ExxonMobil.

Baton Rouge is proud to support Safe Haven, Louisiana's Green Book.

For more than 100 years, ExxonMobil has made a commitment to workforce diversity and the belief that reflecting on historic race relations is key to shaping a better future.

It's hard to believe if I were to travel just seven years ago, this little guy could potentially save my life.

I'm kerosene seer and this is Safe Haven, Louisiana's Green Book.

Hi, I'm Kerosene Seer.

I am co-producer and host of Safe Haven, Louisiana's Green Book.

It is a ten part digital series that I helped put together with Louisiana Public Broadcasting, and it explores Louisiana's history.

And we do that through the locations in the Green Book.

So I got to travel to ten different places and talk to people that remember the locations, the owners, and really what it was like to live in Louisiana during this time.

As a person of color, I.

Always knew we thought it was covered.

So you may be wondering, what is the green book?

A lot of people that we interviewed were wondering that question, too, when they had been to locations that were inside of it.

Well, if you were growing up as a person of color in the Jim Crow era, you wouldn't have the freedom to go to all the places that you want to go to.

You would need some help.

And the Green Book was basically a guide.

If you were traveling the road by car, you'd want to know where you could stop.

Maybe a gas station, a hotel, a restaurant.

The book gave you places that were friendly and were accepting and accommodating of African Americans.

So if you wanted to travel anywhere, you would need to take this book with you because you never know which places were safe and which places weren't.

The book was first published in 1936 by Victor Green.

He was a postal worker in Harlem, New York, during the 1930s and forties, and he had a lot of connections doing that job.

So he met up with a lot of other African Americans that were in the industry.

And together they found these different hubs all over the nation that were accepting and accommodating of African Americans who travel.

And this book sold upwards of 15,000 copies annually.

Now, keep in mind, it didn't stop running.

I mean, you could buy this book until the late sixties.

So just imagine how many copies that really is.

The first episode that we actually shot was in Opelousas, which is a country town in south Louisiana.

And we were shocked.

You know, we were doing this investigating, and we found out that it was actually home to this really big and important black neighborhood.

And it was a business district.

And inside of this place, you had musicians and even teachers would stop by, but they would need a place to stay.

And they didn't have any hotels at the time.

They were all white only.

So where do you go?

Well, actually, they would go in these places called tourist homes, which were basically thirties and forties, Airbnbs.

So you would go here, you would hear about it by word of mouth.

There was no Internet.

And you just go, you would rent a room and you'd stay there.

And the person that own home would cook, would clean and really entertain you while you were there.

And it was really difficult to find this place.

There's not a whole lot on record about Opelousas or this district called The Hill.

And we worked really hard.

My co-producer, Emma, actually worked really hard to find subject Jerome, who was the person that we ended up interviewing, and it turned out great.

We learned a lot.

1939 was the second year that the Green Book was published for a small rural town.

Opelousas had a surprisingly vibrant African-American commercial district.

They called it The Hill.

For some reason, the businesses in the Hill never made it into the Green Book, with one exception.

Thomas Holmes.

Hey, how you doing?

How are you doing?

My name is Kara.

And little Jerome.

Sub Jerome remembers one of these homes very well.

They had a bandstand through this town.

Duke Ellington called Bass James, Sam Cooke, B.B.

King.

All these name people came to this club.

The Annapolis the club sub is referring to is Bradford's White Eagle, a famous venue on the Chitlin Circuit, which is for black musicians.

And back in, though, they didn't have having hotels, a motel for blacks.

So we had to go on living in their people houses.

So and my grandmother took about that one man and see that house on the corner he had left right here.

Yeah, I can see it.

That's the big house with the subs.

Grandmother Beulah Jerome ran a Taurus home, and they called it the big house.

They it to the people.

All the time.

Three or four?

Seven?

Yeah.

Teachers lived there.

Students, construction workers.

You would never go in that house again.

Anything cooked on the stove?

This is the big house on the corner of South Bombard Street.

We're meeting subs.

Cousin Donald Terrell.

He grew up in the brick house right behind it.

How are you doing?

My name is Kara.

I'm working.

Luckily, the current tenant, Mrs. Betty, welcomed us inside.

Well, everything's the same outside when you change.

But the inside and renovated here central six bedroom living room and a kitchen, a one bathroom.

All these people were using one bathroom.

And right here in this room here, she had a pen in the dorm doorman room.

Used to play the pen.

Yeah, they would.

They were dancing.

Yeah, they will come here.

Why?

Your grandmother was here?

Yes, she was.

She went rooms out.

Even if she didn't know them.

She back and then they said, you know, Rainbow or blacks couldn't stay in hotel.

They having, you know, the entire and the way to go you flipping your car you just were no place for them the houses that don't look good quality lounge you know and rent a room.

Surprising only this safe haven wasn't even in an all black neighborhood.

But all all this refers to feeling like white people.

Okay.

And over here, what?

Okay.

Yeah.

And across with the trials of streetlight people, too.

So, like I told her, Well, I live in neighborhood.

All the black family in the block room now.

Wow.

For our previous one.

Well, black.

Opelousas had one of the only all-Black high schools in the area which drew teachers from all over the state.

We were doing the Yankees.

We're trying to tell them coming around.

The Jarron house remained in the Green Book for 27 years until its last publication in 1966.

You know, when I moved here, they say a lot of teachers live here, but I really didn't know the history, the real history about it.

And I'm now I'm getting this opportunity to even tell witnesses.

Yeah, yeah.

Today most people don't even know this neighborhood was called The Hill.

Almost all of the black owned businesses here closed after integration and things seemed to fall apart.

I'm beginning to learn this story is not uncommon, they say.

Actually, the process for making the show was pretty difficult during the research phase.

We kept running into information about Green Book, the movie, which had come out just a couple of years prior.

So once you're done fishing through all the green book movie posters, you finally found just a little bit of information about the book.

And what we ended up seeing was that Louisiana actually had hundreds of locations in every single decade, really, but not all of these locations were active.

I think of all the places that we went to, only one of them was still active, and that was Dooky Chase's in New Orleans.

And it was really it was sad because, you know, you want to go to these locations and talk to these people and see what they see, and we'll see what they saw and understand what it was like to be there.

But it's really hard to do if you don't have a building or any type of memorial.

But we did get to talk to a lot of people and we got to preserve some of their stories.

And I think that was my favorite part.

Next, we went to New Orleans, which is where most of the Green Book locations were, because obviously New Orleans is an iconic city, but even more iconic than the city is probably the dewdrop in which, if you're familiar with New Orleans music, you've probably heard of it.

It was a club, it was a restaurant, it was a barbershop, it was everything.

And it was also a place where we learned that, you know, integration wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

It was a double edged sword for a lot of black businesses.

And Kenneth Jackson, the owner, he explained that pretty well for us throughout this episode in 1947, traveling through the Jim Crow South was difficult and dangerous for African-Americans, yet musicians were spreading great music everywhere.

Thanks to the Chitlin Circuit, an infrastructure of venues that catered to traveling black musicians.

And in New Orleans, one of the most iconic of any nightclub was the Dewdrop Inn, opened in 1935 and nicknamed.

The Groove Room.

Just about every famous black musician you can think of walked through these doors James Booker, Joe Turner, Earl King, Allen Toussaint, James Brown, Ray Charles, Little Richard Deacon, John Etta James and Aretha Franklin.

And that's just to name a few.

But the legend of this establishment lies in the endless wild stories that definitely broke the status quo of the time, like the drag performances, ventriloquists, snake charmers, they even let white people in.

I'm driving through Central City, a culturally rich and historic neighborhood at the heart of New Orleans.

Once upon a time, black businesses prospered here.

It's still largely an African-American neighborhood, but there's not much for a commercial district.

We're meeting Kenneth Jackson at the Dew Drop in his grandfather, Frank Penney, was the owner.

Hey, hey, hey.

How you doing?

My name's.

Kara.

How you doing?

Ken Jackson.

Ken Jackson.

All right, Ken Jackson.

Where are we at right now?

We are in Central City, New Orleans, standing in front of the dewdrop in.

