8. The Green book prophesied its own demise in the 1948 introduction
Each annual edition of the Green Book included an introduction, in which its users were brought up to date with its progress through the years. The introduction usually asked readers to help identify businesses which catered to Black travelers that weren’t as yet listed in the pages. Readers were requested to make such businesses aware of the guide, and asked them to contact the editors in Harlem for inclusion in future editions. By 1948 the Green Book had expanded to 80 pages of listings, though in its introduction it acknowledged that there existed “thousands of first-class business places that we don’t know about and can’t list”.
In its 1948 introduction Green wrote of the need for the book among travelers and that the need would one day be gone. “There will be a day sometime in the near future when this guide will not have to be published,” he proclaimed, predicting a time of full equality between the races and the absence of “separate but equal” facilities and business practices. “It will be a great for us to suspend this publication,” wrote Green, “for then we can go wherever we please, and without embarrassment” Green went on to announce that until that day came he would continue publish the guide annually, with improvements and additions provided by its readers and the businesses it listed within its pages.