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Green Book Project Documents Safe Spaces In North Carolina

Negro Motorist Green Book was a critical resource for African-American travelers to find safe places to eat and sleep where they would not be targeted for their skin color. The resource was used by acclaimed musicians like James Brown and Ray Charles when they visited North Carolina. 

Host Frank Stasio talks with Angela Thorpe and Lisa Withers about 'Green Books' Oasis Spaces: African-American Travel in North Carolina 1936-1966.'

With the new project “Green Books' 'Oasis Spaces: African-American Travel in North Carolina 1936-1966,” the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission is documenting Green Book sites in North Carolina and the stories that went with them.

Host Frank Stasio speaks with Angela Thorpe, acting director of the commission, and Lisa Withers, a research historian who is working on the project.

NC Green Book Project:  Plaza Manor Hotel
Courtesy of Natalie Rodriguez/NC African American Heritage Commission /
NC Green Book Project: Plaza Manor Hotel

Copyright 2019 North Carolina Public Radio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Jennifer Brookland is a temporary producer for The State of Things.