Black Faces, White Spaces

“Makes a clear case for the dominant culture’s habitual (though, sometimes unwitting) rejection of African Americans.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Weaving scholarly analysis with interviews of leading black environmentalists and ordinary Americans, Finney traces the environmental legacy of slavery and Jim Crow segregation, which mapped the wilderness as a terrain of extreme terror and struggle for generations of blacks—as well as a place of refuge.”—Boston Globe

“A must-read for those who hope to make the parks matter to diverse populations.”—Sierra

“Finney’s exemplary work moves beyond a critique of the movement and popular culture. It carves through multiple layers of meaning to excavate unique moments of African American environmental history that demand retelling.”—CHOICE

“Offers an engaging interdisciplinary analysis of the historical conditions that shape the whiteness of 'Nature' in the United States.”—American Book Review

“A wonderfully written and deeply insightful book that convincingly explodes the one-size-fits-all narrative of how nature in the United States is both often imagined to be racialized and is, in fact, racialized. Given the white privileging of geography, the sorts of intellectual-cultural insights offered here could very well be transformative. This book will stand alone in the field of geographic treatments of race and nature.”—Nik Heynen, University of Georgia

“Using collective memory, race, and environment, Finney looks at the effect of slavery and Jim Crow segregation and their key roles in shaping African American connections to place— the 'great outdoors' or the 'environment' more generally. She looks at representation of African Americans in the great outdoors as being a key site of contestation, of struggle. She also looks at the difficulties inherent in discussions of race and diversity within environmentalism, and with environmentalists. Finney shines a different light, and brings a different voice to bear.”—Julian Agyeman, Tufts University