28 | Summertime | Battle for the Beach
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Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Black History for Real early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. All right. I got a question for you. Can you swim? And who taught you? I'm pretty sure you're asking me this because of today's topic, huh? Yeah, you already know who I am, but the question still remains. Can you swim?

Well, yes. You know, I don't like talking about the fact that I'm from Florida because I'm deeply embarrassed by it. But my Florida roots are the reason I could swim. When I was a kid, I thought I was part fish. I was in the ocean, you know, singing the Ariel. Someone like me, like doing the whole part of your world. Okay. That was me. Now, what about you? Can you swim?

Yeah, definitely. I can swim. I learned how to swim. My dad pushed me into the pool. I can tell you, pushed me into the pool. My dad threw me into the pool and was like, swim, son. And, you know, uh...

It wasn't that successful, but he got in. I feel like he saved me, you know what I'm saying? And then taught me the importance of swimming, knowing how to swim, you know what I'm saying? To make sure you don't die in a swimming pool. And yeah, kind of coached me through it, you know? Okay, so you were learning how to swim in a pool. I was out in the ocean. And let me tell you, those waves were rough and you did not want to be out there if there was sea lice. Do you know what sea lice are?

Nah, hell nah. It's nothing to mess with. It's a little flea that's in the ocean and it bites you and you have like almost like chicken pox. So you would have a great time at the beach. You come home and you'd be covered in bites. So be glad you learned in a pool. I definitely would have stayed away from the beaches if I would have known something about

Sea lice? Sea lice? Sea lice? What? Or jellyfish? Yeah, nah. I wash a lot of SpongeBob, you know what I'm saying? It makes me realize that there is a long history or a stereotype history of Black people not liking the water. But I feel like if I would have learned about sea lice, you know what I'm saying, I would have been the next stereotype. Because what? It's wild how much the idea still exists today that we can't swim.

It ain't true, but considering how much work racist white folks put into keeping us off the beaches, they acted like we ain't deserve rest or days of leisure. But you best believe we found a way, just like we always do. Even if some of us were a little bougie, light-skinned, we'll get into that later, you know what I'm saying? But when we did, we did. Let's get into some Black History for real.

Bay Ridge Resort and Amusement Park sits on the Chesapeake Bay. Steepled roofs reach towards the sky and waves roll gently into the resort's bay. Sailboats in the distance pull oysters from the ocean floor. Charles and Laura Douglas feel a burst of excitement as they approach the bay. They can already taste the salty oysters and they're starving after their long trip from D.C.

Charles cups his hands over his forehead. The late morning sun is bright. He shields his eyes and squints at the resort. He feels like a kid again.

Laura grins at him. Charles' happiness is contagious. However, Bay Ridge is newly segregated after Jim Crow, joining a laundry list of segregated beach resorts. The Douglases aren't so worried about that. They've got money and class. White families aren't the only ones who deserve vacations. And the Douglases plan on proving it. Laura locks elbows with Charles as they walk inside the resort's restaurant. Their stomachs grumble and they can't wait to grab a bite to eat.

The head waiter approaches them. He looks confused. Or maybe it's disgusted? Either way, something is off. It'll be the two of us. I beg your pardon? It's just me and my husband. The other diners stop eating and drinking. Their eyes are on the black couple standing in the entryway. And what is it that you need? What else will we be here for, exactly?

Well, this is a restaurant, but surely you're not here to eat. We don't seat your kind. Laura twirls the ring on her finger and looks at the head waiter up and down. Her face gets hot. She thinks about slapping him to wipe the smug expression off his face, but she doesn't want him to see her crack. She's sure he would enjoy that. Well, I don't expect you know who we are anyway. I'd like to speak to your manager, please and thank you.

That old racist owner at the resort ain't about to break those new Jim Crow rules. Class ain't the currency this time. It don't matter how upstanding they are, a Negro is a Negro. He refuses to let Laura and Charles stay. The couple is humiliated and fuming, and they leave. But before everything's said and done, they're going to make their mark on the speech. It won't be the last time Bay Ridge Resort hears about the Douglases.

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From Wondery, this is Black History for Real, where we chronicle the stories of movers and shakers from Black history all over the world. The stories will inspire you, educate you, and more often than not, leave you shaking your damn heads. I'm Francesca Ramsey. And I'm Conscious Lee. Today, we're introducing y'all to a two-part series on Black beaches. In this episode, we're sharing the stories of how these Black shores came to be.

