Segregation in Virginia's National Parks, 1916-1965

Devlin, Erin

This historic resource study examines National Park Service (NPS) segregation policy and its application in parks in Virginia from 1916–1965. As the NPS began to develop national parks in the southern United States in the 1930s and 1940s, NPS officials developed and enforced a formal policy of racial segregation. During this period, the NPS developed segregated picnic areas, comfort stations, and campgrounds in areas under its direct administration, and contracted with concessionaires who operated segregated dining and lodging within the national parks. The segregation of park facilities was supported by the NPS director and other officials in the national and regional offices, endorsed by park superintendents, implemented by park planners and landscape architects, and enforced by park rangers in their interactions with visitors. As park facilities were developed in the region, NPS administrators and concessionaires routinely prioritized the construction of facilities for White visitors and delayed the construction of planned facilities for Black visitors, resulting in a separate and unequal landscape within individual parks. Moreover, across the state, the facilities available to African American travelers from park to park varied considerably and were not always clearly marked, producing an ambiguous landscape which was difficult for Black travelers to navigate. In the late 1930s, park administrators often justified these policies by maintaining that the NPS’s approach to park development in the southern states accommodated local law and custom, and was a measured response to the low demand for accommodations in the parks from Black visitors. In doing so, national officials refused to publicly recognize how the lack of adequate visitor facilities or the practice of segregation itself may have suppressed African American visitation.

Segregation in Virginia's National Parks, 1916-1965

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