Ft. Lauderdale Marks Anniversary Of End Of Beach Segregation
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – Ft. Lauderdale officials celebrated this Fourth of July holiday by marking the 50th anniversary of an event which led to the desegregation of the city's beach.
On July 4, 1961, Lorraine Mizell, her sister, her uncle and some friends waded into the ocean on a beach where blacks were not allowed. Mizell would later say she didn't know how significant her actions would be.
Fort Lauderdale's beaches had been segregated since 1927. Civil rights pioneer Eula Johnson led wade-ins like Mizell's over the summer of 1961 in spite of threats. A year later, a state judge ruled against the city and its whites-only beach policy.
On Monday, city officials placed a historic marker the spot of the first wade-in at State Road A1A and Las Olas Boulevard. Groups of people then went into the water in symbolic 'wade ins'. They also opened the Eula's home as a museum.
"It's very significant when you consider the fight that the people of color had to go through the years," said pastor C.E. Glover. "Certainly I don't think any of us can understand fully the fight that Mrs. Johnson and Dr. Mizell had to go through in order to integrate the beach and subsequently integrate Ft. Lauderdale."
Johnson, who died ten years ago, left behind a legacy of struggle and triumph.
"This isn't just a celebration of her life but a dedication of the building to the NAACP so that the lessons we learned from Eula Johnson, the lessons that she taught, will continue on," said Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler.
