Overground Railroad : the Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America

Candacy Taylor
Nonfiction - 973.0496 Tay

The first book to explore the historical role and residual impact of the Green Book, a travel guide for black motorists. Published from 1936 to 1966, the Green Book was hailed as the "black travel guide to America." At that time, it was very dangerous and difficult for African-Americans to travel because black travelers couldn't eat, sleep, or buy gas at most white-owned businesses. The Green Book listed hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses that were safe for black travelers. It was a resourceful and innovative solution to a horrific problem. 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. It shows the history of the Green Book, how we arrived at our present historical moment, and how far we still have to go when it comes to race relations in America.


Antiracist Reading List

  • Me and White Supremacy : Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor


  • Overground Railroad : the Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America


  • Stony the Road : Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow


  • So You Want to Talk About Race


  • How to be Less Stupid About Race : on Racism, White Supremacy and the Racial Divide


  • I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness


  • Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race


  • How We Fight White Supremacy : a Field Guide to Black Resistance


  • The Color of Compromise : the Truth About the American Church's Complicity in Racism


  • They Were Her Property : White Women as Slave Owners in the American South


  • Hood Feminism : Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot


  • "Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" : and Other Conversations About Race


  • The Color of Law : a Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America


  • How to be an Antiracist


  • Towards Collective Liberation : Anti-racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy


  • When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir


  • How We Get Free : Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective


  • Stamped from the Beginning : the Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America


  • The New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness


  • White Rage : the Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide