Soulthinker
Well-Known Member
Great photos. I wonder who was that Black entertainer?Black beaches that broke barriers ( there's several to highlight, when l have some more time to post them)
Charles Douglass, the youngest son of abolitionist and activist Frederick Douglass, was an infantry veteran of the Civil War and long-time employee of the Treasury Department. He and his wife were turned away from a restaurant in the Chesapeake Bay because of their race - so he decided to purchase the plot of land directly next door. He turned the 40 acres into Highland Beach, and bought the space for just $5,000 in 1893 - the equivalent of about $130,000 today
Choosing not to permit commercial properties in the town, it remains entirely residential. Covering under a mile of land, it hosts about 60 homes and a total of just over 100 people
Charles even built a house for his father on the land, which he called Twin Oaks – but Frederick unfortunately passed away before he saw it completed. It is now home to the Frederick Douglass Museum and Cultural Center
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The(this) beach land was inherited by the sisters whose family first purchased the 180 acres as farmland in 1902. The sisters founded Carr’s Beach and Sparrow's Beach in 1931 – which operated as separate entities but were side-by-side and run by the two women. The space was much more commercial and publicly attended by African Americans of all classes - as children were taught to swim, adults looked on from the nearby bar and teens danced the night away during weekly performances
Despite being strongly African American in its foundation, the beach later became known for drawing an interracial crowd, and the burgeoning music influence served as an equalizing factor among blacks and white..
...tbc later.
