Texas View Establishments by Texas Cities
Back during the modern Jim Crow era, African Americans endured discriminatory hazards while traveling around the country. To circumnavigate these unwelcome situations, they used various travel guides to locate where they could purchase gas, get a haircut, buy a meal, sleep for the night, or enjoy some entertainment. These travel guides, such as the Green Book, were published from the early 1930s up to the late 1960s and provided information that would keep the African American traveler "from running into difficulties, embarrassments and to make his trips more enjoyable."
Like other southern states, Texas had a reputation for being behind the times when it came to repealing Jim Crow-era laws and ordinances. Green Book locations were especially critical as they ensured safety for African American travelers. In Texas, over 430 individual Green Book sites were located in 33 communities from Texarkana to El Paso and Amarillo to Corpus Christi. Due to redlining and other segregation practices, African Americans were relegated to specific areas of towns and were not welcome in white establishments. So they created their own ‘towns’ within larger towns by becoming entrepreneurs, opening their own restaurants and barbecue stands, barber shops and beauty salons, YMCAs and YWCAs, service stations and garages, hotels and boarding rooms, pharmacies, tailors and drycleaners, taverns and liquor stores, theaters and night clubs, and colleges.
Lone Star State
