Green Book: Horatio’s Esso Service Station #2 (2021)
Louisiana: The State We're In
Details
Collection:LPB
Genre: Newsmagazine
Place Covered: Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
Copyright Holder: Louisiana Educational Television Authority
Date Issued: 2021-10-22
Duration: 00:04:44
Subjects: African American business enterprises | African Americans | History | Civil Rights | Baton Rouge Bus Boycott, Baton Rouge, La., 1953 | SERVICE STATIONS
Contributors:
- St. Cyr, Kara Host
- Honore, Dalton Interviewee
Description
This segment from the October 22, 2021, episode of the series “Louisiana: The State We’re In” features Kara St. Cyr’s visit to the site of Horatio’s Esso Service Station #2 in Scotlandville in East Baton Rouge, one of the businesses featured in “The Negro Motorists Green Book,” a travel guide that listed locations that were safe for African Americans to visit during segregation. St. Cyr reports that Horatio Thompson was the first African American to own an Esso franchise in the South. She interviews former State Representative Dalton Honore, who discusses the importance of the gas station to the African American community and the important role it played during the 1953 Baton Rouge Bus Boycott. This story is a part of the “Safe Haven: Louisiana’s Green Book” series.