A Socio-Historical Overview of Black Youth Development in the United States for Leisure Studies

Abstract

African American voices are absent from many histories of the youth development movement in the United States. This article explores contexts for African American youth development in three historical phases: 1790–1840, 1860– 1877, and 1890–1920. Each phase includes a description of the family, neighborhood, education, religion, and leisure as interconnected developmental contexts. Each histor- ical period was characterized by a dynamic of oppression and resistance through which African Americans carved out youth development opportunities for and with their children. Coming to terms with this legacy of oppression underscores the imperative to challenge injustice in the present. Further disruption of leisure history with nuanced perspectives from people of color may provide a more complete portrait of where we, as a field, have been and options for where we might go in the future.