Transcripts For CSPAN3 The Green Book African American Tourism 20240713

Local officials discussed efforts of raising awareness of africanamericans. This took place at the annual conference in denver. Good afternoon and welcome. My name is aster liverman here in denver. It is my pleasure and honor to introduce our speaker for this session wholl present aspects beyond the green book african travel. Ranging from a personal colorado stories to sites across the country. To the far left, let me welcome our colorado native, gary jackson who grew up in denver before attending the university of redland and california, he earned his doctorate at boulder. He was assigned to the civil division, district of colorado before entering private practice in 1976. In 1982, he cofounded the firm of demana and jackson, a partnership that continues to the Denver County court bench of january of 2013. Gary has been recognized as a colorados super lawyer. Colorado Bar Association award of merit and among others. In 2018, the institute recognized gary for excellence county court judge of the year. The honorable judge jackson preside in the Denver County court. Next, i would like to introduce denise e. Gilmore, the senior director of the office of social justice and Racial Equity for the city of birmingham, alabama. Her work of the birmingham civil rights monument, the National Monument includes landmark such as the Baptist Church and 16th street Baptist Church. The National Park service in the city of birmingham have partnered in a major restoration. Her early career of the preservation focusing on a tool for revitalization, using tools to facilitate Historic Properties and redevelopment. She served as president and ceo of the Jazz District Redevelopment Corporation in kansas city, missouri and on the board of black archives. She earned her master degree from mississippi administratibu. She works with local state and federal entities as well as other interested parties to preserepr preserve and educate the public. I would like to turn it to judge jackson at this time. Welcome to colorado. As you can see in colorado, you can go from 20 degrees to 70 degrees in one day. So welcome to colorado. As indicated i have been a lawyer and a judge now for 49 years. I am a member of colorados historic family and thats what i would like to talk about. Our family called the Scott Jackson family have been in colorado since 1996. My great grandfather was apart of a great migration from the south to the north. He came from missouri to colorado in 1926 to visit a son who was in fifth semmon hospital. His son had been injured in world war i fighting the germans. That was the reason why his son was in the hospital. He eventually died in that hospital. William pi william pits was a carpenter by trade. Once he arrived in colorado, he decided to stay in colorado. My grate grandfather was a visionary. Upon reaching colorado, he decided to purchase several lots in the north cherry creek area which to those that are familiar with denver, it is now considered to be one of the most exclusive residential areas in colorado. Back in 1926, it was near the city dump. Because it was near city dump, poor families can be a lot cheap because it was next to the dump. My great grandfather bought three lots at that time. Being a visionary, he also bought several lots at Lincoln Hills. Well talk about Lincoln Hills in a minute. My great grandfather built three homes at cherry creek and several camps at Lincoln Hills. Lincoln hills was created by a development company, there were two men, there were some questions whether they were black or white. My great grandfather was very fair skin and that because of his fair complexion that enabled him to do certain things dark skin black people would not be able to do. As my proposition of the two developers who purchased the property in Lincoln Hills which was about 100 acres were more than likely too fair skin black men. They applaudplotted that territo about 600 lots that were eventually sold to black people across the nation, from new york to chicago. The lots were advertised and Lincoln Hills was advertised in magazine and such as ebony and jet. Thats how people found out about Lincoln Hills. What must be remembered back in the 1920s when this land was purchased and platted. The colorado was divided and segregated. This was the area where black people can buy mountain property. One of the reasons they were able to purchase this property was because the property had been by silver and mining. It was property that nobody wanewa wanted. The kkk had a big influence in denver. Lincoln hills was the only black owned Recreation Area west of mississippi. Lincoln hills like marthas vineyards, American Beach in florida were similar in their appeal. They were a second home to those black families who could afford to buy property. Lincoln hills was visited by black entertainer, such as lewis armstrong, lena horn, by writer such as Langston Hughes and political civil rights figure, whitney young. Whitney would come to Lincoln Hills on his way in aspen, colorado, to be involved in the think tank. The entertainers would come to entertain on five points and then they would come to Lincoln Hills to rest and recreate. They were not there to entertain but to rest and enjoy the colorado wilderness. Lincoln hills was supported by a number of black churches in the denver. Those black churches would gather on memorial day and 4th of july and labor day. Weeks pan orama which was a lode that was built of Lincoln Hills. It had six bedrooms. The resort had 17 cabins that were rented out between memorial day and labor day. You are probably asking the question why only between memorial day and labor day . Well, you saw the snow storm yesterd yesterday. Dirt roads going up in the mountains. Up in that area during the winter time, there could be three or four feet of snow. It is only operated during the summer months. During the summer months, as many as 5,000 visitors and guests would come to the resort. Lincoln hills along with the tavern and panorama were a monument and a testament to the in gener spirit of black americans. The builder of the lodge was a value citizen. During his tenure from 1926 to 1965, thats when he passed away, he not only operated the hotel but he was the Deputy Sheriff and a forest ranger and those were some of the responsibility as well as being an assistance postmaster. Lincoln hills was a part of the American Dream for black families. It was a recreational spot that was safe and secure. It existed in the county which welcome black families such as my family. Our cabin which i am going to start showing you some slides of. For us, our cabin is a symbol