Lumber, The Green Book, and Grand Canyon

George H. Wallace President Washington Educational Touring Club and 50 members on the South Rim of Grand Canyon August 14-15, 1948.

VIRGIL GIPSON

In 1901, train service began between Grand Canyon and the town of Williams, Arizona. This brought an influx of people visiting and working at and around the Grand Canyon. The Fred Harvey Company formed a relationship with the railroad to create accommodations for tourists at and on their way to the Canyon. The Fred Harvey Company was an equal opportunity employer in some regards. Harvey was quoted as saying, “Real service is without discrimination.”

A Black porter helps a White woman onto the train.

WILLIAMS PUBLIC LIBRARY, HOFFMAN COLLECTION

While Fred Harvey hired many people of color, they were often relegated to lower paying service positions and were subject to segregation in areas where discrimination persisted. Harvey hired Black Americans such as Percy Tyler as a stationary engineer. Many Black men also worked on the railroad as porters. A Black man called “Uncle Charlie” worked as a bartender at El Tovar from its opening in 1905 and worked there for many years. Some men of color were able to move up the ranks. Tim Cooper, an African American man, was Harvey’s assistant through the 1880s and 1890s. He was the oldest and longest tenured employee with Fred Harvey Company when he retired.

The increase in railroad tracks and infrastructure required a greater need for lumber as well. Many African Americans worked as skilled logging men in Southern States for decades. Deforestation spread through the South and wages plummeted. Many Black Americans looked for work elsewhere. The dense forests of Northern Arizona provided opportunity for better wages and a possible relief from the Jim Crow culture of the South. Beginning in the 1920s, but reaching peak migration in the 1940s and 1950s, many Black Americans moved to Northern Arizona. They moved from states like Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and more.

A Black man stands with an ax next to a fallen tree in the forest.

NAU CLINE LIBRARY

While benefits of greater wages and job opportunities might have made the move worthwhile, there were still challenges living in Northern Arizona. Many people working in the lumber industry lived in Flagstaff Arizona. The Black community was relegated to living in one area of the city. Many businesses and locations were “off limits” and elementary schools were segregated. Since the Black community in Northern Arizona was relatively small, the ability to create autonomy and comfort in their own community proved more challenging.

In order to travel safety from Southern states to Arizona, many Black laborers traveled by train. If it was possible, some would travel together by automobile. This gave some freedom to people migrating, but it also created other challenges. Racial discrimination was widespread during this time, and hotels and restaurants could refuse service to Black patrons. Even finding a restroom could prove incredibly challenging. When James W. Williams was driving west in 1942 with three other lumber workers, he experienced these problems firsthand.

When asked if his trip was peaceful, James W. Williams said, “Peaceful, yeah. Such as people could be. At that particular time, you couldn’t sleep or eat anyplace. You had to get a store-bought lunch if you were going to eat, no cafés. You could go to a café, but you had to go around back…. You’d have to drive all night and have to look for the colored part of town, maybe you could find a room... We never slept in a hotel or motel.” Williams and his travel companions had to sleep in the car on the side of the road. These challenges not only affected the men traveling for work, but their families who followed soon after. ¹

African American Group visiting the Bright Angel Lodge in the Grand Canyon in 1956.

NAU CLINE LIBRARY

Situations like this led Victor Green to create a travel guide for Black Americans. He called it The Green Book. Published from 1936-1966, the book outlined lodging, restaurants, and fuel stations that would serve Black Americans. The publications went state by state, city by city, creating a roadmap for how Black Americans could travel the country safely. This helped many people moving to Northern Arizona find a way to move with the least possible chance of harassment or danger. Two hotels at Grand Canyon National Park were listed in the 1961 edition of The Green Book: El Tovar and the Bright Angel Lodge, both Fred Harvey Company managed properties on the South Rim. A group of Black Americans visiting Grand Canyon from Washington, DC were photographed on the South Rim in 1948. In 1956, an African-American group was photographed while visiting the Bright Angel Lodge. Many other National Parks across the country were listed in the guide, creating more freedom and opportunity for Black Americans to explore their parks. Having safe spaces for lodging is incredibly important for visiting National Parks, but it is not the only factor. As of 2018, Black Americans made up only 2% of total national park visitors. There is still a lot of work to be done to increase visitation levels amongst Black Americans.

Sources:

¹ Reid, Jack. "The 'Great Migration' in Northern Arizona: Southern Blacks Move to Flagstaff 1940–1960." The Journal of Arizona History 55, no. 4 (2014): 469–498.

Hangan, Margaret. "Finding African American History in the West." KIVA: Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History 86, no. 2 (2020): 149-155.

"Oral history interview with James W. Williams" by Carol Maxwell. African American Pioneers in Flagstaff Oral History Collection, Cline Library, Northern Arizona University, 2002. https://archive.library.nau.edu/digital/collection/cpa/id/21136/.

Reid, Jack. "'I Wanted to Get Up and Move:' The Arizona Lumber Industry and the Great Migration." Forest History Today 27, no. 1&2 (2016): 4-13. https://foresthistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Reid.pdf