Victor Hugo Green

Victor Hugo Green (November 9, 1892 – October 16, 1960) was an American postal employee and travel writer from Harlem, New York City, best known for developing and writing what became known as The Green Book, a travel guide for African Americans in the United States. During the time the book was published, choices of lodging, restaurants and even gas stations were limited for black people in many places, both in the Southern United States and outside this region. The book was first published as The Negro Motorist Green Book and later as The Negro Travelers' Green Book. The books were published from 1936 to 1966. He printed 15,000 copies each year.

In the 1930s, Green began his work by compiling data on stores and motels and gas stations in New York City area that welcomed black travelers, and published his first guide in 1936. He was the eldest of three children of Alice A. (Holmes) and William H. Green. His family moved and he grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey. Starting in 1913 he worked in Bergen County, New Jersey as a postal carrier for the US Postal Service. Green married Alma S. Duke (1889–1978) of Richmond, Virginia. She came to New York as part of the Great Migration from the South to northern cities in the early twentieth century. After their marriage, the couple moved to Harlem, New York, which was attracting blacks from across the country. It developed as a center of black arts and culture in the period of the Harlem Renaissance. They lived in an apartment at 580 St. Nicholas Avenue.

Green was employed by the United States Postal Service as a letter carrier. He was subsequently drafted into the United States Army to serve in World War I, even though he had requested exemption from the draft due to his "employment in the transmission of mail." He served as a member of the Supply Company of the 350th Field Artillery, 92nd Division, rising to the rank of Regimental Supply Sergeant. He sailed for France with his unit on June 30, 1918, from Hoboken, New Jersey on the troop carrier SS President Grant. He returned to the United States from Brest, France on the troop carrier SS Maui on February 16, 1919, landing in Hoboken on the 28th.

Publishing and travel career

The Green Book publications (1936–1966): In 1936, Green published the first iteration of The Negro Motorist Green Book (1936). These editions were a publication series for the intended purpose of helping African American roadtrippers travel across America safely. The guidebook featured thousands of businesses, either black-owned or that catered to African Americans during the Jim Crow era. The Guide also allowed African American travelers to safely venture through discriminatory and segregated areas of the United States by avoiding potential harassment and violence from racist business owners.; thereby, enabling The Negro Motorist Green Book to become a tool for African Americans to subvert white supremacy.

In 1936, Green "thought of doing something about this. He thought of a listing, as comprehensive as possible, of all first-class hotels throughout the United States that catered to Negroes." His first edition had data for facilities only in the New York metropolitan area. In 1952, Green changed the name to The Negro Travelers' Green Book. His travel agency office was located at 200 West 135th Street in Harlem, New York. Alma died in March 1978.

According to the 1956 edition, "several friends and acquaintances complained of the difficulties encountered; oftentimes painful embarrassments suffered which ruined a vacation or business trip."

The Green Book Chronicles (2020), a film by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Becky Wible Searles, have noted that Alma "appears to have actively supported and been involved in this venture from the start, eventually taking over as editor when Victor stepped away from that role."

Green died on October 16, 1960, in Manhattan, New York City at age 67. After his death, publication continued, with his widow Alma serving as editor, until 1966. It premiered in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2011. The Dresser Trunk Project (2007), traveling exhibit about black travel during segregation, organized by William Daryl Williams, director of School of Architecture and Interior Design, University of Cincinnati. Green Book (2018), dir. Peter Farrelly, a biographical drama influenced by African American pianist Don Shirley, and actor Frank Vallelonga, who traveled through the Deep South during 1962. Green Book premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival where it won the Oscar for best picture, best supporting actor and best original screenplay in 2018.