Green Book

Chapter 2 discusses guidebooks as a major part of the tourist process. As the text states guidebooks mediate the relationship between tourist and destination, as well as the relationship between the guest and host.

In the early stages of the 20th century blacks weren’t privy to such information much less experiences. A major fear and risk for African Americans was safety.

As a result a postal worker Victor Green put together a guidebook that showed blacks safe places to visit while traveling throughout the country: “The Negro-Motorist Green Book.” Nsenga Burton of the Roots.com explains to readers the books function and historical relevance. Here’s a tidbit from her article:

Like users of today’s popular recommendation sites such as  href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/" target="_blank">TripAdvisor, travelers collected information during their journeys, which they shared with Green and his team of editors. The data were then incorporated into future editions.

The book seems like a pre-internet version of tripadvisor and many other social media platforms the text covers.