Community Fun Then and Now: The Roots of Black-Led Outdoor Recreation
📸: Canva.com/Shi-Lynn Campbell
Part 2: Camping and Outdoor Retreats
In post-Civil War America, newly-free Black folks struggled to find their footing in what was still a hostile environment. While slavery was no longer legal in the United States, segregation was legal (as determined by Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896), so finding safe spaces to congregate was difficult. These barriers made vacations and retreat difficult for most Black folks.
A New Travel Era
With the invention of the automobile in the early 20th century came a new travel era for African-Americans. Many Black Americans lived at or below the poverty line, making them less likely to be able to purchase a new vehicle. Those who could afford it often had difficulties getting car loans and paid more for insurance because of the discriminatory attitudes of bankers and actuaries.
Because of this, many Black-owned businesses cropped up during these times to address the inequities posed by society. There were Black auto dealers, Black insurance agencies, and Black service stations to help this new class of motorists.
“The automobile really changes African-American travel. Because African-Americans, before that, had been relegated to the negro car on the train, or sitting on the back of the bus.”
📸: Dr. Gretchen Sorin by Richard Walker
Dr. Gretchen Sorin is the Director & Distinguished Professor of the Cooperstown Graduate Program at the State University of New York College at Oneonta (SUNY Oneonta). She is the author of “Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights,” published by W. W. Norton/Liveright in 2020, which was the basis of an accompanying PBS documentary.
According to Dr. Sorin, “A car gave you the freedom to not have to ride the bus and not have to ride the train. And it also was a way for ordinary people to rebel, and stand up to Jim Crow and say ‘I’m not going to put up with this, I am going to drive my own automobile.”
Transit options in the United States at the time were notoriously racist, with discrimination running rampant and no real recourse for people. Despite these setbacks, once finally purchased, a car could mean freedom from the discrimination of public transport and other places. Once the prices of cars started to decline, and the options for used car purchases arose, car ownership became more of a reality for many people. As one observer from Swedish Sociologist Gunnar Myrdal’s 1944 study, “An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy” noted, “Effective equality seems to come at about twenty-five miles an hour or above.”
Many Black folks had to carry buckets or portable toilets, because roadside service stations, diners, and lodging were typically closed to them. The Green Book was a welcome and necessary companion. Additionally, the ever-present threat of being stopped by the police for the smallest perceived infraction made driving while black a potentially dangerous feat for Black motorists. Some even went as far as to carry a chauffeur cap so that in the event that they were stopped, they could put the cap on and pretend that the car was their employer’s to avoid the hassle.
Dr. Sorin noted other steps that were taken to mitigate potential problems including driving at night, staying on the highway and not taking detours through smaller towns, placing the darker-skinned person in the driver’s seat and the lighter-skinned people in the back seat to mimic a Black driver and their white employer, and having someone in the car stay awake when going into a rest stop.
“The idea was that if you’re driving at night, it’s harder to tell who is driving…and you’re less likely to get stopped because they don’t know that you’re Black. ”
As systemic mortgage denials and redlining made it difficult for many Black people to own a home, that extra income at times went toward a nicer car, angering many white people. Some white people took out their rage by damaging or vandalizing Black folks’ cars. This also contributed to police pulling over more Black people who had nice cars.
“The cop, who doesn’t have a nice car or perhaps doesn’t think it’s right for you to have that nice car, would pull you over and ask…Who are you? Why are you driving that car? Whose car was it?” These factors contributed to the mountain of difficulties faced by Black people looking for a place to recreate or vacation in the United States at this time.
Creating Safe Spaces to Vacation
Major Charles Remond Douglass and his wife, Laura Haley, experienced these difficulties in the summer of 1892. They attempted to enter the Bay Ridge Hotel in Anne Arundel County, Maryland and have a meal but were turned away because they were Black.
Douglass decided to start a resort town where African Americans and other People of Color with means could enjoy themselves and spend their summers. This area became Highland Beach, located just south of Annapolis along the Chesapeake Bay. They purchased 40 acres of land and sold the parcels to family and friends.
Charles Douglass took pride in the fact that he was able to circumvent "restrictive property covenants…that prevented the sale of real estate to blacks and other People of Color."
Over the years, other famous Black Americans like Booker T. Washington and W.E.B Du Bois visited or owned homes in the area. As a result, Highland Beach became a luxe resort destination for the wealthy elites of Baltimore and Washington's Black society.
After being incorporated in 1922, Highland Beach was the first African-American municipality in Maryland. Today, it is one of the few remaining African-American beaches in the state. Highland Beach continues to thrive and preserve its history and culture with sixty remaining homes and many year-round residents who are descendants of the original residents.
On the other side of the United States, in California in the early 20th century, Black Americans also tried to establish areas where they could recreate freely. This area outside Los Angeles would become home to what is considered the first beach resort for African Americans on the West Coast, opened at a time when Jim Crow laws barred them from most seashores.
In 1912, Willa and Charles Bruce were among the first Black folks to settle in what would become Manhattan Beach, California. They purchased two parcels of land on Highland Avenue for less than $2,000 and built a beachfront lodge with a café, dance hall, cabanas, and bathing suit rentals. Bruce's Beach Front was a success, despite the racist laws of the time and harassment from white locals.
The Bruces provided Black families in the Jim Crow era a rare recreational reprieve from the rampant and violent racism they often experienced. As they were not welcome on most beaches, this area was revolutionary in changing how Black people could access and commune with nature.
