Activism

“Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance” by Alvin Hall

In 2015, while doing research for a podcast, Alvin Hall discovered something that intrigued and surprised him: one of his sources mentioned The Negro Motorist Green Book. Granted, when he was small, his family didn’t travel much from their home on Florida’s panhandle but still — how did Hall not know about that book?

Published

2 years ago

February 15, 2023

Oakland Post

Alvin Hall (Photo: Jim Franco)

c.2022, HarperOne, $29.99, 288 pages

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

The gas tank is full of fuel.

The tires are new, you checked the oil twice, the speedometer’s calibrated, your headlights are intact, all good. The vehicle’s not flashy, so there’s absolutely no reason to attract attention. And yet, as in “Driving the Green Book” by Alvin Hall and as your ancestors did, you sweat that all-day road trip.

In 2015, while doing research for a podcast, Alvin Hall discovered something that intrigued and surprised him: one of his sources mentioned The Negro Motorist Green Book. Granted, when he was small, his family didn’t travel much from their home on Florida’s panhandle but still — how did Hall not know about that book? Surely, his aunts had one, right? How did the Green Book escape notice by his and other generations, when it was such an essential part of Black America for decades?

Needing to know and needing to understand what it was like to “drive the Green Book,” Hall and two younger colleagues took a road trip after the podcast was done. They started in Detroit and traveled through small towns and cities, Cleveland and Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, Memphis, Birmingham and Montgomery, Mobile, Jackson, ending in New Orleans, which was the approximate route a northern-living, Jim-Crow-escaping Great Migration worker might have taken on an annual trek to visit kin back home in the South.

That route, as Hall points out, could’ve been uncomfortable, at best, or dangerous, at worst.

Not all gas stations, restaurants, or hotels welcomed Blacks; some places actively chased them off with threats or more. The Green Book, “small and thin” and meant to be tucked inside the glove box, changed all that with a guide to help the Black traveler find safe accommodations, fuel, and places to avoid.

With the latter in mind, Hall and his fellow travelers took to the road, and while they drove, they separately wondered if they’d be stopped by a policeman.

An adult man and two younger women — they could handle a stop like that today, right?

So, what was DWB like in 1945?

Also relevant: how far have we come? That question, a ton of relevance, and a small whiff of threat accompany every mile that author Alvin Hall writes about, and in “Driving the Green Book,” we’re taken along for that ride.

Maybe you’ve seen the movie or read about the Green Book elsewhere, but those things pale in comparison to the stories Hall tells. These are tales of making do in embarrassing ways to avoid jail, of sleeping on concrete, of driving as an act of defiance, and of being warned to leave town or else. These authentic tales, told by experts and those who “lived” the Green Book, are like punches to the gut, but they aren’t surprising. They’re shocking but not unexpected. “We’re still living it,” says Hall, and that’s just plain sobering.

Readers who love to travel will want to tuck this in their carry-on or console. If there’s a bit of quiet activism inside you, “Driving the Green Book” will fuel it.

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of May 14 – 20, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 14 – 20, 2025

Published

1 day ago

May 16, 2025

Oakland Post

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Activism

The Best Advice for Raising Children: Discipline That Makes Sense

In his book Developing Positive Self Images and Discipline in Black Children, Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu suggests that primary aims for socializing Black children should be: establishing goals related to God and the church; familiarizing children with religious texts like the Bible or Quran; educating them of Black culture like Khemetic (Egyptian) Civilization; enlightening them about Black leaders like Malcolm X and Sojourner Truth; and teaching them to strive to be employers, not employees.

Published

4 days ago

May 13, 2025

Oakland Post

Headshot of Dr. William A. Thomas. Photo courtesy of Dr. William A. Thomas.

By William A. Thomas, Ph.D.

In many African societies, the primary aim of socialization is to raise children to be socially responsible and eventually provide economic support to their parents and extended families. Ghanaian philosopher Kwame Gyekye taught that children are raised to be respectful of the wishes of their parents and extended adult family members.

In his book Developing Positive Self Images and Discipline in Black Children, Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu suggests that primary aims for socializing Black children should be: establishing goals related to God and the church; familiarizing children with religious texts like the Bible or Quran; educating them of Black culture like Khemetic (Egyptian) Civilization; enlightening them about Black leaders like Malcolm X and Sojourner Truth; and teaching them to strive to be employers, not employees.

Effective disciplinary strategies appropriate to a child’s age and development teach them to regulate their behavior; keep them from harm; enhance their cognitive, social, and emotional executive functioning skills; and reinforce the behavioral patterns taught by their parents and caregivers.

Below are some specific guidelines for disciplining children.

Listen to what children are talking about with interest and show them you understand their feelings. Remember, children mirror and learn about their emotional selves by hearing their feelings reflected back to them. Staying on target also means avoiding labels. When children fail to do what is expected, discussing it is helpful rather than saying how stubborn, lazy, dumb, or bad they are. By the same token, more positive labels can be helpful.

Dependability is another essential component of the discipline process. When parents are dependable, their children learn what to expect and are helped to feel secure. When parents are consistent, children learn to trust, that is, predict their parents’ behaviors with certainty. A child thinks, “When I spill something, I will always be asked to wipe it up.” A child thinks, “If I use foul language, I will always be corrected.” A child thinks, “If I take something that doesn’t belong to me, I will always have to give it back.” The ability to predict with certainty leads children to rely on their parents and the village/community in which they live. Children feel safe when they know what to expect.

Conclusions

It takes a village/community to raise the divine gift that is the Black child. Parents look to therapists for guidance concerning a variety of parenting issues, including discipline. Keep in mind that evidence suggests that corporal punishment is both ineffective in the long term and associated with cognitive and mental health disorders. When parents want guidance about the use of spanking, a child therapist can explore parental feelings, help them better define the goals of discipline, and offer specific behavior management strategies. In addition to providing appropriate education to families, the Bay Area Association of Black Psychologists (Bay ABPsi) can refer them to community resources, like parenting groups and classes.

About the Author

Dr. Thomas is a licensed clinical psychologist with a private practice in the SF/Oakland Bay Area and Beaumont. He is a member of Bay ABPsi, a healing resource committed to providing the Post Newspaper readership with monthly discussions about critical issues in Black Mental Health. Readers are welcome to join us at our monthly chapter meetings every 3^rd Saturday via Zoom and contact us at bayareaabpsi@gmail.com.