The Green Book for black travelers was an extraordinary running series of publications that for 30 years listed the hotels, motels, restaurants, boarding houses, and various different businesses that black people in an era of often rigidly imposed segregation could safely patronize.
Issued between 1936 and 1966 the publication, also called the Negro Travelers’ Green Book, was specifically designed to give the “Negro traveler information that will keep him from running into difficulties and embarrassments and to make his trip more enjoyable.”
Count Basie and Duke Ellington, among other prominent musicians, may have fronted two of the most successful orchestras in their cross-country travels, but they always made sure to have a copy of the Green Book on their bus just to be on the safe side.
Now the City of La Junta, Colorado is putting together a survey that will focus on “resources connected to Green Book travel” as part of a larger effort to preserve historically significant properties.
To that end, the city has just received a $25,000 grant from group History Colorado in its effort to identify historically important resources and properties.
“Surveys and design guidelines like the ones funded in this round of grants are vital building blocks for historic preservation across the state,” Patrick Eidman, the chief preservation officer of History Colorado, said in a statement.
The City of Carbondale has similarly received a $25,000 grant to update preservation design guidelines for its Old Town, which is populated for the most part with structures built between 1879 and 1920. Many of those structures, according to History Colorado, run the architectural design span from “Queen Anne and shingle styles to later forms embodied in the Foursquare, Classic, Cottage, Bungalow, and Craftsman styles.”
A final $25,000 is heading to the City of Northglenn to help fund a survey plan that will “guide the community’s future preservation efforts,” and in the process pinpoint structures of historic importance.
Such documentation serves as a necessary preliminary for local governments seeking private and public funding to both preserve and upgrade historic structures.
By Garry Boulard
