Landscapes of Hope: Nature and the Great Migration in Chicago

In Landscapes of Hope, Brian McCammack explores how black Chicagoans forged material and imaginative connections to nature during the Great Migration. This award-winning book offers a fresh perspective on the integration of southern and northern black culture by examining how black Chicagoans used nature for leisure and recreation.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 376 pages
\n Publication date: 27 August 2021
\n Publisher: Harvard University Press
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Winner of the prestigious Frederick Jackson Turner Award, the George Perkins Marsh Prize, and the John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize, "Landscapes of Hope" is a groundbreaking work of history that seamlessly weaves together African American history and environmental studies in captivating ways.

Spanning from 1915 to 1940, a significant wave of African Americans embarked on a journey from the rural South to the bustling urban North. In Chicago, the black population surged, reaching over 275,000 individuals. While most historians focus on labor, politics, and popular culture as the key drivers of integration between southern and northern black cultures, environmental historian Brian McCammack takes a different approach.

In "Landscapes of Hope," McCammack explores how black Chicagoans forged profound material and imaginative connections to nature. The book takes readers on a journey to the city's parks, beaches, youth camps, vacation resorts, farms, and forests in the rural Midwest. By situating the Great Migration within the context of environmental experiences, "Landscapes of Hope" unveils the untold history of African Americans' migration to Chicago, highlighting how they constructed both tangible and intangible links to the natural world.

"Uncovers the untold history of African Americans migration to Chicago as they constructed both material and immaterial connections to nature," praises Teona Williams, Black Perspectives. "A beautifully written, smart, painstakingly researched account that adds nuance to the growing field of African American environmental history," adds Colin Fisher, American Historical Review. Reinier de Graaf, writing in the New York Review of Books, notes that for the inhabitants of Chicago's crowded tenements, nature increasingly became a source of leisure and respite from the urban pressures of the time.

"Landscapes of Hope" is a testament to the power of history to shed light on the complex intersections of race, place, and environment. It is a must-read for scholars, students, and anyone interested in understanding the rich tapestry of African American history and the profound impact of nature on their lives.

\n Weight: 432g\n
Dimension: 155 x 234 x 30 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9780674260375\n \n