The Land Was Ours:
African American Beaches from Jim Crow to the Sunbelt South
Driving along the coasts of the American South, we
see miles of luxury condominiums, timeshare resorts, and gated
communities. Yet, a century ago, a surprising amount of beachfront
property in the Chesapeake, along the Carolina shore, and around the
Gulf of Mexico was owned and populated by African Americans. In a
pathbreaking combination of social and environmental history, Andrew W. Kahrl
shows how the rise and fall of Jim Crow and the growing prosperity of
the Sunbelt have transformed both communities and ecosystems along the
southern seaboard.
Kahrl traces the history of these dynamic coastlines in all their
incarnations, from unimproved marshlands to segregated beaches, from
exclusive resorts for the black elite to campgrounds for religious
revival. His careful reconstruction of African American life, labor, and
leisure in small oceanside communities reveals the variety of ways
African Americans pursued freedom and mobility through the land under
their feet.
The Land Was Ours makes unexpected connections between two
seemingly diverse topics: African Americans’ struggles for economic
empowerment and the ecology of coastal lands. Kahrl’s innovative
approach allows him fresh insights into the rise of African American
consumers and the widespread campaigns to dispossess blacks of their
property. His skillful portrayal of African American landowners and
real-estate developers rescues the stories of these architects of the
southern landscape from historical neglect. Ultimately, Kahrl offers
readers a thoughtful, judicious appraisal of the ambiguous legacy of
racial progress in the Sunbelt.
Join us for the 2013 Lillian Smith Book Awards Ceremony
During the Decatur Book Festival
September 1, 2013
September 1, 2013
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