Navigating the Green Book; The Negro Travelers' Green Book Interactive Map

In Remember Little Rock Erin Krutko Devlin explores public memories surrounding the iconic Arkansas school desegregation crisis of 1957 and shows how these memories were vigorously contested and sometimes deployed against the cause. Delving into a wide variety of sources, from memoirs to televised docudramas, commemoration ceremonies, and the creation of Little Rock High museums, Devlin reveals how many white moderates proclaimed Little Rock a victory for civil rights and educational equality even as segregation persisted. At the same time, African American activists, students, and their families asserted their own stories in the ongoing fight for racial justice.Devlin also demonstrates that public memory directly bears on law and policy. She argues that the triumphal narrative of civil rights has been used to stall school desegregation, support tokenism, and to roll back federal court oversight of school desegregation, voter registration, and efforts to promote diversity in public institutions. Remember Little Rock examines the chasm between the rhetoric of the "post–civil rights" era and the reality of enduring racial inequality.

Remember Little Rock (Public History in Historical Perspective)

Welcome to the University of Mary Washington, a public arts and sciences institution in Fredericksburg, Va., that attracts intellectually curious undergraduate and graduate students in search of rigorous academics. The university – located midway between Richmond, Va., and Washington, D.C. – provides a rich array of academic, research, internship, leadership, and recreational opportunities that not only train students for the real world but allow them to interact closely with faculty members.

University of Mary Washington

Erin Krutko Devlin's research focuses on race, public memory, and social justice, and she offers courses in both history and American studies.  Her book "Remember Little Rock" was published by the University of Massachusetts Press as part of its Public History in Historical Perspective series in 2017.  She is currently working on a historic resource study with the National Park Service focused on segregation and African-American visitation in Virginia’s national parks.

American Studies

Social Justice

Race

Public Memory

American History

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Wearing Down the Appalachian Trail

WATCH NOW: Fredericksburg and Mary Washington place temporary marker honoring Freedom Riders (The Free Lance-Star; Martinsville Bulletin

UMW, City of Fredericksburg partner in effort to more accurately tell the local Civil Rights story

Historian David Marsich to Present for St. George’s 300th Anniversary Lecture Series

UMW, City working to place historical marker at downtown site of Freedom Riders first stop

Jim Crow in the Great Outdoors

Study Seeks to Document the History of National Park Segregation and its Lasting Effects

Shenandoah National Park Is Confronting Its History

National Parks Traveler Episode 26: Segregation In the Parks, and Winter in Everglades

UMW professor, students collaborate with National Park Service for segregation exhibit

racial-segregation-and-national-parks-umw-experts-are-lending-their-expertise-to-the-project

Associate Professor of History and American Studies

  It’s a time of American history that is still raw and painful – segregation. It is, however, even more important to remember and preserve these moments so the country can move forward and learn from its past. It’s a project that University of Mary’s Washington’s Erin Devlin has taken on in collaboration with federal government. “The National Park Service has installed a wayside exhibit outside the Fredericksburg Battlefield Visitor Center on the history of segregation at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.  The exhibit highlights a former garage that in the 1930s and 1940s housed segregated restrooms for African American visitors. One of those restrooms is still in use and retains the original tile and fixtures. The larger building is now the park’s gift shop and bookstore.  The new exhibit was a collaborative effort between the National Park Service and the University of Mary Washington to highlight surviving historic resources related to the local and national story of racial segregation at national parks.  Erin Devlin, assistant professor of history and American studies at UMW, is working with the NPS to develop a historic resource study that will examine the practice of racial segregation in Virginia’s national parks during the first half of the 20th century.” August 06 – Fredericksburg.com  Are you a journalist covering American history, or the place racial segregation has played in our country’s history?  If so – let our experts assist with your stories. Erin Devlin's research focuses on race, public memory, and social justice, and she offers courses in both history and American studies. She is currently working on a historic resource study with the National Park Service focused on segregation and African-American visitation in Virginia’s national parks. Dr. Devlin is available to speak with media regarding this topic – simply click on her icon to arrange an interview.  

Racial segregation and National Parks – UMW experts are lending their expertise to the project

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