Despite efforts to limit our history to just textbooks in classrooms and stories they told us about ourselves, we have a vast history that cannot be ignored. The importance of uncovering our history and learning more about our heroes is what led author and playwright Calvin Ramsey to launch his new project. With his newest project, The Green Chronicles, Ramsey seeks to tell the story of Victor Green. The New York City veteran mailman created a travel guide for black people.
For 30 years, Green distributed this guide which included gas stations, barbershops, restaurants and safe places to stay. The goal of the guide was to help black motorists travel safely while dealing with the segregation and dangers that came along with being black. “Discrimination was so real that not only did they [black travelers] pack their own food; but also their own gas. You never knew when traveling while black what was going to happen to you and if you had kids with you it just added to the anxiety,” said Ramsey.
Ramsey learned about the Green Book after his grandfather was slated to travel south for a funeral. Ramsey’s grandfather, who had never traveled outside of New York, asked him to find the Green Book. That request sparked the need to do further research, and Ramsey uncovered the story of a hero that deserved to be told. “I spoke to college educated people, librarians, and not one time did these people mention the Green Book or talk about how hard it was for us on the road. I think a part of this lost history was due to the pain and embarrassment that black parents didn’t want to pass down to their children,” said Ramsey.
Victor Green’s story shows the world what we already know, there is more to our story than any textbook can confine us to.
