SLCL Black History Celebration Presents Alvin Hall Author of “Driving the Green Book”

St. Louis County Library’s Black History Celebration presents a special event with acclaimed broadcaster Alvin Hall, author “Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance.”

The event will take place on Monday, February 13 at 7:00 p.m. at the JCC’s Staenberg Family Center – Mirowitz Performing Arts Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive, St. Louis, MO 63146.

Presented in partnership by SLCL Authors @ the J, a joint event series from St. Louis County Library and the Jewish Community Center of St. Louis.

The program is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase at the event from Left Bank Books.

Join award-winning broadcaster Alvin Hall on a journey through America’s haunted racial past, with the legendary “Green Book” as your guide.

For countless Americans, the open road has long been a place where dangers lurk. In the era of Jim Crow, Black travelers encountered locked doors, hostile police, and potentially violent encounters almost everywhere, in both the South and the North. From 1936 to 1967, millions relied on “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” the definitive guide to businesses where they could safely rest, eat, or sleep. 

Most Americans only know of the guide from the 2018 “Green Book” movie or the 2020 “Lovecraft Country” TV show. Alvin Hall set out to revisit the world of the “Green Book” to instruct us all on the real history of the guide that saved many lives. Hall drove from New York to Detroit to New Orleans, visiting motels, restaurants, shops, and stores where Black Americans once found a friendly welcome. He explored historical and cultural landmarks, from the theatres and clubs where stars like Duke Ellington and Lena Horne performed to the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Along the way, Hall gathered memories from some of the last living witnesses for whom the “Green Book” meant survival—remarkable people who not only endured but rose above the hate, building vibrant Black communities against incredible odds.

“Driving the Green Book” is a vital work of national history as well as a hopeful chronicle of Black resilience and resistance.

Alvin Hall is an award-winning television and radio broadcaster, author, political activist and renowned financial educator. His numerous radio programs include “The Tulsa Tragedy that Shamed America,” “The Green Book,” and “Jay-Z: From Brooklyn to the Board Room,” all on BBC. For five years he hosted the highly rated and award-winning BBC series “Your Money or Your Life.” 

Program sites are accessible. With at least two weeks' notice, accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Call 314-994-3300 or contact us.