ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Winding through the beauty of downtown St Pete is a warehouse with a glimpse into a window to America’s ugly past.
There's a book on display that, at one time, was a roadmap to refuge to escape the hate happening all around Black Americans. A green book that told them where they could go. And where they couldn’t.
"He created this book at a time when Black people had to be very careful about how to navigate their country during Jim Crow America," Hillary Van Dyke said.
More than half a century ago, Victor Hugo Green’s "Negro Motorist Green Book," was a travel guide that helped Black Americans deal with the racial inconveniences of traveling across the United States. The book even highlighted the safe spots in Tampa and St Petersburg where they could get a hot meal.
"He highlighted everything from gas stations you could go to, where you could stay and what national parks you could camp at," Van Dyke said.
Fast-forward more than half a century later and Van Dyke and Joshua Bean had an idea on how to reframe the scars of America’s past. They decided to do it with the "Green Book of Tampa Bay."
"The Green Book of Tampa Bay is primarily a Black-owned business directory that you can find at greenbooktb.com. We have over 1,000 businesses between Hillsborough and Pinellas listed on there," Van Dyke said.
The website is easy to use. Consumers can search the site by category, such as a hair salon, attorney, restaurant, or insurance. Users can also search by city. As former educators, Van Dyke and Bean saw a need so they thought the best way to help the community would be through economic vitality.
A recent Bloomberg report shows eight out of 10 Black-owned businesses close within 18 months — that's a much higher rate than their peers.
One business already bucking that trend is Thalia Tatham's "House of Vegano" on Central Avenue in St. Pete.
"We specialize in vegan sushi, dumplings, ramen and poke bowls," says Tatham, a former EMT turned executive chef. "No one told me how hard the business is honestly. Which I’m glad they didn’t because now I get to learn as I go," she says with a smile.
The learning curve was quick for Tatham. Soon after House of Vegano was listed for free on The Green Book website, it became one of the hottest tables to score on a Friday or Saturday with her innovative menu and Instagramable cuisine.
"Being a small business owner and we don’t have a huge marketing budget so for people doing word of mouth and to have the Green Book in their catalog so that people know about us is huge," she said.
Van Dyke is quick to point out that success always finds quality businesses like Tatham's. The Green Book website just helps give it a boost. She also points out this version of the Green Book is not meant to be charitable. Instead, it wants us all to be intentional with the local businesses we support.
"If you look at any of the economic indicators in Tampa Bay you can see that Black folk and their businesses and wages, even when highly educated, are lower than other people and so for us it was a way for us to even the playing field and let Tampa Bay residents be more intentional about how their spend their money so that we’re spreading the wealth to everyone," she said.