Preserving Black historical resorts is a radical act nationofchange.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationofchange.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Zuri Anderson
Photo: Getty Images
Summertime means vacations, getaways, beaches, and new adventures after long months of work and school. After the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most vacation areas last summer, people are eager to get out and explore again in 2021. While it s easy to venture out to different places, such actions weren t easy for Black people decades ago.
Shut out due to segregation, Jim Crow laws, and other oppressive measures, Black people weren t able to stay at hotels, visit resorts or even enjoy the same beaches as their white counterparts.
In response, affluent Black Americans started opening their own resorts, vacation home areas, and beaches across the nation in the 1890s and early 1900s. They would flock to these summer destinations to escape racism and enjoy some community. While some resort towns have been lost to gentrification and land grabs over the years, others continue to persevere their heritage and popularity today.
Preserving Black Historical Resorts Is a Radical Act yesmagazine.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yesmagazine.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Bridget R. Cooks. (Photo by Evelina Pentchev.)
This article is part of a series of conversations with scholars engaged with Black art for Black History Month. See also Folasade Ologundudu’s interviews with Richard J. Powell, Darby English, and Sarah Lewis.
In her much-discussed 2011 book,
Exhibiting Blackness: African Americans and the American Art Museum, Cooks looked at the ways that museums have perpetuated racial inequity through the presentation and curation of African American and African diaspora artists. Her account started with the very first show in America featuring African American artists, at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1927, and continued into the 21st century with the reception of figures including the Gee’s Bend quilters.