Chicago’s south side is home to some of America’s most fascinating and important stories. The Pullman Historic District is where, in 1880, George M. Pullman built the country’s first planned model industrial town. It was also home to the nation’s first African-American union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and the pivotal “Pullman Strike” of 1894. These important “firsts” speak to Pullman’s national significance and why so many Chicago leaders have come together to work to establish it as the city’s first national park.

Last week, NPCA led a group of Chicagoans to Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts to see some of the possibilities for Pullman.

For more than 30 years, the people of Lowell have worked to preserve and interpret the history of this New England mill town, once known for its “mill girls” and immigrant laborers. The sights and sounds of Lowell would lead you to believe that you’ve set foot in the mid-19th century. The old brick mill buildings, the flowing waters of the Merrimack Canal, and the humming of century-old looms make Lowell a living exhibit telling the stories of what was once America’s booming textile industry. Riding the trolley through downtown Lowell and speaking with business and community groups about the spirit of cooperation provided the Pullman group with the ability to see what we are working toward together.

Imagine the possibility to breathe life into Pullman’s large factory shops, to hear the tick-tock of the administration building’s large clock tower, and to pave the way for hundreds of thousands of visitors to come each year and experience the history of labor and industry. Pullman shares an important piece of American history and establishing a national park there will ensure these many stories are told for years to come.

We gained a ton of knowledge from our visit to Lowell and can better envision a national park at Pullman. Now the real work begins.

Related posts

• “Chicago’s Pullman Partners See Possibilities for Pullman’s Future at Lowell Massachusetts Historical National Park,” PR Web, May 6, 2013.
• “Can Pullman’s Planned Community Become Chicago’s First National Park?” Park Advocate, February 8, 2012

At the turn of the last century, a great American hero set an enduring standard of excellence that forged the basis of the modern National Park System. With a “take charge” style of leadership, Colonel Charles Young commanded a regiment of U.S. Army soldiers in the construction of improved roads that made it possible for the growing number of wagons and automobiles to safely visit the newly designated national park of Sequoia and its stands of giant redwood trees, the largest in the world. As the first African-American superintendent of a national park, Young led a distinguished military career in war and peace to usher in a new era of racial equality and wilderness preservation.

By presidential proclamation on March 25, 2013, Barack Obama designated the home of Charles Young in Xenia, Ohio, as a national monument to honor his great work along with the men that served as members of the all-African-American 9th and 10th Cavalry divisions known as the Buffalo Soldiers.

With the creation of this site, the president has set in motion a long-overdue exploration into the role African Americans have played in our national legacy of environmental protection. Linking together other places of historical significance, the Charles Young monument will serve as a focal point for a detailed study of the often-forgotten contributions of some of the world’s first Park Rangers.

“The National Park Service shall coordinate with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which manages the Presidio in San Francisco, and Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks to commemorate the historical ties between Colonel Charles Young and his military assignments at those sites, and the role of the Buffalo Soldiers as pioneering stewards of our national parks,” the proclamation reads.

Though Charles Young and his men served with great distinction at many other duty stations, the Buffalo Soldiers’ work to establish and defend the earliest national parks is a unique highlight of their career. Certainly other white army units served at Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite, but under Young’s leadership, the African-American soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry worked tirelessly through this “plum assignment” to make substantial improvements to the parks for others to enjoy. In the summer of 1903 it’s estimated that his men completed more work projects than the previous years of military administration combined. Many of the roads and trails they improved are still in use today.

The exemplary service of Young and his men is worthy of great praise and admiration. Shelton Johnson, the only permanent African-American national park ranger serving at Yosemite today and a national authority on the Buffalo Soldiers said blacks who patrolled the parks during this period endured many hardships due to the racial attitudes of the time.

“I always say that what separates any Buffalo Soldier from a white soldier is that the Buffalo Soldiers were always fighting on two fronts. There was the enemy before them, and that enemy called racism that completely surround them every day of their lives,” Johnson said. “In spite of that fact, they did their duty even though they carried a far heavier burden. They worked harder than their counterparts. They had to, just to prove that they could do the work at all.”

