2 Out 3 People Got The "Jeopardy" Answer "What Is The Green Book" Wrong And Surprise-Surprise, America Has A Lot Of Work To Do
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I have a feeling everyone wasn't shouting the correct answer to this "Final Jeopardy" question.
ABC / Via media.giphy.com
In a recent episode of Jeopardy, three contestants were presented with the statement, "The 1948 edition of this publication said, 'There will be a day...in the near future when this guide will not have to be published.'"
And...
Wrong!
it looked like...
definitely wrong!
Only one person asked the right question.
Ding-ding! Correct!
This is the face you make when you know for a fact you're invited to the cookout.
But Jeopardy barely touched on "what the Green Book is." So, here's a hint:
It's more than just a 2018 "white savior complex" movie starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen.
Universal Pictures / Via media.giphy.com
The Negro Motorist Green Book or The Negro Travelers' Green Book was a travel guide published during the segregation era in the United States that identified safe businesses like restaurants, hotels, gas stations, etc., for Black travelers to visit.
Safe from what, you ask? During the segregation era, businesses turned away Black travelers and refused to serve them. They were often met with threats and extreme violence that could result in lynching. There were even many towns that Black people weren't allowed to enter after nightfall called "sundown towns." These towns existed not just in the South but in the entire United States.
According to some folks on Twitter, it wasn't just two-thirds of the Jeopardy contestants who had no clue what the Green Book was.
I just learned something on Jeopardy about 20th century history, I never knew. Without looking it up, do you know what the Green Book is?
@gscucci I saw a PBS documentary on the Green Book for black people travelling in the 50’s, 60’s around the US. It was something I never realized about our shameful history in this country.
@unapologetwmn Things I didn't learn about in school: the green book or Tulsa and what really happened in the south after the civil war. Details on how Native Americans were really treated. Hawaii's history. So many things glossed over and we're worse off for it.
It's not their fault the real history of The Green Book isn't widely known. This isn't the first time Black history was glossed over in our education system. Thanks to Black media, people finally learned what "sundown towns" were from HBO's Lovecraft Country and the "1921 Tulsa Race Massacre" from Watchmen.
In talking about Green Book, something else that needs to be discussed, and won’t be learned about in schools, is the history of “Sundown Towns.”
@gscucci Did you know what the Green Book was before the movie would be a better question. I’ll admit it. I didn’t know about the Green Book before the movie. I wasn’t aware of Black Wall Street massacres in Oklahoma before Watchmen either.
@HG_NYC @WykesCarol @gscucci My grandfathers store was in the Green Book I remember as a kid a black women poking her head in the door and asking my grandmother if this was the “right store”It wasn’t until I was in my 20’s that I found out I grew up in a “sundown” town
And of course, Black Twitter was shocked to find out that the American history of The Green Book wasn't common knowledge.
So you mean to tell me yt people are just finding out about the green book? This is why an expansion of black history is needed in history books because how are y’all this behind?
that so many white people are replying to this tweet saying they didn’t know about the Green Book reminds me of a three years ago when many white people finally learned about the Tulsa Race Riot because of an episode of Watchmenthis is a huge problem https://t.co/zsw6wb6gJK
@gscucci Whenever white people whine about any “advantages” people of color have at times they should be reminded that white people never had to have a Green Book to move safely about the US.
@gscucci Yes. The Green Book lists places where Blacks could seek safety, food, hotels, and gas while traveling. America was and still is such a racist nation, one is needed still today. Especially in "The Bible Belt."
@jennie0501 @unapologetwmn Oh, it’s still necessary…there are still places in the US that are not safe for Black people to exist. Black Twitter is our modern Green Book.
@gscucci If you were Black & travelled in the 40's-60's you were well aware of the Green Book.The perils of traveling to & from the South made the guide a godsend.The entire notion you couldn't just stop at any gas station or restaurant was always on the minds of Blk Folks- even today
In the words of Beyoncé's latest album, Renaissance, "America. America has a problem." We need to make sure we're teaching ALL of American history, Black or white, good or bad. It's never too late to learn our history.
My former students learned about the Green Book through this book I highly recommend.
What parts of American history did you only learn when you were older or that were glossed over when you were in school?
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