Every place has a story. Sometimes it’s displayed out in the open, ready to be absorbed, and other times, it’s not as obvious. For example, Yosemite is one of the most visited national parks, but many Americans don’t know that Buffalo Soldiers and Chinese immigrants contributed significantly to the park.
Chinese immigrants built essential roads in Yosemite, including the Wawona Road and Tioga Road, working with hand picks and shovels in difficult, mountainous terrain, in the 1880s. Chinese immigrants also served as cooks:—Tie Sing was a renowned chef for the U.S. Geological Survey who cooked for Stephen Mather and his National Park Service (NPS)mountain parties in the backcountry. A peak was named after him: Sing Peak. The Chinese Historical Society of Southern California leads pilgrimages to the peak.
As James Edward Mills says in the Muir Project video on p. 26, Buffalo Soldiers were tasked with protecting Yosemite as well as Sequoia. These African-American U.S. Army troops were among the first park rangers in the West, and they worked at Yosemite and Sequoia in 1899, 1903, and 1904. Charles Young, the third African-American graduate of West Point, served as Sequoia’s acting military superintendent.
Parks and natural spaces often have a rich cultural history as well as natural history. Hearing this history can alter how visitors experience the land—and what they take away from their visit. Park interpretation sometimes tells this history, and several organizations have found ways of tying this history to people’s enjoyment of nature.
For example, an Outdoor Afro hike along the Appalachian Trail that included parts of the
history
and a sense of place
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