It’s important to realize that during the time Charles Young served his county (roughly 1880 to 1920) a horrific chapter opened in American history, a period known as the “nadir.” Many of the rights blacks attained at the end of the Civil War were abolished. Racial violence, public beatings, and lynchings directed toward African Americans, began to steadily increase and then skyrocketed.

“Colonel Young didn’t simply endure that ‘bad, worse time’ he excelled during it,” wrote Legislative Representative Alan Spears in a statement from NPCA. “Young’s time in national parks was notable then, earning him accolades from admirers military and civilian alike. Today, Young’s legacy has the strong potential to serve as a reminder to those African Americans who think that parks are unwelcoming places with little to no relevance for them or their people, that we have, in fact, always been in and connected to these landscapes, this history.”

Today, when African Americans represent less than 5 percent of national park visitors, a commemorative site that celebrates their enduring legacy and heritage is long overdue. Audrey Peterman author of the new book Our True Nature: Finding A Zest for Life in the National Park System says the memory of Charles Young and the Buffalo Soldiers can help a new generation of environmental advocates identify with role models whose example they can follow.

“When I walk among the giant sequoia trees in Sequoia National Park, I am overcome with feelings of awe and amazement,” Peterman said in a recent exchange via email. “Charles Young was so far ahead of his time that he is credited with taking the first conservation action in Sequoia, fencing off the roots of the most vulnerable trees to prevent them being trampled by humans.”

Though park evangelists of the present day might become distracted by threats of spending cuts and the reallocation of resources away from wilderness preservation, lessons learned in the past can help to encourage the best work of protection for generations yet to come.

“As an advocate for the national parks who is also African American, I keep Col. Young’s example uppermost in my mind,” Peterman said “Those days when I feel that it’s just too much to keep going in the face of overwhelming ‘benign neglect’ from the powers that be, I remind myself that he persisted, and so must I.”

The Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument will stand as a clear reminder for the future. Since the beginning of the National Park System, even those already suffering the most tragic circumstances of their day stood and fought to protect the precious natural resources and wild places they loved. Today with the higher stakes of a warming planet, overpopulation, and dwindling sources of energy, how could we now do any less?

This story originally appeared on The Joy Trip Project blog and is reprinted with permission. The Joy Trip Project is made possible with the support sponsors Patagonia, Rayovac, and the New Belgium Brewing Company.

If you liked this story, you might also like

• President Obama Preserves Three Important Sites in America’s History, Honors Civil War Hero Harriet Tubman (March 25, 2013)
• A Valentine’s Day Q&A with Audrey Peterman: One Enthusiast’s “Love Letter to the Parks” (February 14, 2013)
• Standing Guard: Meet America’s Buffalo Soldiers—some of the nation’s first park rangers (from the Fall 2012 issue of National Parks magazine)

Today the country celebrates an important milestone in preserving its history. After years of advocacy and study, President Obama has finally named three new national monuments as part of the National Park System, including a new national park site on Maryland’s Eastern Shore honoring Harriet Tubman. This new national monument encompasses several sites in Dorchester County, Maryland, of great historic significance to Tubman’s early life as an enslaved person and during her career as a conductor on the Underground Railroad.

American schoolchildren grow up learning about Tubman and her legendary bravery, hearing how she escaped from slavery and risked her freedom—perhaps her own life—to free dozens of others on the Underground Railroad. Now, just a couple of weeks after the 100th anniversary of her death, the Park Service will help to tell her story.

As an enslaved girl on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Tubman was hired out to work for “Miss Susan,” a mistress who was quick to use the whip. Once, after she caught Tubman stealing a lump of sugar, Miss Susan flew into a violent rage. Tubman fled to escape another beating, and hid in a pigpen for days until hunger forced her to return. She was brutally whipped for her transgressions. 

