NATIONAL CULTURAL HERITAGE TOURISM CENTER, INC.
PENSACOLA, FLORIDA

The National Cultural Heritage Tourism Center was created to market and promote cultural heritage and tourism destinations of interest to people of African Descent. The Center markets, advertises, and promotes historical  communities, major attractions, tourism related businesses, and cultural arts and entertainment venues.  In honor of "The Green Book", information is also provided to serve the unique cultural needs of the Diaspora. The National Cultural Heritage Society and its local community based affiliates serves as cultural heritage tourism ambassadors, preservationist and educational advocates. The ultimate goal being the preservation of our past and the education of future generations concerning our culture, our heritage, and our traditions, by celebrating via the arts!!   Victor Hugo Green (November 9, 1892 - aft. 1964? ) was a Harlem, New York, postal employee and civic leader. He was the creator of an African American travel guide known as The Green Book. It was first published as The Negro Motorist Green Book and later as The Negro Travelers' Green Book. The books were published from 1936 to 1964. He reviewed hotels and restaurants that did business with African Americans during the time of Jim Crow laws and racial segregation in the United States. Green used postal workers as guides to tell him: Well, here's a good place here, a good place there. And, of course, as you travel, people picked up things and told him things. He printed 15,000 copies each year. The Negro Motorist Green Book was a publication released in 1936 that served as a guide for African-American travelers. Because of the racist conditions that existed from segregation, blacks needed a reference manual to guide them to integrated or black-friendly establishments. That’s when they turned to “The Negro Motorist Green Book: An International Travel Guide” by a Harlem postal employee and civic leader named Victor H. Green and presented by the Esso Standard Oil Company. Originally provided to serve Metropolitan New York, the book received such an alarming response, it was spread throughout the country within one year.  The Green Book often provided information on local tourist homes, which were private residences owned by blacks and open to travelers. It was especially helpful to blacks that traveled through sunset towns or towns that publicly stated that blacks had to leave the town by sundown or it would be cause for arrest. Also listed were hotels, barbershops, beauty salons, restaurants, garages, liquor stores, ball parks and taverns. It also provided a listing of the white-owned, black-friendly locations for accommodations and food. The publication was free, with a 10-cent cost of shipping. As interest grew, the Green Book solicited salespersons nationwide to build its ad sales.   Inside the pages of the Green Book were action photos of the various locations, along with historical and background information for the readers’ review. Although Victor Green’s initial edition only encompassed metropolitan New York, the “Green Book” soon expanded to Bermuda (white dinner jackets were recommended for gentlemen), Mexico and Canada. The 15,000 copies Green eventually printed each year were sold as a marketing tool not just to black-owned businesses but to the white marketplace, implying that it made good economic sense to take advantage of the growing affluence and mobility of African Americans. Esso stations, unusual in franchising to African Americans, were a popular place to pick one up. The National Cultural Heritage Society primary focus will always be recruiting people of faith to ‘Rebuild the Walls” in historic African American communities.  The National Cultural Heritage Tourism Center was created to promote the cultures and traditions of people of African descent and how their faith and belief affected the development of their communities and lifestyles.  Culture, history, and the arts have long appealed to tourist and routinely contribute to their selection of a tourism/travel destination. In recent years ‘culture’ has been rediscovered as an important marketing tool to attract travelers with special interests in the arts and history.  Hospitality and entertainment venues are being developed that cater to this trend. Why, because cultural heritage tourism is the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry. The demand by business and cultural travelers for new cultural experiences has allowed many traditional historic African American communities to be re-discovered and redeveloped by local government. This renewed interest is a great opportunity for societies to be created that will be dedicated to “Rebuilding the Walls” in our communities. Now it is our time. Our communities and its people are suffering. It is time for us to take our Christian faith, our combined skill, our hopes and dreams, our culture and heritage and put them to work Rebuilding the Walls and Preserving the Culture and History in our communities. Our faith has is the strength of our culture and our faith has sustained us through the most trying of circumstances and conditions. Let us not forget the works of ‘Our Ancestors’ and the gifts they gave us.  Our culture, our heritage, our unique talents and skills, and most importantly; our faith; it is time for us to revisit our roots and reclaim the faith and visions of our past. We have the skills and knowledge base to claim the opportunities America has in store, by coming together as a community and focusing on rebuilding our own forty acres. If a service or product is needed, we can provide it; we have the skills, talents and the knowledge to complete this great task. Partnering with people of faith, using biblical principles will ensure our success. Remember, our ancestors paid a heavy price to ensure we would have the life we now enjoy. We now must do our part to leave a legacy for our children and generations to come.  They did it for us, we can do no less.