Victor Hugo Green was a pioneering traveler who wrote the first travel guide for African Americans in the United States. The Green Book, published in updated versions between 1936 to 1966, outlined the hotels, restaurants, and gas stations that did business with African Americans in a time where Jim Crow laws and racial segregation made parts of the country unfriendly to all travelers.
Green was a postal worker who lived in Harlem when he had the idea to do something that would help African Americans find the best hotels and restaurants as car ownership and subsequently travel increased. He later opened a travel agency to book reservations at African American-owned businesses.
