The Economics of Jim Crow – Engaging Students in the African American Green Books through a Lens of Industrialization

In 1936, an African American mailman living in New York City published the first ever Negro Motorist Green Book.  The book was a guide for travelling in the Jim Crow Era. The collection of Green Books are an invaluable primary source for unlocking a deeper understanding of the African American story in US History, as well as the social, political, and economic effects of Jim Crow laws in America. In this workshop, we will examine the Green Books, analyze a  teacher developed lesson plan around this primary source that uses the lens of industrialization and the automobile to unpack a turbulent era in American History.