I learned a lot by reading this book. The author has done a wonderful job researching Green Book travel and collecting historic photographs. I enjoyed the author's present day observations and travels. I found the book to be well written and the multiple time lines was not confusing. The before and after photographs really add to the text. I enjoyed these historical armchair travels.

For a good part of 2019 many books I read referenced “The Green Book”, I took this as a sign to learn more about this Black travels guide this year. It was very dangerous for African-Americans to travel because Black travelers couldn’t eat, sleep, or buy gas at most white-owned businesses.⁣
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Published from 1936 to 1966, The Green Book listed hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses that were safe for black travelers. It took courage to be listed in the Green Book, and Overground Railroad celebrates the stories of those who put their names in the book and stood up against segregation.⁣
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I am about halfway through The Overground Railroad by Candacy Taylor and I’m just blown away by the information and pictures Taylor has collected here. Did you know that GM had an unwritten policy not to sell its Cadillacs to Black motorists because the company felt they would undermine its brand. I’m baffled by this but not surprised. ⁣
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After some pressure by Nicholas Dreystadt (whom eventually became the general manager of this giant corporation), Black consumers were able to purchase vehicles and this action helped GM recover from the Great Depression. Isn’t that something! ⁣
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If this book isn’t on you list, I highly recommend you add it. It has 150 color and black-and-white illustrations that are a must see. Thank you Abrams Press for gifting me this copy, out in stores Jan 7. ⁣

I knew this book would be amazing, and I was not disappointed.

Overground Railroad gives readers insight and history of the real Green Book, which was used by Black American travelers travelling the highways of the segregated United States. The Green Book was was created by Victor Green for Black Americans to find safe places to stop for gas, food, and lodging. The history, pictures, and first-hand accounts make this book the treasure that it is. What's also great is the Green Book Site Tour that features the sites listed in the Green Book that are still standing today. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

I honestly think I favor reading nonfiction some days over jumping into a well-written fantasy novel. Civil Rights in America remains one of my favorite topics to learn about because you will never reach the end of all the lives and events that transpired. This is primarily because segregation and Jim Crow continually impact the country, despite legal and cultural shifts every few years.

Overground Railroad delves deep into the history of the Green Book, an African American guide to travel and establishments open to their patronage from 1936 to 1966. There is so much history embedded with its publication that readers who are interested in any part of American history will likely find some enjoyment out of reading this well-researched analysis of African American life and travel within the United States for the last ninety years.

This is an outstanding and fascinating history of the Green Book--a guide for black Americans during Jim Crow that listed safe businesses to shop at, safe places to stay, safe garages to fill up their cars, and other places and people who could help them as they travelled the country. Author Candacy Taylor has not just examined the book, its creation, and publication, but also conducted interviews with people who used it, taking her work beyond the abstract or academic and demonstrating how crucial the Green Book--and other guides like it--were in specific dangerous situations experienced by blacks traveling in the US.

I’m not sure what age I was the first time I learned of the Green Book used by Black people to travel through the United States, but I remember it being part of my index for quite some time. What I had never considered was the history behind the Green Book, when it came into existence or how long it lasted. Overground Railroad provided answers for questions I had never considered. But it does more than that. Taylor throughout this book details the history behind the Green Book as well as the history of this country. Racism and the need for Black people to be able to travel through the country safely is what brought about the existence of the Green Book. While detailing the different editions of the Green Book she also details what was happening in the United States at the time politically as well as socially.

I really enjoyed this book. Taylor did an excellent job weaving the histories of the Green Book with the US. This is full of information, extremely interesting and very visual with excerpts from the Green Book as well as photos of the place once listed throughout its pages. I would highly recommend learning more about this incredible travel guide that undoubtedly saved so many lives and allowed Black people to have some since of security while traveling.

Read if you: Want a better understanding of the history/significance of The Green Book, as well as the perils that African-Americans have faced (and continue to face) in automobile travel.

During the era of Jim Crow, African-Americans faced enormous obstacles, indignities, and danger while traveling. The Green Book was a necessary travel guide for the community, listing businesses (mostly, but not all, African-American owned/operated) such as hotels/lodging, restaurants, auto repair shops, nightclubs, and more. Not only does Candacy Taylor bring to life the little known and fascinating history of The Green Book, but she also pays tribute to the many establishments--mostly gone--that gave stressed and weary African-American travelers comfort and respite, as well as the bravery of these travelers, who faced harrassment and even worse during their travels. This is an unforgettable, unique, and vital read.

Many thanks to Abrams Press and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

A very well written and researched book, fact filled and very hard to put down. I had never heard of the green book but now feel I have a basic understanding and can't wait to research and read more about it

As someone more familiar with the Hollywood film "The Green Book," I wanted to consult a more well-researched and historically accurate guide that discussed this historical document. I should note that while I found the film interesting, it was primarily geared toward making white audiences feel better about themselves. Critics, including Don Shirley's family members, were quick to point out that the film stretched the truth in order to make the Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga character (played by Viggo Mortensen) seem more heroic than he actually was by historical accounts. It used elements of the white saviour trope, and I'm not even going to get into how problematic the "fried chicken" scene was.

I wanted to know more about the history of "The Negro Motorist Green Book" written by Victor Hugo Green, the basic premise of which was to let African-American road trippers know which businesses or hotels abided by Jim Crow laws so they could avoid them where possible and not have to endure racism, refusing to be served, or in some cases, threats of physical violence and/or forcible expulsion (and much worse). Although the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, which led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, most readers should know that this didn't exactly lead to idyllic harmony. African-Americans are still being murdered far too often, particularly by white law enforcement, to this day, which is inhumane and unspeakable.