In October 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia. In December 1854, Tubman, who could neither read nor write, asked a friend to send a coded letter to Jacob Jackson, an Eastern Shore neighbor and a free and literate black man. The letter instructed Tubman’s three brothers to prepare for her pending return to guide them to Philadelphia and freedom. They successfully escaped on Christmas Day, telling no one of their plans, not even their mother who was expecting her sons for Christmas dinner. The Jacob Jackson Site will be part of the Harriet Tubman National Monument and managed by the National Park Service in partnership with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the State of Maryland.

Later, as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Tubman returned to Maryland multiple times to liberate friends and family members. Much of the landscape found today on Maryland’s Eastern Shore has changed little since Tubman roamed the territory in the 1800s. The preservation of those fields, trails, and waterways—intact and unimpaired for benefit and enjoyment of future generations—makes this designation an even sweeter victory.

Of equal or greater significance is what this national monument designation will do to advance public understanding of women’s history in general, and the role of African American women in particular. Of the 398 units in our National Park System prior to today’s designations, just seven were tasked directly with commemorating some aspect of women’s history.

Tubman also served in the Civil War as a Union nurse, spy, and scout, on one occasion leading Federal troops along an obscure path which allowed them to more stealthily approach opposing Confederate forces. Tubman’s courageous work contributed directly to the preservation of the Union and highlighting that legacy will help the National Park Service create a much broader and more accurate picture of who really matters when it comes to understanding the conflict that defined this nation. After the war, she continued to serve her people and her country selflessly until her death in 1913. 

While the national monument is a great step forward, it does not accomplish everything advocates hope to achieve on Harriet’s behalf. The national monument would leave out the Poplar Neck plantation (in Talbot and Caroline Counties, Maryland) from which Tubman escaped in 1848. It also does not include any properties in Auburn, New York, including the A.M.E. Zion Church where Tubman worshipped, her personal residence, and a home for the aged she raised money to build and operate. For the past six years, NPCA has actively worked with partners such as the Association for the Study of African American Life & History (ASALH), the Maryland Office of Tourism, and a variety of other federal, state, local, and grassroots champions to pass legislation introduced by Senator Ben Cardin and cosponsored by Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Gillibrand (D-NY), and Schumer (D-NY) to preserve these additional sites. Our work on the legislative front will continue even after the designation of the national monument.

As the National Park Service advances towards its centennial in 2016, much discussion has been had about the best ways to create a 21st century park system for a 21st century America. A Tubman site helps advance that goal by commemorating the legacy of a woman who rose from humble beginnings under the worst circumstances any of us could imagine to become one of this nation’s most admired historic icons. Tubman’s story is important because in many ways it is our history at its best. Thanks to bold action of President Barack Obama, her narrative is now a story we can share more broadly with the world, and for that, maybe help make that world a better place.

Colonel Charles Young and the Buffalo Soldiers

In addition to the long-awaited site honoring Tubman, President Obama also designated two other national park sites sharing important parts of our nation’s history, including the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument. Though Harriet Tubman’s story is widely taught, Young’s fascinating legacy and the story of the Buffalo Soldiers is less familiar to many.

In 1884, Second Lieutenant Charles Young became just the third African American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Young distinguished himself as a soldier in the Ninth U.S. Cavalry, one of the black troops known as the Buffalo Soldiers that served, among other roles, as some of the nation’s first park rangers. Despite the rigid segregation of the U.S. military at the time, Young rose through the ranks to become a colonel; served as a professor of military science, French, chemistry, geometry, and geology at Wilberforce University in Ohio; and went on to become the first African-American acting national park superintendent at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park in 1903. The national monument preserves Young’s home in Xenia, Ohio, and helps tell not only his story, but the story of life as a black soldier in the 19th century.