of the American Dream to my family. To my great grandfather, william pits, it was pitts, it was a shelter for hard time. For me and my extended family, it is a center for family gatherings and apart of our american success story. So at this point, what ill like to do is just to show you some slides of our cabin and the way it looks from 1926 to present day. So that slide right there is basically a slide of my great grandfather, family and relatives that were creating the foundation of our cabin. The second is a similar slide showing family and friends that were helping to build the cabin. Now, there it is. There is the cabin after it was built. It was probably about 300 square feet. You can see that the foundation of the cabin is basically river rock from the creek that passes in front of our cabin. Thats South Boulder creek. This is another view of the cabin. There are many Family Members in front of the cabin. There is the familys car that was driven from our north cherry creek home back in the 20s and 30s up to the cabin. There is another view of the cabin and at the top right hand corner was a photograph of my grandmother and grandfather. Thats a photograph of them. Look at the two cars, you think about back in those days because the road was gravelled. It took 2. 5 hours, three hours to get from denver up to the location. Three days ago trying to get in front of that winter storm. I drove toup to the cabin and tn off the water so the pipes were not through. There is our cabin. Thats a western view of it. There is my aunt. My aunt is frazier scott. She honey mooned at that cabin at 1964. That was a photograph of her in 1972 which shes wearing a big fro. Thats my aunt frazier. And there is another photograph, this is a photograph of teenage girls. My mother was apart of those teenage girls that went through a black, ywca camp in Lincoln Hills. My mother at 13 years of age diaried and she had a diary and she would write in her diary, she has been writing in this diary from the age of 12 to the age of shes now 94. Her diary, notes have been published in this manuscript that she wrote and selfpublished ten years ago. This is a manuscript of her precious memory. The next photograph, what i like about this next paragraph is the bottom photograph is a photograph of my brother and i at the age of five and four in 1950s. The top photograph is my great two nephews at five and four at 2016, playing in front. That photograph is a photograph of a plaquer that i obtained from the 2008 National Democratic convention when barack obama was named as the candidate for the democratic party. I took that placard up to our cabin and we displayed that placard every time we open up the cabin. That is my great nephew. You see how his arms are crossed . Wakanda from the black panther. Thats my little nephew. The next paragrahotograph is a photograph of the lodge. In front of that is a signage that was created by an eagle scout. Around that signage are four prominent friends of mine. The only black District Court judge in colorado. Another is a photograph of one of the founders of the James Mountain club. A Mountain Club of the people in denver, started in 1993 that wanted to come to the colorado wilderness, hike, fish and crosscountry and snow chute. The other individual is the chairman of the board of our black western museum. The next photograph once again is black people on a hike through the Roosevelt National forest which was right back of winx lodge. The important of that photograph is in open county and Lincoln Hills, we felt safe, we felt secure, and there were no danger to us in that particular county, that particular area and the leader of that hike is a black doctor, rashard booker, thats another photograph of our wylie daniel, u. S. Judge. That photograph is a photograph of black scholars. I am a member of the fraternity, it is a black professional fraternity. We provide scholarships for 43 black students. These are student that is are going to college across the nation. They are gathered together on robert Smith Mountain property in Lincoln Hills. Robert smith, the black billionaire that many of you heard about has a Mountain Home in Lincoln Hills. So, you have seen my cabin and now robert smith didnt have a cabin, he got a Mountain Home. That photograph, robert smith is right in the middle of that photograph with his Business Partner, matthew burquette. Hes the gentleman in the light green next to the other gentleman in the white outfit. Thats robert smith and matthew surrounded by our scholars. There is my granddaughter. You can see the joy that she has in coming to our cabin and that to me is just a part of whats important about our story. Then lastly, thats how the cabin looked last november during the snow storm. As you can see we proudly display the American Flag because that American Flag before us is letting people know that we are home and that you are welcome to come to our cabin. So thank you so much. [ applause ] thank you. It is a pleasure to be with you this afternoon to share the history, the inspiration and the aspiration. Again, as said in my introduction, i have the honor to serve the senior director of Racial Equity in the office of the mayor woodfin. I invite you to travel back in time with me, just to discover the full significance of the Ag Gaston Motel. The work that i am leading in birmingham in collaboration with stake holders and with the National Parks service is to preserve the Ag Gaston Motel but recognizing it is indeed a site of social justice and equality. The Ag Gaston Motel serves to preserve and confront a period of the United States history where racial terror was accepted and often imposed by the instrumentalities of the state. It helps us examine how the legacy of racial segregation permeates through society even today. As a site of conscious, the city of birmingham recognizes and embraces the power of place. The Ag Gaston Motel sits literally in the middle of sacred ground where the struggles for sifcivil rights t place in segregated birmingham. We envision the Ag Gaston Motel as a place of reflection, restoration and renewal. So, before we talk about the motel, who was this ag gaston . Who was he . We have to truly the significance of this man to understand the significance of the motel. He was born in alabama, july 4th, 1892. He had a tenth grade education. His father died when he was young. He was raised by his mother who was a domestic. Now some of you anyway not know what know may not know what it means. That means she cooks and cleans and wipes people homes. So a. G. Gaston served in world war i and when he came back he did what most people did that was being fuelled by the iron and steel mills. He went to work in the mining village. When he was working there, he noticed some things early on. First of all, his mother was a really good cook. She would prepare lunches for him and the guys he worked with they did not have a lunch so they would say i will pay you if i can buy your lunch off of you. So he caught on and he started saying if we can make some lunches, i can sell them and we can make money. So he started selling lunches to the men in the mines. And the other thing he noticed that on friday night when everybody want to go out and party, most of the guys had already squandered their wages, he did not squander his. He saved his. He decided he would loan these guys a dollar and they would pay 25 interest so he would get 1. 