MY OWN PRIVATE GREEN BOOK

The Smithsonian and Mosaic Templars Cultural Center Green Book exhibit gave me a platform for a story I needed to tell, but it was so much more. I was moved by the history here, and how could I not feel like part of a greater legacy? Black Southerners fought for the American dream on every single front, including the open road, and now here I am, momentary fears aside, living a reality that some never could have imagined. I am the manifestation of that fight. I attended good schools, because of them. I travel freely, because of them. I am everything I am because of those who came before me and I am grateful, I am blessed, I am absolutely humbled to make my way in this world in ways they were never afforded.

There were many more artifacts and found objects on the second level of the exhibit, and because most of them couldn’t be photographed due to the low light and glare, I took it as a sign to just absorb their energy and presence instead.

The second level also housed a 10-minute long interactive exhibit. I’m so used to museums’ half-truths that this interactive video at the Green Book exhibit felt too real not to be shared. It’s a little shocking in its honesty frankly, and again I felt humbled to be in a position to virtually experience even a fraction of what my ancestors endured while I was here on a road trip of my own. I intentionally made all of the “bad” choices in the interaction to demonstrate the consequences, humiliations and hardships they faced, but on the other side, there were joyous events like church cookouts and bustling Black businesses. This exhibit was wonderfully created and another experience along the way that felt more than coincidental. I didn’t even know there was a Green Book exhibit at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center until I arrived. I’m glad that I was put on a path to find it, along with the truth and impact it held for me.

Find time to see this beautiful exhibit live at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center until August 1, around the country as it travels, or in part, online here: negromotoristgreenbook.si.edu/