Virtual tour of local ‘Green Book’ locations planned for 2021
The popular Sandwiching in History tours will return virtually this year, including one that will feature “Green Book” locations in Hot Springs.
Sandwiching in History is offered by the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. Prior to the pandemic, it consisted of live tours to historic places in the state. Since switching to virtual tours, the program’s popularity has greatly increased, the agency’s director, Scott Kaufman, said.
“We had a small following of people who would show up,” Kaufman said, noting “a normal Sandwiching might bring 50 to 120” people. “Now up to 5,000 people are virtually watching,” he said.
“It just didn’t really strike a chord,” Kaufman said, until the program went virtual. The in-person tours were filmed, and those videos are available, “but it didn’t really take off,” he said.
“It really caught me off guard,” Kaufman said. “When COVID hit, I thought this will be really tough for a while. It was surprising to see the numbers.”
This year will all be virtual, he said, noting he thinks the 2022 program will likely also be entirely virtual.
By going virtual, they have been able to expand the subjects, he said, noting the tours often stayed in central Arkansas, going as far away as Conway or Scott. With the tours being virtual, the tours now take place all over the state.
On July 9, the tour will cover “Green Book” sites in Hot Springs. According to the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program’s website, the “Green Book” was first published in 1936 by Hugo Victor Green of New York City.
“It became an influential annual publication that helped traveling African Americans by providing information on businesses that were safe to patronize during the long period of racial segregation and discrimination across the United States in the 20th century.”
One stop will include the National Baptist Hotel at 501 Malvern Ave. Built in 1923 as the Woodmen of the Union Building, this hotel, bath house, and performance venue quickly became the center of African American culture in Hot Springs, according to the Hot Springs Historic Baseball Trail website. The hotel, which is also a stop on the Baseball Trail, “housed virtually every great Negro League player and entertainer who visited the city, including Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, who was a close friend of Babe Ruth and part owner of the New York Black Yankees.”
Kaufman said since Hot Springs is a tourist town, it had many locations in the book. “We picked Hot Springs because it has one of the largest ‘ Green Book’ properties (list),” he said.
The tours are meant to teach viewers about things that should not be forgotten, he said, noting, “A lot of things get forgotten over time” and “a lot of people don’t know what you’re talking about” when the “Green Book” is mentioned.
For the videos, Kaufman said two of their employees drive — in separate vehicles — to the location, and film the subjects. “Not really shooting for entertainment value,” he said, but the videos are meant to be informative and accurate.
The virtual tours are shared via Facebook. Other virtual tours planned for 2021 include Baring Cross Bridge, Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park, Foster- Robinson House, Pinnacle Mountain State Park, Historic Downtown Conway, Titan Ranch Silo, Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Heritage Park, Historic Downtown Searcy, Mount Holly Cemetery, Historic Argenta and Gibb-Altheimer House.
The virtual tours, Kaufman said, are also meant to inspire the viewers to want to get out and see and feel the history in the state. “I know historic tourism is really big right now in the state,” he said.