African American resorts

Promotional flyer for Paradise Park, Florida
Promotional flyer for Paradise Park, Florida

During the decades of segregation in the United States, African Americans established various resorts.[1] The resorts were self-contained commercial establishments. Varying resort accommodations included rooms for rent, meals and fine food, cocktail bars, dancing, sporting facilities (such as golf, horseback riding, tennis, swimming pools, fishing, badminton), and beaches.[2] Also in some cases entire communities (or towns) were known as resort areas for African Americans. The Negro Motorist Green Book helped guide African Americans to accommodating and safe places,[3] including Idlewild, Michigan, which was among the most well known.[4]

  1. ^ Algeo, Katie (August 2013). "Underground Tourists/Tourists Underground: African American Tourism to Mammoth Cave". Tourism Geographies. 15 (3): 380–404. doi:10.1080/14616688.2012.675514. ISSN 1461-6688.
  2. ^ "Resorts". Ebony. Vol. 18. Johnson Publishing Company. June 1963. p. 132. ISSN 0012-9011.
  3. ^ "Before the Green Book, These Resorts Offered Hidden Safe Havens for Black Americans". HISTORY. January 7, 2019.
  4. ^ Nelson, Angela M. "Idlewild: The Rise, Decline, and Rebirth of a Unique African American Resort Town". The Journal of American Culture. 38 (4): 426–427. doi:10.1111/jacc.12478 – via ProQuest.