Paradise Park

Beau Redmond

Paradise Park
mixed media
30 x 40 inches
#22352

From the Florida Before Disney exhibition May 2018

Paradise Park:

In 1949, the co-owners of Silver Spring opened another tourist attraction about a mile away on the southeast side of the river.  They called it Paradise Park.  Black and white tourists were not allowed to mix in the segregated South.  Silver Spring was for white visitors, but all the boat captains were black.  Paradise Park was for black visitors, and all the boat captains were white.  Paradise Park drew about 100,000 visitors annually from as far away as New York and California.  In 1964, the Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination based on race, bringing long-overdue social reforms to black Americans.  The park closed in 1969.