Civil Rights
This project explores the history of racial segregation and protests by Civil Rights activists along the Pinellas Gulf Beaches of Florida from 1940 - 1980, and how the work done by those activists impacts the population of minority residents on the beaches of Florida’s Gulf Coast today. Included in this project is an oral history interview with Civil Rights Activist and Senior Pastor of First Baptist Institutional Church of St. Petersburg, FL, Dr. Wayne G. Thompson.
Reverend Thompson is a native of St. Petersburg, FL and currently serves as the pastor of the First Baptist Institutional Church. Throughout his lifetime he has remained involved in civil movements on both the state and national level. In this oral interview, Rev. Thompson has shared his knowledge of African-American history to enlighten listeners of the black experience on the Gulf Beaches.
History of Segregation on the Pinellas gulf Beaches
A not-so-fair "understanding"
The barrier islands that represent the southern Gulf Beaches of Pinellas County are home to three municipalities: St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island, and Madeira Beach. While each of these towns has their own character and flavor, one quality unites them all: a complete lack of racial diversity. According to the 2010 census, the demographics of all three towns was more than 97% White. Despite the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s having taken place more than 50 years ago, these beach communities effectively remain segregated -- a legacy of the 1950s, the era in which these municipalities were formed.
In his oral history, Dr. Reverend Thompson frequently used the expression, "It was understood," in reference to the different expectations of Black and White Americans during his childhood. While our research has not revealed any historical evidence of ordinances requiring the segregation of the Gulf Beaches, broadly written provisions of these communities' City Charters may have allowed for the enforcement of racist practices, such as blocking access to the beach itself or an "understood" curfew for Black workers and visitors to these municipalities. For example, the 1957 City Charter of St. Pete Beach includes clauses such as "Control of Use of Beach" and "Keeping Undesirables, Etc. Out of the City" that are vaguely written and may have been employed to enforce segregation even when it was not legally mandated.
City of St. Petersburg Spa Beach & Swimming Pool
The case study of the desegregation of the Spa Beach and Swimming Pool, located on the mainland of Pinellas County in downtown St. Petersburg, FL, is a prime example of the irrational informal racism that dominated the area until the dawn of the Civil Rights movement. Up until the late 1950s, Black Americans in St. Petersburg were confined to the beaches designated for their skin color, such as "the South Mole" - now called Demens' Landing - as Dr. Thompson mentions in his interview (12:15). In courageous acts of civil disobedience, Black Americans began frequenting a White facility, Spa Beach and Swimming Pool. In response, the City of St. Petersburg, who owned and operated the beach park, closed the beach and pool and filed a court case with the United States Court of Appeals that became the City of St. Petersburg v. Alsup case.
In this case, the City of St. Petersburg argued that since they operated the beach in a proprietary capacity as opposed to a governmental capacity, the Fourteenth Amendment had no jurisdiction over the operations of the beach. The city argued that allowing Black Americans to frequent the facility would result in the beach losing money and ultimately closing. Fortunately, the courts ruled against the City of St. Petersburg, making it illegal to remove Black Americans from the Spa Beach and Swimming Pool. The City of St. Petersburg promptly closed the beach.
Over the next few years, from 1956 to 1959, the Spa Beach and Swimming Pool remained mostly closed, opening a couple of times for short instances in response to the complaints of businesses and citizens of the City, only to close when Black Americans joined their fellow citizens by the water. This time period was one riddled with conflicting narratives from newspapers on this topic, some blaming Black Americans for the closure of the beach, few supporting the Black Americans struggle to integrate the beaches of Pinellas County, and many criticizing the City of St. Petersburg for how they handled the situation.
On January 6th, 1959, the Spa Beach and Swimming Pool was finally opened as an integrated municipality. Though this didn't solve problem of racism in Pinellas County, the Spa Beach and Swimming Pool was a big win for Black Americans fighting for their rights to use public recreational facilities.
In our interview, we spoke with Mr. Jackson about his experiences growing up before the Civil Rights Movement, as well as during the height of segregation in Florida. We also asked Mr. Jackson for his thoughts on the Black Lives Matter Movement that has developed in more recent years. We were honored to speak with him, and capture his perspective on the civil rights struggles that have taken place in our Gulf Beaches communities.
Oral History Interview with
Thomas "Jet" Jackson
Thomas "Jet" Jackson was an employee of the St. Petersburg Department of Parks and Recreation for over 50 years. His first job in public service was as a lifeguard at "South Mole" (now known as Demens Landing) in St. Petersburg. At the time, beaches in Pinellas County were segregated, and South Mole was designated as the African-American beach. In recent years, Mr. Jackson has been honored as a pillar of the community, and has had a city recreation center named in his honor.
Public Responses to Segregation
Following the initial closing of the Spa Beach Facility on June 5, 1958, local newspapers The St. Petersburg Times and The Independent broadly delineated two of the three sides that would be taken over the next 8 months. The St. Petersburg Times was not actively in support of the integration of beaches, but was against the segregation of them. “In a resort town like St. Petersburg,” wrote the Times, “it is indefensible to deprive 85% of the population of a beach to block a 15% minority.”. This faction preferred segregation, but acknowledged the federal mandate to end this practice. The continued pursuit of archaic "tradition" here, recognized this party, would prove detrimental to the community in ways far greater than integration ever would. This becomes increasingly apparent across the timeline of Spa Beach's reopening, as each time Black patrons would utilize it, White patrons at the facility were apparently nonplussed to the point that the facility would then immediately close again, depriving access to residents of all races.
