The first-ever study of state park segregation across the Jim Crow
SouthWinner, J. B. Jackson Book Prize from the Foundation for Landscape
StudiesAward of Merit, American Association for State and Local History
An outgrowth of earlier park movements, the state park movement in the
twentieth century sought to expand public access to scenic places. But
under severe Jim Crow restrictions in the South, access for Blacks was
routinely and officially denied. The New Deal brought a massive wave of
state park expansion, and advocacy groups pressured the National Park
Service to design and construct segregated facilities for Blacks. These
parks were typically substandard in relation to "white only" areas.After
World War II, the NAACP filed federal lawsuits that demanded park
integration, and southern park agencies reacted with attempts to expand
access to additional segregated facilities, hoping they could
demonstrate that their parks achieved the "separate but equal" standard.
But the courts consistently ruled in favor of integration, leading to
the end of state park segregation by the mid-1960s. Even though it has
largely faded from public awareness, the imprint of segregated state
park design remains visible throughout the South.William E. O'Brien
illuminates this untold facet of Jim Crow history in the first-ever
study of state park segregation. Emphasizing the historical trajectory
of events leading to integration, his book underscores the profound
inequality that persisted for decades in the number, size, and quality
of state park spaces provided for Black visitors across the Jim Crow
South.
