

This is a fascinating and eye-opening look at a part of history that should be more widely known. Driving While Black is more focused on the importance of the rise of car ownership among African-Americans as well as the various predecessors of The Green Book (The Overground Railroad focuses more on the actual guide and on the businesses included in The Green Book, as well as current crisis). While they do both cover the history of African-American travel and The Green Book, both approach this history in personal yet distinct ways. If you are wondering if you should order one or both for your library/bookstore/personal collection: order and read both. With Driving While Black being published in the same publishing period as The Overground Railroad, comparisons will inevitably be made. Read if you: Want a sharp and moving account of the hardships, struggles, and danger African-American travelers faced (and continue to face) while traveling, as well as the importance of the automobile and The Green Book during the Jim Crow era. She has curated innumerable exhibits-including with the Smithsonian, the Jewish Museum and the New York State Historical Association-and lives in upstate New York. The documentary provides a far more in-depth look at the significance of the lifesaving book, which became the bible for African American drivers. At the heart of this story is Victor and Alma Green’s famous Green Book, begun in 1936, which made possible that most basic American right, the family vacation, and encouraged a new method of resisting oppression.Įnlivened by Sorin’s personal history, Driving While Black opens an entirely new view onto the African American experience, and shows why travel was so central to the Civil Rights movement.Ībout the Author: Gretchen Sorin is distinguished professor and director of the Cooperstown Graduate Program of the State University of New York.
Driving while black book drivers#
Gretchen Sorin recovers a forgotten history of black motorists, and recounts their creation of a parallel, unseen world of travel guides, black only hotels, and informal communications networks that kept black drivers safe.

Yet cars have always held distinct importance for African Americans, allowing black families to evade the many dangers presented by an entrenched racist society and to enjoy, in some measure, the freedom of the open road. The ultimate symbol of independence and possibility, the automobile has shaped this country from the moment the first Model T rolled off Henry Ford’s assembly line. At the heart of this story is Victor and Alma Green's famous Green Book, begun in 1936, which made possible that most basic American right, the family vacation, and encouraged a new method of resisting oppression.Įnlivened by Sorin's personal history, Driving While Black opens an entirely new view onto the African American experience, and shows why travel was so central to the Civil Rights movement.How the automobile fundamentally changed African American life-the true history beyond the Best Picture–winning movie. The ultimate symbol of independence and possibility, the automobile has shaped this country from the moment the first Model T rolled off Henry Ford's assembly line. How the automobile fundamentally changed African American life - the true history beyond the Best Picture-winning movie.
