1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:06,280 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:11,040 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: show that shines a light on the ups and downs 4 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: of everyday history. I'm Gabe Lucier, and in this episode, 5 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: we're talking about a chapter of the American civil rights 6 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,759 Speaker 1: movement that doesn't get the attention it deserves. A series 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:30,880 Speaker 1: of protests designed to desegregate the beaches of Biloxi, Mississippi. 8 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 1: The day was April twenty fourth, nineteen sixty. During a 9 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: peaceful demonstration at Biloxi Beach, a group of black activists 10 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:52,240 Speaker 1: were attacked by white segregationists. Local physician Gilbert Mason, Sr. 11 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: Had organized the wade in protest as a way to 12 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: challenge the city's segregated beach policy and the Jim Crows. 13 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:04,119 Speaker 1: There were many public spaces closed off to African Americans, 14 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: and the beach along Mississippi's Gulf Coast was one of them. 15 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,960 Speaker 1: Under doctor Mason's direction, roughly one hundred and twenty five 16 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 1: black men, women, and children gathered that morning on three 17 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: areas of the whites only beach. The volunteers didn't carry 18 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:24,560 Speaker 1: signs or chance slogans. Instead, they did what any family 19 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:27,679 Speaker 1: does at the beach, they laid out blankets and chairs, 20 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: sun bathed, played games, and went for a swim. They 21 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: knew they wouldn't have long to enjoy the day, though 22 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:37,760 Speaker 1: other weade ins had been staged before, and they had 23 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: all ended the same way, with black people being ordered 24 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 1: off the beach by police and sometimes also arrested. However, 25 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: the weigh in on April twenty fourth was different. On 26 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: that day, an angry mob of white men was waiting 27 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: for them, armed with clubs, pipes, brass knuckles, and bricks. 28 00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: When the black families refused to leave the beach, the 29 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: the mob began its assault, setting off the most brutal 30 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: race riot in Mississippi history, a day now remembered as 31 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: Bloody Sunday. In the mid twentieth century, public spaces were 32 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:16,839 Speaker 1: almost entirely segregated in Mississippi. Even though the state had 33 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: very few segregation laws on the books. The pervasive racism 34 00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: of white citizens and members of law enforcement was enough 35 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: to keep the practice going without the need for an 36 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 1: official policy. It was a similar story in other Southern 37 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: cities such as Miami and Saint Augustine and Florida, and 38 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:38,440 Speaker 1: in northern towns like Madison, Connecticut a few years earlier. 39 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:41,880 Speaker 1: In each of those places, black activists had fought for 40 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: their right to visit public beaches by hosting wade ins. 41 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 1: The new form of protest made its way to Mississippi 42 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty nine, marking the beginning of the civil 43 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 1: rights struggle in the state. The first Mississippi wade in 44 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: took place on May fourteenth, nineteen fifty nine. That's when 45 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,120 Speaker 1: doctor Gilbert Mason Sor went for a swim in the 46 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 1: Gulf of Mexico with some friends and their children. Not 47 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: long after arriving, the group was chased off the beach 48 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: by city police, who claimed the area was off limits 49 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: to black people. Doctor Mason had anticipated that response. In fact, 50 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: it was the whole reason he had organized the small 51 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 1: scale weight in in the first place. He knew that 52 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,800 Speaker 1: the county maintained the beach with taxpayer money, including that 53 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 1: of black residents, and he believed that gave them just 54 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: as much right to be there as anyone else. Their 55 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:36,000 Speaker 1: removal from the beach that day provided a legal test 56 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: for that right. Mason Senior and one of his friends 57 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: went to the police station and asked to see the 58 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: law they had supposedly broken, but their request was denied. 