Name/Title
American Beach for African Americans, An.Entry/Object ID
Library.287Description
xi, 188 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
An American Beach for African Americans by Marsha Dean Phelts.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [184]-188).
Marsha Dean Phelts draws together personal interviews, photos, newspaper articles, memoirs, maps, and official documents to reconstruct the character and traditions of Amelia Island’s 200-acre African American community. In its heyday, when other beaches grudgingly provided only limited access, black vacationers traveled as many as 1,000 miles down the east coast of the United States and hundreds of miles along the Gulf coast to a beachfront that welcomed their business.
Beginning in 1781 with the Samuel Harrison homestead on the southern end of Amelia Island, Phelts traces the birth of the community to General Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15, in which the Union granted many former Confederate coastal holdings, including Harrison’s property, to former slaves. She then follows the lineage of the first African American families known to have settled in the area to descendants remaining there today, including those of Zephaniah Kingsley and his wife, Anna Jai.
Moving through the Jim Crow era, Phelts describes the development of American Beach’s predecessors in the early 1900s. Finally, she provides information on the life and contributions of Abraham Lincoln Lewis, the wealthy African American businessman who in 1935, as president of the Afro-American Life Insurance Company, initiated the purchase and development of the tract of seashore known as American Beach. From Lewis’s arrival on the scene, Phelts follows the community’s sustained development and growth, highlighting landmarks like the Ocean-Vu-Inn and the Blue Palace and concluding with a stirring plea for the preservation of American Beach, which is currently threatened by encroaching development.
Contents: An African American Beach -- Franklin Town -- A.L. Lewis -- A Beach Named American -- Early Homes -- Miss Martha's Hideaway -- Ocean-Vu-Inn -- A Who's Who of Vacationers and Visitors -- .A 1950s Trip to the Beach -- Hurricane Dora -- Gay Poppers, Boomerangs, and High Fashion at the Crossroads -- Evans's Rendezvous -- Sheriff H.J. Youngblood -- Law, Order, and Race -- Driving on the Beach -- Stewartville at AIA -- The Irony of Civil Rights -- The Beach Rejuvenated -- From Winter Shelling to Virgo Bash -- American Beach Dining Rooms -- Day-Tripping Feasts -- Family Cuisine -- Storm Clouds.Collection
LibraryLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
BookNomenclature Sub-Class
Other DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsSearch Terms
African Americans -- Florida -- American Beach -- History., American Beach (Fla.) -- History., Amelia Island (Fla.) -- History., Lewis, A. L. (Abraham Lincoln), 1865-1947.Publication Details
Author
Phelts, Marsha Dean.Publisher
University Press of FloridaPlace Published
* Untyped Place Published
Gainesville, Fla.Call No.
F 319 .A45 P47 1997ISBN
0813015049