{"product_id":"remembering-paradise-park-tourism-and-segregation-at-silver-springs-9780813061528","title":"Remembering Paradise Park: Tourism and Segregation at Silver Springs","description":"\u003cp\u003eAmerican Library Association \"Best of the Best of the University Presses\" A strange and unsettling glimpse of the land of sun and surf in the waning moments of segregation in the South.Gilbert King  author of Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall  the Groveland Boys  and the Dawn of a New America  A testament to the efforts of a black community determined to provide wholesome recreation for their families in a segregated society. This masterpiece of local history changes the way we think about the history of tourism and civil rights.Susan Sessions Rugh  author of Are We There Yet?: The Golden Age of American Family Vacations  The story of Florida tourism has been told in many ways  but this book gives a perspective that has been missing from most of them. Vickers and Wilson-Graham finally open the gates to Paradise Park so that all are welcome to sample its wonders.Tim Hollis  author of Selling the Sunshine State: A Celebration of Florida Tourism Advertising  An invaluable time capsule. This bittersweet book vividly describes the joys of Paradise Park  while acceptance and endurance of racist practices are also remembered and voiced.Marsha Dean Phelts  author of An American Beach for African Americans  Paradise Park was the colored only counterpart to Silver Springs  a central Florida tourist attraction famous for its crystal-clear water and glass bottom boats. Together the two parks comprised one of the biggest recreational facilities in the country before Disney World. From 1949 to 1969  boats passed each other on the Silver Riverblacks on one side  whites on the other. Though the patrons of both parks shared the same river  they seldom crossed the invisible line in the water.  Full of vivid photographs  vintage advertisements  and interviews with employees and patrons  Remembering Paradise Park portrays a place of delight and leisure during the painful era of Jim Crow. Racial violence was at its height in Floridathe famous Groveland rape case happened right as Paradise Park openedand many African Americans saw the park as a safe place for families. It was a popular vacation spot for the areas black community  one of the most cohesive and prosperous in the South.  Tracing the color line through Floridas most famous spring  this book compares the park to other tourist destinations set aside for African Americans in the state and across the country. Though Silver Springs was Floridas only attraction to operate a parallel facility for African Americans  Paradise Park has been just a whisper in the story of Florida tourism until now.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45666112274485,"sku":"ByrdShop_0813061520","price":51.62,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780813061528.jpg?v=1782420014","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/remembering-paradise-park-tourism-and-segregation-at-silver-springs-9780813061528","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}