Historical Marker Commemorates Desegregation Of Sarasota Beaches

The Sarasota County Historical Commission will host a ceremony Saturday, Oct. 6, to dedicate ahistorical marker that commemorates events leading to the desegregation of area beaches. The 4 p.m. ceremony will be held in the landscaped area north of the Lido Beach Pavilion, 400 Benjamin Franklin Drive, Sarasota.

According to information contained on the marker, citizens of the African-American community of Newtown, north of downtown Sarasota, campaigned for equality and a beach of their own prior to such historic events as the 1954 Brown vs. the Board of Education Supreme Court case that rules state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students were unconstitutional.

The marker notes that Newtown resident Mary Emma Jones asked the Board of County Commissioners for a beach for "colored" residents in 1951, the same year the county purchased its first public beach in Nokomis. In 1952, the same year county voters approved a recreational bond that included beach acquisition, the county proposed a swimming pool in Newtown.

In 1955, Newtown activists told commissioners that they believed more people would prefer a beach instead of a pool, and Neil Humphrey, president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, led several visits of Newtown residents to the city-owned Lido Beach to show support for a beach over a pool. Citing severe erosion and dangerous currents, the city of Sarasota temporarily closed Lido Beach to public use and instead supported construction of a swimming pool in Newtown.

According to the marker, after much debate over the issue of making a "beach available to the Negro population," a south Venice beach became the unofficial "Negro" beach, although the round trip from Newtown to the Venice beach was more than 40 miles. In November 1957, the city of Sarasota opened a community pool at the Newtown Recreation Center.

The 1964 Civil Rights Act made racial discrimination in public places illegal, although it would be several more years before area beaches were truly integrated, the marker notes.