The Green Book: A Remnant of a Segregated World

 Before the days of the Interstate, Henry Smith, Sr. was driving with his wife and two young children, Henry, Jr. and Cheryl, across country, from their home in Seattle, Washington to his and his wife’s home state of Louisiana. They planned to visit relatives outside of Baton Rouge. They had just crossed into northwestern Louisiana when little Cheryl piped up from the back that she needed to use the restroom. Henry, Sr. looked at the road signs. They were just entering Bossier City, an area with which he was well familiar, having served in the Civilian Conservation Corps on Barksdale Air Force Base and in the small Bossier Parish communities of Haughton and Plain Dealing prior to his service in WWII. Barksdale and the CCC camps had offered the all-black units some protection, but off-base or out-of-camp, he hadn’t forgotten how the black units were made to feel unwelcome and unsafe. He begged her to wait, exclaiming that Bossier City was the absolute worst place of the entire trip for them to have to make a stop. The little girl insisted she could NOT wait.

              

Mr. Henry Smith (junior), researcher and author, can tell you this story better, and how upon seeing the condition of the segregated “facilities” the white gas station attendant offered, his little sister realized she could “hold it” after all. You will have the opportunity to hear him tell this story and others at Green Book Sites in Louisiana: Remnants and Recollections of a Segregated World: A Black History Month talk and slideshow at the Bossier Parish Libraries History Center along with Kevin Shannahan, reporter and photographer. This special program will be held Thursday, Feb. 22nd, 2024 at 6pm at 2206 Beckett St., Bossier City, LA.

The “Negro Motorist/Travelers’ Green Book” was a road-travel and vacation guide for African-Americans that was published in the U.S. from 1936 to 1967, a time when segregation and suspicion toward African-American travelers meant anything from a lack of available services, to grave threats toward their safety. “The Green Book” was a directory of service providers and accommodations that welcomed African-American travelers, including hotels, motels, gas stations, and beauty salons. With a characteristic green cover, it was published by an African-American postal worker in Harlem, New York named Victor Hugo Green. The book expanded as Green gathered tips from readers and other postal workers from around the country, eventually listing more than 9,500 safe havens nationwide.

Kevin Shannahan’s images of the remnants of Green Book sites in Louisiana provide a way to explore African-American history through a photographic lens that highlights black entrepreneurship in Louisiana. His photos show the architectural and artifactual remains of these historically successful businesses that served local African American customers and those who were making safe passage to somewhere else. A reporter and photographer, Mr. Shannahan has been a resident of Natchitoches since 1994. A former Air Force officer, he taught in the Troops to Teachers Program in Red River Parish for four years and is a recently retired state employee. Kevin has a professional photography business, Kevin Shannahan Photography and is a writer and photographer for the Natchitoches Parish Journal. He is also an amateur historian with an interest in Louisiana during the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras.

                  

Mr. Smith’s stories of traveling cross-country by automobile with his parents and little sister from Seattle to Louisiana in the 1950’s will vividly provide the context within which the Green Book existed, the inconveniences and perils for African-Americans traveling the roads of America in the Jim-Crow era. Currently of Bossier City, Mr. Smith was raised in Seattle, Washington. He was the Dr. James W. Washington, Jr. and Janie Rogella Washington Foundation Writer-in-Residence for June 2019 in Seattle. He is a Board member of The Gloster Arts Project of Gloster, MS, and has formerly worked as a libraryand archives technician, including for the National Archives in Atlanta, Georgia and Washington, DC. He is completing a book based on his father’s life story called The Big Picture.

Please come visit us on Thursday night February 22nd to hear Mr. Smith’s and Shannahan’s program. Or stop by anytime this month to see our black history month displays, including a small one on the Green Book that also highlights additional resources on the Green Book, such as books and videos, both digital and traditional, available for all ages within the Bossier Parish Libraries system. The Bossier Parish Libraries History Center is located at 2206 Beckett St., Bossier City, LA. We are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org

For other fun facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok.