In the July Penn Press podcast, Victoria W. Wolcott, Associate Professor of History at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, tells how African Americans and their allies fought to integrate parks and playlands across the United States–often in the face of violence and intimidation. Wolcott is the author of the forthcoming book, Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters: The Struggle over Segregated Recreation in America.
"It's not simply kids having fun at a roller skating rink. It's that when you associate certain kinds of spaces with cleanliness, safety, and fun that exclude people of color, then that association has powerful cultural and political effects long after desegregation actually happens," says Wolcott.
In this excerpt, Wolcott talks about Crystal Beach Park, Coney Island, Glen Echo Park, and the creation of Disneyland.
