During the time the book was published, choices of lodging, restaurants and even gas stations were limited for black people in many places, both in the Southern United States and outside this region.

In the 1930s, Green began his work by compiling data on stores and motels and gas stations in New York City area that welcomed black travelers, and published his first guide in 1936.

[3] Green's guide was so popular that he immediately began to expand its coverage the next year to other US destinations, adding hotels and restaurants as well.

Victor Hugo Green, named after the noted French author, was born on November 9, 1892, in Manhattan, New York City.

He returned to the United States from Brest, France on the troop carrier SS Maui on February 16, 1919, landing in Hoboken on the 28th.

These editions were a publication series for the intended purpose of helping African American roadtrippers travel across America safely.

[14] The Guide also allowed African American travelers to safely venture through discriminatory and segregated areas of the United States by avoiding potential harassment and violence from racist business owners.

"[16] He collected information on hotels, restaurants and gas stations that served African Americans for his first edition of The Negro Motorist Green Book.

Since some towns did not have any hotels or motels that would accept African American guests, he listed "tourist homes," where owners would rent rooms to travelers.

By 1949, the guide included international destinations in Bermuda and Mexico; it listed places for food, lodging, and gas stations.

[21] According to the 1956 edition, "several friends and acquaintances complained of the difficulties encountered; oftentimes painful embarrassments suffered which ruined a vacation or business trip.”[22] The Green Book Chronicles (2020), a film by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Becky Wible Searles, have noted that Alma “appears to have actively supported and been involved in this venture from the start, eventually taking over as editor when Victor stepped away from that role.”[23] Green died on October 16, 1960, in Manhattan, New York City at age 67.

[24] Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and legal end to racial segregation in public facilities marked the beginning of the guide's obsolescence; the goal that Green had described in his introduction to the first edition of his work.