As hot as it was Saturday, it was a perfect day for a movie. So the free screening of “The Green Book” at the Grand Theater fit the bill for a few history-conscious attendees.

“I saw it listed in ‘Country Roads,’ and thought I would like it, and that the kids would like it,” said Amanda Klisanin, who drove in from Lafayette for the screening with her three teens and one of their friends. “I thought they’d appreciate it.”

Jade Buteaux, promotions manager for Shadows-on-the-Teche, said this is one of two performances planned to tie in with a Smithsonian Institution exhibit open through Nov. 14 in Baton Rouge on the travel guide, directory and societal road map.

“We were going to show the Smithsonian documentary next weekend at the Sliman Theater, but now that looks like it will be a virtual event,” Buteaux said.

The documentary screening was scheduled to be part of a multimedia presentation, which would include a panel discussion of the book and its place in African American culture.

A Harlem postal worker named Victor Green published The Negro Motorist Green Book, or simply The Green Book, in 1936. It was part travel guide and part survival guide, giving its readers the lay of the land as they ventured, often for the first time, out across the American continent.

It listed gas stations, hotels, restaurants and even homes where Black travellers would be welcomed — or at least not victimized. It stayed a relevant part of the Black experience well into the 1960s.

The Bayou Teche Museum, in partnership with The Iberia African American Historical Society and Shadows-on-the-Teche, is sponsoring both events.

For more information, including how to access the virtual presentation next weekend, please call the Bayou Teche Museum at 337-606-5977.