HOW STUFF WORKS: Stuff you missed in history class

I’ve been getting exposed to history that I was never taught in school. I’m learning quite a bit from a podcast (which is an internet audio “lecture” or “discussion”) called “Stuff You Missed In History Class”. That podcast covers all manner of topics, from the tasty (a history of cheese) to the silly (the West Point Eggnog Riot of 1826) to the horrific (the Tulsa Race Riot). There are many things that just don’t show up in history classes. This is partly due to time. There just isn’t enough time to cover everything. It is also partly due to a certain kind of censorship; people just don’t want to talk about certain things.

Recently while reading something on the Internet, I followed a link and learned something I hadn’t known before. I was reading about the “Green Book” or, its full title, “The Negro Motorist Green Book”. It was published from 1936 to 1966 and tried to help African-American travelers in the Untied States cope with the deeply entrenched racism, that was legally required, in some cities at that time.

The book provided lists of places that were friendly to the African-American traveler. Hotels, restaurants, and service stations were listed. Some of the places they could stay at night were “tourist homes”. These were private residences that provided accommodations for travelers. (Almost like airbnb). It was not easy to travel while black.

Although things got better, in 1964 the Civil Rights Act was enacted and many of these overt forms of racism became illegal. This led to the final edition of the book published in 1966. There wasn’t the same need for the book as before. This is not to say racism ended back then, but it became just a little harder to act upon the racism. Obviously there’s still work that needs to be done.

History is important. It tells us where we came from. We can’t look back at just the things we’re proud of. We have to know what we did wrong in the past, and work hard to keep making things better. It can be done. We have done it before, and we’re still making progress, though it often seems too slow.

Maybe it’s time to go learn something new, I mean old. Check out “Stuff You Missed In History Class” at http://www.missedinhistory.com. I think I’ll download something new for my next trip to Bakersfield.

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