First State National Monument

Last but not least, today’s announcement helps preserve an urban oasis along the Brandywine River in Delaware—the only state in the country that did not have a national park site. The First State National Monument tells much of early America’s history, from the Native American Lenape tribe that lived in the river valley to the Wyeth family of artists who still paint its beautiful landscapes. The largest battle of the Revolutionary War, the Battle of the Brandywine, was fought here, and the birth of industry was literally propelled by the Brandywine River’s steady flow. Even the paper used to print the Declaration of Independence was made on the Brandywine River. The new monument also commemorates the legacy and perseverance of early Dutch, Swedish, and English settlements, a vital aspect of the state’s rich history.

More than five million people live within 25 miles of the main property, making it readily accessible to the public and a conservation centerpiece for the state and the region.

Learn more about the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad, Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers, and First State National Monuments on NPCA’s website.

Black history and the African-American narrative comprise an essential chapter in our country’s shared heritage and culture. Nearly 30 of our country’s 398 national park sites directly honor prominent African Americans and share their stories. During Black History Month, NPCA is hopeful about new opportunities—including the three listed below—for Congress to advance the National Park Service’s goal to more authentically represent our shared heritage.

1. Establishment of a long-awaited site to honor Civil Rights pioneer Harriet Tubman. American hero Harriet Tubman is among the most surprising leaders not currently honored in our national parks. Fortunately, the Senate reintroduced the Harriet Tubman National Historic Parks Act this month, which would create national park sites in Maryland and New York. As NPCA’s Legislative Representative Alan Spears said, “Harriet Tubman’s story is that of a true American icon, as she rose from a humble beginning, lived through degradation, and rose above to empower others to reach a better, brighter future.” Harriet Tubman served her country not only as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, but also as a nurse, scout, and spy. Through the expertise of National Park Service, an up-close history of the Underground Railroad could be shared, as well as Tubman’s often overlooked contributions to the war effort.
2. Recognition of the heroic contributions of the Buffalo Soldiers. Honoring our country’s first National Park Rangers, the Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks Study Act was recently reintroduced by House and Senate leaders. If passed, this legislation would authorize the Park Service to examine areas that were significant to African-American troops known as the Buffalo Soldiers in the late 1800s and early 1900. Many believe American Indians coined the term from the soldiers’ brown skin and thick curly hair, not unlike the buffalo. Others believe the strength of the buffalo inspired the name. What we know without question is that before the National Park Service, park care and administration was commissioned through the Army. Buffalo Soldiers played a historic and central role in protecting Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks, from their headquarters in the Presidio of San Francisco.
3. Creation of Chicago’s first national park. We also await reintroduction of legislation in Chicago to study a potential Pullman National Historic Site in Chicago. The Pullman District was the first industrial planned community in the 1880s and recounts of the rise of the modern labor movement and the formation of the first African-American labor union. Unique stories of accomplishment make the Pullman district a perfect place for Chicago’s first national park site.

NPCA is proud to advocate on behalf of these important sites and work to preserve African-American history in our national parks. On Wednesday, February 27 from 3-4pm ET, NPCA will host its first Google+ Hangout: “The Legacy of Buffalo Soldiers and Our National Parks.” Famed Yosemite National Park Ranger Shelton Johnson and Colonel Charles Young biographer Brian Shellum will participate in the discussion, along with NPCA staff members Alan Spears and Amy Marquis. Join us for this discussion on the history of Buffalo Soldiers in our national parks and efforts currently underway to further diversify our National Park Service from the inside out.

UPDATE: You can watch a recording of NPCA’s Google Hangout here. Special thanks to Shelton Johnson, Brian Shellum, Alan Spears, Amy Marquis, and everyone who participated and sent questions for this informative and interesting discussion.

Now, Audrey’s new book, Our True Nature, takes readers on a different kind of journey through a rich cross-section of the park system, with stories, photos, and enthusiasm for 57 of the country’s greatest places. We asked Audrey, a past recipient of NPCA’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award and four-term NPCA board member, to share some of her inspirations and insights with us.

 —

Q: Our True Nature feels very different from Legacy on the Land—more general in its subject matter, like a travel guide that anyone could pick up to learn more about the parks.

Audrey: That was actually my goal, to make this book issueless—a love letter to the parks.