"Overground Railroad" starts off with a white sheriff in Tennessee pulling over an African-American man and his family to the side of the road because of the colour of their skin. The officer interrogates the father of the family, demanding to know how he obtained the vehicle (implying he could not possibly have bought it), and demands to know who the people are with him (his family, which he had to pretend were his employer's maid and son). The sheriff tells them to move along. The author explains that the black hat hanging in the backseat, a chauffeur's hat, was what enabled them to surmount the incident (for lack of a better term) and that during the Jim Crow era, "the chauffeur's hat was the perfect cover for every middle-class black man pulled over and harassed by the police." It was a survival tool. "In the event that the sheriff did believe it was Ron's father's car, the rage and jealousy he might have felt at the thought of a black man owning a nicer car than a police officer might have triggered a beating, torture, or even murder."

In addition to being a helpful guide showing African-American travellers where they could go, "it was also a compelling marketing tool that supported black-owned businesses and celebrated black self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship."

Written in an informative, active, and engaging style, "Overground Railroad" is a fascinating account of how The Green Book came to be, how it was used, and a personal account from the author's stepfather, Ron, of what it meant to navigate the Jim Crow South. The author also relates how even though much has changed since then, it really hasn't. As she says, "The whole point of the Green Book was to keep black motorists safe on the road, and it's eighty years later, and I can't find a safe place to use the bathroom."

The author explains the significance that being able to purchase a car meant for African-American men, as a mode of transportation in which they would not have to fear for their lives while riding transit such as buses or trolleys, or being subjected to "colored" sections on vehicles. Being able to purchase a car as an African-American, however, also incited white anger. There was also the matter of purchasing insurance, because many companies in the 1930s refused to insure black motorists. The author also talks about the exclusion of African-Americans from frequenting other types of businesses, such as movie theatres or golf ranges (despite the fact that George Grant, an African American dentist, "made the most significant contribution when he designed the first golf tee, in 1899").

The author also explains that while many African-Americans did leave the South for better opportunities, there may have been fewer "Whites Only" signs, "but many of the towns they passed through held the same fearful and ignorant attitudes toward them that were prevalent in the South." Interestingly, travelling by train was a huge part of the history of transportation as it relates to race, as many railroad companies employed African Americans, but also it featured prominently in Victor Green's guide, and he dedicated the entire 1951 Green Book edition, calling it the "Railroad Edition."

Those readers who have been among the many to discover, thanks to the recent television adaptation of "Watchmen" that the 1921 Tulsa killing of 300 African-Americans was indeed all too real will find the author devotes a portion of her book to the massacre.

Of particular interest is the chapter devoted to African-American women and their use of the Green Book. "By the 1959 edition, not only were women listing their businesses, but [also] a woman was in charge of the entire Green Book operation (Alma Duke Green, Victor's wife)."

Additionally, the book addresses the issue of colourism, or a prevalence/preference in American culture to regard beauty as having light skin. Unfortunately, the Green Book was published for twenty-five years "before a black figure with traditional African features graced the cover." The author discusses the nuances of colourism, light-skinned African-Americans (particularly those who could pass for white) and how it seeped into black advertising, social activities, and friendships.

This book covers a vast expanse of American history that more readers need to immerse themselves in. As well, the author discusses other travel guides aimed at African-Americans, including the first black travel guide, "Hackley and Harrison's Hotel and Apartment Guide for Colored Travelers," published in 1930 (six years before the Green Book). The book also features many historical and archival photographs of great significance, which is worth noting.

"Eye-opening" would be an understatement to describe this book. The author also discusses issues of mass incarceration of African-Americans, particularly in 2018, and how staggering it is. America's struggles with race and social mobility continue. As the author says, we still have a lot of work to do. Fascinating and heartbreaking, this book needs to be purchased and widely accessible to public libraries and academic ones alike, available in bookstores, and taught in schools. It is staggeringly relevant and although many people struggle to understand the current American political landscape, books like this paint a clear picture of how we got to where we are and that these things have not happened in a vacuum.

I was born in the 70s, and though I had heard of the Green Book, I had never really thought about what it meant to be Black and travel in the age of Jim Crow. This was a thorough and thoroughly fascinating book that I highly recommend!

Author Candacy Taylor takes readers on a trip across America and through an important era in America's segregated history with "Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America." This book not only charts the rise of African-American leisure travel and how this pastime was aided by Victor H. Green's "Negro Motorist Green Book," it manages to link the past to the present by incorporating historical research, photos, anecdotes, and field research from Taylor's visits to the sites listed in the Green Book.

The Green Book, first published in 1936, listed lodging and service establishments which provided safe havens for Black travelers courageous enough to venture along America's highways and byways at a time when it was not always safe to do so.

With "Overground Railroad," Taylor, (www.taylormadeculture.com), a cultural documentarian and fellow of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, through artful storytelling puts readers in the passengers seat as she travels through big cities and "sundown towns," and relates the true experiences, and many dangers, that Black Americans travelers faced when trying to grab onto this aspect of the "American dream."

The book not only charts the rise of Black middle-class mobility through property (including vehicle) ownership and leisure travel, but the challenges those attempts presented. It also details the impact of Eisenhower's National System of Interstate and Defense Highways (U.S. Interstate Highway System), its impact on U.S. travel and American communities, and how the businesses and communities listed in the Green Book have changed over the decades since its publication.