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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: May 3, 2020 at 7:47:45 AM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Socialisms]: Nepa on Kahrl, 'Free the Beaches: The > Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America's Most Exclusive Shoreline' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Andrew W. Kahrl. Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the > Battle for America's Most Exclusive Shoreline. New Haven Yale > University Press, 2018. 376 pp. $28.00 (cloth), ISBN > 978-0-300-21514-4. > > Reviewed by Stephen E. Nepa (Temple University) > Published on H-Socialisms (May, 2020) > Commissioned by Gary Roth > > Beaches Belong to the People! > > In May 2018, Edward T. "Ned" Coll sat for an interview in his rural > Connecticut home. Wearing an oversized corduroy blazer, rumpled > shirt, and sporting a white beard, the 77-year-old activist spoke > wistfully of his founding in 1964 of Revitalization Corps (RC). > Inspired by the Kennedy administration's call on young Americans for > civic engagement, the Hartford-based RC functioned as a > "citizen-sponsored Peace Corps" and offered a range of social welfare > programs, from scholastic tutoring to heating oil delivery. In > then-fragile health, Coll went on to discuss his recent "God > Activism"--a blend of his devout Catholic faith and still > unquenchable thirst for a fight--and hailed himself "a prophet." A > local news site commented that while Coll attempted to mount a > political comeback, "current events suggest it hasn't caught on, but > one certainly wishes him well."[1] > > In _Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for > America's Most Exclusive Shoreline_, Andrew W. Kahrl resurrects a > story few people outside of Connecticut may recall. During the 1970s, > Coll made headlines staging "invasions" of the state's Gold Coast by > bussing to its beaches dozens of children from Hartford's black and > impoverished North End. The children, many of whom had never seen the > ocean, and Coll faced immediate hostility from affluent (and > overwhelmingly white) residents who claimed the beach as private > property. In exposing Connecticut's structural racism and challenging > politicians who upheld those property claims as inviolate, Coll's > "war for the shore" was waged against not just exclusion but the > "white liberal apathy" he thought guilty of perpetuating that > exclusion (p. 118). The author places this war amidst the maelstrom > of the urban crisis, environmental pollution, and the vicious racial > divisions of postwar America. But at the center of the story is Coll, > a white former insurance executive who after President Kennedy's > assassination quit his job, drained his bank account, and devoted > himself to promoting social justice. RC operated nationally at its > height, even prompting Coll into a quixotic run for president in > 1972. By the Reagan years, RC (and Coll) had virtually disappeared. > Through it all, his commitment inspired several. He alienated many > others. As for those coveting the Gold Coast shoreline, Kahrl > laments, "mostly they tried to ignore him. Today, they try to forget > him" (p. 8). > > Kahrl's earlier work examined black coastal landownership in the > South, and _Free the Beaches_ contributes further to historical > scholarship centering on race, class, and recreational spaces.[2] It > also moves the field's geographic scope beyond the Sun Belt region > examined by many previous studies.[3] Connecticut makes for a > compelling case. By 1950, 80 percent of the state's coastal acreage > lay in private hands. Although beaches themselves were public domain, > residents and their political allies for decades passed ordinances > that impeded access for nonresidents and "undesirable" visitors. > Homeowners fortified their beach frontage with jetties, groins, and > walls. Those practices formed what the author terms a "sand curtain" > separating gilded towns like Madison, Greenwich, and Old Saybrook > from decaying industrial cities such as New Haven, Bridgeport, and > Hartford. Meanwhile, poor families of color saw recreational > opportunities limited to opened fire hydrants, unkempt parks, and > polluted urban waterways. One of the most egregious examples was > Hartford's South Brook Park River, the so-called river of tears in > which several children drowned while swimming. Many well-to-do > residents professed concern over such tragedies, though Kahrl finds > they were equally if not more concerned about sharing their coastal > amenities with those less fortunate. This "armchair liberalism" > enraged Coll, who took his "gut liberalism" into battle on > Connecticut's beaches. > > Coll's tactics stemmed from his years at Fairfield University where > Walter Petry, his West Indian-born history professor, led field trips > to Harlem to expose his white suburban students "to the reality of > urban life and of blacks" (p. 39). Like many inner-city neighborhoods > in the 1960s, Harlem experienced poverty, pollution, and violence. > Hartford's North End, where RC was based, was no different; its > families complained of municipal neglect, lead poisoning, vermin > infestations, and in summer, the threat of rioting. Upon reading the > Kerner Commission's report on civil unrest in 1967, which he viewed > "as gospel," Coll decided white complacency in his home state needed > a serious reckoning (p. 83). From 1969 through 1977, Coll, RC staff, > and North End families descended each summer on the beaches, roiling > tempers of property owners and inflaming the fight over who owned the > beach. Memorable incidents included their 1973 appearance at the tony > Madison Surf Club, an "amphibious landing" in inflatable boats there > the following summer, and Coll's walking of the "Taxpayer Trail" in > 1977, during which he and two RC workers traversed all 258 miles of > the state's coastline; that twelve-day trek, during which Coll was > beaten by a detractor, placed the shore's physical inaccessibility > into sharp relief. In some cases, Coll found families willing to > allow his groups beach access and in fewer cases, met homeowners who > invited them inside. Kahrl notes that while many admired Coll's zeal > and RC's