SPOKANE, Wash. — Anthony and Marlie Love moved to Seattle from St. Louis, Mo. in April 2019. The two have been together for more than 20 years and will be celebrating their 10-year wedding anniversary this September.
They originally moved to Seattle for work, but quickly fell in love with the city. The two were even featured on The Drew Barrymore Show as a part of its ‘Hometown Spirit’ series.
But the Loves wanted to see more of what the Pacific Northwest had to offer and began a YouTube channel to document their journey.
The Loves have more than 80 episodes of their show, “Traveling While Black in Seattle” on their YouTube page that includes individual rankings for each city on comfortability for Black people, along with other rankings like fun and driving grade.
Episodes are released every Sunday at 8 a.m. and usually follow a series topic.
They said their channel fills a gap for Black people looking for safe places to eat and live around the Pacific Northwest.
“We googled, like everything, we couldn't really find a resource,” Marlie Love said. “So we said, why don't we just be that resource. We had a background and knowing how to film, he knew how to edit, so we were like hey, we could actually do this and we can help other people that are like us.”
The Loves currently have nearly 3,000 subscribers and 67,000 video views overall. They have also expanded their digital platforms to include content on Instagram and TikTok and have seen viral success.
Along with their various media channels, the couple also created an interactive map of the places they’ve visited along with information on the restaurants, attractions, and outdoor activities available in each city.
Anthony Love said the inspiration for the channel goes further back than their first episode in October 2019.
“Back in the day, we were familiar with the Green Book for Black motorists,” Love said. “And so kind of taking a page out of that, we said, 'hey, since this is a common question that a lot of us people of color have, why not provide a resource that was once provided by that book.'”
The Green Book was created by Victor Hugo Green in 1936. The book was used during the Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras to point out safe spaces for Black travelers.
Eastern Washington University Africana Studies director Anglea Schwendiman said the Green Book was a survival guide for Black people during racial segregation in America.
“This book told you where you could go to eat, sleep and get gas and not feel embarrassed or harassed,” Schwendiman said.
The book began in Harlem, New York, and expanded over the course of 30 years to include safe spaces throughout the country, as well as internationally.
Victor Hugo Green passed in 1960 and the book’s final publication was in 1966 after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 had passed.
Schwendiman said Green had hoped one day the book wouldn’t be needed. His wife, who helped publish the final copy, thought the end of the Civil Rights Era meant the book would signify the end of racial discrimination.
The Loves’ channel proves this is not the case.
As made evident by the Loves’ channel popularity, people are looking to and following this resource as its own version of a modern-day Green Book.