Many beaches in the United States were segregated until 1964. Social policy scholar DeMarcus A. Jenkins of the School of Social Policy & Practice discusses this discriminatory chapter in American history.
Americans of all races, colors, and creeds frolicked in harmony this summer on sandy and scenic beaches from the shores of Hawaii to coastline of Maine.
But that was not always the case. Up until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, many beaches in the United States, in the North and South, were segregated, by law or by custom.
“There are media reports dating back to about the 1920s from Florida that describe African Americans’ frustrations with being constrained to what was called at the time ‘colored leisure beaches,’” says DeMarcus A. Jenkins, an assistant professor in School of Social Policy & Practicewho investigates the intersection of race, urban space, and policy—including how racial inequality shapes access to and experiences within public spaces.
“It’s really hard to even refer to these areas or these spaces as beaches because these spaces were inferior to white beaches all across other coastal lines. The colored leisure beaches could barely even be recognized as a beach,” he says.
Locally, New Jersey beaches were segregated by custom. Atlantic City beaches were segregated from 1900-1964 to appease white guests from the Jim Crow South(opens in a new tab).
Delaware beaches, such as Lewes and Rehoboth, were segregated by law from 1877 to 1964(opens in a new tab). Black beachgoers were relegated to the “colored” section.
Penn Today(opens in a new tab) spoke with Jenkins, who has a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication(opens in a new tab), about the history of segregated beaches and how Black people responded to hatred at the shore.
In what ways were colored leisure beaches, as they were euphemistically called, inferior to white beaches?
In many cases, these spaces were uninhabitable, inconvenient strips of land that were remote or polluted or hazardous. In certain parts of the country, the spaces designated for Black people were old dumping grounds or old fishing camps where sewage and pollution filtered into bodies of water. These spaces were grossly contaminated, and Black people were literally putting their lives at risk when they wanted to find recreation and leisure over the summer months.
Even in Illinois, the state where I am from, there was a history of segregated beaches. The Chicago race riot of 1919 actually began on the shores of Lake Michigan—rooted in a teenager being killed by a white gang because he crossed a color line that was in the water that sort of marked where Black people were allowed to swim. When he crossed that line, it cost him his life.
In Illinois, were the beaches segregated by law or by custom?
In many places, [the beaches] were part of the Jim Crow laws, and they were heavily practiced and surveilled by segregationists and by folks who were not excited about political and legal efforts to integrate. Despite the Brown v. Board decision to end segregation, there were still practices in place that forbade Black people from swimming or being outside of the segregated area of the beach.
You were raised by your grandmother. Did she tell you any stories of going to segregated beaches?
She was born and raised in Mississippi. We have beaches in Biloxi, Mississippi, that were the original sites of the wade-ins that African Americans did to resist segregated beaches. Because she grew up in Mississippi, she learned and was socialized to see public pools and beaches as sites of racial tension. Very early as a child, I learned to avoid beaches and pools and other public spaces just out of fear of harm. I think some of that fear and those lived realities my grandma impressed upon us. Maybe that’s why I never learned to swim.
How did Black people relax and unwind in the summertime, since beaches were places of racial tension?
Being from the Midwest, the summers are incredibly hot, but folks in my community learned to avoid the beaches. Instead of that, Black people did what we’ve always done in these moments in that we found other places to try to cool down from the summer. We had block parties, and the neighborhood fire hydrants were turned on and had sprinklers attached to them. We would use our water hose just so that we could find ways to cool off in the summer. I think that speaks in part to the ingenuity and innovation of Black people who are always finding solutions in otherwise hostile and anti-Black political and social contexts.
This story originally appeared in Penn Today on September 2, 2026.(opens in a new tab)