mission, revulsion towards the liberal welfare state was > gaining momentum around the country. Richard Nixon's landslide > reelection in 1972 and Congress' failure the following year to pass > the National Open Beaches Act showed at the national level faltering > concern for civil rights and Democratic policies. Locally, mayors and > elected officials tired of Coll "playing the beach card" (p. 239). RC > staff grew weary of his tactics and his short temper, or, as Kahrl > discovers, they simply grew older and turned establishment. > Meanwhile, Coll's health deteriorated, his wife sued him for divorce, > and RC officially disbanded in 1986. > > Ultimately, Ned Coll lost his fight against white apathy, with Kahrl > judging him "a lone activist, waging a case-by-case war on poverty" > (p. 233). The environmental deregulation of the Reagan years and the > decade's Wall Street boom made the Gold Coast a haven for the > super-rich, whose new mansions dwarfed the quaint "summer cottages" > of old. In decades since, the patterns of segregation Coll sought to > dismantle were reinforced by greater chasms of wealth and privilege, > the desirability of oceanfront property, and a resilience among > councilmanic bodies and homeowners to limit its accessibility. The > income gap between the Gold Coast and Bridgeport, for example, ranked > in 2018 as the highest in the country, while the battles for the > beaches receded into history and barely registered with the shore's > new moneyed class. But old sentiments remained and the sand curtain > stood, with one Groton Long Point resident explaining, "these people > aren't the type who live here. I don't want to sound discriminatory, > but it's just deeded and it's private" (p. 290). With the battering > of the coast by Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Superstorm Sandy a year > later, Gold Coast residents found new cause for alarm. Yet instead of > retreating in the face of climate change, they erected higher walls > or elevated their homes. Whether besieged by man-made or natural > threats, the wealth and political clout of the Gold Coast proved > formidable. In light of that history, Kahrl heralds Coll's > "interpersonal civic engagement" but posits that among well-to-do > Connecticuters, it failed to disentangle armchair liberalism from the > "material advantages of whiteness" (p. 302). > > _Free the Beaches_ at once succeeds as a vital historical work and an > emotional story of hope and ruin. In the vein of Robert Bullard, > Andrew Hurley, Rebecca Solnit, and Julie Sze, Kahrl deftly > demonstrates how environmental history, racism, and class > intersect.[4] On a biographical level, he traces a passionate, > tumultuous life since lost to the fog of memory; in that regard, one > is reminded of John Jacobs's 1997 work on Rep. Phillip Burton or Adam > Rome's study of Sen. Gaylord Nelson and the origins of Earth Day.[5] > Similar to Burton, Coll was a flawed man of unapologetic conviction, > and the author's treatment of his subject at times borders on > hagiography. At others, Kahrl judges his words and deeds as fools' > errands that in the end were minor nuisances that simply ruffled > gilded feathers. Many who knew, worked with, or wrestled with Coll > offered their testimony and clearly, there was little middle ground > on which to view him. But stories of environmental justice rarely end > well, and Coll's present-day obscurity emerges as the most poignant > aspect of Kahrl's narrative. > > Notes > > [1]. Tom Condon, "Remembering Ned Coll and Connecticut's shameful > segregation," _Connecticut Mirror_, May 16, 2018, > https://ctmirror.org/category/ct-viewpoints/remembering-ned-coll-and-connecticuts-shameful-segregation/. > > > [2]. Andrew W. Kahrl, _The Land Was Ours: African American Beaches > from Jim Crow to the Sunbelt South_ (Cambridge, MA: Harvard > University Press, 2012). > > [3]. Eric Avila, _Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear > and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles_ (Berkeley: University of > California Press, 2006); Richard Griswold del Castillo, ed., _Chicano > San Diego: Cultural Space and the Struggle for Justice_ (Tucson: > University of Arizona Press, 2007); Jeff Wiltse, _Contested Waters: A > Social History of Swimming Pools in America_ (Chapel Hill: University > of North Carolina Press, 2009); N. D. B. Connolly, _A World More > Concrete: Real Estate and the Remaking of Jim Crow South Florida > (_Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014); Reiko Hillyer, > _Designing Dixie: Tourism, Memory, and Urban Space in the New South_ > (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2014); Chanelle Nyree > Rose, _The Struggle for Black Freedom in Miami: Civil Rights and > America's Tourist Paradise, 1896-1968_ (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State > University Press, 2015); and Gregory W. Bush, _White Sand, Black > Beaches: Civil Rights, Public Space, and Miami's Virginia Key_ > (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2016). > > [4]. Robert Bullard_, Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and > Environmental Inequality_ (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990); Andrew > Hurley, _Environmental Inequalities: Class, Race, and Industrial > Pollution in Gary, Indiana, 1945-1980_ (Chapel Hill: University of > North Carolina Press, 1995); Rebecca Solnit, _Hollow City: The Siege > of San Francisco and the Crisis of American Urbanism_ (New York: > Verso, 2000); and Julie Sze, _Noxious New York: The Racial Politics > of Urban Health and Environmental Justice_ (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, > 2007). > > [5]. John Jacobs, _A Rage for Justice: The Passion and Politics of > Phillip Burton_ (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997); > Adam Rome, _The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-in Unexpectedly > Made the First Green Generation (_New York: Hill and Wang, 2014). > > Citation: Stephen E. Nepa. Review of Kahrl, Andrew W., _Free the > Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America's Most > Exclusive Shoreline_. H-Socialisms, H-Net Reviews. May, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54348 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
