SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – For nearly four decades, the Green Book was an integral part of traveling safely for Black Americans. During a time of sundown towns and segregation, the books shared information on safe places to eat and sleep while traveling.
In a presentation at Bossier Parish Library’s History Center, Bossier resident Henry Smith shared how different it was to travel through the South during the 1960s.
Smith’s mother was from Iberville Parish near Baton Rouge, and his father hailed from New Orleans. Every few years his family would take a trip from their home in Washington state to visit family members in Louisiana. The journey was long, spanning 3,000 miles. Without interstates, it took about four days to reach their destination.
Smith fondly recalled a hotel in Cokeville, Wyo., where the family stopped before heading south. He said it was the last night of the trip that they slept in an integrated place.
“Once we got to Oklahoma, we were in segregation country. It was getting late at night. We could tell when my dad came out of a hotel if it was yes or no. If he had a frown on his face, the answer was no,” Smith shared.
Finally, his father found a motel they could rest at for the night, but there was a catch. Although the widowed motel owner “knew what it was like to be out on the road with no place to stay” she had reservations.
The children of the last Black family to stay there played outside in an area out front. When other customers pulled up to the motel, they saw the children and assumed it was only for Black guests, so they drove away.
The woman was concerned that her motel would lose business, so Smith’s family was allowed to stay on the condition that he and his sister didn’t leave the room. After they slept, the family quickly got back on the road.
Smith attended an integrated school, and Washington had slowly begun desegregation efforts as he was growing up. He remembered his confusion as they drove through northwest Louisiana at night. They made their way through in blackness, with no indication of anything outside of the highway except the water tower with the words ‘Bossier City’ emblazoned on it.
“Cheryl (Smith’s sister) said, ‘Daddy, I have to pee.’ He raised his eyes to the ceiling of the car and said, ‘She comes to the worst place in the world and has to pee,'” Smith recounted.
His father had a history with Bossier City. He served in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) out of Barksdale Air Force Base in 1937. Smith later shared some of his father’s stories of repeated police violence against the Black men in the CCC when they went downtown to Texas St.
Needless to say, Shreveport-Bossier was not a place his father wanted to stop at night.
They pulled into a gas station with men’s and women’s restrooms clearly marked on the side. The station also had a large sign with the word ‘Colored’ written across it and an arrow pointing around the back.
Smith’s father asked him if he knew where to go. He thought he did, but Smith wasn’t used to having segregated bathrooms and walked towards the men’s room before his father stopped him. When his mother and sister reached the back, they discovered they were unwelcome.
“There was the one restroom and some lumber leaning against the door that we would have to move for them to go in there. No light. No nothing,” Smith explained. “Mother said, ‘Can you hold it?'”
His sister nodded, and the family continued south. They had to pull over on the side of the road so his father could get some rest before they continued on to Baton Rouge, where they later had a harrowing encounter with local law enforcement when they lost their way.
Smith said many people don’t remember what it was like to travel without a Green Book during the civil rights era.
The books were directories of beauty salons, restaurants, hotels and other businesses where Black travelers were welcome. Published by postal worker Victor Green, they helped Black people navigate safely.
The 1939 edition was the first to have a breakdown by state and the first to mention sites in northwest Louisiana. Although there were only a few in early publications, later books included a growing number of locations in Shreveport and around the region.
Green Book locations across northwest Louisiana included:
Springhill, La.
- Hotels
- Lloyd’s – 1229 Reynolds St.
- Tourist Homes
- Mrs. A. Webb – 1245 Reynolds St.
- Grant Flatt – 1239 Reynolds St.
Shreveport, La.
- Barber Shops
- Clay’s – 1017 Texas Ave.
- Cabins
- Hollywood – 4240 Hollywood Ave.
- Drug Stores
- People’s – 912 Pierre St.
- New Avenue – 1062 Texas Ave.
- Hotels
- Castle Hotel – 1000 Sprague St.
- Sprague Hotel – 1032-4-8 Sprague St.
- Carrilette’s Dinette & Motel – 1201 Sprague St.
- Hardy’s – 1726 Ford St.
- Jessie Mae’s Hotel – 900 Fannin St.
- The New Airport Motel – 4416 Hollywood Ave.
- Will Steward Hotel – 1249 Oakland St.
- Jackson’s Motel – 2004 Cypress St.
- Liquor Stores
- Dandy – 919 Harwell St.
- Restaurants
- Wilson’s – 840 Williamson St.
- Grand Terrace – Pierre Ave. & Looney St.
- Lighthouse Inn – 2321 Milam St.
- Saphronia’s – 815 Lawrence St.
- King’s Circle Inn Bar-B-Que – 4054 Miles at Broadway
- Road Service
- Hollywood Cities Service Station – 3807 Hollywood Ave.
- Myles’ Auto Parts & Wrecking Company – 2122 Cypress St.
- Service Stations
- Ross’s – 901 Pierre St.
- Pat’s – Milam St. & Lawrence St.
- William’s – Milam St. & Ross-Milam & Pierre Ave.
- Tailor
- 3 Way (tailor) – 2415 Milam St.
- Jones – 1837 Looney St.
- Sprague St. – 1459 Murphy St.
- Taverns
- A-Jack’s – 1836 Perrin St.
- New Tuxedo – 611 E. 70th St.
- Goldie’s – 238 Baker St.
- Tourist Homes
- Wilson’s – 840 Williamson St.
- Mrs. A. Harris – 2848 Milam St.
- Mrs. Ed Turner – 309 Douglas St.
- Mrs. J. Jones – 1950 Hotchkiss (now Milam St.)
- Mrs. W. Elder -1920 Hotchkiss (now Milam St.)
- YMCA
- George Washington Carver Branch – 1050 1/2 Texas Ave.
Mansfield, La.
- Beauty School
- Annie Lou – 615 Jenkins St.
- Tourist Homes
- Mrs. M. Lee – Crosby Subdivision
- Mrs. M. Biles – Crosby Subdivision
- W. Simpkins – Jenkins St.
- S. A. Wilson – N. Jefferson St.
Minden, La.
- Restaurants
- Jones – Corner of Abney & Maiden Ln.
- Minden Grill & Worthy’s Grocery & Market – East Union & Highway #80
The New York Public Library created two tools to show how to navigate using the books. One is a map of locations across the country included in two editions, the other is a tool to help you map a route using information found in the Green Books.
You can take a look at each edition of the Green Book through the NYPL’s digital collection.
