Traveling While Black: Bus Trip to The Negro Motorist Green Book exhibition

2400 South Massachusetts Street,Seattle WA 98144

09 April, 2022

Description

A day trip to the Washington State History Museum for a talk & tour of the Smithsonian’s exhibition The Negro Motorist Green Book! Hop aboard with the Black Heritage Society of Washington State for a road trip adventure to the Washington State History Museum for the Smithsonian’s exhibition The Negro Motorist Green Book. Ride round trip from Seattle to Tacoma with YouTubers Anthony & Marlie Love of Traveling While Black in Seattle. The King County Metro Transit Black Lives Matter bus takes you to the museum in Tacoma, where you’ll hear from the museum’s lead curator, Gwen Whiting, about Washington State’s Green Book sites while you enjoy a boxed lunch, followed by a self-guided tour of the exhibition. Travelers will be entered into a drawing to win one of five Seattle Green Book Tour tote bags filled with swag and a copy of Candacy Taylor’s book Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America. Face masks are required; all travelers will receive a complimentary Black Heritage Society of Washington State face mask. The Washington State History Museum in Tacoma presents the multimedia exhibition The Negro Motorist Green Book on view from March 19 through June 12, 2022. The exhibition was developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) in collaboration with Candacy Taylor, leading Green Book scholar and award-winning author of Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America. The Negro Motorist Green Book is an exhibition about African American actualization, innovation, and entrepreneurship. It is an uplifting story of communities and individuals taking to the open road and exploring with dignity and style. It’s a story of growth in Black-owned businesses, of the rising middle class, of families making cherished road trip memories, of migration, and of communities rising above during the era of Jim Crow and sundown towns. All of this was accomplished with the help and inspiration of Harlem postman Victor Hugo Green and his wife Alma Duke Green, whose annual guide became an indispensable resource for Black travelers in mid-century America. Details about the exhibition, public programs, and additional learning opportunities are available at www.WashingtonHistory.org/the-green-book. The Negro Motorist Green Book was created by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with Candacy Taylor and made possible through the generous support of Exxon Mobil Corporation. ExxonMobil’s predecessor, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, distributed “The Green Book” through its U.S. network of Esso stations, helping to provide motorists and their families opportunities for safer and more comfortable travel. This exhibition has been locally supported by ArtsFund, Humanities Washington, and KNKX Public Radio. Public programming for the exhibition is supported by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Image credit: Four young African American women standing beside a convertible automobile, ca. 1958. Courtesy WANN Radio Station Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.