Clean Getaway

The Green Book is a guidebook first published in 1936 by Victor H. Green. G’ma explains it as “[s]omethin’ that helped keep a lotta folks like your G’pop—and me, for that matter—alive back in the day” (28). It listed places where African Americans could safely stop to sleep, eat, and get gas as they traveled across the country between 1936 and 1966 by country, state, and city, and it was updated annually.

For G’ma and Scoob, it is a symbol of the dangers that G’pop and G’ma experienced when they set out from Atlanta to Mexico in the late 1960s. There were so many places that were unsafe for G’pop because he was Black that he and G’ma wanted to see but couldn’t visit. When G’ma brings Scoob along on this last journey, she finally sees some of those places because the country has changed. However, she is also conscious of the fact that racism still exists, and that people might look at her—a white woman—funny for traveling with her Black grandson.

Ultimately, it is a guide for Scoob to see how history intersects with the present, allowing him to compare the racism throughout history towards Black people with his experiences. It also helps him to really understand that “his grandfather had needed a book that listed ‘safe’ places to do something as simple as get gas back in the day,” all because of the color of his skin (32).