{"id":6372,"date":"2022-02-15T17:48:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T22:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/virginiakeybeachpark.net\/?p=6372"},"modified":"2024-09-12T10:56:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-12T14:56:44","slug":"the-story-behind-miamis-colored-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/virginiakeybeachpark.net\/es\/the-story-behind-miamis-colored-beach\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story behind Miami\u2019s Colored Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Historic Virginia Key Beach celebrates courageous 75 year history, bright future<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Such fond memories could come from only one place in the world, and indeed only one place in the segregated South during the Jim Crow era, when Miami\u2019s uniquely thriving African American community turned racism on its head and prospered despite, and because of racist restrictions, due to a combination of savvy political consciousness, professional and business achievement, and raw confidence and courage to \u201cspeak truth to power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was certainly the case in 1945<\/strong> as World War II was winding down. The African American national \u201cDouble V\u201d campaign \u2014 for victory over fascism abroad and victory over discrimination at home \u2014 energized renewed demands around the country for social justice and equality. This was especially true for Colored soldiers and sailors returning home after suffering countless bitter indignities during the war despite their patriotism and heroism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miami\u2019s African American community leaders targeted the glaring absence of any place among the miles of sandy beaches where white people from around the world were being welcomed. On May 9, 1945, a full decade before peaceful civil disobedience protests would become the primary strategy of the Civil Rights movement, an intrepid group of Colored bathers, including two women, Ms. May Dell Braynon and Ms. Mary Hayes Sweeting, and two sailors who eagerly joined the effort, left Overtown and dared to \u201cwade in the water\u201d at the site of present-day Haulover Beach. The group, having alerted the sheriff to their presence, intending to be arrested. Attorney Lawson E. Thomas <\/strong>was on hand with cash to immediately pay their bail, for their case would come before the courts and possibly lead to more sweeping legal changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their bold action successfully forced the County leaders to avoid any such embarrassment and commit to the opening of 80+ acres and a half-mile of shoreline on Virginia Key as a Dade County Park \u201cfor the exclusive use of Negroes\u201d as early as August 1.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On that date \u201cmore than 100 Negroes\u201d according to the\u00a0*Miami Herald,*\u00a0arrived by boat, making use of the temporary buildings that had been built for the occasion, with the promise of future improvements that would make the park very nearly equal in its amenities to the much larger White-only beach on neighboring Key Biscayne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That promise would be kept, especially after the completion of Rickenbacker Causeway in 1947 made the park accessible by automobile, with the construction of a permanent park superintendent\u2019s residence, rental \u201ccottages\u201d and cabanas, popular concession stand, small park office and first-aid station, picnic pavilions, and most notably, a merry-go-round and Mini Train amusement rides, features unheard of in typical segregated Colored parks of the South.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Family on historic merry-go-round<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read More: \u00a0The Miami Times<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Virginia Key Beach Park, an iconic landmark for Miami’s African-American community during the era of racial segregation. In 1945, a group of brave African-Americans, inspired by the struggle for civil rights, defied segregation laws by bathing on a beach intended exclusively for whites.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6373,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[180],"class_list":["post-6372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-civilrights"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Story behind Miami\u2019s Colored Beach - Historic Virginia Key Beach Park<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/virginiakeybeachpark.net\/es\/the-story-behind-miamis-colored-beach\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Story behind Miami\u2019s Colored Beach - Historic Virginia Key Beach Park\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Virginia Key Beach Park, an iconic landmark for Miami's African-American community during the era of racial segregation. 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