Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Exploring The Green Book History Coming to Holocaust Museum Houston
The Negro Motorist Green Book, a new exhibition developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) in collaboration with award-winning author, photographer, and cultural documentarian, Candacy Taylor, will be on display in Holocaust Museum Houston’s Josef and Edith Mincberg Gallery on Sept. 1 through Nov. 26, 2023.
The Green Book provided critical, life-saving information on restaurants, gas stations, department stores and other businesses that welcomed African American travelers during an era of segregation and Jim Crow laws. The annual guide, created in 1936 by Harlem postman Victor Green, was published until 1967.
The exhibition, made possible through the support of ExxonMobil, will offer an immersive look at the reality of safe travel for African Americans during the mid-century, including artifacts like business signs and postcards to historic footage, images, and firsthand accounts to convey the apprehension felt by Black travelers. The exhibit will also illustrate the resilience, innovation, and elegance of families striving to live a full life in America and bring focus to a vibrant parallel world of African-American businesses, the rise of Black leisure class, and the important role The Green Book played in facilitating the second wave of the Great Migration.
Through research by the Texas Historical Commission, 115 former black travel sites have been identified in Houston, with 13 sites “still standing” and eight of those noted in The Green Book. One of the most iconic sites on the list is the historic Eldorado Ballroom at Project Row Houses in the Third Ward, recently reopened after a $9.7 million renovation.ExxonMobil’s predecessor Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, played a significant role in the distribution of The Green Book through its U.S. network of Esso stations, helping to provide motorists opportunities for safer and more comfortable travel. Esso stations were the only major retail distributors of The Green Book. Esso also employed many African-American engineers, scientists, and marketing executives, and welcomed Black motorists at its stations.
ExxonMobil will host Free Family Sundays on the first and third Sundays during the duration of the exhibit. For more information, visit hmh.org/GreenBook.
About SITES:
About SITES:SITES has been sharing the wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people outside Washington, D.C., for more than 65 years. SITES connects Americans to their shared cultural heritage through a wide range of exhibitions about art, science, and history, which are shown wherever people live, work, and play. For exhibition descriptions and tour schedules, visit sites.si.edu.
About Holocaust Museum Houston, Lester and Sue Smith Campus:
Holocaust Museum Houston, Lester and Sue Smith Campus, is fully bilingual in English and Spanish. Located at 5401 Caroline Street, HMH is closed Mondays except Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. The Museum’s Legacy Café is open during Museum hours. Admission is $22 for adults; $16 for seniors (ages 65+) and AARP members; free for active duty service members and their families through Labor Day; always free for children and students through age 18; and free to all visitors Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Parking is available at the Museum’s adjacent lot for $8 for a four-hour period. Tickets are available exclusively online. For more information, visit hmh.org/visit.