A new exhibit about the Jim Crow era of legal segregation will be on display at the N.C. Transportation Museum in Spencer starting Friday.

The exhibit specifically focuses on sites important to and personal memories about American travel during the Jim Crow era and The Green Book, which was published between 1936 and 1966 and served as a guide for Black Americans. It contained names of hotels, restaurants, service stations, tourist homes, taxi services, barber shops and other various businesses that were considered safe places.

The exhibit on display starting Friday highlights a complex statewide network of business owners and Green Book sites. It will be on display until Feb. 28.

Eight vibrant panels form the traveling exhibit and showcase images of business owners, travelers and historic and present-day images of North Carolina Green Book sites. The words of African American travelers and descendants of Green Book site owners are featured prominently. Each of the stories are from oral histories collected by the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission in 2018 and 2019.

The exhibit will be displayed in the museum’s bumper-to-bumper exhibit, where it will be surrounded by period vehicles and back drops of the time period, creating an immersive visitor experience.

There is no extra fee to see this exhibit. It is available with the museum’s regular admission price of $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and military, and $4 for children 3-12. Ages 2 and under are free. The museum offers online, contact-free ticket purchases.  Tickets can also be purchased onsite at the Barber Junction Visitor Center, where social distancing markers and plexiglass shields will separate staff from visitors.

This exhibit was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services

For more information about the exhibit, call 919-814-6516.