25 cents back. So from there he also then continued overtime that he recognized that a lot of the poor black people, in fact, mostly poor black people could not afford to bury their loved ones. There would be a collection box asking the people to come to the funeral to contribute so that these people can be buried. He decided that he was going to start a Burial Society and sell policies so people would be able to bury their loved ones with dignity. From there, he started an insurance company, a funeral home, a bank. He bought a office building, a radio station. His motto was find the need and fill it. If you can imagine that a. G. Gaston in the 1950s was a black millionaire. Think of that period of jim crow and segregation and he was able to find a need and sort things that the black community needed. So then we fast forward to the top picture was a postcard that was used in the 50s to advertise a. G. Gaston. In 1951, a. G. And his wife were in oxford, england. While he was there, he learned the sunday school class and National Baptist union was coming to birmingham. He knew that many people coming to birmingham, there would be no combinations for them. He decided right then in there that he was going to build a motel. He came back to birmingham and he traveled all throughout to look at different motels and at the time, the premier motel that you would want to model was a holid holiday inn. He determined that he was going to build a motel for black people that was going to rival the holiday inn. He talked to a lot of people and everybody was like oh, i think thats a good idea and everybody thought it was a good idea but guess what . Nobody would put up any money. And so he decided to go in it alone. He acquired the property at fifth avenue at 16th street north, he hired architects and Financial Advisors and all the people he needed on his team to build this motel. He built this lavish, state of the art hotel for 300,000. Remember that number. For 300,000, he built the a. G. Gaston motel. He built it because he determined black people not only in birmingham but traveling through the south deserves to have a first class place to stay. At that point as they work through this when the gaston opened, on july 1st, 1954, it had 32 airconditioned rooms. Fully airconditioned. It opened just in time for the Baptist Convention where of course 10,000 people came to birmingham, not all was accommodated. It was described as the finest motel of the south. The official grand opening was held and the entire community was invited to be apart of the celebration. It truly, truly was the pride of the black community. The gaston motel was created to have a place of dignity and respect for black people. As we move on and in the 1960s, if gaston motel would go onto become the central Gathering Place for the Civil Rights Movement in birmingham. The a. G. Gaston motel is the site where dr. Martin luther king and other civil rights leaders met in the war room to plan the protest and amarches. Dr. King addressing the crowd in the courtyard of the motel. We know that what happened in birmingham changed the world. Again, Iconic Images in our collective memory, the press conference from this Historic Site but as well as that, we had these images. Brutal images. Theyre called the conscious of america to really consider all men are indeed created equal. We in birmingham know that to tell the full story of the struggle for civil rights and for equality through our historical lens serve as a guide post for social justice. We look at this work through the lens of cultural reservatio reservatioreservation reservation preservations. Respect cultural preservation. Thats the first thing we must start, recognizing these sites being honored and respected. Through the Cultural Heritage, we know thats an expression of the way people live and the things they value and traditions and customs and things that were passed from generation to generation. We know order to stand up and revitalizes Historic Places, we have to maintain cultural authenticity, it cant look like anywhere usa. It can not. Birmingham, there was a question about place making. This is as sense of place already, we dont have to try to create a history or create a meaning. It is there. We need to embrace it and restore it. We look at preservation as building around cultural legacy and around the arts and creating activities to help rebuild the neighborhood for the people who liv live there. You know by now kind of a real love and passion for making sure that the people who live in a Community Get to stay in the community once it is revitalized and they are not displaced through or outside interests that determines what that community should look like. We know that in order to revive Economic Opportunity that we can do that through Cultural Heritage tourtourism, we know is to add value to the local economy. People travel to places, why . To have an experience. Not just to see a building or a place but to have a sense of what were the people like that were in that place. What were their messages for us as we move forward . We know millennials theyre not about looking at places. They have to have the experience. We honor that. As were shared in the introduction, the main focus right now for the city of birmingham is standing up the birmingham civil rights monument. It was created by president barack obama, january 12th, 2017. You may wonder is there anything significant about that . Well, it was one week before he left office. We literally then, we challenged to stand up the National Monument in a different political environment shall i say. It is a Collaborative Partnership between the nasdatil Parks Service to restore the a. G. Gaston hotel. Its purpose is to preserve and interpret the stories and events and the places associated with the 1963 struggle for civil rights and ultimately propel civil rights to the forefront of the american conscious. And so now we are going