In class last week we briefly mentioned Green Books. Historically, Green Books are published guides of places and stops in which African Americans were safe to stay and rest while they were travelling (Andrews, 2017). In thinking about the content that we have read this semester, I realized that there were some areas into which these books would have been helpful to some characters. One in particular that I think would have benefited most is Not Sidney from Percival Everett’s I am Not Sidney Poitier.
In his decision to leave Atlanta, Not Sidney set out on his own in a car he just bought, a fake license, and no real idea of where he was going. The only indications he had toward his destination were the street signs indicating which direction was West (Everett). Under his circumstances of lack of travel experience, his young age, and no solid travel plan, Not Sidney had a one way ticket to getting lost. As he recalled Ted Turner’s words “Once you leave Atlanta, you’re in Georgia,” implying that it was not necessarily safe, Not Sidney was being pulled over by a cop, and taken into abusive custody. Had Not Sidney had a Green Book, he would have known, or at least had a better idea of where he was going and whether or not he was safe to do so. Even minimal information about the area would have been helpful to him.
The name of the Green Book also got me thinking. From what I have learned from film and art classes, the color green most often represents nature, life, but also safety and more generally “go”. When I hear travelling I always associate it with nature, which corresponds to green. The point of the books were to ensure the wellbeing and overall safety of travelling African Americans. In color coding in traffic especially, green means to go. From that cultural standpoint, to me it would make sense that if I saw something labeled in green it is a good thing. In this case, I think that it is very fitting to have named these books “Green Books” because of connotations of safety and nature that comes with travel.
In visual art, sometimes a color is just a color because of the artists’ preference, but other times they have their own specific suggestion. Here is a site which lists other colors and their meanings. See if you can connect them to something you know!
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html
Works Cited
Andrews, Evan. “The Green Book:The Black Traveler’s Guide to Jim Crow America.” History.com, 6 Feb. 2017, https://www.history.com/news/the-green-book-the-black-travelers-guide-to-jim-crow-america