National Parks For African Americans As A Tourism Destination

Ever since my dad was a young boy he has wanted to visit all the National Parks in the United States. We’ve already been to The Grand Canyon in Arizona, The Badlands in South Dakota, Biscayne in Florida, Mesa Verde in Colorado, and many more! This time we were headed for Colorado where National Park, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, is located. I was really dreading this trip. I’d never heard of this park before and neither had my friends. All the other parks we’d been to have been really interesting and enjoyable, but Black Canyon of the Gunnison most likely won’t be.

“The human history of the Yellowstone region goes back more than 11,000 years. From then until to the very recent past, many groups of Native Americans used the park as their homes, hunting grounds, and transportation routes. These traditional uses of Yellowstone lands continued until a little over 200 years ago when the first people of European descent found their way into the park. In 1872 a country that had not yet seen its first centennial, established Yellowstone as the first national park in the world. A new concept was born and with it a new way for people to preserve and protect

The National Park Service and National Historic Landmark programs have listened to the call to action and in the last 10-years have focused efforts on highlighting the contributions of Latino Americans. In May 2011, the National Park Service launched the American Latino Heritage Initiative. Its goal was to develop and implement, and advance the representation with in the National Historic Landmarks Program. In the program’s first year, 2011-2012, 20% of new National Historic Landmarks were associated with Latino-American heritage (Progress Report 1). Another way that Latino-American heritage was included at National Historic Site, Landmarks, and National parks was to interpret sites including people and events associated with the heritage

Generally when one thinks of the American west their mind jumps to an image of untouched, unspoiled land, such as the land that is represented by America’s national parks. These tourist destinations in the West showcase the history of our nation’s land in a way that many people assume is and has always been the reality, but although the natural beauty of these lands is represented perhaps the beauty of the cultures that used to inhabit them is not.

Acadia National Park is one of the most beautiful parks in the United States. There are mountains, hiking trails, beaches, and camp ground that make people love to visit the park. A lot of people travel to Maine just to visit the park. This is the center of most activities in Maine.

According to Larry Beck in his work, “The National Park Centennial: What the Parks Mean to Us Today,” Yosemite is far more significant than just a pretty place to visit. This national park holds a great significance in the hearts of Americans, for it represents the strength and determination of our nation amidst the crises which were brought on by the

”It is believed that African-American should have a concerted effort to make the celebration to make it more productive in the eyes of others. In progression, outside of the change in targeted audience awareness is also a key factor to bringing Black History Month back into its

In our society, we have our ideals set on the values of Yosemite National Park as gateway to explore nature. As Yosemite is a tourist attraction, its breathtaking scenery is one of the marvels that brings people together. As others have seen or heard of Yosemite, only a few can personify and connect with its elements. Yosemite is home to the Ahwahneechee tribe as they live religiously and spiritually.

In 2016, the National Park Service (NPS) celebrated 100 years of preservation and conservation of our nation’s parks, monuments, and historical sites. Currently, the federal government has proposed significant proposed budget cuts to the National Park Service. If the government makes these cuts, then Americans could lose the national parks along with the beauty, culture, and history that comes with them. This would happen because the NPS would lose most of its funding that is needed in order to keep the national parks well­preserved. Investing in the NPS should be a priority in our nation because it provides educational programs, unites all ages and races, and preserves and conserves the national parks.

For my essay topic I will be exploring the question of how to eliminate overcrowding while balancing maintenance of Colorado outdoor public recreation areas. I am interested in this topic as I personally use the public areas in Colorado, and I want to see what methods are truly effective going forward to ensure that the residents of Colorado have public access to enjoy the beautiful recreational areas of our state. Many people choose to live in Colorado to be able to take advantage of the temperate climate and access to spectacular mountain areas that are shared with visitors from all over the world. The ability to use the parks in Colorado is determined by state and national government, and there are many vested parties seeking to influence how they are managed. Stakeholders include those proposing change in national policy to drastically cut back on funding, preservation groups, and those considering how to honor the initial mission statements of

Many contemporary scholars such as John Iliffe rashly characterize Africa as a hostile environment that induces weak agriculture and small population. Yes, their perception about Africa is sound to some degree because African geography suggests that its environment is less suitable for certain types of harvesting. Also, there are some diseases more prevalent in Africa. However, it is hasty to judge Africa solely based on these features, and such judgment parochially overlooks other characteristics of African environment that enable its inhabitants to live a life that is not at all inferior but quintessentially different from western continents. In contrary to the typical stereotype, Africa contains a rich diversity of plants and foods sources

“Early African American travelers often embarked upon unauthorized liberatory initiatives for the purposes of emancipation, re-identification, regeneration, or self-reliance that frequently conflicted with the principles of Euro-American colonization, slavery, and imperialism” (Smith 197). Every day, there are people throughout our world who make plans to travel. Yet we’ve asked ourselves “why do we travel and what can we gain for it?” For African American travelers, they gain their inspiration for traveling from writers such as Virginia Smith who, in her essay, contains travel literature which contains fictional works and metaphorical journeys on the recorded history of people who had their reasons for traveling.

One of the topics we have gone over this quarter, is tourism and recreation and the effects they have on a community. When I think of tourism I often think of places like New York City or the monuments in South Dakota.

Near my neighborhood, Pacific Spirit Regional Park is the most famous. Every day I can see people obtain and enjoy a range of values form it. In the next few paragraphs, I will introduce different types of values of this park through my experiences with it, such as social function, environmental function and economic function.

The Issue of National Park conservation has become a widely controversial issue today. With the National debt reaching 17 trillion dollars some politicians think it is alright to either sell off national park land to commercial foresters, miners, and even foreign nations or to just close some parks entirely to make up some of the national debt. They are completely unaware that the parks arent just a “pretty area of land for tourists”. Many cities depend on the parks for their well-being. A quote from a local newspaper in California supports this “National parks don’t boast concession stands or charge tax, but data indicates they bring in millions of dollars to local economies each year”(Tree). Supporters of cutting the parks include big CEO’s of major companies and some of them not even in this country.