July 2021 - Parks & Recreation - 44

DEI
During the Jim Crow Era in Kansas City,
Missouri, Watermelon Hill was the only
spot in Swope Park that Black residents
could visit.
ering the lived experience and connection
of those who care for you,
your community and what their
experience has imprinted on them.
Harpers Ferry National
Historic Park
This past April for my children's
spring break, I took a day off and
we spent it exploring Harpers Ferry
National Historic Park in West
Virginia, another one of my favorite
outdoor places. Located a little more
than an hour from Washington,
D.C., Harpers Ferry is nestled where
the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers
meet. It's full of natural and manmade
wonder - the C&O Canal
Towpath Trail and old rail bridges -
all of the things you look for in a day
trip to escape city living.
Another reason why I love this
The Niagara Movement's inaugural
meeting took place in Harpers Ferry,
which is also the site of abolitionist John
Brown's raid in 1859.
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place is the park's lesser-known
history. In the early 1900s, William
Edward Burghardt " W.E.B. "
Du Bois, a historian, sociologist
and civil rights activist, organized
a meeting in Harpers Ferry that
was the start of the Niagara Movement.
The Niagara Movement was
a Black civil rights organization
named for the mighty current of
change they wanted to create in
opposition to racial segregation
and support voting rights for Black
men and women in 1905. The organization
eventually changed its
name to the NAACP.
The movement's inaugural meeting
took place in Harpers Ferry at
Storer College, one of the first historically
Black colleges/universities in
the country. Harpers Ferry also was
selected as the meeting site because
it was the place of abolitionist John
Brown's raid in 1859. Sometimes referred
to as the " first shot of the Civil
War, " the building that housed Brown
during the raid was a place that free
and enslaved folks in the late 1800s
referred to as a beacon of freedom to
come. This area also is surrounded by
Civil War history and battlegrounds.
It's a place full of national, state and
local parks, and countless places for
outdoor recreation.
Yosemite National Park
In 2016, I visited my first expansive
western national park. I had just
been hired as the mid-Atlantic director
for NatureBridge, a nonprofit
organization, and it was my third
year as an Outdoor Afro leader. For
many of my colleagues - all very
outdoorsy - this was our first trip
to Yosemite National Park in California.
The park and staff greeted
us with open arms, making sure
we had what we needed to explore
the park. And then comments from
other park patrons appeared on social
media, such as " Lots of black
people..... " and " Outdoor Afro?
Sounds about as racist as Outdoor
Aryan. Can we keep racism out of
our national parks and encourage
everyone to enjoy the outdoors together
instead of being so divisive? "
I share these experiences to show
the full power of parks and recreation
- how they can be used for
good and bad. They can be inclusive
and welcoming places we can
July 2021 - Parks & Recreation

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