Desegregation

The Fight to Desegregate Jekyll Island

Brunswick NAACP Initiates Demonstrations on Jekyll Island

By Tonya Schmid

February 4, 2022

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The city of Brunswick became a center of strength and prosperity for black Americans far and wide during the 50s and 60s. A rich culture emanated from the black Brunswick community that was blessed with gifted teachers, passionate preachers, and numerous events, functions, and concerts. This community formed the core of the St. Andrews area on Jekyll Island by continuously fighting for their civil rights and efforts to create a place of their own. Figures like J.M Atkinson—leader of the State Organizing Committee and president of Brunswick NAACP branch until 1962—played a large part in creating St. Andrews by taking the reins and gathering investors, while also consistently pushing the Jekyll Island Authority to grant an area on Jekyll Island for black Americans. The fight for Civil Rights changed direction when a young Reverend Julius Caesar Hope moved from Alabama to Brunswick and became the new president of the NAACP. Reverend Hope gathered Brunswick’s black community into a singular unified force, leading demonstrations and taking part in a lawsuit that aimed to desegregate Jekyll Island.

Reverend Hope, Robert Griffin, and other NAACP members strategically orchestrated demonstrations to desegregate Jekyll Island by arranging for black Americans to try and enter white-only facilities. After one year of living in Brunswick, Reverend Hope had already gathered 777 members to the NAACP. His following only continued to grow. The reverend purposefully chose to keep more vocal groups like CORE and SNCC from taking part in the fight, preferring the tactic of discretion while using financial leverage and dialogue to his advantage. These choices were echoed in his approach on Jekyll Island in 1963 when he arranged for the president of the NAACP Savannah Branch W.W. Law and future plaintiff P.E. Parks to join him as he attempted to gain access to the whites-only Jekyll golf course. When they were denied access, Reverend Hope arranged for more Brunswick locals to join them and tried to enter other white-only facilities like the Aquarama, amusement park, cafeteria, swimming pool, the north and south bath houses and hotel rooms at Stuckey’s, the Buccaneer and the Corsair. 

After being denied access to the white-only facilities, Reverend Hope and W.W. Law, along with five other black Americans, filed a lawsuit against the Jekyll Island Authority. They filed an injunction asking the court to require Jekyll Island Authority to cease their actions of blocking black Americans from using state park facilities, stop selling or leasing property to those who would uphold segregation, and demand that the JIA make no future plans that involved segregation. They also asked for the court to review whether segregation on Jekyll Island deprived black Americans of their due process and 14th Amendment protection. Three Brunswick native teenagers were chosen to testify at court, Jim Bacote, Leroy Mac, and Ollis Dougless. These three youths had been carefully selected to join Reverend Hope in his attempt to enter the whites-only bath house on Jekyll and take part in the lawsuit.

The black Brunswick community continued their fight to end segregation as they waited for the case to go to court. As a prominent member of the local black Brunswick community, Dr. Wilkes—a beloved and respected local dentist whose humility, success, and fight for civil rights inspired and touched the community around him—stepped up to the plate once again after challenging the idea of Separate but Equal on Jekyll Island four years prior. NAACP member and Brunswick citizen Robert Griffin recalled how Dr. Wilkes, Reverend Hope, and one other man went to the golf course on Jekyll Island only to have the golf staff turn the sprinklers on so they could not play. When Reverend Hope asked when they would be turned off so they could golf, the workers told them that they had no idea. The three men left and came back the next day only to have the sprinklers turned on again to stop them from playing. Griffin believes that it was the third day when Reverend Hope had a meeting and threatened to take them to court. This threat was taken very seriously by the JIA due to federal laws and Jekyll Island being a state park. These actions resulted in the golf course immediately opening its doors to everyone. 

Reverend Hope’s plan to lead demonstrations on Jekyll Island to create a lawsuit that would challenge the idea of Separate but Equal proved successful after he was able to unite Brunswick’s black community. On July 27, 1964 Federal Judge Frank A. Hooper issued an injunction that ordered the immediate integration of all state-operated facilities on Jekyll Island. Judge Hooper’s order not only forced the integration of state-owned land and facilities, it also banned leasing land to those who refused to abide by integration. His orders effectively ended segregation on Jekyll Island; an area that was able to integrate without a single instance of violence due to the collaborative efforts of Glynn County citizens, their Biracial of the Ministerial Alliance, Glynn Council on Human Relations, and the local biracial NAACP branch.

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Click here to learn more about what made Brunswick Georgia's non-violent integration unique from other counties.