through the restoration of the a. G. Gaston motel. These are just some of the pictures of we did a mock up in january through june. That was to look at the historic treatment and to help us understand, we started the restoration effective september but we talk about equity a lot and you may heard somebody throughout the conference, i am sure you heard equity. What is equity look like when you are working in neighborhoods and working on the ground . The picture of the four gentlemen, the guy that had the four shirts on. He worked for a. G. Gaston. He repaired the wall when the bomb blast was set off at the a. G. Gaston motel. Construction company is a Legacy Company of a. G. Gaston. It is a Minority Owned Company and theyre the ones that we have in trusted to do the restoration, thats equity. We know that through the proce process, you can see the historic store front and you can see what it looks like when it is done. You can see the Current Conditions right then. So you cant see this one picture very well but thats mayor woodfin in silhouette, hes standing in the room of the a. G. Gaston motel. We took that picture because our hope was that we can have him go back and stand in the same room after it was fully restored and well have a before and after, you can see also the timeline. So the mayors efforts to create a just and eck quidable city. We envision a social Justice Center at the a. G. Gaston. So the very site where civil rights leaders gathered to plan and strategize freedom and rights. We envision people can come together again and how either through scholars or training that we can create these opportunities to engage social justice minded advocates. The city of birmingham seeks to activate the a. G. Gaston motel so it can once again be the community Gathering Place for social justice enlighten and for change. Lastly, i would thank you and i invite you to stay on this journey. You can follow us on the city of birminghams social media platform and one little commercial is that our social Justice Office started a newsletter if you would like to receive that, just email me and well add you to that distribution. Thank you so much for your interest in the a. G. Gaston motel. [ applause ] good afternoon, i kind of wish i went first so i would not have to follow these great speakers. Anyway, now you get to hear from the boring historia historia. A story of struggle and community and triumph. While recreation is trivial to this experience i do not pretend this is one of the more pressing of the negro problem, it is becoming more and more sew and of all times and places, the matter method in extent of the peoples recreation is a vast importance to their welfare. This issue of recreation remained relevant today. I thought it was interesting in one of the panels yesterday the speaker talked about the africanamerican population is declining. One of the things he cited it was being attributed to lack of recreational spaces. Again, today i heard that talked about the importance of parks and Outdoor Recreation to urban restoration. It is an important factor to consider. This is why i am here today under the direction of the midwest region historian who recently retired. The project is being carried out through a cooperative agreement with the organization of american historians. Through a Research Team comprised of scholars from the university of virginia and Virginia Tech led by dr. Andrew carl who some of you know his work and dr. Caton. National landmark designation and a digital component. This project is being funded through the National Parks service in civil rights funding initiative. This is part of the Cultural Resource fund and it is an initiative that supports projects within the National Parks Service Sites associated with africanamerican civil rights and experiences and reconstruction and the american Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century and beyond. There is also an external program which my colleague astrid will briefly mention later. I think it is an exciting opportunity for the National Parks service because it is providing the opportunity to tell an inclusive diversity. At sites you dont normally associate with being relevant to africanAmerican History. So today i am going to try to provide context to what my other panelists discussed earlier. This idea of Outdoor Recreations is not just of interest to me professionally but i have a personal connection to this history. My mother grew up in an africanamerican resort town outside of los angeles. It was founded in 1924, called the black palm springs. Lets talk about this larger contact. We cant begin to talk about this larger contact without talking about racism and segregation. This is the context when you think of Outdoor Recreation. This included inclusion or allowing limited access to these spaces. Why we tend to associate Racial Discrimination in the south, it existed across the United States especially when it came to places of recreation. An article that appeared in 1952 read, it has not been all sunshine and flowers for colored travelers. Many have been jim crowed and segregated and rebuffed as they go into this fair land of the country. Even the National Parks service participated in this discrimination. Individual cases can be handled, although this is awkward but organized parties could not be taken care of. While we cant openly discriminate against them, they should be told that the park had no facility to take care of them. It does not seem so bad when you consider other times of violent racial conflicts arose when africanamericans attempted to access these spaces, some are represented on this slide right here. And i would like to focus on one event in particular because this year also marks the 100th anniversary of the red summer of 1819. It was a year characterized by the eruption of antiblack mob violence across the nation. I want to give some brief background. How many of you are aware of the summer of 1918. It was a year of big cultural and change and transformation. Soldiers were returning to world war i demanding america to live up its ideal and promises. It was a passage by Congress Giving women the right to vote. It would not be ratified until the 1920s. The labor party which really is a disguise for antiimmigration right, hidden under this great fear that communist is going to pose in the United States. There was a rising unemployment, dominance are being threat on a number of fronts. One of the manifestation we see a lot of riots during the summer. The chicago race riot of 1919, which you see a picture there in the upper left hand corner. This riot started in response to an event that happened on july 27th in which an