Recreation and Race in the Postwar City: Buffalo's 1956 Crystal Beach Riot
2006; Oxford University Press; Volume: 93; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/4486060
ISSN1945-2314
Autores Tópico(s)American History and Culture
ResumoIn his 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King Jr. explained African Americans' impatience for justice. “When you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering,” wrote King, “as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children … then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.”1 King's daughter, Yolanda Denise, was not the only black child to be inundated with summer advertisements for local amusement parks. Across the country, North and South, young African Americans discovered that timeworn discriminatory laws and practices limited their access to urban amusement parks. Since amusement parks were emblematic of American youth culture, the exclusion was particularly painful for black teenagers. After World War II young African American consumers and civil rights activists forced open the gates of America's funtowns. The racial conflict that ensued reveals the depth of anger and emotion at the heart of segregated leisure.
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