National Park Service celebrates 100 years

A painter at Hidden Falls Regional Park
A painter paints a view of the river from Hidden Falls Regional Park in St. Paul, Minn. on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016.
Evan Frost | MPR News

As a part of the celebration, national parks will be encouraging audiences to explore programs in your own backyard. But there has been some criticism that national parks struggled to attract people from diverse communities.

Carolyn Finney, author of Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors talks about how African Americans have historically struggled with racism in rural America.

Finney recounts reactions from four black folks from Oakland, Calif., talking about the possibilities of cruising the back roads of Montana, the response was "are you nuts?". She describes the difficulties of changing attitudes and perceptions.

And John Anfinson - Superintendent of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area talks to Tom about the future of national parks and how they are reaching new audiences from all walks of life.

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