11. Esso Corporation sponsorship was touted in the Green Book
James A. Jackson was a Special Representative of the Esso Marketers who supported the Green Book from the outset, both ensuring that Esso service stations carried the guide for sale to their customers, and in articles written for inclusion in the book. The Esso marketers traveled as part of their business, and Jackson made sure that they used the Green Book whether traveling by car or rail on their business trips. Jackson noted the steady improvement of the book in an article which he wrote for the 1948 edition, entitled, “Where Are You Going to Stop?” Jackson pointed out the steady increase in businesses listed in the guide, and extolled its usefulness to business travelers.
Writing to what he referred to as the “segregated group”, Jackson stated that, “we need more hotels and kindred services, as we constitute a substantial segment of the traveling public.” Jackson exhorted users of the Green book to support the businesses listed therein, and to recommend to local businesses that they be listed in the guide. “Bless the Green book and its service,” wrote Jackson. He also used the opportunity to point out that when planning a trip by car, Esso road maps and the Green book, used in conjunction with each other, allowed travelers to, “…go farther with less anxiety and more pleasure”.