The Negro Motorist Green Book is a topic that has generated a great deal of meaningful discussion on the TPS Teachers Network in the Civil Rights group. This publication by Victor Green provided guidance for African American travelers to find safe locations to sleep, eat, shop and purchase gas while on the road. The first edition appeared in 1936.

A recent story, however, on "The Green Book and the Black-Jewish Relationship during Segregation" would be of interest to the American Jewish Experience group. This NPR piece with audio link (posted 02-17-2017) is about a recent play titled "The Green Book." The play, which has opened in Birmingham, Alabama, highlights the relationship between the Black and Jewish communities during segregation.

Playwright Calvin Ramsey focuses on Jacob, a Holocaust survivor and Keith, a black traveling salesman who sells the Green Book. Both are guests at the home of a black family in Missouri. The play is set during the days of Jim Crow when travel wasn’t safe for people of color or religious minorities.

Jacob tells Keith how he befriended a black soldier in WWII who helped him escape death in a concentration camp. This friendship led Jacob to the Green Book, which he uses on his trip. Playwright Calvin Ramsey is often asked why the protagonist in his play is Jewish and not black like him. He says he wanted to highlight the history these two communities share.

A preview of the play is available here along with an interview with Calvin Ramsey.