Legacy on the Land was our journey of discovery. I literally fell into the national park system by accident, and then I couldn’t stay out! When I found that there was so much resistance and misunderstanding [about the relationship between people of color and the parks], Legacy echoed our challenges and frustrations. But with this book, I just decided to pour my heart out with love. People are so overwhelmed with issues. I really just wanted to use the power of love and beauty to inspire people.

Q: Of course, you explore themes of diversity, but not on every page. It really is a mix of different places throughout the country.

Audrey: That’s what the park system is all about! It’s got our collective history and all of the beauty and splendor of the natural world, and it tells the story of how we got here together.

Q: How did you narrow the book down to 57 parks? That must have been a difficult process.

Having the imprint of such monumental natural wonders on my spirit gives me perspective on how infinitesimal I am in the world, and yet how important. … My demeanor is always centered in the knowledge that there’s something so much bigger than myself. – Audrey Peterman
Audrey: It actually wasn’t. I didn’t focus as much on the ones that were in Legacy. For example, Mammoth Cave, which gets a lot of ink in Legacy, doesn’t appear in this book at all.

Q: But Badlands does.

Audrey: Badlands does, but it’s a new story. It’s a story about how the parks don’t just protect the natural resources that are terrestrial, but also the ones that are extraterrestrial! I didn’t even know there were parks protecting our dark skies. That made such an impact on me, seeing the Milky Way from horizon to horizon. We all live under the same sky, in such a small fraction of the universe.

Q: I know one of your goals is convincing new people to explore the parks. How do you do it?

Audrey: If you know my personality, it’s big on parks. If I’m in the supermarket or the gas station, the Grand Canyon and the Everglades are always working their way into my conversations. I talk to everybody, because that’s the kind of person I am.

It’s amazing to know that when people think about these places, they think about them as being far away. And I’m saying, are you kidding me? Wherever you are, there’s a park unit nearby. [Or people] might say that it’s going to be expensive, and I tell them that for eight dollars their whole car can get in, and some parks don’t even have an entrance fee. If they’re 62 or older they can get a park pass for ten dollars that’s good for the rest of their lives. That blows people’s minds!

It’s just providing information and leadership—and saying what the benefits are. They’re astronomical!

Q: What have some of those benefits been for you?

Audrey: When we were at Yellowstone, we were looking at a burned part of a mountain and Frank said, “Oh, that must have burned in the fire of ’88.” The white man standing next to us said, “Yes.” He pointed and said, “When my father brought me as a child, they were building over there. When I brought my son, they were building over there.” Now, he had retired and was back for his third time. I saw a shadow pass across Frank’s face. Later, when I asked him, he said, “I don’t live my life with any regrets, but as that man was talking, I realized that I had really shortchanged myself and my children because I had not taken them to see these places. He and his family know this country. They have a sense of ownership. We don’t.” So I said, “We’ll take our children and our grandchildren now.” To extrapolate from that, I’ve been trying to take the whole country!

My girlfriend came to visit and we decided to take a trip down to Everglades one Sunday. I’ve been to the Everglades five hundred million thousand times, and yet on this trip, there were places I’d never been before. At the end of the day, she said, you know, I want to put this park in my estate plan, and I want to volunteer here. That’s the kind of response that the parks evoke in people. You know how she described it? She said, “It feels like I’ve had a forest bath.” I thought that was such an unusual way of putting it. What she was saying is that she felt she had just been washed clean.

Q: I get a sense you have a real spiritual connection with nature.

Audrey: Having the imprint of such monumental natural wonders on my spirit gives me perspective on how infinitesimal I am in the world, and yet, how important. I am part of everything. Though a small part, I am connected to everything. It allows me to take a step back from whatever challenges I’m experiencing. My demeanor is always centered in the knowledge that there’s something so much bigger than myself.

Q: Do you think the parks have become more diverse since you started exploring them in 1995?