africanamerican teenager named Eugene Williams was swimming on a beach home in michigan and he was killed because he crossed an in visible line dividing quote the black beach from the white beach beach. His death was followed by five days of violence in which the state militia had to be called in. In the end, 23 africanamericans were killed, 15 whites. There were hundreds injured and the majority were africanamericans. His sister wrote a letter to the Family Member explaining the death. I must tell you eugene is dead, he got killed in the lake on sunday by a mob of whites stealing stones. They started all the trouble we were having. Everything is sad here. Ten years later, tensions in chicago remained high. The tribune suggested that black people should avoid recreational sites all together. We should be doing no service to the negroes, to a large section of the white population, the presence of a negro have and well behaved among white bathers is an irritation. This may be a regrettable fact to the negroes but it must be reckon k. Their presence are resented. Whites did not want them to have access to these opportunity periods. Africanamerican resorts are destroyed before they even open. And so in one of the things, because you are thinking why dont they want them to have spaces of their own . It goes back to how do you create racial and inferiority. It was a source of anxiety for whites. And this was not just a fear of racial mixing or contamination. I just have to tell you guys a quick story. I used to work for a university before i came to a park service. The professor would ask his students to do oral history interview to look at the experience of africanamericans when they went home for a break. If they live in a town that did not have africanamericans, they can interview an old white person and ask them about their relation in town. This one girl interviewed her grandmother who was white. She was talking about the city pool. She proceeded to explain that the reasons that they did not allow africanamericans to attend to pool and swim in the pool was not because they were racist, it was because africanamericans had syphilis so this idea of contamination was an important part of uttering but controlling the black population and say there is something about them that was contaminating. And so but it was not a fear of either of these things or contamination but a black progress. When we think about segregation, we need to think of a means of social control that works to define, construct and regulate public spaces in way of racial equality. The social order can be contained by restricting plaqbl spatially and socially and economically. This brings me finally is the green book. Because it was this sort of racism that necessitated the green book. The introduction read there will be a day sometimes in the near future when this guy will not have to publish, thats when we as a race will have equal opportunities and privileges in the United States, it will be a great day for us to suspend publication for then we can go where ever we please and without embarrass embarrassment. Until that day comes, well continue to publish this information for your convenience each year. The green book was published from 1836 to 1967. It was started by a new york ne postal worker named victor hugo green, who you see pictured, excuse me, here. The travel guide targeted a growing black middle class and featured various establishment black automobile travelers might have need of. Automobile is an important symbol of freedom. Traveling by car took on extra significance for africanamericans. George schuyler, an africanamerican author, said, quote, all negros who can do so, purchase an automobile as soon as possible. While automobile travel guaranteed that africanamericans would not experience racism and discrimination within the mode of transportation itself unlike traveling by, you know, train or bus, this was not guaranteed once they exited the vehicle. So the green book provided important guidance. Initially, the book only contained listings for new york. The businesses featured were not necessarily black owned. They were also white businesses that accepted black patronnage. The guide actually became national in 1938. And just to give some local perspective, listings for colorado began appearing in the green book in 1939. In addition to featuring what were considered, quote, friendly businesses, some editions listed by state the laws on discrimination as they applied to places of accommodation and recreation. Even in states that had laws prohibiting Racial Discrimination establishment found ways to skirt these laws and one of the ways they did this was claiming to be a private establishment instead of a place of public accommodation. So, for instance, i live in omaha right now. There was a big Amusement Park called peony park. When the government when the local State Government mandated that they desegregated, they closed it down and turned themselves into a private club so that africanamericans would not be able to patronnize the Amusement Park. In the same year that the guide became national, the green book started featuring what was called a dedicated summer resort section. Separate resort areas had developed across the country and not just because of racism, but they were places whereas the judge said africanamericans could feel safe and secure. These resorts were capitalizing on a growing industry. And they were done, facilitated by both black and white entrepreneurs. And this was very important for africanamericans to have these kind of summer resorts where they could go to, places of respite, particularly as the population was becoming increasingly urban, because they needed spaces outside of the city where they could go to. It seems that in the 1940s, the green book actually published a separate vacation guide all together. And we see this because how many of you visited the New York Public Librarys digital collections . They have digitized all the collections of the green book and from 1949, while the main edition does not have a resort section, theres a separate booklet just dedicated to vacations. However in the 1950s, this section again reappears as part of the main booklet as the vacation section. The only resort in colorado to be listed is the one in Lincoln Hills that the judge talked about. While the resort was established in the 1920s, it doesnt appear in the guide until 1951. Not only is it the only resort listed in colorado, it is the only resort listed in the great plains in the green book. So this example points out while the green book is an important historical source it has geographic and temporal limitations we need to keep in