This actually was a preschool for me.

My grandmother came down here every day.

So when she came to do her shift, we would ride with her and come down here while she was doing her work around.

We'd be in a ball playing with the different no instruments on the stage.

We'd be going behind the bar and eating the cherries and going over there where my uncle was and getting something to eat.

Just like a fun place, you know.

Everybody was just happy, you know?

It was just never a whole lot of negativity around here, you know?

It was always peaceful.

Everybody just kind of enjoyed themselves.

Kind of mood.

In the Green Book, it was listed as a nightclub, but Kenneth tells us it was also a hotel, barbershop and a restaurant.

You could come here.

You can enjoy a show, you could have a meal, you could drink.

If you got too drunk.

You could spend the night going get your shoes, showering your haircut, your perm, your process.

They used to call them back in the days.

So that's back when people had the corks and the zoot suits and the big purple pimp.

Suit has to be called American icon.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

A lot of places, you know, back then we couldn't go, you know, due to segregation and, you know, the way that the Times were, this was a place where you didn't have to worry about any of that.

It was a place where anybody could come, regardless of race.

You know, my grandfather got in big trouble as a result of that.

You know, there was several times where he actually went to jail because he would allow white people to come in to the hotel, come into the bar or restaurant.

No problem.

I had no idea as a kid that it was against the law for white people to be in here because it was but it was always white people here.

You know, they would just like everybody else.

You know, it wasn't no big deal.

So anybody around here but my grandfather actually had a battle that there were times where the police would come up during the middle of the show, come in and raid the place, and everybody who was in there, they would take and put them outside, come out and put them in what they call paddy wagons back then and charge him with racial mixing.

This is where all of the various shows took place in this area here, back in the days, there was a whole nother section behind here that was called the goods room.

You would come here.

You didn't have to worry about nobody hating you because of the way you dressed or who you liked.

So, you know, that was also a part of the Dewdrop aura that brought a lot of people in this place.

I can hear the music.

I can see the vibrant characters that probably came through here.

If these walls could talk, if.

These walls could talk, I wonder what they.

Would say.

They'd have a hell of a story to tell.

After 31 years in business, the Dewdrop being closed down in 1970, Ken says a developer is planning to reopen it similar to what it once was.

And I think that's a great idea.

I think there's a strong chance that it'll be back on the map before too long and people will be pulling up here the way they were back in the days.

The Dew Drop was probably one of our most memorable episodes for a lot of people that watched it.

I don't know if you guys can tell from looking at it, but it was very, very hot.

We were out there for a very, very long time, but it was also a very, very important episode.

And also while we were in New Orleans, we got to stop by Dooky Chase's restaurant.

And if you want to see that episode, just make sure you go to Lpv Dawgs Safe Haven.

So the next episode is my favorite episode.

It's the beauty parlor one and it's my favorite for a lot of reasons.

It was actually the hardest one to find at the very beginning of the series.

We wanted to make sure that we got a beauty salon or a barber shop or something like that, because when you go through the Green book, you typically see just lots of restaurants and hotels.

But we wanted to find something different.

But we called, we looked through records to find addresses, and we could not find anything until we found the Eveready Hotel in Baton Rouge.

So the owners for the ever ready actually knew the people that owned Karis, and that person knew the person that owned Kouros.

So it was a really big it was a network.

All of these people were coming together to help each other.

So through Ms.. Joan Forbes, who was in the EV already, we found Meda and she just connected the dots for everything she told us about hair, about black women owning businesses.

And that's why this episode is my favorite, because it was so rewarding.

Finally seeing all of that come together.

And we found it at the very, very end of the series.

So it was great.

When I was a little girl, I learned a very valuable lesson.

Hair is never just hair for black women.

Anyway, and it never has been.

Hi.

I'm going to show you how you and Christine can find a fantastic new hairstyle.

It's called an ultra natural.

First, you have to start with relaxed hair, and that means a trip to the beauty shop.

The way you style it determines the way people treat you and the opportunities you get.

To put it plainly, my hair directly impacts my future, and my ancestors knew that.

That's why in the early 1900s, black women started straightening their hair with relaxers.

