Milwaukee's Green Book and Galena Street, 1936-1964
The first Green Book was published in 1936 by Victor Hugo Green, a mailman in New York City. He wanted to uplift African American owned businesses and create a network of safe accommodations for Black travelers. Dino Thompson, a native of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, succinctly and powerfully summed up the Green Book’s seminal importance to African American travelers: “...[it] didn’t tell you if a place had a good steak, or good seafood, or had a soft bed...it told you where you would be safe; it told you where you’d be welcome and not made to go around the kitchen and order something to go...The rest [of the guide books out there] are just fluff...To my mind, it’s still the only necessary travel guide that’s ever been printed.” Throughout the life of the Green Book, Victor Hugo Green struggled to convince his fellow African American businessmen of the value of advertising. Green Book assistant editor Novera Dashiell related from her experiences, “He regrets the shortsightedness of most of our businessmen to see the urgent need and value of advertising.” “If Negro owned business is good,” Green said, “it can be better with advertising.” It was published for around 30 years until the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. It helped African Americans know where they would be safe and could get all the necessary logistical support for a trip almost anywhere in the country, and international versions were published as well. Wisconsin was also featured as a page in the Green Book. While I was unable to find any locations in the Green Book that were in the Washington Park neighborhood, there were several that were on the downtown stretch of Galena Street, before the construction of I-43 permanently disconnected the two halves of Galena Street. The early editions started off small, just focusing on New York City. He expanded his reach in later years. In the 1954 Green Book relating to Galena Street: Hotels Hillcrest Hotel, 504 W galena Street Restaurants Eddies Restaurant: 504 Galena Street Taverns Midway Inn: 1000 W. Galena Street Drug Stores Thomas: 440 W. Galena Street- Community: 440 W. Galena Street Grocery Stores Rhodes Grocery: 901 W. Galena Street. The 1955 Green Book seemed to hit the high point of Milwaukee listings. It featured 16 restaurants in Milwaukee that catered to African Americans, 11 barber shops, five rooming houses, one hotel — the Hillcrest on West Galena Street, 21 taverns, one night club, 15 beauty parlors, six drug stores, one liquor store, seven tailors, seven service stations, one taxicab company and seven garages. The following locations are the listings that were on Galena Street: Hotels Hillcrest, 504 W. Galena Street Restaurants Gay Paree, 7th and Galena Street Eddie,504 W. Galena Street Taverns Midway, 1000 W Galena Street High Step, 908 W Galena Street Drug Stores Thomas 440 W Galena Street Community 440 W Galena Street In the 1962 Green Book, the only location left out of all of those at the high point of Milwaukee listings, was the Hillcrest Hotel. Even though it was two years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, this vanishing could have been caused by several reasons. These include structural racism that wasn’t diminished by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 which took early steps to tackle structural racism before 1964, early clearance for the interstate system that would be built in the 60s through the center of the neighborhood, or even just bad fortunes. Whatever the case, the listings in the late 50s of black owned businesses on Galena and nearby Walnut showed a thriving business district in that area that the interstate construction would proceed to totally uproot and whose memory would soon only be found in the few records that still listed them as extant. Finally, the guides creator, Green gave this poignant message in every introduction of the book, “There will be a day sometime in the near future when this guide will not have to be published. That is when we as a race will have equal opportunities and privileges in the United States. It will be a great day for us to suspend this publication for then we can go wherever we please, and without embarrassment.” Unfortunately, Victor Green would pass away in 1960, four years before the momentous changes of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 |
The Green Book CoverSchomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "The Negro Travelers' Green Book: 1955 International Edition" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed August 5, 2021. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/2a146d30-9381-0132-f916-58d385a7b928
An Advert for the Hillcrest Hotel
WIUSN "Milwaukee's Hotel Hillcrest welcomed African Americans during desegregation" February 10th, 2021
Dr. Edgar Thomas of Thomas's Drug Store and his daughterRene’ Settle-Robinson, D.P.M.
Cheryl R. Martin, M.D. Bernestine Jeffer, Sana Montgomery. "The History of the Cream City Medical Society". Milwaukee Times News, February 18th, 2021 |