How Virginia State Parks became open to all

In the past year, an unprecedented number of people have sought solace in the nation’s state parks. The outdoors has been deemed one of the few places where we could safely escape, and the nation’s state parks have provided that much needed escape. Imagine having lived through 2020 without that vital escape.

Good.

Now, imagine it’s 60 years ago and that escape isn’t available — at least not to you. That was the case for millions of African Americans throughout the South; beginning in the 1930s, State Parks had sprung up across the land, but you could only enjoy them if your skin was a certain color.

Today, Veronica Flick with Virginia State Parks and the system's Director, Melissa Baker, share the story of how one disenfranchised man from Danville, Virginia took the first step, in 1948, in a long journey toward ensuring that everyone, in his home state at least, could enjoy the escape that state parks provide.

Relevant links 

• For more on the pre-civil rights era  of Virginia State Parks, go here.
• To read more about the overall history of Virginia State Parks, including the period we discuss on on the podcast, go here.
• Visit the Virginia State Parks website here.
• In our news segment we discussed the success of Tennessee's successful My State Park fundraiser. Learn more about that here.

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