Beach Access

By Tonya Schmid

February 4, 2022

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During the Jim Crow era, the law of providing Separate but Equal spaces for whites and people of color was in full effect. Sadly, the treatment of black Americans was hardly equal. Journalist Ray Sprigle sought to investigate the issue by disguising himself as a black man while traveling through the South. In 1948, he released a 21-part series in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette about his experience and revealed many disparities experienced by black Americans. In Chapter 17 of his series, titled “Atlantic Ocean for Whites Folks Only,” Sprigle’s journey took him to Jekyll Island, Georgia. The author did not delve into the numerous mistreatments of black Americans in the area, but instead revealed one simple and seemingly shocking disparity that was true for all of Georgia’s coastline—black Americans were barred from the Atlantic Ocean.

Sprigle described his long-awaited desire to dive into the ocean to cool off and the rude awakening he received when he discovered there was nowhere in Georgia to escape the sweltering heat. A black American could not access the beach without illegally trespassing on Georgia’s coast. Defying this restriction would result in an arrest with a $50 fine “plus costs” as Rena Atkins, Winsor Roberts, and Inez Walke discovered when they attempted to swim at a deserted beach in Glynn County a few years before Sprigle’s visitation.

Within the article Sprigle recounted the harsh reality of a local black maid who was tasked with taking the white owner’s dog swimming in the ocean to help heal its contagious skin condition: "I don’t thin[k] it’s right,” she tearfully told her mistress, “that I have to take that dog swimming every day and if I tried to go in myself I’d be arrested. And that dog’s got mange and I haven’t." In a town considered to offer the best treatment for black Americans in all of the South, their best treatment of black citizens was less than that of a white family’s pet. Sprigle hinted at the level of empathy within the white community when he revealed that the dog owner’s feelings towards her maid’s plight were met with disdain when she told her that she, “found her attitude very unfortunate.”

Sprigle’s article brought national attention to the issue and the plight of those who had been petitioning for an area to swim on Jekyll Island. Two years after Sprigle’s article was released, the Jekyll Island Authority established St. Andrews Beach, the first beach access for black Americans in Georgia. While the area selected was considered less optimal due to its proximity to the nearby river and its silty water, African Americans made the best of it. Locals and vacationers came to enjoy the area. The spot soon became a part of Sunday rituals for families to gather and enjoy picnics. Visitors spent summer days crabbing and hosting oyster roasts, while children snacked on wild muscadine grapes that grew on the dunes and searched for sea turtles coming in to lay eggs.