Traveling through the park system, I get a bigger picture of what America really is. It is so much more inclusive of all the races. Everybody has contributed to the greatness of this country. – Audrey Peterman
Audrey: Exponentially. In the early days, when I saw black people in the parks, I would run up to them and would have to find out all about them, because I was just so excited. But now, if I were to do that, I’d be running up to people all the time!

Now there are so many groups that have arisen around the country. Rue Mapp and Outdoor Afro are continuously introducing people to the parks in the California area. Dudley Edmondson, the noted wildlife photographer and birder wrote the first book about people of color in the park system and the environmental movement. The most exciting of all is Juan Martinez. Juan is a young Latino man who grew up in a rough part of L.A. He got in trouble in school and had a choice between failing a class or going to Eco Club; he chose the Eco Club. [Later,] he got a chance to go to Grand Teton National Park, where he saw the stars for the first time. The impact that it had on his life was so transformative that he has devoted himself to conservation and getting other young people in nature and the parks. And you know what he was named last year? National Geographic Emerging Explorer.

Q: That must feel really hopeful, looking forward to the next generation of leaders.

Audrey: Hopeful? It’s not hopeful. It’s affirmative! Give people the exposure and the opportunities, and we’re there.

Q: What about environmental institutions that have traditionally disregarded diverse voices? Do you think things are getting better?

Audrey: Well, there are individuals who care very passionately. [But] people live by certain prevailing myths. A myth has grown up in America around the enjoyment and protection of natural resources and our public land system. That myth says that people of color are not interested, not suitable—just not. It doesn’t matter how much you demonstrate that isn’t true. The power of the myth is so deep that it overrides facts and intelligence. That is the myth that is holding us up. It’s holding us back.

In this increasingly multicultural society, I keep hearing people who call themselves environmental leaders say, “We’ve tried so hard [to get people of color involved], and it’s just not happening.” Look at all the people across the country who are really, vigorously doing this work. But the myth overrides the reality.

So many business leaders serve on boards in the environmental sector, and I wonder, if they saw that the fastest-growing demographic group was not using their product or service, what would they do? Do you think they would sit around and say, “Well, we tried to reach them one time in 1978 for a couple of months and that didn’t work”?

What I am saying now to environmental organizations is this. By 2042, people of color will be 50 percent of the population. Even if every white person in the country was dedicating themselves full-time to the environment, if the other 50 percent doesn’t know or care, how are our issues going to survive?

Q: Do you think there’s a positive trend?

Audrey: My ambition is to see the day when all Americans love our national treasures the way I do. It makes us feel a little more loving of ourselves, a little more accepting of ourselves and others, to realize we are part of something so glorious. The park system did that for me, so I know it can do it for other people.

I really think a lot of the friction in the country comes from the fact everybody thinks that they know what America is [but they only see part of it]. Traveling through the park system, I get a bigger picture of what America really is. It is so much more inclusive of all the races. Everybody has contributed to the greatness of this country.

I’m ready for things to change. Seventeen years later, I do see signs of change, but I’m hearing some similar attitudes in places of leadership, which is very disconcerting.

I’m not trying to belittle anything that anyone else is doing or any organization is doing. NPCA is trying. The Nature Conservancy is trying. The Sierra Club is trying. The Park Service is trying. But I see the effort as very small compared to the effort that is needed.

If it’s imperative, you have to find ways to do it. If you haven’t made strides in capturing the loyalty of another 50 percent of the population, then how are you going to survive? Some things cannot wait. That’s what leadership means, right?

Learn more about Our True Nature on Audrey and Frank’s website, www.legacyontheland.com.

-Jennifer Errick, Editor, Online Communications

On Monday, January 21, the Department of the Interior will waive entrance fees at all national parks in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. For those of us fortunate enough to have the day off, the fee-free day is an excellent reason to commemorate the life of the visionary leader in one of America’s most inspirational places.