59 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: The law in question was allegedly kept in a locked safe, 60 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: one that conveniently could not be opened at that time. 61 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:56,640 Speaker 1: The men returned the following day, but were given a 62 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: similar brush off, and then told not to return to 63 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: the beach or else they'd be arrested. Undeterred, doctor Mason 64 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: and a group of friends contacted the county Board of 65 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: Supervisors and pled their case for equal access to the 66 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 1: city's beaches. The board sided with the police, insisting that 67 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:17,400 Speaker 1: it was against the law for African Americans to use 68 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:22,080 Speaker 1: Biloxi Beach. As a compromise, the board offered a segregated 69 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:26,920 Speaker 1: portion of the beach just for black residents. However, Mason refused. 70 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: He didn't want the right to use just a sliver 71 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,840 Speaker 1: of the twenty six mile long beach. He wanted access 72 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: to quote every damn inch of it. The county considered 73 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: the matter closed, but doctor Mason did not. He decided 74 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:45,000 Speaker 1: to press the issue by hosting more weight INDs, even 75 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: though there was a chance he'd be arrested or worse. 76 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:52,159 Speaker 1: He later reflected on that choice, writing quote, I wanted 77 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,919 Speaker 1: to live a long life, but I wanted the chance 78 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,040 Speaker 1: for a full and wholesome life for my family and 79 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:02,600 Speaker 1: for us as a people. On April seventeenth, nineteen sixty, 80 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: doctor Mason staged a one man weighed in at Biloxi Beach. 81 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: No one else had heeded his call to attend the protest, 82 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:13,760 Speaker 1: so he did it alone. He was promptly arrested, but 83 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: when the news got around, scores of black Biloxi residents 84 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:21,160 Speaker 1: promised to join him for the next protest. They kept 85 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,719 Speaker 1: their word, and on April twenty fourth, Mason returned to 86 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: the beach for his third weighed in, this time accompanied 87 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 1: by about one hundred and twenty five others. The plan 88 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:34,599 Speaker 1: was to split into groups and visit the beach near 89 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: three prominent downtown locations, the cemetery, the lighthouse, and the hospital. 90 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:44,039 Speaker 1: Doctor Mason would drive between those stations to make sure 91 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: everything was proceeding smoothly. Before the protest got under way, 92 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:51,840 Speaker 1: he instructed the participants to leave behind anything that might 93 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: be misconstrued as a weapon, even a metal nail file. 94 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: Their goal was civil disobedience, and Mason wanted to reduce 95 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: the risk of anyone claiming otherwise. The third weight in 96 00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:07,279 Speaker 1: began peacefully with black families soaking up the sun and 97 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:11,159 Speaker 1: playing games along the shoreline. After a couple hours, though, 98 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 1: a crowd of angry white men showed up to confront them. 99 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: The mob was reportedly organized by the owner of a 100 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: local hardware store, who had somehow caught wind of Mason's plan. 101 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: The segregationists demanded the protesters leave the beach immediately, and 102 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,719 Speaker 1: when that order when ignored, they began pelting the black 103 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:33,600 Speaker 1: crowd with rocks and bricks. Fights broke out all along 104 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:37,159 Speaker 1: the beach as unarmed protesters fought for their lives against 105 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:41,359 Speaker 1: white attackers armed with clubs, chains, and in some cases, 106 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:44,680 Speaker 1: with guns. At one point, some people in the mob 107 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:47,800 Speaker 1: began firing shots above the heads of the crowd in 108 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:51,280 Speaker 1: an attempt to scare them off. No one died that day, 109 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: but by the time the dust had settled, eight black 110 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:56,760 Speaker 1: men and two white men had been shot, and many 111 00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:00,240 Speaker 1: others had been injured in other ways. The police were 112 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: there to witness most of the violence, but they never 113 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: lifted a finger to stop it. A group of white 114 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,359 Speaker 1: airmen from a nearby air force base are said to 115 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: have tried to protect the injured protesters, but in the 116 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:14,480 Speaker 1: end they too were attacked by the mob. Most of 117 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 1: the protesters fled when the fighting began, though some were 118 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: chased down and assaulted before they could get away. Doctor 119 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:23,520 Speaker 1: Mason did what he could to treat the injured, but 120 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: the violence continued even after the beach was cleared. That night, 121 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: white mobs drove through black neighborhoods, harassing residents and even 122 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:35,560 Speaker 1: shooting at them. Many black workers were escorted at home 123 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: by deputies that night, though some chose to sleep at 124 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,720 Speaker 1: their workplaces rather than trust their lives to the police. 