Frederick O’Neal

Frederick O’Neal (1905-1992) spent most of his time in the theater world, cofounding the American Negro Theatre in Harlem, which launched the careers of Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, and Ruby Dee. His own career included four decades of steady gigs on Broadway, in film, and on television as a character actor. He called Harlem home and rarely, if ever, ventured upstate. So how did this thespian end up being one of the pivotal leaders in saving the Adirondack Park?

“He had never been north of Glens Falls in his life,” according to George Davis, a staff member of the 1968 state commission which included O’Neal as its token African-American. “He did not have the foggiest idea of what the Adirondacks even looked like at the beginning of things, but he believed very much in the job.”

“He was a quick study and a shrewd judge of people,” added
Peter Paine, who served with O’Neal on the commission and the subsequent campaign to create the Adirondack Park Agency. “He knew how to hold an audience. He had a presence.”

O’Neal is the subject of “Forever Wild For All,” which I published in New York Archives magazine in 2022. The article also tells the story of Dollie Robinson, a black Queens politician who, as far as we know, never went camping — but whose vision of a Park for everyone helped protect the Adirondacks at a crucial moment. To get a free download of the article, sign up for my email newsletter.