![]() "White southerners thought sundown towns were stupid-who would be the maid?" ![]() ![]() "Sundown towns were incredibly rare in the South," expert James W. In one scene, a Southern lawman pulls over Tony and Doc's car at night to run the pair out of town, warning that they were in a "sundown town"-a community that didn't allow black people to stay after nightfall. It's not the film's only misleading depiction of racism. ![]() The film also suggests that the advice offered in Green's guide would only be necessary in the South, when in fact the book began as a pamphlet suggesting hospitable businesses in the author's native New York. In the film, Tony flicks through the book a few times before landing Doc in some fairly seedy motels, something experts have pointed out as being inaccurate as the real Green Book often guided travelers to higher-end locations. Thousands of copies were sold each year to black travelers well aware that even the most innocent of road trips left them prey to racist humiliations ranging from refusal of service to outright violence. The Green Book was an annual guide published by Victor Hugo Green and his family between 19, and listed hotels, gas stations, and restaurants around the nation that would be hospitable to black visitors. It takes its title from the N egro Travelers' Green Book, and yet gives this important piece of American history little screen time or analysis. ![]() But the film’s first sin is right in its name. ![]()
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