A new exhibit is rolling into D.C.'s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, about the travel guidebook that Black families used to literally navigate a dangerous time: Segregation.
The "Negro Motorist Green Book" was a catalog of businesses that welcomed African Americans in need of a place to stop while traveling between the 1930s and 1960s. It was key to survival for Black families -- and as the new exhibit explores, it has interesting connections to the District.
"It's important for us to always remember our history," said Tanzi West Barbour, director of marketing and communications for the DC Public Library system. "It really was a publication that allowed Black people and families to survive while traveling."
The new exhibit at the MLK Library, put together by the Smithsonian, is interactive. Visitors will be put in the driver's seat as a Black family traveling from Chicago to the South.
"It teaches you and gives you the experience, firsthand experience, of how you can use the Green Book to make sure you and your family stay safe," Barbour said.
And the book has a D.C. connection: Library staff uncovered many never-before-seen photos for the exhibit.
"A lot of people don't know that D.C. actually had 150 locations in the Green Book. D.C. was actually a segregated city," Barbour said.
The exhibit doesn't officially open until Saturday, but it's already attracting librarygoers.
"The photography," Ahnna Smith, a library visitor, said of what drew her in. "I mean, incredible and powerful. The scale of it, just attracts you in and makes you want to learn more."
Opening weekend will be packed with activities, including a recreation of a D.C. diner listed in the book, a sock hop, and a classic car show.
Smith plans to come back with her daughter.
"Some of these photos are even from here in D.C., and she's very familiar with where she's from," Smith said. "It'll be exciting to be able to make that connection for her."
The exhibit opens at noon on Nov. 2, and will stay open at the MLK Library until March 2.
