Atlanta’s history is full of treasures that are still with us in one form or another. One of the more astonishing relics from the Jim Crow era is The Negro Travelers’ Green Book: The Guide to Travel and Vacations.
The Green Book was an important part of American-American safety during a period of oppression, racism and discrimination.
The book was first published in 1954 by New York City’s Victor Hugo Green, an African-American who was a mailman and travel writer based in Harlem.
In this article we’re going to look at the most famous Atlanta locations mentioned in The Green Book.
Here Are All The Green Book Locations In Atlanta
Atlanta played a pivotal role in Green Book locations for hotels, restaurants, beauty salons and barber shops.
This list is not an exhaustive one showing all of the Atlanta locations. For that, we recommend you buy the literal Green Book to benefit its publisher. Here it is below:
Not unsurprisingly, many of these sites were located in the Sweet Auburn district. This area was a black section of the city just east of downtown that thrived amid Jim Crow.
Hotel Royal
‘Mack Hotel’
548 Bedford Place, Atlanta, Ga. 30312
‘Shaw Hotel’
Butler Street YMCA
Waluhaje Hotel Apartments
The name Waluhaje originated came from combining the first two letters of the names of Aikens (Walter), his wife (Lucy), and two of her siblings (Hazel and Jefferson), according to AtlantaTimeMachine.com.
Suttons restaurant
Paschals Bros restaurant
180 Northside Dr SW #B, Atlanta, GA 3031
In 1959, Paschal’s Restaurant & Coffee Shop opened at 830 Hunter Street. The new facilities were financed with a $75,000 loan from Citizens Trust Bank in conjunction with Atlanta Life Insurance Company. This was one of the largest loans made by the bank at that time, according to the restaurant’s website.
‘The Blackeret’
The Blackeret was a tavern located on Mayson Turner Road not far from black Atlanta’s educational center of colleges and universities.
Poro Beauty Parlor
250 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta, Ga. 30303
The Poro Beauty Parlor sprang up at 250 Auburn Avenue when Ella Martin moved o Atlanta in 1930.
Martin was a representative of the Poro Beauty College founded by black cosmetics pioneer Annie Malone out of St. Louis, according to the book “Historical Roots of the Urban Crisis: Blacks in the Industrial City 1900-1950.”
None other than Madame C.J. Walker began her career in beauty products as a selling agent for Malone’s Poro business. Walker would go on to build her own hair care empire within the African-American community and the world.
Walker’s impact on the U.S. hair care industry is undebatable. Right off Auburn Avenue, the Madam CJ Walker Museum sits at 54 Hilliard St NE, Atlanta, GA 30312.
Atlanta Daily World
145 Auburn Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30303
The Atlanta Daily World, the city’s oldest black newspaper, has a long and rich history of documenting the plight of African-Americans and the world around them. This was also a place of unrequited truth for blacks traveling through town looking for some news.
The newspaper was founded August 5, 1928 by William Alexander Scott II, a 26-year-old wonderkid with keen business sense.
Headquartered on Auburn Avenue, Scott would go on to circulate The Chattanooga Tribune, The Memphis World, and The Chattanooga Tribune, establishing the first chain of African American newspapers.
Final Thought
Auburn Avenue has been overshadowed lately by other streets with headline-grabbing development, but it holds a special place in the hearts of native Atlantans.
If you have a chance to visit, patronize one of the businesses on Auburn Avenue. Stop in and take a look at The Apex Museum or other historical places there.
And don’t forget to read the book below.
In the 1950s, Auburn Avenue was once known as “the richest Negro street in the world.” The moniker “Sweet Auburn” was purportedly coined by John Wesley Dobbs, the grandfather of the city’s first black mayor Maynard Jackson.
The rest, as they say, is history.