Monday is also Inauguration Day. For those who plan to be in the Washington, D.C., area, a trip to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial near the Tidal Basin on the National Mall is worth the short walk from downtown. The memorial, officially dedicated in 2011, is a majestic, larger-than-life tribute to the Civil Rights hero that allows visitors to travel through a symbolic “Mountain of Despair” to see a 30-foot replica of King himself, known as the “Stone of Hope.” (Both quotes are from King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech from 1963.) The statue is surrounded by a 450-foot granite wall inscribed with memorable quotes from throughout King’s career.

If you’re not planning to be in D.C., however, it’s worth noting that this memorial is always free to the public—as is the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site that preserves his childhood home, his tomb, and the Center for Nonviolent Change founded in his name by Coretta Scott King in Atlanta, Georgia—so you can plan a cost-effective trip to either of these historic places when it suits you. For more inspiration on where to spend a meaningful day near you, see NPCA’s list of parks in the National Park System that showcase African-American history, including pivotal people and places in the Civil Rights movement.

Of course, if you’re the solitary type, you might also put a book on King in your backpack, head to any of your favorite parks, find an overlook on a quiet trail, and reflect on his tremendous legacy.

-Jennifer Errick, Editor, Online Communications

This portrait was taken by a Farm Security Administration employee named Jack Delano in 1941. Delano traveled to the Virgin Islands for ten days to document the agency’s efforts to assist poor farmers, much like Dorothea Lange had in the continental United States just a few years earlier. The trip resulted in numerous portraits of sharecroppers trapped in cycles of poverty. The man pictured above was an FSA borrower in the vicinity of Frederiksted, St. Croix.

Read about about Delano’s photos on this informative blog post by John Edwin Mason. And learn more about Virgin Islands National Park by watching NPCA’s slideshow or visiting the Park Service website. The park often offers special tours of plantation sites in February as part of Black History Month.

-Jennifer Errick, Editor, Online Communications

Picture this: Big city expressways and a network of train tracks lined with industry, businesses, city buildings, and schools—for miles. Then, out of the landscape rises a giant clock tower. This is your first glimpse of the Historic Pullman District on Chicago’s South Side.

The Pullman District is on the National Register of Historic Places, so it is already considered a significant piece of American history worthy of preserving. Now, thanks to a special resource study bill introduced last Friday by Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., it could become Chicago’s first national park—and only the second national park in the state of Illinois.

The neighborhood tells the stories of luxury railroad sleeper car entrepreneur George M. Pullman and the rise of the modern labor movement, including the formation of the first African-American labor union and the first industrial planned community in the 1880s. Pullman envisioned a utopian town where his employees could live and work that was a stark contrast to the overcrowded and unhealthy living conditions common at that time. He built a factory, brick row houses for workers complete with gas and running water, a large hotel, churches, a market square, and an indoor shopping area. Most of the 1,300 original structures are still standing today.

Unfortunately, Pullman’s dream of a model town failed. His heavy-handed approach to governing the town was very unpopular with workers. As railroad business declined, Pullman cut jobs, wages, and hours. Workers retaliated with a strike that spread nationwide and eventually turned violent, with protestors burning Pullman railroad cars.

The Historic Pullman District marks an important piece of American history and helps tell the story of African-American history and the labor movement in this country. And since the site is just 15 miles south of downtown Chicago, Pullman could become one of the very few “commutable” national parks. Countless families and schoolchildren could have their first national park experience for the price of a train ticket.

This study is just the first step, but it’s an important one, and one that I believe will reaffirm Pullman’s significance as we approach the centennial of the National Park Service in 2016. The people of Chicago are ready for a national park. As Congressman Jackson said: “This could become the Grand Canyon of the South Side!”

At the heart of the video is an interpretation of the Buffalo Soldier experience by Yosemite Park Ranger Shelton Johnson. Shelton has been working for decades to promote diversity in the national parks, and he has been telling this particular story since 1998. What follows are excerpts from a recent interview with Shelton, where he described these experiences to me in his own words.