We like to assume beaches are places that everybody can go to and relax, you know, have a little fun in the sun and forget about our daily lives for just a little while at least. But it ain't always been that way, especially for black folks. We had to come through and build our own private beaches. Some of us ain't built them with the best intentions of all black folks either.

A couple of us was a little too class conscious and not in a good way. This is episode one, Summertime. Charles Redmond Douglas is born in Lynn, Massachusetts on October 21st, 1844. He's the youngest son in the family. Charles is born Black and free in a nation that still keeps so many enslaved.

His early childhood is drastically different from his father's, radical abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Frederick was born enslaved in Maryland, but he makes sure none of his children ever experience slavery. See, Charles and his siblings are mostly raised by their mother, Hannah.

And Charles grows up watching his mother manage the whole household. Both of his parents were enslaved. And even though it's hard on the family, abolition ain't coming without sacrifice. His mother understands that even if she wants Frederick home more, his father's often on the road, reeling against the sins of slavery. The backdrop of his early life is wrapped in his father's non-stop activism.

His daddy never sits still. Not now one of his parents is ever really still. It don't matter if they're at home or on the road. Charles is learning that staying busy and always working is how he's going to succeed. The rest ain't in his family's vocabulary.

In 1847, the family packs up their Massachusetts home and moves. Charles is only three years old when he arrives in Rochester, New York. It's one of the last stops on the Underground Railroad before people cross into Canada. Education's a cornerstone of the Douglas family, but when the kids try to go to school, they can't. Rochester's not here for school integration. Charles isn't allowed in school with the white kids.

Instead, he learns from private tutors hired by his parents. His days are filled with new knowledge, and they're filled with something else, too. Something much older. A reminder. The country and racist white people don't consider him equal at all. But that doesn't mean he's going to move through the world feeling inferior. It's hard for Charles to feel inferior to white people, especially with his father publishing an anti-slavery newspaper, The North Star.

It's June 1860. Charles is older now and able to make sense of the stories. Charles pulls over the words and makes them feel special to know what the paper's going to say before everybody else do. He grabs hold of the typesetting letters. Tonight, it's his job to arrange them in the right way. He helps his father a lot this way. Typesetting.

arranging the letters and images so they show up nice and pretty in the newspaper. And those nice and pretty images and letters create stories that tell the truth. The truth about what it means to live Black in the United States and the evils of slavery. Charles runs his fingers over the metal letters. He's got to arrange them in the right order or the words won't make any sense at all.

He sounds out a sentence. In his personal habits, Mr. Lincoln is as simple as a child. A laugh erupts from his mouth, and his father, Frederick, looks over sharply. His thick curls aren't piled on his head. Streaks of silver catch in the firelight as he catches Charles' eye. Something funny, son?

I'm just having trouble understanding how a man who's simple as a child is supposed to lead this country. A small smile slips across Fedrick's face. He's seen something else in Abraham Lincoln, even if the man's got to be pushed to reach his true potential. Keep reading. You're getting ahead of yourself. All right. He will take to the presidential chair just the qualities which the country now demands to save it from impending destruction.

You think that's true? Frederick leans back in his chair and folds his arms across his chest. If we fight for it, hell son, anything is possible. Civil war comes for the nation slowly and then all at once. Charles enlists in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment in 1863. He's fighting for the North against the Confederate South. And this is the first Black regiment recognized by the United States government.

War is an ugly thing and Charles watches his fellow soldiers die. Many of them never recover from their injuries and get fighting for freedom. They die starving from their wounds in the Union hospitals. Charles is helpless to save them and he writes to his father expressing his frustrations. When everything said and done,

It'll be nice not to fight no more, but life don't really work out like that for Charles, even after the war is over. Decades after the Civil War, Americans' lives are flipped upside down. Black folks are free to create their own destinies, and enslavers are lost without their free labor. Coastal plantations once created stacks of cash, but they aren't making bank anymore.

Freed Black people use their newfound land to be more self-sufficient. They buy their own farmland and gain more economic freedom. They even make plans to pass the land down to their children. The number of Black landowners in the country is unprecedented. By 1910, they owned more than 16 million acres. That's like, that's like 256 million tennis courts. But remember,

It's still the late 19th, the early 20th century. You feel me? It ain't no way in hell white folks gonna let black folks still live stable, happy lives and peace. Ain't no way.

