{"id":43,"date":"2024-06-05T02:03:52","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T02:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/picturingmobility\/?page_id=43"},"modified":"2024-06-28T13:37:17","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T13:37:17","slug":"locations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/picturingmobility\/locations\/","title":{"rendered":"Amusement Parks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amusement parks were popular, fun-filled leisure spots for Black households of all ages. Similar to other leisure sites, amusement parks were also highly segregated during this time period. Sparrow\u2019s Beach, a beachfront resort that catered to Black Americans during segregation, featured one of the most popular amusement parks during the time. One of the most popular amusement parks, Coney Island, which is known to have represented a new wave of entertainment and American leisure, was only desegregated in the 1950s. Soon after that, the Little Rock Nine (a group of Black students credited with desegregating Little Rock Central High School in 1957) visited Coney Island, as seen in the photographs below. The presence of Black joy in these spaces acts to reduce the adultification of Black youth by providing a visual representation of Black children engaging in innocent and playful activities, which works to further humanize Blackness and counteract harmful narratives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mildred Grossman, [Little Rock Nine students Carlotta Walls, Gloria Ray, and Melba Beals trying out the bumper cars at Coney Island], 1958. Gelatin silver print. Mildred Grossman collection, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (P89-25-180).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Mildred Grossman, [Minnijean Brown and Carlotta Walls enjoy the bumper cars at Coney Island during their trip to New York City], 1958. Gelatin silver print. Mildred Grossman collection, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (P89-25-184).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Mildred Grossman, [Little Rock Nine students Melba Beals, Carlotta Walls, and Jefferson Thomas on the bumper cars at Coney Island], 1958. Gelatin silver print. Mildred Grossman collection, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (P89-25-177).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Mildred Grossman, [Melba Beals, Jefferson Thomas, and Minnijean Brown enjoying a roller coaster ride at Coney Island], 1958. Gelatin silver print. Mildred Grossman collection, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (P89-25-175).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Mildred Grossman, [Little Rock Nine students Gloria Ray, Minnijean Brown, and Melba Beals on an amusement park ride at Coney Island], 1958. Gelatin silver print. Mildred Grossman collection, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (P89-25-178).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Mildred Grossman, [Little Rock Nine students Gloria Ray, Minnijean Brown, and Melba Beals on an amusement park ride at Coney Island], 1958. Gelatin silver print. Mildred Grossman collection, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (P89-25-179).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Mildred Grossman, [Gloria Ray holds a young man’s hand as she tries to stay afoot inside a spinning barrel ride at Coney Island], 1958. Gelatin silver print. Mildred Grossman collection, The Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (P89-25-176).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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1958 Unknown Carr’s Beach Amusement Park Accession No.: MSA SC 2140-1-157. Photo courtesy of the Maryland State Archives. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Suburban Gardens was the only amusement park accessible to Black folks in the Washington D.C. metro area. Image from the New York Public Library<\/a>
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Amusement parks were popular, fun-filled leisure spots for Black households of all ages. Similar to other leisure sites, amusement parks were also highly segregated during this time period. Sparrow\u2019s Beach, a beachfront resort that catered to Black Americans during segregation, featured one of the most popular amusement parks during the time. One of the most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/template-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/picturingmobility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/picturingmobility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/picturingmobility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/picturingmobility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/picturingmobility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/picturingmobility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1811,"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/picturingmobility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions\/1811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.umbc.edu\/specialcollections\/picturingmobility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}