of the library.

 

https://www.gilmorecarmuseum.org/museum-showcases-near-forgotten-guidebook-african-american-travelers/

Location Harbor Springs Library
Free and open to the public