Racism hasn't gone anywhere, and Charles Douglas knows this intimately. He's never lost that fighting spirit he inherited from his father, Frederick Douglas. Charles never escaped slavery, but he fought to bring freedom to other Black people. His fight on the battlefield might be over, but new fights wait for him and his wife Laura in Washington, D.C. After the war, Charles is never really able to just be still.

He's worked as a soldier and a journalist. Now he works at the pension bureau in Washington, D.C. His pedigree and family lineage makes him part of the Black elite. But if you're Black, family pedigree doesn't really mean a damned thing. To white folks, because amongst Black people, we're going to figure out a way to create a little hierarchy, you know what I'm saying? I read a book called

called Our Kind of People that I know is very controversial amongst the Black upper echelon in our country. In this book, it gives a genealogy of the Black upper class going all the way back to the plantation where he's able to talk about how there were multiple different states that might have had like, you know, 20,000 slaves, but they might have had 1,500 free Black people.

You know, in this state, it might have had, you know, 15,000 slaves, but in this state, the same state that had 15,000 slaves, it might have had 800, you know what I'm saying, free Black people. What this book does, it shows that a lot of the Black wealth in this country can be traced back to these particular families, you know, and or the families that was able to kind of get some mobility during Reconstruction.

So for somebody that's a first generation college student, you feel me, both of my parents convicted felons, you know what I'm saying? Both of my, like my family, my wife, family, and my family stood in the hood eating sleep for dinner. Reading stories like this always give me mixed feelings because I try to be mindful and recognize that like everybody don't have the, like everybody got to take care of black folks. But when we get further in his story, we're going to see how there are particular things

concerns that different socioeconomic backgrounds that black folks have. And being somebody from the bottom, it kind of leaves us a nasty sour taste in my mouth. Yeah. I mean, and unfortunately that is not a unique facet of marginalized people. Everybody wants to be better than somebody else. And it's really frustrating when you see it in action because, you know, the same way we opened this episode, it's,

White people are still seeing you as black. So having a degree or having this kind of amount of money or driving this kind of car or talking this certain way or wearing your hair a certain way or your clothes or whatever, none of that makes you better than anybody else. And by the same token, there are a lot of people who have advanced degrees and are not very smart.

There are lots of people who live in big fancy houses and have low morals and are not good people. What you have does not determine whether you are worthy of respect or whether you are better or more intelligent than anybody else.

And again, unfortunately, too often marginalized folks, again, not just Black folks, but people who have been put into circumstances where they are treated as less than, they're often grasping at straws to find ways to feel better than somebody else because they know that the circumstances they are in are unfair. And it's really frustrating when you watch that happen. ♪

In the early 1890s, Washington, D.C. is booming with black businesses and wealth. There's a whole class of black folks living it up in black circles. Charles Douglas and his wife, Laura, are part of the black elite. They sitting right at the top.

of the class hierarchy. But keeping they place in society takes a lot of work. Like living in the episode of "Bridgerton, the Black Folks." Charles is tired as hell and they both desperately need a vacation. He ain't never been one to sit still, just like his parents. The couple makes plans. It's time to leave the swartering summer city behind. But the racism of the city follows right behind them.

Charles and Laura stand at the edge of Black Walnut Creek. It's close to Bay Ridge Resort. When they're denied entry to the whites-owned resort, they can't even make sense of it. They're furious and embarrassed. Charles fought for freedom, except freedom ain't follow him. But Lady Luck does it. She tips her hand. The Brugiers are Black farmers who own land near the Bay Ridge Resort.

The distraught Douglases might be the answer to their prayers. Before the night is over, Charles and Laura are thinking about changing history.

Let's buy the land. Buy the... Laura, be reasonable now. We could build our own resort. Woman, I just said be reasonable. We just got kicked out of Bay Ridge because our skin color. Let's not be brash. Let's not be afraid. It's not that easy. It doesn't have to be easy. It just has to be right.

I don't know. He made us look like fools, Charles, like nobodies. Laura crosses her arms. She admires how practical Charles is, but he's tripping. It's only going to take a little bread and effort to build a refuge for black folks. She's all in. Her husband's got to figure it out. And this is why I interject right here. I'm going to say I'm going to be short this time.

It speaks volumes of what you're concerned with in your reality as a black person. When you more focused on trying to prove to white folks you can do what they do and not necessarily worried about the other black folks that's just trying to exist and is trying to be. That's the part that I think that bothered me. But I feel like now that I'm starting to experience a little more bitterly, I can try to give it a little benefit of the doubt. But the nigga in me is just like, man, boy, man, boy.

