When she was growing up in Harlem in the 1940s, Reverend Malika Leigh Whitney played a lot of street games, like hopscotch, jacks, stick ball, and stoop ball. But she loved jumping Double Dutch the most.
Mr. Louis Schuker, the principal at Jamaica High, had a long talk with me and Coach Ellis. He said the odds of a 600 school student making it in a regular school environment were next to zero. His admonition to me was reminiscent of the one given by the judge who had sentenced me to the 600 school.
Two Black Harlem police officers, Mike Walker and Ulysses Williams, founded the first Annual World International Double Dutch competition in 1974. Having grown up watching Black girls play the two-jump-rope game throughout their neighborhood, Walker and Williams wanted to encourage more girls to play. They created a rule book for the game, and incorporated aspects of other sports (like compulsory tricks, speed testing, and freestyle). They also established the international tournament and a citywide league. Walker and Williams lobbied physical education teachers in the city’s intermediate schools to incorporate the sport into their classes, and encourage girls to join the league where they could enjoy the low-cost sports pastime.
The Eighth Annual World International Double Dutch competition took place at Lincoln Center in 1981. It had grown dramatically since two New York City police officers began the tournament in 1974.
In the 1970s and 1980s in New York City, many Black and Latinx neighborhoods were impoverished and their residents were struggling. Some landlords decided they could make more money by burning down their buildings—where people had been living—than by renting them out to individuals and families. This led to many dangerous fires, especially in the South Bronx. Once the fires were put out, they left behind damaged buildings and piles of rubble. Nonetheless, there were families and children living, growing, and playing in these areas.1
According to New York’s Black newspaper the Amsterdam News, Double Dutch is “a skip-rope activity in which two ropes are turned in eggbeater fashion by two rope turners while a third person jumps within the moving ropes.”1 Double Dutch was a joyful form of exercise and in some cases competition. This image likely came from a Double Dutch tournament at Lincoln Center in New York.
Located near the town of Hunter, New York, in the Catskill Mountains (a few hours from New York City), Camp Jened was unusual at the time for its focus on Disabled campers.1
The grounds of Camp Jened included a river, a lake with a dock for boating and places to row, swimming facilities, and a stream that was great for fishing.1 Camp Jened also had a large grassy field where campers and counselors gathered to play baseball.
Camp Jened was a private camp, and it charged campers’ families for attendance. Founders Leona Burger and Honora Rubenstein reported that they kept the fees as low as possible. But not everyone could afford to pay these fees.1
For Camp Jened to be accessible to Disabled children and adults, staff and counselors had to work well with campers. Some of the staff at Camp Jened were disabled themselves, but all received training in how to support Disabled youth and adults.1
Camp Jened was located in the northern Catskills, on over 250 acres (which is about ⅓ the size of Central Park, or as big as 250 football fields) with 22 buildings near the town of Hunter, New York. The camp’s founders designed it to welcome Disabled children and adults, who did not often have access to summer camps and outdoor recreation. Camp Jened was the first camp of its kind for Disabled youth in New York and first opened in July 1953. It ran until August of 1977, and then reopened in 1980.1
