200 likes | 669 Views
The Carroll Park Municipal Golf Course: A Case Study of the National Civil Rights Campaign: 1923-1954. Part of a Larger Study: The History of Racial and Ethnic Access Within Baltimore’s Carroll Park: 1870-1954. Defended June, 2006.
E N D
The Carroll Park Municipal Golf Course: A Case Study of the National Civil Rights Campaign: 1923-1954
Part of a Larger Study: The History of Racial and Ethnic Access Within Baltimore’s Carroll Park: 1870-1954. Defended June, 2006. • In what ways has park access on the land that became Carroll Park been influenced by issues of race and ethnicity? • The Schuetzen Period: 1870-1886. • The Segregation Era: 1923-1954
Importance of Research • Recent findings (Wolch et. al, 2005) indicate that America’s urban parks are still coming to terms with a past marked by segregation and racial violence. Reluctance to enter a park due to issues of race and ethnicity can have deep historical roots. Nevertheless, most modern research on urban parks focus solely on the present.
Introduction • Where is Carroll Park?
The Origins of the Carroll Park Municipal Golf Course • 1888: Death of Mary Ludlow Carroll, the last member of the family to own the Mount Clare property in its entirety. • 1890-1907: City Park Board Purchases land east of Monroe Avenue from Carroll heirs and other landowners in order to serve residents of southwestern Baltimore. • East of Monroe Street: Largely preserved green space near the Mount Clare Mansion. Designed as a mixed-use park by the Olmsted Firm and Carroll Park Superintendent, Charles Seybold. • West of Monroe Street: Scarred industrial landscape from a history of brickyards, clay pits, and munitions factories. • Fears that lack of park development would result in loss of park land to business. 10 Acres to Montgomery Ward, 1924. • Charles Hook, 1923: Director of Parks and Recreation in Baltimore announces plans for a 65-acre golf course on the property. • Reasons for growing interest in the sport of golf.
Timeline: 1923-1936 • 1923: Carroll Park Golf Course opened on 35 acres west of Monroe Street. Predated only by Clifton Park. • 1920s: All of Baltimore’s golf courses remained “White Only”, forcing Black players to travel to Philadelphia or Washington, D.C. • Early 1930s: Monumental Golf Club of Baltimore challenged the policy of segregation in a campaign of protests and newspaper articles. • Leading Figures: Willie Adams, Dallas Nicholas, Bernard Harris. • Lack of direct ACLU Support. • 1934: Amidst vehement White objections, African Americans given rights to play at Carroll Park every other day. • 1936: Full course rights at Carroll Park given to African Americans. Whites barred from playing. • Carroll Park was known as the city’s worst golf course. It lacked a club house, contained only nine holes, no bunkers, and sand greens.
Timeline: 1936-1943 • National Civil Rights Strategy: Do not directly attack segregation, but make whites pay to make separate facilities equal under the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1898. • 1940: National Boxing Hero, Joe Louis, recommends that local activists fight to make Carroll Park’s facilities equal. • May, 1942: Using African American service in World War II as a pretext, Black golfers secure the right to play at all courses within Baltimore. • June, 1942: Heavy protests from White neighborhoods (Not White golfers) force the Park Board to revoke its decision. • July, 1942: An all white Jury determines that the facilities at Carroll Park are not equal. Judge Eugene O’Dunne restores the right of African Americans to play any course. • December, 1942: Appeals Court overturns this decision on technical grounds (Judge O’Dunne had not been present for the jury’s verdict). • April, 1943: Compromise Reached: Carroll Park would be improved. Blacks could use all other courses in the meantime.
Timeline: 1943-1954 • 1945: Renovations to Carroll Park completed: Yardage increased, clubhouse improved, grass greens, and sand bunkers. African American golfers forced to return to Carroll Park. • 1948: In a new lawsuit, Judge Chestnut ruled that nine holes could not be equal to eighteen. African Americans given rights to play all courses, though on alternating days. • Disagreement between Commissioners Harris and Boone. • 1949: Gang battle between Whites and Blacks in Carroll Park, south of Mount Clare. One African American, 19-year old Linwood Matthews, killed. Park Board blamed for creating racial tension. • 1951: Monumental Golf Club sues Park Board again. Total victory – all golf courses fully desegregated. • 1953-1954: Lawsuit to desegregate Carroll Park swimming facilities. Brown v. Board (1954) settles the case prematurely. End of “Separate but Equal” • 1957: Swimming Facilities at Carroll Park closed due to lack of use. Whites boycotted the pool, rather than allow their families to swim with Blacks.
IV. Conclusions • Today, Carroll Park exists without any limitations in ethnic or racial access. Example of an urban green space in which the errors of the past have been corrected. • Numbers on general park usage are unavailable, though golf course patrons are approximately 40% white and 60% black. • In conjunction with other research projects (Korth, 2005), this thesis can help to understand how modern-day patterns of park access came to be, as well as how well the Olmsted Brothers’ plan of equal park access to all held up over the course of history.