Yeah, her ego was bruised and that's what motivated her. And to your point, sometimes the wrong motivations can have positive outcomes. And so that's all I'll say about that.

It's being simple. Shout out to the dumbasses. I'm sorry, I had to kiss with that one. Shout out to the dumbasses that love to flex their little coin anytime they go into a space and place. And the person that you're in a place you're patronizing feel like you don't deserve to be there or feel like you ain't got no money. So then you big flex and you throw down your money. Charles listens to his wife. Most men with good sense do. Trust me, I've been married for nine years. I know it.

It takes months of negotiation, but eventually the Brashears and the Douglases settle on a deal. It's spring 1893. Charles buys 40 acres of the Brashears land. It costs them $5,000. That's about $170,000 in 2024 money. The years have been good to Charles. The Douglases got money, money, and they ain't afraid to spend it either.

Charles divides the land into more than 100 lots and calls the community Highland Beach. It's believed to be the first Black summer resort in the United States. Charles builds his own house on the property in 1894. A year later, he builds a home for his dad. But Frederick Douglass never lives in the home. He died before its completion.

People who weren't part of the family can still buy lots at Highland Beach, but they're moneyed Black folks. U.S. Senator Blanche K. Bruce is happy to own land at Highland Beach. He's the first Black senator to serve a full term of Congress. The first Black woman on the D.C. Board of Education, activist Mary Church Terrell, and the first Black governor of Louisiana, PBS Pinchback, relax on its shores. ♪

Oh, man. Boy, I get the feeling only a certain type of black folk was allowed to buy land there.

The good Negroes, if you will. The mildly seasoned, good ideological, having blue vein society. I can pass the Brown Bay bag test and make white folks feel comfortable. Oh, OK. So you picked up on it. Yeah, you are correct, because it also takes coins to buy land. And a lot of working class black folks cannot afford that. But the Douglas's can. And so can their bougie friends.

Highland Beach is specifically reserved for well-to-do folks. The Reconstruction era brought Black folks some progress. Amendments to the Constitution granted Black folks a few more protections, like giving Black men the right to vote. By the 1890s, there's a new generation of Black adults who've only known the U.S. after slavery. But the Black elite are getting reality checks in the big cities.

Racism is not going to let you just live sweet too long. They got to put you back in your place. Black folks have more rights after Reconstruction, but crafty white politicians make sure Black folks don't benefit from it. States introduce poll taxes and literacy tests, and it makes voting damn near impossible. Jim Crow segregation got its boots on the necks of Black folks just trying to come up.

In the 1890s, lynching breaks blood dripping records. Backlash arrives. Anti-Black violence makes life scary for Black people, even the rich ones in places like Washington, D.C. Wealthy Black folks realize their class can only get them so far, and they don't want to be around the plebs. Lower class Black folks who don't share their taste in refinement. That is correct.

Damn it, that's dirty, but I digress. The people who buy lots at Highland Park don't see it that way, though. They create a small enclave where they can share drinks and trade high-class ideas, all while they enjoy beautiful beach views.

They like kiki-ing with other Black folks who speak the same upscale language as them. Poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar is a regular at Highland. He thinks the Black doctors, lawyers, and professors in Washington, D.C. are the city's proudest people, and he claims the educated are "of a different caste than the lower-class Black folks."

Not him shucking and jiving, evoking a little black caste system. Yeah, he's uppity and definitely values being close to whiteness, but he isn't all the way in the sunken place. In 1900, Dunbar writes about the line good black folks must toe in D.C.,

It is the middle class Negro who has imbibed enough of white civilization to make him work to be prosperous, but has not partaken of civilization so deeply that he has become drunk and has forgotten his own identity.

Dunbar and Highland's other visitors have the best of both worlds at Highland. They don't have to deal with racists, and they don't have to deal with Black folks who have fun out loud, hooting and hollering into the night. They get to have quiet, swanky kickbacks where they discuss money moves and their new intellectual interests.

The Douglases and the lot owners continue developing community. Charles is making money and the community members find some elusive peace they've been seeking. By the 1910s, more Black people begin moving to D.C. and Baltimore. They get good government jobs and a lot of these Black folks can afford to buy land and homes on Highland Beach.

Highland Beach and its surrounding land is transformed into a seaside haven for Black folks with a little cash. Soon, Black beach resorts that encourage spiritual development and recreation begin popping up all over the country. And some care a little less about being part of the Black elite.

