ACCESS DIGITIZED EDITION
Guide/Reviews Database
BIOGRAPHIES
Bolden, Tonya

Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book

40 pp. | HarperCollins/Quill Tree | October, 2022 | Trade ISBN 978-0-06296-740-4 $17.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Eric Velasquez. Victor Hugo Green (1892–1960) was a mail carrier whose work took him all across New Jersey. Though well-loved on his routes, Green knew the danger he faced as a Black man anytime he went somewhere unfamiliar. This prompted the energetic Green, who "had great get-up-and-go," to create a guide for Black people to find safe places to stop, eat, and stay when road-tripping on the nation's newly built highways and turnpikes. Called the Green Book, this handbook grew from "just a pamphlet" listing welcoming places in the New York City area in 1936, to a 1940 edition featuring amenities in large cities in every state plus Washington, DC, and standing as a useful--and possibly life-saving--tool for Black travelers well into the 1960s. Velasquez's scrapbook-style, painterly vignettes capture period detail and nimbly complement Bolden's conversational free-verse text ("These travelers, / whether going places with smiles / or with tears in their eyes, / could face / hassles, humiliation, hardships"). Back matter includes a timeline, source notes, and selected sources.
Reviewer: Sam Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2022

RELATED 

BIOGRAPHIES

Saving American Beach
by King, Heidi Tyline
BIOGRAPHIES

Violet and Daisy
by Miller, Sarah
BIOGRAPHIES

Notes from a Young Black Chef
by , Onwuachi, Kwame & Stein, Joshua David
BIOGRAPHIES

Dr. Fauci
by Messner, Kate
BIOGRAPHIES

Indelible Ann
by Browne, Meghan P.
More

Get connected. Join our global community of more than 200,000 librarians and educators.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

We are currently offering this content for free. Sign up now to activate your personal profile, where you can save articles for future viewing.

ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER?