The Negro Motorist Green Book was an annual guidebook for African-
American travelers in the United States. It was originated and published
by New York City mail carrier Victor H. Green from 1936 to 1966, during
the Jim Crow era, when racial discrimination was widespread. Although
discrimination and poverty limited African-American car ownership, many
middle-class blacks took to driving to avoid segregation on public
transportation. They faced inconveniences such as businesses refusing to
serve them or repair their vehicles and hotels refusing them
accommodation or food. They even faced threats of physical violence and
forcible expulsion from whites-only sundown towns. Green intended the
book "to give the Negro traveler information that will keep him from
running into difficulties". It became the definitive Jim Crow travel
guide for blacks, but was little known outside the African-American
community. Its publication ceased shortly after the passage of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. Interest in it has revived in the early 21st century
in connection with studies of black travel during the Jim Crow era.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Negro_Motorist_Green_Book>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1778:
English explorer James Cook became the first known European to
reach the Sandwich Islands, now known as the Hawaiian Islands
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Islands>
1866:
Wesley College, the largest school in Australia by enrolment,
was established in Melbourne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_College_(Victoria)>
1919:
World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opened in Versailles,
France, to set the peace terms for the Central Powers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Peace_Conference,_1919>
1943:
World War II: As part of Operation Iskra, the Soviet Red Army
broke the Siege of Leningrad, opening a narrow land corridor to the
city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Iskra>
1990:
In a sting operation conducted by the FBI, Mayor of Washington,
D.C., Marion Barry was arrested for possession of crack cocaine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Barry>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
slingshot:
1. To move in a manner resembling a slingshot.
2. (especially) To use the gravity of a moving planet to add momentum to a
spacecraft.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slingshot>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
You simply cannot invent any conspiracy theory so ridiculous and
obviously satirical that some people somewhere don't already believe it.
--Robert Anton Wilson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Anton_Wilson>