African Americans and the Blue Ridge Parkway

Jones, Rebecca

This study of African Americans and their relationship to the Blue Ridge Parkway includes information that focuses on segregation, a black Civilian Conservation Corps Camp that worked on the parkway in Galax, Virginia, and the African American communities that surround the parkway. Research was conducted at the Blue Ridge Parkway Archives in Asheville, North Carolina, the W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection of Appalachian State University's Belk Library in the Appalachian Collection in Boone, North Carolina, Galax Carroll Regional Library in Galax, Virginia, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. The intended use of this study is to understand the involvement of African Americans on the parkway since its beginning and the communities the road passes through. Information in this study could be used to determine a site or sites to educate visitors about the relationship between African Americans and the parkway. Information in this study could also be used to help park rangers prepare interpretive campfire talks at existing recreational areas. A list of recommendations for further research is included along with a list of people who might be helpful in future investigation and study. The study is constructed in three sections starting with segregation with sources spanning the years of 1936 to the 1960s. The black CCC camp is second with sources from 1940 to 1946. Finally, African American communities are studied with references from slavery times to present day. The first section chronicles the process of parkway officials' planning and implementing segregated recreation areas on the parkway. It documents correspondence about segregation, pictures from segregated areas, and maps from yearly master plans illustrating segregated picnic grounds and bathrooms. Section two focuses on the black Civilian Conservation Corps Camp, NP-29, in Galax, Virginia, which opened in the winter of 1940 and closed in spring 1942. A camp inspection report is the key piece of evidence for this camp. Details of camp work on the parkway and activities are featured here. Finally, section three explores African American communities along the parkway. Slave cemeteries, inhabitants of the African American communities, and African American farming settlements are studied in this section. The Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife study was a key resource in finding existing African American communities and churches. The final section includes suggestions for further research and a contact list of people who have knowledge about this subject.

African Americans and the Blue Ridge Parkway

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