News From Along Route 66, August 2016: When Route 66 Was Segregated

These are from the Route 66 News site.  You can find more information and entries there.  I just write about ones that are of particular interest to me.

AUGUST 19--  Candacy Taylor has researched into the Negro Motorist Green Book, 1936-1966, and has tracked down surviving places of business and produced a video.

She found that Esso gas stations welcomed black travelers and hired blacks.  They also distributed the book.  Also, Harvey House Restaurants in the American southwest welcomed blacks.

She found a 1955 newspaper article that said that just 6 of 100 motels in Albuquerque allowed blacks to stay with them.  She even came across a whites only Coca-Cola machine.

Of 350 black businesses along Route 66 (the Green Book also covered other roads and towns), less than half are still there.

In 1950, six of the eight Route 66 states had some form of segregation.  In Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma, racial segregartion was required by law.

Definitely An Aspect About Route 66 That Most Of Us Know Little About.  I Am Glad to See That It Is Finally Getting Written About After All These Years.  --RoadDog