During slavery we had the Underground Railroad directing fugitive slaves along a network of safe houses on their trek North to Freedom. During The Great Black Migration North (1915-1960) we had The Green-Book directing "Negro Motorists" along a network of safe inns, motels and bed-n-breakfast hostels which welcomed Blacks with dignity along their journey from a hostile and oppressive Jim Crow South.
From 1936 to 1967, Victor Green, a New York City mailman distributed The Green Book. The directory also listed gas stations, restaurants, tailors, night clubs, barber shops and beauty shops not participating in the humiliating and discriminatory Jim Crow practices. "Whites Only" signs made it clear where African Americans were not welcomed, but until the advent of The Green Book it was not clear where African Americans were welcome. There were no "Negroes Welcomed" signs, and if there were, those establishments would be made the target of racial terrorists.
"Discrimination was so real that not only did they [black travelers] pack their own food; but also their own gas. You never knew when traveling while black what was going to happen to you and if you had kids with you it just added to the anxiety," said author and playwright Calvin Ramsey who is founder of a project to memorialize the important contributions of The Green Book with The Green Book Chronicles.
"when you take a cross country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"..." -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (an excerpt from "A Letter From A Birmingham Jail")
"Discrimination is a poison and that's why we need joy in spite of it all. There was no internet back then to get The Green Book, this was put together with love from black people for each other to keep each other safe. The Green Book to me was a love letter of sorts. There was a time when we loved each other so much that we would open our homes just to keep another black person safe. You could be a superstar, a singer, an artist and in those days still have no place to stay, eat or bathe while on the road, so this book was about the love and ability to preserve our dignity." Ramsey said.
This is inspiring for the purpose of The Baldwin Business Journal, for in this story we see that the self-reliance of our community is the true directory to our freedom. Every month we introduce to you members of our community who own and operate businesses so that those who are committed to supporting the group economics and ownership of our community will know who to turn to for various services and products meeting our needs and wants. They ought to make you proud and inspire you too to go into business. We are continuing to build our network one business at a time and expanding the reach of our readership base to soon be able to launch a local directory of our own giving feature to these entrepreneurs who are undeserved with attention in the general marketplace. For once, we aim to make it a privilege in being a Black LGBT entrepreneur within the chronicles of The Baldwin Business Journal.
"Discrimination is a poison and that's why we need joy in spite of it all. There was no internet back then to get The Green Book, this was put together with love from black people for each other to keep each other safe. The Green Book to me was a love letter of sorts. There was a time when we loved each other so much that we would open our homes just to keep another black person safe. You could be a superstar, a singer, an artist and in those days still have no place to stay, eat or bathe while on the road, so this book was about the love and ability to preserve our dignity." Ramsey said.
No comments:
Post a Comment