mind. Therefore we need to look at other sources because theres lot more than whats in the green book. One example thats keend of local. Take, for instance, daearfield, colorado. Has anyone been there . Oh, great. Its approximately 60 miles from denver. It began as an africanamerican homestead communities in the early 1910s. When the town started to decline in the 1920s, dearfield was promoted as a value resort to attract visits as a break from city life, hunting, fishing and dancing. You see the dance pavilion, the lodge there, the gas station, which was very important. But i think its also important to point out that the green book was not the only travel fwied aimed at africanamericans. There are several other ones that have been digitized and are available through that New York Public Library collection. Check out these digital collections, look for your town and see if any places are listed. In rural places, they list tourist homes and places africanamericans could find a place to stay. Travel information was also provided in africanamerican periodicals such as journals, magazines and newspapers. The crisis, which was a publication of the naacp published its vacation number in august. Vacation destinations, the magazine also solicited from its readers, asking them to write about their positive experiences at hotels, boarding houses and camping spots. In 1917, they even held a cash prize essay contest for the best summer i ever spent, and the submissions were published in the magazine. I looked at some of these submissions and i was hoping as a researcher, looking for information, that the writers didnt embellish too much on their best summer experiences so i would get a false impression of some of the places that theyre talking about. Another great guide to looking at where africanamericans vacation is ebony magazine that the judge also mentioned Lincoln Hills was also featured in. Beginning in the 1940s, ebony magazine published a vacation guide in june or july and also a winter vacation guide in january. I dont know how many people were vacationing in january, but they still published that guide. Another great source about where africanamericans were traveling is the africanamerican newspapers. The history of africanamerican vacationing dates back before the end of slavery and, really, people dont think about africanamericans vacationing before the civil war. I think its something important to consider. Here are several advertisements that appeared in africanamerican antislavery newspapers. And i think there are interesting things to consider, these advertisements. Not all of these businesses are black owned, right . A lot of them are white owned. So the willingness of these businesses to advertise in black abolitionist newspapers meant they were willing to be aligned and associated with the publicati publications. Which was very controversial for the period. This newspaper was coedited by maria marianne. For someone to advertise in this, theyre really saying i agree, right . We see this today in media. Advertisers pull their advertisements when somebody what . When the rhetoric is a little too much for them. So, you see the same thing. So the willingness of these businesses, advertisers saying we are willing to be aligned with this kind of rhetoric and antislavery cause. So now im going to talk about just a few of the destinations, these early destinations that africanamerican travelers went to. One of the earliest is cape may, a seaside resort located in new jersey. Pictured here is steven smith, a free, wealthy africanamerican. He was an important operative on the underground railroad in philadelphia. He and his Business Partner used their rail cars to transport freedom seekers or runaway slaves to canada. So this is one of the rare cases where the underground railroad was really a railroad, right . In 1846, he built the summer home in cape may. In the 1960s, the home was slated for demolition under an urban renewal program. Efforts to preserve the home were ultimately successful. The home was restored and has several historic designations, the National Register of Historic Places and is part of the cape may Historic District and is listed in the program i work for, the National Underground Railroad Network to freedom. I had to say that. The civ it was the only place where africanamericans could find places to stay in cape may at that time. An advertisement appeared in the christian recorder and it, quote, says has been opened for the accommodation of ladies and gentlemen who may wish to spend a portion of their summer months in a spot removed from the heat and hustle and bustle of city life. The hotel attracted the black elite, but that was until it started to fall in disrepair and faced increasing competition as other hotels favored to africanamericans after the civil war and it ultimately closed. Really small, where the arrow is pointing, it was standing until 1940. Unlike the smith house, it was not able to survive the urban renewal. So it no longer stands. Its important to know that cape may continued to be a destination for africanamerican s even today. Theres a listing of cape may and several different establishments that africanamericans could go to. The next one i would like to talk about is Harpers Ferry in west virginia. And its now a National Park service site. It might be considered one of the earliest examples of heritage tourism destinations for africanamericans, because in addition to the Natural Beauty of west virginia, one of the reasons it became a popular destination is because it was the site of john browns raid in 1959. And its important to look at the site. As the nation fought over the public meaning or what the collective meaning of the civil war would be, africanamericans memorialized brown as a martyr to the cause. They were making a very public statement. While everybody else was disagreeing what the war was about, this were saying this war had been about slavery. Among the places where africanamericans could attain accommodations during the summer months here was store college, which provided Educational Opportunities for africanamericans after the war. However, emblematic of the increasingly jim crow se segregation, a college that also allowed white borders attempted to exclude africanamericans all together, even though they had been going to the college for vacation right after the civil war. Whats interesting is that one of the activists, j. R. Clifford. I dont know if you know him, and i dont have enough time to go into who he was. He was from d. C. , part of the black elite from d. C. He started protesting against them trying to close the school to africanamericans during the summer. And