The New York Times has an interesting piece about African American attendance at National Park sites. We have long known that black attendance at Civil War-related sites is considerably less than other ethnic groups. This is not surprising given the emphasis on the Lost Cause narrative that has held sway at Civil War parks since their creation starting in the 1890s. Recent shifts in Interpretation have caused an uptick in the stats, but I doubt seriously that African Americans will ever visit Gettysburg, Antietam, or elsewhere in significant numbers. Still, the problem of African American attendance at National Park sites runs deeper than that: numbers at nature parks such as Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon are lower–much lower–as well. Ranger Shelton Johnson of Yosemite addressed this very issue in the interview he did here at the Strawfoot this past March.  I urge you to read it if you have not already done so. I did not know until reading the New York Times piece that there is a growing movement afoot to attract minorities, especially young minorities, to our country’s natural and scenic wonders. I spent the past half hour checking out some of the websites these travelers have created and was impressed. As Ranger Johnson pointed out in the documentary The Way Home , this is the next chapter in the Civil Rights Movement. It could be the next chapter for the National Parks as well.