The National Park Service has officially named the Magnolia House in Greensboro to the National Register of Historic Places. The property, built in 1889, is listed for its significance as a Green Book resource.
“The Negro Motorist Green Book” by postal carrier Victor Hugo Green was first published in 1936. During the Jim Crow era, when “Whites Only” policies made it hard for Black travelers to find safe places to eat and sleep, the “Green Book” provided a trusted guide.
From the mid-50s to 1961, The Historic Magnolia House was listed in six editions and provided refuge for some of the most influential figures of the twentieth century, including Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne and Jackie Robinson. Magnolia House CEO Natalie Miller says it’s significant.
"The history of the Negro traveler, that is a story that runs much deeper than Jim Crow, and it is a story that needs to be celebrated," she says. "And it needs to be elevated, so people understand that history truly."
The National Park Service has also opened a pathway for more than 300 other documented sites in North Carolina to pursue similar recognition.
Miller says Project 327 is underway to create a statewide “Green Book” Trail Marker Program and motivate other states to do the same.