They curled, crimped and greased it until it was acceptable.

Until they were acceptable, they needed something to feel good about themselves.

At a time when African-Americans were considered subhuman.

And so the beauty parlor became a refuge in New Orleans, made a porter.

Edwards saw the potential to help women while contributing to the growing community of self sustaining black owned businesses.

So in 1939, she bought a building for Perot's beauty school.

Hi.

Hello.

Hello to my little kingdom, my little cabbage meets you is so good to see you.

I mean the weight.

Of your.

Hair.

Thank you so much.

Madam MacDonald is made a porter Edwards whimsical granddaughter.

She's all about color, sequence and fashion, which comes directly from her grandmother's beauty school.

So these are pictures that I have here of mother made when she was in her poro beauty culture school days.

She was the first African-American woman to own and operate a beauty culture school in New Orleans.

At 2214 Dry Street, I can remember vividly the building.

Perot's beauty school, almost didn't happen.

Mother Maida had to fight for it.

Now, one thing about my tomato's story is they did not want to give her her cosmetology license.

The Louisiana Board of Examiners.

They did not want her to have her cosmetology license where she could have her practice to train.

Why didn't they want her to get the license to own a business?

Well, back in that time, African-Americans were not moving in that direction.

I think that they just did not want to see her grow in that industry, which is what she was able to do.

But she was die.

Hard to say.

I'm going to get my cosmetology license.

I am trained to do this.

Poros brought in people from all over the South to get their hair done and buy purses and gloves from me to shop.

But more importantly, women came to learn.

She taught classes of students how to care for black hair and how to accentuate black beauty and build a business in the process.

This was liberating at a time when most black women were working as maids or cooks, Mother Maida gave them the opportunity to be more.

And when Poor Rose was listed in the Green Book, it just brought in more clients.

But Mother made is influence didn't stop in New Orleans, 80 miles away in downtown Baton Rouge, she worked with another woman named Carrie Taylor, who had a beauty school called Karis, which was also in the Green Book.

It was a beauty school here in Baton Rouge.

That is where she did her hair practice with all of our customers.

And she was known all over the community.

I think she left really a significant legacy here in the Baton Rouge community.

And those were the days when, you know, the ladies were ladies.

They carried themselves as ladies.

They dressed from head to toe.

If they went out, they had their fur coats, they had their mink coat on, they had their hats on, they had their gloves.

They were in the finest of clothes.

So I can say that I learned a lot from coming up and seeing how they impacted me to become the woman that I am today.

From 1939 to the late sixties, both Carrie and Mother made a brought forth a new class of black women.

They created business owners that could sustain communities of color, and they did it looking good.

Why do you think beauty was so important back then for black women?

When you have somebody that's giving you positive examples and they're giving you the lead and they're showing you a role or they're serving as a role model, then that too helps you to become who you are and I contribute a lot of that to my grandmothers, to my mother, to my family, to my aunt.

Like I say, different people in the community.

I wouldn't be who I am today.

And I'm passing it on to my granddaughter and others in my family as well.

Both Karis and Poros disappeared from the Green Book in 1955.

By then, mother Maida and Carrie were both in their sixties and ready to retire.

There wasn't anyone to take over the businesses, so both salons closed down.

Do you think people ever passed by, carries or poros and just know that there was so much history made at these places?

Do you think they know the impact these places had?

I think some people do.

Those that came up during that time and that era do, because I even if traveling down Government Street and I'm going in that direction of wherever I may be traveling when I turn and I pass carries, I turn and I look and I can remember that building and how at that time African-Americans were self-sustained individuals.

You know, we had our own barber shops, beauty shops, we had our flower shop, we had our theaters, we had our hotels.

We had everything right there in our African-American communities.

It takes strength to love yourself when the world is telling you otherwise.

I'm grateful for women like Mother Maida and Carrie who've paved the way for women just like me.

Karis was a really special episode.

Like I said, it was my favorite.

It's really close to where I grew up in Baton Rouge, and it was really nice to see the building was still there and still pretty much untouched from whenever the building closed.

