In this Book
- Landscapes of Exclusion: State Parks and Jim Crow in the American South
- Book
- 2015
- Published by: University of Massachusetts Press
summary
During the 1930s, the state park movement and the National Park Service expanded public access to scenic American places, especially during the era of the New Deal. However, under severe Jim Crow restrictions in the South, African Americans were routinely and officially denied entrance to these supposedly shared sites. In response, advocacy groups pressured the National Park Service to provide some facilities for African Americans. William O’Brien shows that these parks were typically substandard in relation to “whites only” areas.
As the NAACP filed federal lawsuits that demanded park integration and increased pressure on park officials, southern park agencies reacted with attempts to expand segregated facilities, hoping they could demonstrate that these parks achieved the “separate but equal” standard. But the courts consistently ruled in favor of integration, leading to the end of segregated state parks by the middle of the 1960s. Even though the stories behind these largely inferior facilities faded from public awareness, the imprint of segregated state park design remains visible throughout the South.
O’Brien illuminates this untold facet of Jim Crow history in the first-ever study of segregation in
southern state parks. His new book underscores the profound inequality that persisted for decades in the number, size, and quality of state parks provided for black visitors in the Jim Crow South.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Series Editor’s Preface
- pp. ix-xii
- Introduction
- pp. 3-18
- 1. Jim Crow Recreation
- pp. 19-40
- 5. Going to Court
- pp. 123-148
- 6. What’s Become of the Parks?
- pp. 149-158
- About the Author
- p. 194
- Back cover
- p. 195
Additional Information
ISBN
9781613763605
Related ISBN(s)
9781625341556
MARC Record
OCLC
929784734
Pages
280
Launched on MUSE
2016-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No