What the postcards leave out: 5 moments in history that still echo along Route 66

Route 66 promises what America has always promised: that the next town, the next state, the next mile might be the one where things get better.Stories, photos and travel recommendations from America’s Mother Road But a centennial is as good a time as any to fill in what the predominant narrative often leaves out.The reality is, alongside our favorite tales from the Mother Road, darker moments in history also echo throughout the 2,448-mile stretch.

Here’s what the postcards leave out, and where you can still see remains of these eras today.Between 1935 and 1940, an estimated 200,000 to 250,000 people followed Route 66 west to California.

Tenant farmers from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri who had lost everything to drought, collapsed crop prices and a decade of wind that stripped the topsoil off the plains migrated their families in hopes of survival.They were called “Okies” regardless of where they came from.

California was supposed to be the answer, but when they arrived, the Los Angeles police had set up a “bum blockade” at the state border to keep them out.See what remains today: The Old Trails Bridge in Topock, Ariz., carried Dust Bowl refugees across the Colorado River into California.It’s still standing and open to pedestrians and cyclists.

Forty-four of the 89 counties along Route 66 were sundown towns, communities where it was encouraged for Black people to leave before dark — or else.Route 66 diners, motels and gas stations routinely refused service to Black travelers.

In 1936, a Harlem postal worker named Victor Green began publishing the Negro Motorist Green Book, a guide to the hotels, restaurants and gas stations along the route that would serve Black travelers.More than 1,400 tourist homes (private residences that took in guests when hotels wouldn’t) were listed during the guide’s run.For Black families on Route 66, the Green Book was as essential as a spare tire.

In Tulsa, the Greenwood District was once known as “B...