he warned them, this is the wrong move. This will not be good for the school. And he was ultimately right. As a result of this, the school began to decline. Africanamericans no longer began attending the school. They didnt just stop coming for vacation. They stopped coming to the school and ultimately the school closed. It showed that africanamericans were at a very early time understanding their Consumer Power in a way that would be increasingly important to them during the great depression, after that. Thats what really broke open the doors to desegregation, is africanamericans realizing their Consumer Power. Another place for accommodation was hilltop house, which is also pictured here at the bottom that shows john browns raid on harp ers ferry. Whats interesting is they were kind of like hotel entrepreneurs in Harpers Ferry. This was not the only hotel that the family operated. They also operated what was called the lockwood house. That was operated by his parents in the 1880s. He built this hotel here in, excuse me, 1888 and rebuilt it in 1912 and 1919, after it was destroyed by fire twice. But the hotel catered to both blacks and whites. In the picture you see here is from 1914. So, of course, its of the 1912 hotel. The hotel closed in 2008. Of course, it was no longer owned by the family but it had stood that long. It only closed because it was starting to decay, fall down. The ruins are still there and Still Standing in part. And un right now there are efforts to restore it, but its not eligible they dont think its eligible for historic designation because of all the changes that occurred during those years but maybe theyll find Something Different when they go through this restoration process. The last resort im going to talk to you about is arundel on the bay and highland beach. Its located in maryland. It was established in 1892 by major charles douglass. He created the resort after he and his wife experienced discrimination after visiting another maryland resort. He was able to purchase a beachfront property from another africanamerican family and he started catering to the black elite. One of the other most notable residents because his own family was mary church terrell, big in the National Association of colored women. One of the first homes he built was, of course, for his father, but Frederick Douglass is said to have never gotten the opportunity to enjoy the home because he died in 1895 before the home was completed. But the home is listed on the National Register. This resort does not appear in the green book. And i think its quite purposeful. If you look at highland beach, they always try to maintain their exclusivity and that they were part of the elite. Theres even articles in the newspaper with charges against them, trying to become less exclusive and they kind of maintain their ground and say no. This is who its for. Were not they didnt advertise. They didnt want this information to get out. But its still a resort community to this day and descendents of Frederick Douglass, who have combined with pook booker t. Washington, they still have associations with with the resort. We talked about the guides. One of the things i would like to close with, these advertisements and other travel literature might tell you about the described. Those places are telling you where you should go, not necessarily where people actually went. So where do we find this information . It would be great if we had diaries like the one that the judge has. I was so jealous when he brought that out. But its often not the case, right . A lot of people didnt write diaries chronically in their vacation experiences. If they did, theyre not in the repositories that we go to. One of the sad things ive seen is older africanamericans die and people put their stuff on the street. Weve lost so much history due to that process. Somebody said one of their things is they go kind of dumpster diving and theyve rescued so many treasures from the trash. But one of the ways we do find information is in the Society Pages of black newspapers. Theyre one of the best sources for finding this information. Ill just tell you, i get lost in these Society Pages. You find so many details of daytoday activities of africanamericans, including where theyre vacationing, who their Family Members were. It also includes, when you look at it not only where people are going to, but where theyre coming from. I live, as she said, in omaha. I was reading the africanamerican newspaper in omaha. I was like, i would never come to vacation in omaha. No, no, no. But it was surprising reading that. Im sorry, omaha. It really is a great place. But people dont think of people comeing to vacation in omaha. When i live in omaha, people always ask me, are there any africanamericans in omaha . I think this newspaper helps to detract from that preconceived notion of what omaha is. I would like to share some of some interesting things that i found in my research so far. This project is in its infancy. So these things are merely anecdotal at this point. I would like to follow up on them. The length of vacations. Im surprised how long people are taking vacations for, monthlong vacations are normal, seemingly, in some of these newspapers. And we dont think about people taking vacations that long, particularly people these are not rich people. Not just the elite, but kind of normal, everyday, middleclass africanamericans are taking monthlong vacations. What was giving them the opportunities and the ability to take these vacations . Because i cant imagine taking a monthlong vacation right now. While much of the vacationing is about visiting friends and fami family, africanamericans really seem to be health conscious. Talking about in the context of the Travelers Health and wellbeing, further suggested by the fact that some of the most popular destinations are springs, including Colorado Springs here. Its interesting. These springs are believed to have therapeutic, helpful in treating sicknesses and diseases. Another spring thats popular is hot springs in arkansas, right outside kansas city and whats also interesting is that black doctors are kind of taking working vacations to these places. And i didnt realize that these springs offered medical training on different medical techniques that doctors could use. We see a lot of that. And one of the last things that i think is most important for the National Park service is this idea that africanamericans dont visit National Parks and dont have a history of it. Its probably a false conception. The Society Pages suggest that they were popular destination. Again in looking at omahas africanamerican newspaper, people are going to National Parks