
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, November 24, 1995                   TAG: 9511300005
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LURAY                                LENGTH: Medium

NATIONAL PARK WAS LABORATORY FOR RACE RELATIONS

IN THE 1930s, the Interior Department wanted it integrated; the state disagreed. The compromise made history.

Federal and state ideas about segregation clashed in an early race-relations laboratory: Shenandoah National Park.

This little-known part of the park's past has historians eager to learn more about the days when blacks, for the most part, were segregated at Lewis Mountain campground.

``We want to do an exhibit about Lewis Mountain, but we don't have enough material to interpret it,'' said Reed Engle, the park's cultural-resource specialist, who is seeking information from black tourists who used the campground and the park.

``We're hoping to hear from folks who stayed here before and after World War II,'' Engle said.

Park records indicate there were 9,352 black visitors in 1939 and 10,217 in 1940, a small fraction of the million or so visitors who came to the park yearly.

Harold Ickes, Franklin Roosevelt's secretary of the interior, pushed to desegregate Shenandoah National Park from its establishment in 1935, according to research by park historian Darwin Lambert.

But the National Park Service and Virginia politicians in the 1930s said segregation was necessary.

``When the park was established, it was agreed that all laws governing the state of Virginia would be in effect within the park area,'' Sen. Harry Byrd wrote to the Interior Department.

Caught between Ickes and Virginia politicians, park officials at one time allowed blacks and whites to use the same picnic area. The National Park Service ran Lewis Mountain as a blacks-only campground

Engle said the park was ``Ickes' social experiment. He wanted to see how it was received.''

Lewis Mountain opened as a blacks-only campground in the summer of 1939, and its first cabins and lodge were operating by the following summer. Its 12 original cabins are still in use.

In 1941, lodging and dining at the park's Skyland, Dickey Ridge and Big Meadows were for whites only - except for black maids and chauffeurs, according to Lambert's history. But all lunch counters, gift shops and gas stations were used in common, though toilets were separate.

Panorama and Swift Run had segregated dining rooms and toilets. Pinnacles picnic ground, including toilets, was used by both races.

``The park had full integration by 1950,'' Engle said. ``That's pretty dramatic, considering it took another 14 or 15 years in the commonwealth.''

Engle said Shenandoah National Park hopes to have an exhibit of black history ready by February.

by CNB