Green Book cover, 1957 edition.

The Oscar-winning movie Green Book brushed the dust off a shameful part of America's cultural history that involved racial segregation.

The movie's title came from a guidebook compiled by Victor Hugo Green that let African-American travelers know in what hotels, motels, and other lodgings across the country they were welcomed. 

The guidebook first appeared in 1936. The 1957 edition noted that, "(T)he White traveler has had no difficulty in getting accommodations, but with the Negro it has been different. He, before the advent of a Negro travel guide, had to depend on word of mouth, and many times accommodations were not available."

In December 1945, the National Park Service sent a general bulletin to concessionaires informing them that full desegregation of all national parks had been mandated (Federal Register, December 8, 1945, page 14866). At Shenandoah National Park, this action was delayed for years because the park's concessionaire, Virginia Sky-Line Company, threatened to give up its contract if it couldn't operate on a whites-only basis. Despite this resistance, park facilities were gradually integrated until full integration was achieved by summer 1950.

Thus the Green Book was born, to let African-American travelers know where they were welcomed while traveling the country. In the 1957 edition's pages, the following park lodges were listed as serving this segment of society:

Grand Canyon National Park

* Bright Angel Lodge

* El Toya Hotel (sic, probably referring to the El Tovar.)

Yosemite National Park

* Hotel Ahwahnee

* Camp Curry

* Glasier Point Hotel (sic)

* High Sierra Hotel

* Yosemite Lodge

Mesa Verde National Park

* Spruce Tree Lodge

Glacier National Park

* Glacier Park Hotel

* Porters De Luxe Cabins 

Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Boulder City

* Boulder Dam Hotel

* Lake Mead Lodge

Crater Lake National Park

* Crater Lake Lodge

Zion National Park

* Zion Lodge

Shenandoah National Park

* Camp Lewis Mountain Tourist Home

Mount Rainier National Park (Listed as Ranier National Park)

* Paradise Inn

* Paradise Lodge

Yellowstone National Park

* Grand Canyon (Canyon Hotel)

* Old Faithful Inn

* Mammouth Hot Springs Hotel (sic)

In pointing to the Green Book recently, the staff at Yosmite National Park noted that, "(T)he subsequent passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 officially ended racial segregation in public facilities, rendering the guide obsolete. However, the cumulative impact of that period in American history is still felt today on the roads leading to America’s national parks. Park gates are open and welcoming, but as William Faulkner once wrote, 'the past isn’t dead, it isn’t even past.'

"The memories of those times have been passed down from one generation to the next within the African American community, resulting in a malaise and uneasiness at the thought of travel to remote areas of the United States such as our national parks. Fear is a powerful emotion, and continues to play a role in the relative absence of African Americans from areas like Yosemite."

According to the Yosemite staff, "(I)n 2009, just 1% of Yosemite visitors identified as Black or African American (compared to 6.9% of Californians and 13.4% nationwide)."