virtually theres no mention of a season of vacationing that doesnt mention them going to a National Park. And we also see a lot of advertisements for National Parks offering excursions through either greyhound or amtrak. I dont think we, as an agency, have come to grapple with that, you know, because we just have this idea that black people dont visit National Parks. So in conclusion, i just want to say that the early history of africanamerican travel and vacationing suggests that equality has been waged on a variety of fronts. Even in the face of these ongoing struggles, africanamericans still found ways to enjoy life. They have not disappeared completely from the landscape or historical memory. It is important that we continue to identify and explore these places and stories for the important history that they represent. Thank you. [ applause ] we have just a few minutes for questions, and i dont want to take away from that, but if anyone there are Grant Funding opportunities through both the National Park service and the National Trusts for preservation of this type of resources. I have one page information sheets on these grant opportunities. So, please come see me if you are interested. And also i hope it would be good news for everyone if youre not familiar with this project that the winks pan ramma lodge is moving forward for National Historic landmark nomination at this time and theres a National Register for a property named Coronado Lodge in pueblo, which was listed in the green book, for National Register nomination. I would prefer if you have questions, please come to the podium here. I dont want to take away from the opportunity to answer questions with folks. No one has questions . Okay, perfect. So when you look at the green book and you look at the listings that are in there and, you know, of course everyone always thinks of the south as being the spot where it was so difficult to travel. And in the movie that is referenced to this catalog, of course, they have quite a bit of difficulty in the south and unfortunately in kentucky, which is where im from. But if a community doesnt have any type of listings at all, as it usually recommended that you avoid that area, or does that say that that community didnt concern themselves with that or i think if they werent listed, it was quite dicey. Yeah. But i dont think not being listed meant that they would be willingly accept you, particularly in kentucky, you know, some of those places. There are places they still dont want me either. Yeah. I dont think the lack of not being in there is indicating you would have been welcomed with open arms. And i would just add to that, back then a lot of people, especially when blacks travel, they stayed in each others homes. They stayed in churches. So the fact that there might not have been a listing didnt mean that there werent places that they knew they were welcome to go for lodging and for entertainment as well. Great. Thank you. We have time for maybe one more question, unfortunately. While theyre thinking of their question i just wanted to add one thing that i forgot to share with you. When i asked you to remember the 300,000 that a. G. Gaston built the motel with, what i forgot to share with you is that the city of birmingham is investing 10 million for the restoration of the a. G. Gaston motel. [ applause ] im with sweet autumn works in virginia. I love your passion for what you do. Ive been looking for some assistance in atlantas historic Stock Car Club for africanamericans, if youre familiar. There was a country club in lithonia speed way and country club that catered to this Cottage Industry of recreationalist, rich africanamericans in the middle of the 20th century. I would love to know, are there cohort Stock Car Clubs in the south for africanamericans and if youve done any work on that to just sort of bring that story to light. Even in my own city its an undercovered story. I wonder if my colleagues even know where that exists. Just love your thoughts on it. I listed it as part of we have this big running list right now of all the sites associated with africanamerican Outdoor Recreation, includes things like golf courses, what you mentioned, bicycle clubs, fresh air homes. All those things are on this running list that grows every time we read newspapers or get more information. So, we havent focused particularly on the stock car issue, because were focused right now of course, africanamerican outdoor is a huge subject. Weve kind of had to put some reins around it. Were only focusing on those sites right now for this phase of the project that really provided Outdoor Recreation and overnight lodging, kind of a camp experience is what were focusing on now. I would love to hear more and see how we can help. Maybe even if we cant do anything, to see what other opportunities might be available to look further into that. So please join me in thanking our panelists. Oh, he has a question. Im sorry. Do you recognize this card . I dont have my glasses on. All i see is red blotches. Thats what you get for being vain. Thats what you get for being old. Yes, the National Parks service. If youre over 65, you can get this card. Actual parks charges when you enter the park system. If youre over 65, you can get this card and its good forever. I mean, until you die. [ laughter ] you didnt mention skiing. Theres a lot of black skiers that come here every year. Yes, yes, yes. Thank you all so much for coming. [ applause ] youre watching American History tv, covering history cspan style with event coverage, eyewitness accounts, archival films, museums and Historic Places. All weekend, every weekend on cspan 3. The house will be in order. For 40 years, cspan has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court and Public Policy events from washington, d. C. And around the country, so you can make up your own mind. Created by cable in 1979. Cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. American history tv products are now available at the new cspan online store. Go to cspanstore. Org to see whats new for American History tv and check out all of the cspan products. Last april, a Bipartisan Group of senators led by Alabama Democrat doug jones marked the anniversary of Martin Luther king jr. s letter from a birmingham jail, which he wrote in 196 3. Lamar alexander, ted cruz and Lisa Murkowski and democrats Kamala Harris and tim kaine joined senator doug jones. Madam president , i rise today to talk about a great american, an american who lit a flame of hope in the hearts of those souls who had become weary with the weight of injustice. A man who struggled with ideas and his dreams are etched in the foundation of our nation