125 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 1: As the violence spread through the city, the police were 126 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: forced to start cracking down on the rioters. It's worth noting, though, 127 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: that most of the arrests made that night were black people, 128 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: including doctor Mason himself, who was arrested, tried, and convicted 129 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: of disturbing the peace. Despite that injustice, doctor Mason headed 130 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,200 Speaker 1: back to the beach for a final weight in three 131 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: years later. It took place on June twenty third, nineteen 132 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: sixty three, eleven days after the assassination of civil rights 133 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 1: leader Medgar Evers. The protest was more somber than previous ones, 134 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: as Mason and his fellow protesters planted black flags on 135 00:08:20,360 --> 00:08:23,840 Speaker 1: the beach in Ever's honor. More than two thousand white 136 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:27,600 Speaker 1: people came to disrupt that peaceful protest, but once again 137 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 1: it was the black participants who were arrested for trespassing, 138 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:35,560 Speaker 1: all seventy one of them. Of course, the activists were 139 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,599 Speaker 1: betting on that happening. Their arrest was part of a 140 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:42,319 Speaker 1: larger plan to force a legal battle over Mississippi's beaches. 141 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,960 Speaker 1: A Biloxi branch of the NAACP swiftly formed in the 142 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 1: wake of the city's beach riots, and with doctor Mason 143 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,400 Speaker 1: installed as its president, the fight to open the beaches 144 00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: was just getting started. In fact, it was only one 145 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: month after the final weight in that the US Justice 146 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:04,120 Speaker 1: Department sued Biloxie for banning black people from its beaches. 147 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,640 Speaker 1: The lawsuit dragged on for three long years, but in 148 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty seven, Biloxie lost the case, and its beaches 149 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: were finally opened to the black community the following year. 150 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:17,880 Speaker 1: It was several more years before the rest of the 151 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:22,079 Speaker 1: beaches in Mississippi were officially desegregated, but it did finally 152 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:26,200 Speaker 1: happen in the early nineteen seventies. The Biloxi Wade ends 153 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:30,080 Speaker 1: were largely overshadowed by other civil rights protests of the era, 154 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:34,000 Speaker 1: including the Greensboro lunch counter sit ins and the famous 155 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: Freedom Rider bus trips. However, in recent years, the Wade 156 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: Ends have garnered more attention, thanks largely to the long 157 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:45,320 Speaker 1: running efforts of the original participants. In two thousand and eight, 158 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 1: a section of Highway ninety was renamed the Doctor Gilbert 159 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:52,640 Speaker 1: Mason Senior Memorial Highway, and in two thousand and nine, 160 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: the state of Mississippi installed a historical marker to commemorate 161 00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: the fiftieth anniversary of the first Wade d It now 162 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:03,680 Speaker 1: stands along Biloxi Beach as a simple tribute to a 163 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: hard won victory and to the belief that everyone, regardless 164 00:10:07,559 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 1: of skin color, deserves the chance to live a full 165 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 1: and wholesome life. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now 166 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:19,719 Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 167 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:22,960 Speaker 1: You can learn even more about history by following us 168 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:28,000 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and 169 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to 170 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: pass them along by writing to this day at iHeartMedia 171 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:37,560 Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays and Ben Hackett for 172 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: producing the show and thanks to you for listening. I'll 173 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:43,520 Speaker 1: see you back here again tomorrow for another day in 174 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:54,080 Speaker 1: history class.