Sponsored by KNKX. WHEN THE FIRST GREEN BOOK WAS PUBLISHED in 1936, the American road was a metaphor for freedom. Freedom to change your present situation, freedom to determine your destiny, freedom to travel. Yet, in 20th century America, this same road was a dangerous place for Black citizens. The land was divided by segregation—through policy or through custom. If you were Black, the prejudice was severe: a systematic effort to deny access to your basic human rights. Imagine the indignity of government-backed and socially-normalized oppression. Imagine the pain, the violence, the disrespect. And yet and still, African Americans created destinations and strategies that affirmed their humanity, their worth, their light, and took to the roads. It was done with ingenuity, with community, and with the help of a Harlem postman named Victor Green.