LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2021 ROAD TRIP! Inside Finding America Out on the Road Taking a Full-Length Portrait of the U.S. Plus 10 Seconds to Glory Parks for the People Whitman’s Journeys FEATURES ▪ A neon sign in Amarillo, Texas, marks the path 12 14 20 of historic Route 66 through town. Carol Parks for the People Finding America On the Road Again M. Highsmith Archive/ The Olmsted family created A journey through an Photographer Carol M. Prints and Photographs an amazing array of American phenomenon: the Highsmith is taking a full- Division outdoor spaces. family vacation by car. length portrait of the U.S. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE ▪ On the cover: This poster for the United States Travel Bureau, created by Alexander Dux in the 1930s under the auspices of the federal Works Progress Administration, promoted tourism across America. Prints and Photographs Division LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE DEPARTMENTS JULY / AUGUST 2021 VOL. 10 NO. 4 Mission of the 2 Trending Library of Congress The Library’s mission is to engage, 3 Off the Shelf inspire and inform Congress and the American people with a universal and enduring source of 4 Online Offerings knowledge and creativity. 6 Technology Library of Congress Magazine is issued bimonthly by the Office of Communications of the Library 7 Extremes of Congress and distributed free of charge to publicly 8 Page from the Past 4 supported libraries and research institutions, donors, academic libraries, learned societies and 10 Curator’s Picks allied organizations in the United States. Research institutions and educational organizations in other 24 My Job countries may arrange to receive Library of Congress Magazine on an exchange basis by applying in 25 News Briefs writing to the Library’s Director for Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access, 101 Independence Ave. 26 Shop the Library S.E., Washington DC 20540- 4100. LCM is also available on the web at loc.gov/lcm/. All 27 Support the Library other correspondence should 6 be addressed to the Office of Communications, Library of 28 Last Word Congress, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington DC 20540-1610. [email protected] loc.gov/lcm ISSN 2169-0855 (print) ISSN 2169-0863 (online) Carla Hayden Librarian of Congress April Slayton Executive Editor Mark Hartsell 8 Editor Ashley Jones Designer Shawn Miller Photo Editor Contributors Barbara Bair Andrew Davis Jan Grenci Megan Harris Josh Levy Sahar Kazmi CONNECT ON Roxana Robinson loc.gov/connect 28 JULY/AUGUST 2021 LOC.GOV/LCM 1 TRENDING Jesse Owens and went to Baldwin Wallace College on a track scholarship. During his 10 SECONDS TO sophomore year, he was drafted and later GLORY assigned to the 92nd. By 1944, he was in combat in Italy. For ▪ Top: William Harrison A WWII veteran won gold at six months, the 92nd slowly advanced, Dillard won the 100 liberating towns as they went. In his meters sprint in this the London Olympics in the Veterans History Project interview, Dillard photo finish at the 1948 Olympics in London. first photo finish. recalls mortar fire, minefields, the bravery of his comrades, and Italian civilians, their Above: Dillard, a World London, summer 1948. All eyes are on the War II veteran, as he villages destroyed, begging U.S. servicemen appeared around first Olympic Games held since 1936. After for food. the time he donated years of war, countries from around the service-related material world meet not on the battlefield, but on With the end of the war, Dillard’s focus to the Veterans History the track, in the swimming pool, inside the turned from survival to running. While Project. Smith Archive/ boxing ring. stationed in Europe during the occupation, Alamy Stock Photo, he won four gold medals at the GI Veterans History Project At Wembley Stadium, six sprinters crouch Olympics. At the London Games, he won on the track for the finals of the 100-meter the 100-meter dash and the 4x100 relay. dash. The gun sounds, and in 10 seconds Four years later, at the Helsinki Games, he it’s over. The race is so close that, for the won the 110-meter hurdles and another first time in history, a photograph is used to relay — making him a four-time Olympic gold declare the winner. medalist, just like his idol, Owens. But the photo makes it clear: William Grit and resilience are among the qualities Harrison Dillard won the gold; he is the that make Olympic athletes great — many “fastest man alive.” overcome formidable challenges just to The feat is all the more stirring because, reach the games. Few survive the rigors, three years earlier, Dillard had been dodging deprivation and dangers of combat only to mortar fire in Italy as part of the U.S. Army’s arrive, like Dillard, at the medals podium a 92nd Infantry Division, a