美国国家公共电台 NPR The Green Book: Celebrating 'The Bible of Black Travel'

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

"Green Book" is a new movie that chronicles a prominent black musician and his white driver's tour through the Deep South in 1962. The title comes from a popular and essential guide that told African-American travelers where they could eat and sleep in the Jim Crow era. Karen Grigsby Bates from our Code Switch team reports on an effort to preserve the real "Green Book's" mostly hidden history.

KAREN GRIGSBY BATES, BYLINE¹: We take the nation's highways for granted now, but it wasn't all that long ago that long-distance travel was done on two-lane roads. For black travelers, a lot of those roads went through lonely, hostile territory. So many people relied on a guide called "The Negro Motorist Green Book." Antonio Reliford grew up in New Jersey² and remembers the meticulous³ preparation it took to get from his home in Newark to his relatives in tiny Colquitt, Ga. It was like mapping a military campaign.

ANTONIO RELIFORD: Everything was planned out.

BATES: His family would leave with other family members in a multicar caravan⁴ - safety in numbers - and use "The Green Book" to find safe places to stop on their 18-hour drive south. The book listed black-owned hotels, restaurants, even gas stations with bathrooms for black patrons.

RELIFORD: Usually, it was typically by the side of the road there because, again, there was a problem finding facilities that would allow us and then the ones that would allow us, actually, you had to pay a token to get in.

BATES: Oh, and the gas pumps in many Southern towns - those were segregated⁵, too.

RELIFORD: There were lines where you knew which gas it was. It would actually say colored gas.

BATES: "The Negro Motorist Green Book" was created in 1936 by postal⁶ worker Victor H. Green. Green started in Harlem where he lived and eventually included recommendations for every state in the country. The book highlighted hotels and rooms in private homes - basically the precursor⁷ to Airbnb - restaurants and services that were all black-owned or black-friendly. It was recognized as an important resource by the United States Travel Bureau, part of the U.S. Chamber⁸ of Commerce.

BRENT LEGGS: This was kind of the 20th-century version of the Underground Railroad.

BATES: That's Brent Leggs. He directs the African-American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at the National Trust for Historic Preservation⁹. The fund is working to highlight the importance of "The Green Book" during segregation¹⁰.

LEGGS: This annual travel guide was the bible of black travel.

BATES: Jim Crow wasn't swayed by how famous or how rich you were. You could be an internationally acclaimed¹¹ artist, but if you were black...

LEGGS: You could not have accommodations at a white-owned motel. You couldn't eat in a white-owned restaurant.

BATES: The "Green Book" movie shows what happens when celebrated¹² pianist Don Shirley, played by Mahershala Ali, tries to join his driver, played by Viggo Mortensen, for dinner and is stopped at the door.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GREEN BOOK")

MAHERSHALA ALI: (As Dr. Don Shirley) This gentleman says that I'm not permitted to eat here.

VIGGO MORTENSEN: (As Tony Lip) No, you don't understand. He's playing tonight. He's the main event.

BATES: No matter, no service. Right now, says Brent Leggs, the National Trust is celebrating the role of Route 66 as a beloved national road. And because "The Green Book" had a few motels along the route, there's another purpose.

LEGGS: It's also to uncover this hidden story related to "Green Book" sites from Chicago all the way to LA. And one such place that still stands today is the Dunbar Hotel in Los Angeles.

BATES: In a documentary about the Dunbar's history, Mrs. Bessie Robinson recalls why the elegant hotel was a necessity.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY)

BESSIE ROBINSON: There weren't very many accommodations for blacks at the time in the way of hotels.

BATES: So artists like Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne and Count Basie not only played the Dunbar, they stayed there, too. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the gradual erosion of segregation, most of the businesses in "The Green Book" quietly disappeared. About 3 percent remained physically¹³. Brent Leggs hopes this new movie will increase interest in them.

LEGGS: As a preservationist, it's exciting because we can leverage¹⁴ this movie and its attention to celebrate the actual physical sites related to "The Green Book."

BATES: Celebrate and remember. Karen Grigsby Bates, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

3 meticulous   

adj.极其仔细的，一丝不苟的

参考例句：

• We'll have to handle the matter with meticulous care.这事一点不能含糊。
• She is meticulous in her presentation of facts.她介绍事实十分详细。

4 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

5 segregated   

分开的； 被隔离的

参考例句：

• a culture in which women are segregated from men 妇女受到隔离歧视的文化
• The doctor segregated the child sick with scarlet fever. 大夫把患猩红热的孩子隔离起来。

6 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

7 precursor   

n.先驱者；前辈；前任；预兆；先兆

参考例句：

• Error is often the precursor of what is correct.错误常常是正确的先导。
• He said that the deal should not be seen as a precursor to a merger.他说该笔交易不应该被看作是合并的前兆。

8 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

9 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

10 segregation   

n.隔离，种族隔离

参考例句：

• Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初，许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
• They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

11 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

12 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

13 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

14 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。