Belnap

Following Camp Pioneer, Camp Belnap. Camp Belnap was the camp for the Black scouts of the Douglas Division. In accordance with Michigan Law at the time, both Colored and White people were required to have separate but “equal” facilities. In 1924 and 1925 they had run their own camp near Benton Harbor called Camp Doddridge, but as Owasippe was developing it’s infrastructure, the members of the Douglas Division asked for their own camp. It’s worth noting that although there were fewer Black scouts, there was a small but influential wealthy contingent of them. Because of their influence, they managed to open up a new camp, far to the east of the current property on a strip between Lake Watisee and Lake Ojibwe, called Camp Belnap. The names for these lakes have changed in the past 90 years, and the site is almost certainly the strip of land between Sweet Lake and a small, unnamed lake to the south. It is also possible that it was located in between Sweet Lake and John Adams lake, but I think the former is more likely for reasons I will get into in a moment. 

In nearly all printed literature, the name for this camp is consistently said to be Camp Belnap However, a 1941 history retrospective from the Whitehall Forum claims that it was called “Belknap” it’s first year. However, I don’t believe this was the case in any official capacity. The camp was developed in 1926, but the buildings themselves were erected several years prior by the previous owners of the property. While separate from the rest of the opportunities the Owaisppe camps offered it, was by all accounts a good, functioning camp. It had Handicraft, Aquatics, Firebowl, Dining Hall, everything you would expect from a camp. However, in the following years, it became clear that Lake Ojibwe was rather impermanent, and it began to dry up. It became clear that if a bad drought came, one of the lakes would dry up. But before this could happen, the camp was closed in 1932. Although the Great Depression impacted all families, it’s worth noting that black families were hit especially hard by the Great Depression. And because of this downturn, camp attendance, particularly Belnap’s, dropped drastically. It was decided to abandon the land, and relocate black campers to Hiawatha Beach for several weeks set aside specifically for them. However, many black scouts continued to camp closer to home at Camp Kiwanis. The Hiawatha Beach site was called “Camp Belnap” while black scouts camped there. The extent of thier use of the whole camp’s land isn’t clear. By 1948, this segregation had ended, and Black scouts were free to camp at all Owasippe camps. Why exactly this segregation ended in 1948 is unclear. Michigan’s separate but equal laws were legally struck down in 1927. Despite this desegregation, Black scouts had already developed a tradition at camping at the much closer Camp Kiwanis, and so did not attend in great numbers.