So for this last episode, we want to take you someplace that a lot of people haven't been before, and that is in the corner of northeast Louisiana, and that is Bastrop.

It's a very small town and it's got a really good community of African-Americans that have been there for a really long time.

And location we went to was called Jake's Cafe, and Jake's was pretty much everything that the Green Book stands for.

It was a place for community.

It was a place for good food and it was a safe haven.

And the people that we interviewed, they remember it like that.

Because not only was the Green Book a guide, it was also a guide for Black Joy.

You know, they were taking these trips to go on vacation and to meet people, and that's what Jake's Café stood for.

As I drive toward the Mississippi Delta, I imagined how I would feel in the forties, fifties and even the sixties.

There was a strong KKK presence here.

Even policemen were members.

I would be terrified, especially at night.

And as I look through the Green Book, there weren't many options.

I'm headed to the small town of Bastrop in the northeast corner of Louisiana.

Although there were black businesses here, nothing was listed in the Green Book until 1961.

Jake's Cafe, which was also a tourism, was one of those listings.

The cafe is part of an exhibit about Bastrop Black history at the Snyder Museum.

Hello.

Hello.

You must be Grace.

This is great.

All right.

You must be Prince Ella, Grace Reese and Princella Williams grew up in Bastrop, and now they preserve the legacy of Jake Smith and his cafe.

So this is the sign in front of them.

Wow.

When was Jake's cafe opened again?

May ten, 20 1920.

So I'm looking at a sign that is 100 years old.

Jake Smith was Grace's next door neighbor, and he was beloved by the community.

Right here we have Mr. Jake Smith.

His birthday, the river they Demand for through July 9th, 1995.

Mr. Jake's business was right by the bus station.

It was a safe haven for travelers and offered a little something for everyone.

Who could eat at home.

Real chill was his specialty.

You could get a few medicine, but you get a stamp there.

You get one out of there.

You could get a hope there.

You get ice cream.

They're a gathering place for storytellers.

You know, people get together.

Down the road.

I met three men who used to frequent Jake's.

Hello.

Hey, my name is Cara.

Cara Ira Smith, Dr. William Alexander and Bunny Mitchell.

Ira met his wife at Jake's, and William married Mr. Jake's daughter.

After some barbecue, they agreed to take me to where the cafe used to be.

So what did this place look like?

When you see a bunch of little shacks together, You been where you saw a bunch of little shacks?

But that's all we knew.

We thought it was heaven.

I came to borrow one Christmas, and the fellas took me in the back of Jake's, and they say, said, You see this in Chicago, but you get the same.

So we had drinks total, and so you get the same effect wherever you are.

Right?

It's the same story with every other town.

After integration, black businesses and neighborhoods begin to fall apart.

Jake Smith operated the cafe until 1965 and the building was demolished in 2013.

The story of these thriving black communities are barely documented anywhere, and it kind of a racism from history in a way.

It's been an honor and a real journey to meet these people and help preserve their memories for future generations to find.

My co-producer, Emma, actually found the characters that we interviewed in the story, and what's really interesting about them is that they don't remember all of the harsh parts of segregation or the Jim Crow era.

What they remember are the good times that they had at Jake's and that was really shocking to us.

But the further you go into the episode, it really makes sense as to why that's what they would remember.

It's this place that had good food and good music, and that's really what the Green Book was about.

It's getting you to those destinations that make you feel happy, that make you feel safe.

That's what all of this was about.

So Jake's was a good way to to really understand what it was like to be a person of color, because it offered a completely different perspective of what it was like to exist during this time.

I hope you guys had fun exploring all these different locations.

And Louisiana with me, me and my co-producer had a blast meeting all of these people.

And before I leave you, I'd just like to encourage all of you explore, go into your neighborhood, your back yard.

There's so much history out there.

You just got to go out there and find it.

And if you want to see all of the episodes, make sure you visit LPD Dawgs Safe Haven.

You can watch all ten right there.

ExxonMobil.

Baton Rouge is proud to support Safe Haven, Louisiana's Green Book.

For more than 100 years, ExxonMobil has made a commitment to workforce diversity and the belief that reflecting on historic race relations is key to shaping a better future.