The Independent meanwhile, staunchly backed City Manager Windom's decision to close the facility, believing that "a wise course" was followed, and that integration "doubtless will undo progress in race relations." The reluctantly progressive and the vehemently racist in the city were, of course, responding to a third faction: true Civil Rights activists, who were themselves engaged in the attempts to desegregate the beaches of Pinellas County. Example responses from each party are listed below.
David Isom and Dr. Fred Alsup.
Civil Rights Activists
Responses at the individual level, such as those by David Isom (pictured left) arose. Isom exercised his rights and swam by himself at the Spa Beach pool on June 8th, 1958. This prompted the second closing of the Spa by City Manager Windom.
Small group level responses include "demonstrations" such as those that precipitated the first closing of the Spa on June 6th, 1958. Eight black swimmers peacefully spent some time at the Spa.
Larger-scale responses include those led by groups such as the Citizen's Cooperative Committee. The CCC included Dr. Fred Alsup, and would engage in targeted responses against segregation, including the filing of the landmark "Alsup vs City of St. Petersburg" lawsuit.
Allies
Examples in this category, as aforementioned, include parties explicitly for integration, as well as those that were more concerned about the financial and personal consequences of segregation. Regardless of motivation, these responses would prove integral in ultimately pushing City Manager Windom out of office on November 11th, 1958.
Individual responses include letters to the editor published in the city's papers.
-"How long can the white man expect the Negro to pay taxes on public recreation places and not be allowed to use them?"
-"[I would] rather have some Negroes on the beach than no public beaches.”
Civic agitations regarding arrests of whites attempting to use the facility, and the cancellation of swim lessons were heard as well.
From the private sector, on September 18th in regards to the closing of the Spa:
-"This has caused us great financial loss in the tourist trade . . . . It has given us a bad civic reputation.”
Groups such as the Council of Neighborhood Associations were analogous in size and net impact to the Citizen's Cooperative Committee. Led by G. Harris Graham, one of CONA's landmark actions include successfully petitioning against the proposed razing of the Spa Pool.
Segregationists
Fighting ardently to maintain "tradition" in St. Petersburg, segregationists lost ground in rapid fashion following the first closure of the Spa Beach facility. Mayor John D. Burroughs and City Manager Windom were the principle voices of this party, and were joined in perspective further down the chain of democracy by such parties as the "Saint Petersburg White Citizens' Council". Besides the closures of the Spa facility, Windom and Burroughs saturated the air of Pinellas county with various other half-measures in an attempt to palliate the general public and halt integration. These included razing the Spa Beach facility to become a "cultural center" or "auditorium," and proposals for the construction of more segregated beaches.
Upham Park Beach Incident
While it would seem as though the resolution of the Spa Beach debate and the later passage of the 1964 landmark Civil Rights Act would have settled the question of integration, insidious, informal racism unfortunately remained on Pinellas' Gulf beaches. For example, on April 29th, 1972 the St. Petersburg Times reported on an incident that occurred between Byron Duling, the operator of Upham Beach Park and a group of black preschoolers with their teacher, Mrs. Williams. According to Mrs. Williams, she and several White students from the Notre Dame Academy in St. Petersburg took 20 four-year-old black children to Upham Beach Park. After spending some time at the beach, the group was approached by Duling, who, while "brandishing a bamboo stick," threatened to hit her and her students, should they not leave.
Duling, who denied the allegations of threatening Mrs. Williams and her students, claimed that the group was in violation of the rules of the park, which stated that only residents of St. Petersburg Beach and their guests were allowed to access Upham Beach and its cabanas. Because the community of St. Petersburg Beach was racially homogenous, this rule in effect prevented Black Americans from utilizing this beach while not explicitly segregating the facility in a way that would have been technically illegal. Yet racist undercurrents were clearly present; in this particular case, this idea is reinforced by the fact that three of the White students with Mrs. Williams on the day she and her Black students were threatened, were St. Petersburg Beach, FL, residents and therefore should have been permitted to be on the beach.
moving forward
Despite a present-day lack of the overt racism evidenced by the Upham Beach incident, the racism of the recent past has had a chilling effect on the integration of the Gulf Beaches today. The beaches remain almost entirely White, despite being adjacent to a city (St. Petersburg) where 24% of residents, in the 2010 census, identified as Black Americans. Recent tragedies, such as the deaths of Breyonna Taylor and George Floyd at the hands of police in 2020 have brought the painful cost of implicit bias into the national spotlight, giving rise to the modern day Civil Rights movement, under the banner of Black Lives Matter.
Black Lives Matter has a prominent presence in the Tampa Bay area, where many marches and protests have taken place throughout 2020. In St. Petersburg, a street mural that reads “Black Lives Matter” was painted outside the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum. The mural helped increase donations to the museum and allow for more money to be allocated into uplifting the local community. Peaceful protests and expression through art have been vital roles in the fight to end to racism and dismantle systems, laws, and cultural practices and traditions that disproportionately harm Black Americans.
The organization Black Lives Matter is calling for systemic change that would allow for greater social and economic growth in the Black community. Part of this call involves addressing past injustices, as well as confronting internalized racism at a community level, which this project hopes to have helped with.
Citations
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Ohtadmin | on September 07, 2. (2020, September 7). Holocaust Museum digital exhibits spotlight Civil Rights Movement in 3 Bay area communities: Jewish Press of Pinellas County. Retrieved November 29, 2020, from https://www.jewishpresspinellas.com/articles/holocaust-museum-digital-exhibits-spotlight-civil-rights-movement-in-3-bay-area-communities/
Patrick, C. (1972, April 29). Beach Operator Denies Threat To Teacher, Tots. Tampa Bay Times.
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The Olive B. McLin Community History Project. (n.d.). Retrieved December 03, 2020, from http://nnbnews.com/mclin/photo.1.5.html