During the Jim Crow era and even after those laws were overturned in the 1960s, green book sites were safe havens — places where Black Americans could stop when they were traveling without fear of discrimination. The sites bear the namesake of what is known as the Green Book. It contained listings for places across the country — hotels, restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores and more. Terri Gentry, with History Colorado, says her grandparents never left home without that book.
“We were traveling around the country, we were out exploring. We wanted to go see family members,” she said. “We felt like as citizens and with the National Park Service, we wanted to start engaging in different places and spaces around the country, but we had to navigate it very differently.”
Thanks to a national grant, Gentry and her team are working to register green book sites throughout the state and add to the list of 160 places so far, like the 715 Club in Denver's Five Points neighborhood pictured above.
She sat down with In The NoCo’s Robyn Vincent to discuss Colorado’s recent past — and the ways that this history has affected her into the present.
