Calvin Ramsey author of Ruth and The Green Book

Tune in for my interview with Calvin Ramsey author of Ruth and The Green Book. The play The Green Book  will make it's debut March 1st  - April 1st  in Chicago at the Pegasus Theatre Chicago & ShPIel Theatre ( in Residence at the Chicago Dramatists), 773 N.Aberdeen in Chicago.

 The play, "The Green Book is about the Davis' an African-American family that welcomed black travelers in their homes during  the Jim Crow era , laws that enforced racial seregation in the Southern United States. The Green book, first published as The Negro Motorist Green Book and later The Negro Travelers Green Book, was the first, and maybe only published travel guide for Blacks  from 1936-1966,  

The guide was created by Victor Hugo Green, a postal employee from Harlem, New York and travel writer.  Mr. Green printed 15,000 copies each year and provided safe lodging, resturants and gas stations for blacks. Similar travel guides (not printed by Mr. Green ) were also published  for Jewish travelers that faced discrimination.

"The Green Book setting takes place during a weekend when the Davis' are  celebrating the arrivial of Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois for a lecture. The appearance of  a white visitor who turns out to be a Jewish  Holocaust survivor, sets off a chain of events that shows that racism and anti-Semitism cannot be ignored."