-Jennifer Errick, Editor, Online Communications

***

My first job in a national park was as a dishwasher at the Old Faithful Inn [in 1985]—and I should add that I was an excellent dishwasher! There weren’t a lot of other African-American employees, even working with the concession in Yellowstone. It always struck me that there were people from all over the world who were working as employees in the park. I remember thinking at the time, how is it that a woman from Italy has not only heard about working in national parks, she’s here doing it, and I didn’t know anyone who had worked in a national park, growing up in Detroit? Early on it struck me that there was a disconnect between the whole idea of national parks and the African-American community.

***

Whenever you talk about the Buffalo Soldiers, you can’t tell that story without talking about race. You can’t tell that story without talking about slavery. You can’t tell that story without talking about genocide. I’m not only telling those stories and covering those difficult topics, I’m telling it to an audience that is mostly European-American. You can imagine a black guy standing up in front of a room, talking to a majority white audience about race. [He laughs.] That doesn’t sound like somebody’s idea of a good time in a national park. I can’t offend the listeners, but at the same time, I’m telling a story that makes people uncomfortable. The big challenge for me was to learn how to be comfortable with my discomfort and to be non-accusatory in the issues that I was bringing up with regard to race and class.

***

African Americans are the group that is least likely to have a wilderness experience. They don’t necessarily feel a cultural connection to the land. What this Buffalo Soldier story does is it provides that bridge back to the earth—back to America. And in a positive way, instead of the negative associations that are tied to both slavery and that period of post-emancipation which led to Jim Crow and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.

People focus on the physical brutality of [slavery], but they tend to not focus on what that would do to your perception of the land, if the land is a place where you’re forced to work, you get no financial reward for working the land, you’re lucky if you can make it through the day without getting beaten. So how does someone who’s forced to work the land look at the land, under those circumstances? It’s not any wonder when you really delve into the history that you would have these negative associations.

People who have grown up camping and reading John Muir, they have this completely different perception of the land. What I’m going up against is this entrenched cultural aversion. I knew it was going to be a challenge. I had absolutely no idea it was going to be as challenging as it turned out to be.

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Almost all of the soldiers who served here [at Yosemite] were either the sons or grandsons of enslaved people. Here they are going from this legacy of slavery to this experience of stewardship and protection. That’s an incredible story. That’s why I feel the Buffalo Soldier story is the most important story for African Americans in the entire breadth of the National Park System.

And yet, that history is forgotten. As long as there are African Americans out there who have the mindset that, “Oh, we don’t have anything to do with the national parks. That’s not a black thing,” then my job isn’t done. The absence of information is just as profound as the presence of information. That’s why there’s so much to overcome. We have decades and decades of this mindset that has been internalized within the African-American community that “we have nothing to do with national parks.”

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It’s easy to assume that it’s poor people of color who don’t have a park experience, but it’s across the board. It doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, rich or poor, highly educated or not as highly educated. If you’re of African descent, you’re much less likely to have a national park experience.

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Sometimes I make it look too easy when I’m out there performing, because actually, there’s a part of me that’s scared to death. Every single time I put the uniform on, I’m hoping it’ll work. I liken it to dancing in a minefield. While I’m doing it, I know that I’m one step away from absolute disaster.

The thing I’ve found is that when people hear a truth that runs contrary to what they’ve been led to believe, the natural response is to close up, and they stop listening. And when I first started doing my Buffalo Soldier program, there was no humor in it at all. I had a guy who told me early on, “Thanks, ranger. I think I need to go to a bar.” [He laughs.] It was just too hard-hitting. And then I realized at some point that there would have been humor in that story, because there had to have been. You can’t go through a rough time without finding something funny in it to lift your spirit up.

It’s not that I want to hurt [members of the audience], but I want them to understand that this is a story of people who have been hurt. I want them to feel it emotionally, and I want people to connect emotionally with what I’m doing. I don’t see what I do as a performance. I see it more as channeling, and what I want people to walk away with is this sense that they’ve been in the presence of a real person.

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To learn more about Buffalo Soldiers in Yosemite, visit http://www.nps.gov/yose/historyculture/buffalo-soldiers.htm.