Very interesting. In the early 1920s white residents of the OFallon Park area (an area viewed as politically progressive) complained that large numbers of black people were picnicking in OFallon and Fairground parks on weekends. Although Mayor Kiel initially opposed efforts to regulate the parks, eventually he caved to pressure (again, from progressive white reformers whose racism was only thinly veiled) and the city enacted picnic licensing to restrict access.
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 14:03:08 +0000
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