PROSPERITY, DEPRESSION, REFORM 199The success of the Lincoln Highway, Route 66,
and other roads in the interwar era increased the
pressure for a more consistent and coordinated
national highway system. In 1938 President
Roosevelt asked the Bureau of Public Roads to
report on a possible network of north–south and
east–west transcontinental highways. The result
was a comprehensive study of road use, which laid
the foundation for the Federal-Aid Highway Act of
1956 (page 228).
“The Great American Roadside” map on the
previous page—and the “Afro American Travel Map”
here—show the country before those interstate
highways. The first was part of a Fortune magazine
study of auto tourism, and presents the country and
the economy in terms of highways and destinations,
travel and leisure. In this regard, the map also
unwittingly highlights a particular view of American
history. From Valley Forge and Mount Vernon in
the east to Buffalo Bill’s grave out west, the map
marks spots that would become fixtures of domestic
tourism. Indians—when they appear at all—are little
more than curiosities to be photographed (as noted
in northern Minnesota).
As the map describes, the most popular
destinations were the picturesque landscapes in
California, Florida, the Rockies, New England, the
Great Lakes, and the national parks. Civic tourism
ranked high as well: Gettysburg and Valley Forge
had become national shrines, while the construction
of Mount Rushmore was well underway. All of these
spots beckoned Americans to take to the road and
“See America First.”
Yet the ideal of the open road and the promise
of the automobile was severely limited for African
Americans in the era of Jim Crow. Though auto travel
liberated American blacks from the degradation
of segregated rail cars, it also exposed them to
the risk of being refused service at filling stations,
barred from restrooms, and excluded from hotels
and restaurants. Such possibilities forced African
Americans to plan differently for road trips, packing
food, gasoline, and even portable toilets in order to
make it safely to their destination.
While segregation throughout the Southern states
was written into the law, African Americans had
come to expect exclusion everywhere. Throughout
the country, the proliferation of “sundown towns”—
where blacks were unwelcome after dark—indicated
the extent of racial hostility. In response to this
pervasive discrimination, segregation, and physical
“Afro American Travel Map,” 1942 danger, blacks began to publish guides and maps
of their own. Families on holiday, salesmen traveling
for work, and even entertainers on tour relied on
these for safety.
This map was part of a “Travel Guide of Negro
Hotels and Guest Houses,” which listed places where
weary motorists would not be refused service because
of their race. The map and the guide were issued by
the Afro Travel Bureau, which was a division of the
Afro-American newspaper chain founded in 1892. The
map marks national landmarks such as the Smoky
Mountains and Natural Bridge, but it also identifies
spots of special interest to the black community,
such as the Tuskegee Institute and Fisk University.
Subsequent pages list accommodations that did not
discriminate, and even included private homes in
towns where blacks might otherwise be unwelcome.
Similar guides, such as The Negro Motorist Green
Book, carried far more extensive listings, including
hotels as well as barber shops, beauty parlors, night
clubs, restaurants, and service stations. The guide
advertises, quite seriously, “Carry your Green Book
with you—you may need it!” As the 1962 map on
page 230 illustrates, blacks faced extreme hostility as
they challenged Southern segregation. Once the 1964
Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination in public
accommodations—and the rise of interstates and
chain hotels gave black travelers new options—the
guides ceased publication. But they remain poignant
reminders that black drivers faced circumstances
and dangers that were scarcely visible to most whites,
regardless of class.
The very existence of such guides demonstrates
that the freedom of the open road was circumscribed
by race. Though mid-century prosperity extended to
blacks as well as whites, segregation governed all
areas of life, even travel and leisure. Whites could
assume that they would be served without incident,
while blacks were forced to travel with care and more
than a little anxiety. Like these guides, the rise of
black resorts at mid-century was another response
to this discrimination, an attempt to create spaces
where African Americans could enjoy themselves
without risk of humiliation, or worse. In 1925, for
instance, two African American businessmen founded
Lincoln Hills, a resort in the foothills west of Denver
where blacks could purchase cottages or rent rooms
in the spacious clubhouse. While the resort struggled
in the Great Depression, thereafter it drew middle-
class families from around the country who were
eager to enjoy the splendor of the Rocky Mountains
with their children at a time when they were barred
from owning property in neighboring counties.