Afro American Travel Map. Negro Hotels and Guest Houses
- Title:
- Afro American Travel Map. Negro Hotels and Guest Houses
- Alternate Title:
- Afro American Travel Map
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Afro-American Newspapers
- Date:
- 1942
- Date 2:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2305.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2305_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1940 - 1959
- Subject:
- Advertising & Promotion
Slavery/Race - Measurement:
- 35 x 24 on sheet 43 x 43 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- During the early years of the 20th century, and particularly during World War I and the boom years of the 1920s, there was a massive “Great Migration” of African Americans from the rural South. Eager to move away from racial violence and overt discrimination, and in search of better jobs, some 1.8 million African Americans had migrated to the North by 1940, mostly to the larger industrial cities. Gregory 2009, 20-21.
Many of these “migrants” had family and friends in the South and could afford to return for vacations and visits. But they faced major obstacles as American travelers. Before the civil rights acts of the 1960s, Jim Crow laws in the South prohibited African-Americans from using the same public facilities as whites, including all of the facilities associated with travel: railroad cars and buses, passenger waiting rooms, hotels and restaurants. Even in some Northern areas, and in the Border States where there were fewer statutes mandating discrimination, travel was a painful and difficult experience for blacks. See Myrdal 1944, 628-36; Sugrue 2017.
But “the coming of the cheap automobile,” as well as rapidly expanding wartime employment regardless of race, led to “a partial emancipation from Jim Crowism” for many African-Americans. Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (1944) 1368 n.50.
While access to a car allowed black families to avoid much of the worst discrimination in travel, lodging and food were still a major issue. To meet these needs, several publishers offered guide books. Perhaps the most elaborate of these was the annual Negro Motorist Green-Book; the 1941 edition was 48 pages and covered “Hotels, Taverns, Garages, Night-Clubs, Restaurants, Service Stations, Automotive, Tourist Homes, Road Houses, Barber Shops, Beauty Parlors.”
During the war, from 1942-46, the Green Book was not published due to a shortage of paper. This 1942 brochure, from the Afro-American Newspapers of Baltimore, was a convenient and less expensive (apparently free) alternative. On one side is the “Afro-American Travel Map” of the states east of the Mississippi. Almost no roads are shown, but many towns are located (including some vanishingly small ones: Bitely, Michigan; Brewton, Alabama; Welch, West Virginia). There are illustrations of several cities, steamboats on the Mississippi and the steel mills of Birmingham. Most significantly, two columns at the sides of the map provide the names and addresses of more than 300 “Negro Hotels and Guest Houses” in 29 states.
On the verso is further lodging information: the addresses of YMCAs in more than 60 cities and YWCAs in more than 70. In addition, there are numerous paid advertisements for hotels, restaurants, bars and nightclubs. A large ad for the newspaper’s affiliated travel bureau urges “Vacations for Victory,” arguing that “You can do your job better after recreation. . . . Every American faces tasks ahead that will call for greater effort. The better prepared we are with good health and fresh minds the better work we will be able to do. So this year it is wise to take a holiday.”
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- Afro-American Newspapers. 1942. Travel Guide of Negro Hotels and Guest Houses.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.