Race Divisions on Public Beaches
The fight between public and private interests over the lakeshore included racial divisions that resulted in the segregated use of the beaches and waters of Lake Michigan. Through the first decades of the twentieth century African American children were not welcome at most of the bathing beaches in the city. In 1912 an African American child was attacked for attempting to bathe at the 39th Street Beach. As a mob grew, the police responded and quashed the riot. Racial tension soared again in 1919 over a similar incident. On a hot summer day in July at the 29th Street Beach white beachgoers threw rocks at an African American teenager who crossed an invisible line in the lake that extended from the racially segregated beaches. The black teenager drowned, igniting a race riot in the city that lasted for seven days. Though the beaches in Chicago were never officially designated by race, racial segregation continued along the lakeshore for much of the twentieth century.
31st Street Beach, 1931
In 1931 the 31st Street Beach continued to be a beach primarily used by African Americans.
See also: Douglas; Leisure; Racism, Ethnicity, and White Identity
Jackson Park Beach, 1928 and 1949
Located at 57th Street, Jackson Park Beach remained a beach used predominantly by whites through most of the twentieth century
See also: Hyde Park; Leisure; Racism, Ethnicity, and White Identity
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