segregated unit mere three years later. known as the “Buffalo Soldiers.” —Megan Harris is a reference specialist in Today, Dillard’s story, told in his own words, the Veterans History Project. is preserved at the Library in the collections of the Veterans History Project. MORE INFORMATION Born in Cleveland, Dillard attended the Veterans History Project same high school as legendary Olympian loc.gov/vets/ 2 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS MAGAZINE OFF THE SHELF the Folklife Center, and interviews she conducted with owners of businesses listed in the Green Book are available on the Library’s website. The Green Book was founded by Harlem postal worker Victor Hugo THE GREEN BOOK Green in 1936 and over the next three decades This guide helped Black became so indispensable travelers navigate the country that it earned the nickname in safety and with dignity. “the Bible of Black travel.” The passage of the Civil For African American travelers of the mid- Rights Act of 1964, however, 20th century, discrimination had no borders. made the book less necessary, and in 1967 ▪ African American it ceased publication. patrons fill the Dew Drop At that time, open and often legal Inn, a nightclub listed in discrimination made it difficult for Blacks to Today, historical copies of the Green Book the New Orleans section travel around not just the South but much provide a record of places that played of the Green Book. of the United States because they couldn’t an important role in the lives of both The club hosted such eat, sleep or buy gas at most white-owned ordinary people and great figures in African great musicians as Ray Charles, James Brown, businesses. American history. Martin Luther King Jr. Etta James and Little previewed his “I Have a Dream” speech The Negro Motorist Green Book helped Richard, who wrote a for associates at the Hampton House in song about the place. them do so in safety and with dignity: The Miami and got haircuts at the Ben Moore American Folklife Center book identified businesses — lodgings, Hotel in Montgomery, Alabama. Cassius Clay restaurants, gas stations and others — celebrated his upset of Sonny Liston — and friendly to Black travelers so they could get met with Malcolm X — at the Hampton’s café. service along the road. Five decades after it ceased publication, “The gift of the Green Book was that it really the Green Book still stands as a milestone did show the communities where Black for African Americans along the road to culture was happening, where there were freedom. Black-owned businesses where you knew you could get services,” said Candacy Taylor, author of “Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in MORE INFORMATION America,” in an interview with the Library’s The Green Book: Documenting African American American Folklife Center. “It was literally a Entrepreneurs lifesaver.” go.usa.gov/xHXND Taylor’s research for the book was funded Podcast with Candacy Taylor in part by an Archie Green fellowship from go.usa.gov/xHnxY JULY/AUGUST 2021 LOC.GOV/LCM 3 ONLINE OFFERINGS THEY’RE A TRIP Travel posters from the golden age still inspire viewers to explore. Great travel art takes you places, even when you haven’t left home. Just by looking, one can feel the color and excitement of Times Square, the sea air in a lush garden in Puerto Rico, the spray from an eruption of Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. The Library holds thousands of travel posters designed to inspire viewers to visit points of interest, to revel in holiday activities and to enjoy the journey itself through various modes of transportation. Many date from the golden age of the travel poster, which began in the 1920s, when travel by land or sea was more common than travel by air. The golden age ended in the 1960s, when photographic imagery and other forms of advertising began to be used more than graphically designed posters. A selection of the Library’s collection of travel posters are available online in the Free to Use and Reuse set; most of these were produced by the Work Projects Administration between 1936 and 1943. These posters, some created for the United States Travel Bureau, celebrated national parks and encouraged all to “See America” — the catchphrase on a number of them. The bureau was established in 1937 to promote travel within the United States. Gifts, purchases and copyright deposit have added to the variety of travel posters in the broader collection. Eye-catching examples made in the U.S. and in other countries ▪ Clockwise from encourage exploration of places near and top left: Vintage travel posters far — still today, an inspiration to pack a bag present an abstract and go explore. view of Times Square; provide a —Jan Grenci is a reference specialist in the look across the bay Prints and Photographs Division.