Viggo Mortensen, from left, Peter Farrelly, Linda Cardellini and Mahershala Ali pose in the press room with the award for best motion picture, musical or comedy for "Green Book" at the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards.

Viggo Mortensen, from left, Peter Farrelly, Linda Cardellini and Mahershala Ali pose in the press room with the award for best motion picture, musical or comedy for "Green Book" at the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards. / Invision/Associated Press

The Academy announced the 2019 Oscar nominations Tuesday, and "Green Book" picked up a few nominations. The film was nominated for best picture, best lead actor and best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali. Ali plays black pianist Don Shirley, who toured through the Jim Crow-era South with white nightclub bouncer and driver Frank Vallelonga.

While Shirley's family has denounced the film as inaccurate, "The Negro Motorist Green Book" was a real series of travel guides for black motorists between the 1930s and 1960s. Columnist Cynthia Tucker explored how black travelers relied on the book for a recent article for the Bitter Southerner. She joined "On Second Thought" to discuss the realities of the open road during Jim Crow.

"On Second Thought" host Virginia Prescott speaks with Cynthia Tucker.

Stories like Tucker's are explored on The Bitter Southerner Podcast, a production of GPB and the Bitter Southerner magazine.

 

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