Ruth and the Green Book

1. The teacher will discuss how people of different races have been mistreated by others. At various times in U.S. history, African Americans were denied opportunities available to whites. These exclusions extended to education and access to services such as restaurants and hotels. The teacher may also discuss how the lack of opportunities in the American South contributed to the Great Migration, the movement of thousands of African Americans from the South to northern cities. The book used in this lesson mentions that the father of this Chicago-based family grew up in Alabama; he himself may have been part of the Great Migration

2. The teacher reads aloud the picture book Ruth and the Green Book or students may read it individually. 

•  If reading aloud or after students read book the teacher should take time to show the illustrations to the students and allow them to comment on what they see. For example, the students may be asked about the characters’ facial expressions. When are they happy? Do they ever appear sad? Scared? 

3. During the reading, the teacher should pause and ask the students about the story setting. Students will revisit the answers to these questions when they begin their activity (student worksheet #1)

4. Once the story has been read, have the students complete the book review questions (Student Worksheet - Part I). This information will be useful for the activity during the second class period. Possible answers are given in Student Worksheet. The teacher may choose to review each answer with the class as a whole. This would conclude instruction for the first class period 

5. During the beginning of the second class period, review the answers from Student Worksheet - Part I as a lesson refresher. 

6. The teacher explains that the students will map the journey taken in the book. Using the online links, The Green Book Google map or the Green Book Travel map of the United States, the students use the clues described earlier to draw the route. Remind students that Interstate highways did not exist and that back roads and smaller U.S. or state highways would need to be used. Students will use the answers from Student Worksheet #1 to complete their map. 

7. Using the map, the teacher (or student) locates the beginning of the journey—Chicago. Students should place a transparency sheet over the map to draw their route. This will save the map for future use. The transparency sheet may need masking tape to hold it in place. 

• Consider having the students draw each day in a different color with the dry erase markers. From the story students can identify five travel days:
  • Day One: Chicago to? The trip begins in the morning as they stop for lunch. They stop for gas and stop later at a hotel. The first night is spent driving and sleeping in the car. They are in southern Illinois, southern Indiana, or part of Kentucky.
  • Day Two: Kentucky to Tennessee. They stop for roadside picnics and cross into Tennessee to stay the night with Eddy.
  • Day Three: Tennessee to Georgia. They stop at an Esso station and stay the night at a tourist home with Mrs. Melody. The tourist home may be in Georgia as they are near that state’s border. The Green Book lists a Melody Tourist Inn, but it is in Brunswick. This is far from their Alabama destination, so this is an unlikely stop (we do not know if “Melody” is her first or last name, either).
  • Day Four: Georgia to Alabama. The car breaks down and they stay one night at the Palm Leaf Inn in Birmingham (an illustration on page 24; also Figure 3). Figure 4 is page 8 of the 1949 Green Book. Students can see that the Palm Leaf Inn is located in Birmingham.
  • Day Five: Birmingham, Alabama, to Grandma’s house. Based on the text description, Grandma’s house should be within a few hours of Birmingham at most. Students should realize that central Alabama is the likely location of Grandma’s house. Following the logic that Ruth’s father might be a part of the Great Migration, it is reasonable to assume that Grandma’s house might be in a rural area as many African Americans left those areas for northern cities.

8. Student Worksheet - Part 2 - Once the map is complete, ask the students if they think this is the best route (shortest). How would they travel today? Students may draw a more direct Interstate highway route to compare with the “book” route. How long would their trip take today? The teacher should make sure that the students realize that to find “safe spaces,” African American travelers needed to plan their routes differently than other travelers, often making their trips longer and more expensive. Students will have to determine how the distribution of “safe spaces” of the map would impact their route selection as an African American traveler.

9. With a Smart Board and Internet access, or with access to a computer lab, students will create a travel brochure to investigate the 1956 Green Book further.  Utilizing a custom Google Map with that year’s listings is available through the Digital Collections at the University of South Carolina (2011). The teacher may pose a trip between two city points—for example, Charleston, South Carolina, and Raleigh, North Carolina.   

• Students will choose a beginning and ending location using the routes outlined in The Green Book.
• Students will have to find three to five African American historic places to visit along this route. 
• Students will need to explain the significance of the historic place in US history as it relates to discrimination.
• Students will need to discuss how these places may have contributed to the passage of laws against discrimination in the US.

You can see if Ruth and the Green Book is available to check out from your local library.
If you are not able to access the book from your school or county library you can access the book via the betterlesson.com website.  You will need to create an account in order to download the book.   
 

Students will retrace the travel routes of African Americans traveling during the Jim Crow era using the Green Book.
Students will create a brochure for travelers to use today that will include historically significant places along the routes in the Green Book.