Race, Class, and Natural Environment: Public Communication by the Bay Area Playground Movement (1920–1960)

• In Event: Environment, Scientific Racism, and Public Communication (C19–20th)

Abstract

Natalie Novoa explores the Playground Movement in the U.S. from its inception at the start of the 20th century through the early 1920s, centering on the Playground Association of America’s (PAA) monthly journal, The Playground. Its essays by playground advocates and progressive leaders, and general updates on expansion of park and green space in cities, show the embeddedness of the language of scientific racism at the time. Natalie uses this source base to demonstrate how race and class structured ideas about relationships to the natural environment and the role of outdoor recreation in the twentieth century.

Author

• Natalie Novoa, California State University, Fullerton