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Black folks don't have to dream about living better lives away from this ugly hatred in the South. Job opportunities are popping out West. Business booms along the Southern California coastline. The weather's great and the scenery is beautiful. So black folks plant roots in the Western states. Manhattan Beach experiences a boom of his own.

It's a coastal town south of Los Angeles. There aren't many people there, and the folks who do live there are white. The town's got great potential, but it needs more residents. Developers hunt down well-off customers. In the early 1900s, Willa and Charles Bruce moved from Albuquerque to Los Angeles.

This Charles isn't like Charles Douglas. He's a little more salt of the earth. The couple's got enough money to buy property, but they're not moneyed moneyed. Still, they both have hopes of moving up in the world. Southern California's economy is booming and Los Angeles is a vibrant city. So the Bruce's buy a house. They kind of ballin', but Willa needs steady income. It's sad, but funny. Segregation's the key to her problems.

Black people ain't got access to beaches. White beaches are off limits. But Willa's smart. She sees opportunity, but others see nothing at all. In 1912, Willa Bruce buys two side-by-side lots on Manhattan Beach. By mid-June, Willa's resort is up and running, just in time for the real start of summer.

Bruce's Beach is pretty accessible to working class people in the area. They're not really on that Highland Beach nonsense. At the resort, there's a cottage, a place to buy soda, and lunches and changing tents.

But it ain't even a week before white folks in the area start acting up. A developer who owns land in front of the Bruce's Beach puts no trespassing signs on his property. People got to walk a half a mile around his property to get to Bruce's Beach. It ain't the last time residents harass Willa and her customers. People anonymously call the Bruce's and try to intimidate them. Willa speaks to the Los Angeles Times in June.

I own this land and I'm going to keep it. She means it. In 1912, she builds Bruce's Lodge. It's almost like she's daring white people to try and stop her. Bruce's Beach is a vacation hotspot for Black folks and the Bruce's make big bucks off their resort over the next decade. Their success is attractive to other Black families and they buy property in the surrounding areas too. The explosion of Bruce's Beach mirrors the growth of Black beach resorts across the nation.

The beaches are mentioned on the radio, motels, houses, and businesses thrive by the resorts. They're more than just a place to relax. They're sites of refuge. They're cultural hubs. The Black presence on Manhattan Beach grows with Bruce Beach's popularity, and their white neighbors can't stand it. To them, it's a Negro invasion that has to be stopped.

Clouds darken the sky and Bruce's lodge glows bright orange against the sandy shore. The blaze flares mocking and hunger. Willow runs towards the lodge. She ain't never ran so fast in her life. She hopes she ain't the only one running towards the flames.

In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan gains ground across the United States. They lynch Black people and spread terror across the country. When they can't lynch Black folks, they threaten their lives and attack their homes.

White supremacist terror arrives at Bruce's Beach. Races commit acts of violence against Black residents. They burn crosses on hillsides. They fire shots into people's living rooms and write cryptic warnings on people's houses. Flames leap up around the siding of the lodge. Willis stares at the building in horror.

The lodge is the first building she ever built on her land. Soon, it might be nothing but a pile of smoking ash. She looks around for help, but people keep their distance from the heat of the fire. Will is not a fool. Black homes in the area have been targeted. Still, she hoped the violence wouldn't reach her doorstep. There's no avoiding the violence now.

Charles arrives on the scene just as firefighters extinguish the flames. The remnants of a mattress smolder beneath the lodge. Who did this? I don't know, Charles. Could be the Klan. Could be any of them white folks who don't want us here. I'm just glad no one was inside. We've still got the lodge. That's what matters. I don't know how you can be so calm right now. They want us gone. I'm terrified. I'm a little scared, too.

But we came a long way to get to this point in our lives. I'm not letting nobody take away what we rightfully earned.

George Lindsay is probably happy about the burned out lodge. He's a white real estate agent, and he's sick of all these black people at Manhattan Beach. He hasn't been in town long, but he's invested in keeping Manhattan Beach 100% white. He's one of the few real estate agents in town. It's pretty easy for him to disguise his racism as concern for property values. But in reality, George and other residents are sick of black people taking up space and finding joy in their neighborhood.

In 1921, George allegedly stomps up to the Manhattan Beach Board of Trustees. The board is kinda like a city council. It decides where the money goes and what becomes law in the town. George puts on his best "let me speak to your manager" voice. He asks the board how they can keep black folks far away. They ain't really entertaining them. The optics would be ugly.

But George is a slick one. He knows the government's got a handy trick up its sleeve.