Almost immediately after opening its doors, the resort had a target on its back from the locals. Guests were harassed by white neighbors and members of the Klu Klux Klan, who reportedly slashed the guests' tires. Additionally, they allegedly set a mattress on fire under the main building and put up fake "10-minute only" parking signs to vex visitors from out of town. These targeted attempts were meant to deter Black families from visiting and to thwart the local families' enjoyment. However, Despite ongoing harassment, the resort thrived for more than a decade.
That was until 1924 when bending to the racist outcry of its white residents, Manhattan Beach city officials condemned 30 lots, including Bruce's Beach and four other lots owned by Black families, seizing them under the legal guise of eminent domain. The city claimed it needed to turn the land into a public park, then left it undeveloped for decades. The family sought legal recourse but was unsuccessful. Ultimately, they received just $14,500 from the city (equivalent to about $224,603 today) and left town.
Nearly a century later, their descendants have gotten back the land that was once Bruce's Beach. In September of 2021, California passed SB 796, which authorized Los Angeles County to legally return the property to the Bruce family, who plan to rent the lifeguard training center that now sits on the land back to the county. This victory came as a collective effort between activists and descendants and is a step toward restorative justice for historically disenfranchised people.
Black Recreation for the Black Elite
📸: Denver Public Library
Black celebrities and other elites of the 20th century were not exempt from 20th-century prejudice. They, too, needed a place to recreate away from their professions where they could feel safe.
One hour outside Denver in the Colorado Rockies, Lincoln Hills was one of the few areas where Black people could enjoy the mountains. Colorado's Rockies have long been a place of refuge from the hustle and bustle of city life, and Lincoln Hills was a natural escape.
Founded in the 1920s, Lincoln Hills offered a snow-capped mountain refuge for many prominent African American entertainers. These included Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lena Horne, and Billy Eckstine, among many others.
Obrey Wendell "Winks" Hamlet spent several years building a lodge, almost entirely by hand, within the Lincoln Hills development, including a restaurant and several cabins. Winks Panorama Lodge opened in 1928 with a view of the Indian Peaks. Winks Lodge thrived over the decades as one of the only places for African American people to access the mountains in the Jim Crow era.
"That's what made the Winks Lodge and Lincoln Hills so special because it was one of the few places, of any place, in Colorado…where Black people could actually go and have a mountain experience and feel very comfortable about it," said Sid Wilson.
Sid Wilson, the owner of A Private Guide (established in 1992), found out about the Winks Lodge in 1997. Sid Wilson was the President and founding member of the James P. Beckwourth Mountain Club and has served on many advisory boards related to tourism and industry around Denver. The James P. Beckwourth Mountain Club is a nonprofit organization that provides outdoor experiences for a culturally and ethnically diverse group of young people, families, and seniors.
He, along with other club members like Jane Taylor and Cheryl Armstrong, were instrumental in telling the story of the lodge and worked to secure the Winks Lodge by way of a grant in 2006. In 1980, it was listed as a part of the National Register of Historic Places. The group has since undertaken the restoration of the lodge.
Sid Wilson also served as a board member of the Lincoln Hills Cares Foundation (founded by Robert F. Smith), which also works to restore and preserve Winks Lodge. The foundation also provides educational tours of the property so that the history of Winks Lodge will remain alive and is a living museum. In this way, the Beckwourth Mountain Club and the Lincoln Hills Cares Foundation are renewing interest in the Lincoln Hills area and passing its rich history down to the next generation.
“Changes are subtle, they occur over time, but they are definitely taking place. And, it’s not going to go backwards. ”
Camping and Recreation Now
Today, there are various organizations and individuals working to bridge the gap in camping and outdoor recreation for Black Americans. Outdoor Afro, an organization with chapters across the United States, is a major organization working to celebrate and inspire Black connections and leadership in nature.
Through diverse programs and initiatives, Outdoor Afro is meeting the historically unmet needs of Black Americans in nature. The organization recently partnered with REI Co-op to launch a hiking collection and with Kili Mapp to produce a hammock. Through these partnerships, Outdoor Afro is making it easier for People of Color to get outdoors and cultivate a space that reflects their identities by providing the tools for building a rich camping experience.
They have also developed a long-term partnership with Sun Outdoors to amplify Black joy outdoors by bringing together their communities for various year-round experiential activities supported by Sun Outdoors’ transformative outdoor offerings. They will provide inspirational experiences that embrace and grow inclusion in outdoor recreation, nature, and conservation.
This joyful and connective partnership will bring an influx of Black people into camping and RV spaces, which will help them to feel more comfortable outdoors and promote better well-being through newly expanded natural connections.
The organization notably visited Virginia Key Beach with Athlete Venus Williams and CLIF to reflect on Black joy and healing in nature-rich places. Virginia Key Beach was a Haven for Black people during segregation. When it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and reopened to the public in 2008, its rich history was once again imprinted on its sandy shores. The trip was an opportunity to bring attention to the inequalities present in outdoor recreation and provide a space to rectify them.
These partnerships and collaborations are a few of the ways Outdoor Afro is changing the face of camping and recreation and leading the march toward a more diverse society in which Black Americans can more easily and readily access spaces that were formerly out of reach.
History has excluded Black people and other People of Color in the United States from outdoor leisure. Now, Black folks can enjoy pastimes formerly denied to them. With various clubs, organizations, and individuals working to provide access, the face of recreation is slowly shifting. Different kinds of people mean different and more diverse stories told, more experiences, and new connections with the world around us.