Eminent domain. Eminent domain is the power that allows governments to seize private property for public use. He finds out that the California Park and Playground Act of 1909 grants the board authority to condemn land for improvements. This sets off a light bulb in George's mind. He starts a petition to condemn Bruce's Beach and replace it with a public park.

Other residents sign it, and George shows it to the board in November of 1923. I think this story is important and valuable because it shows us that we always have to have an intersectional approach to how Black people live our lives. Not just that we Black, but also our class status. And acknowledging that even if you have a whole bunch of money, you know what I'm saying, it don't negate your Blackness. Shout out to the people that only see green or say the only color that matters is the green.

Yeah, I mean, and you're so right, especially considering how often white folks or non-Black people will vote against their own best interests, even their own best financial interests, if they believe that Black folks are going to be negatively affected by it. So, for example, refusing to sell Black folks property.

Or, you know, you walk into a store and they look at you and decide, oh, you can't afford to shop here. And they are actively losing business because of their own racism. So this idea that, you know, green is the only color that matters is really a logical fallacy. And just to contextualize it, a story we're talking about.

This woman got enough money to own land in the Manhattan Beach and be able to literally build on that land. But because an individual white person that has access to city council or whatever the hell you want to call it is able to manipulate the law, it makes it where regardless of her class status...

He is pissed off and triggered by her blackness and then uses legislation within the city to take that land to make it city land. So that to me, it really shows how a lot of times we view city ordinances or different laws through a neutral objective lens, not recognizing that nine times out of 10, there are bad people that's able to mobilize legislation to hurt other people. And it's not just like some arbitrary shit.

A couple of Manhattan Beach board members fan themselves with papers as they wait for George and Lindsay to speak. The fans are blasting, but the space is packed full of people. Some of them signed a petition. They sit shoulder to shoulder and patiently wait for George to speak.

George knows the board is tired of him showing up at their meetings. But the Bruces are still bringing all sorts of riffraff into the city. He's got to push the board members to stop dragging their feet. George squeezes the petition in his hand. His sweaty palms soften the paper. If this petition doesn't work, he'll have to be more aggressive. He can't have the Negroes take over the city. None of his friends and neighbors want that. I think you already know what I'm here for.

But a lot of us civic leaders and law-abiding citizens vote to condemn Bruce's Beach. We have to protect our city from private corporate interests. I think that land would be better as a city park. He looks around the room, squares his shoulder, pointing them to the onlookers. All the people sitting right here behind me agree. No, all of us don't agree.

The crowd turns to face Willa. She's standing with her arms crossed in the back of the room. George locks eyes with her. She doesn't look away. She continues speaking. You know good and well this ain't about no park. We love our town. We just want to make it better. Make it better how? The petition is... I'm asking how. Say it. A board member quiets Willa before George can answer. The board accepts the petition but shelves it until the next meeting.

At the next meeting, black people who own property on the land in question put up their own petition. But the boys set on condemning the two block area land. They passed an ordinance letting folks know their plans. They gonna listen to George and condemn the land. Ain't much for the Bruces or they ride or dies can do about it.

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In June of 1924...

The board passes a bunch of BS laws, is what we'll call them. Owners have to get the go-ahead from the board when they want to build bathhouses and other attractions. And changing clothes and cars and tents is banned. Like a restaurant that bans streetwear. It's obvious that the board has its scope on the Bruces and other black folks in town.

Some folks say that the KKK is pulling the puppet strings in Manhattan Beach. A July article in the California Eagle talks about the propaganda that the Klan is handing out to Black people. The Black newspaper urges Black residents to fight back against the condemnation and its racist supporters. Now, this is not Mr. and Mrs. Bruce's fight, but the fight of the people. The NAACP and all organizations should look into this matter and see that Mr. Bruce is given a fair chance.

The reality is, Willa is kind of open to letting go without a fight. On July 11th, the California Eagle prints a letter from the attorney for the LA branch of the NAACP. Willa doesn't want to contest the ordinance and is open to selling her property for a fair price. But that's not in the cards for Willa. In October, the board passes the ordinance 282. That starts the legal process of seizing 30 lots. The seizure will include Bruce's Beach,

and the black and white-owned land surrounding it. Bruce's Beach is in danger of shutting down. - In November, Manhattan Beach files a lawsuit for the condemnation of the land. Black landowners in Los Angeles are not gullible. They know the Manhattan Beach Board is pressed to condemn the Bruce's Land because they're black.

Willa and Charles file an answer to the condemnation. They basically say they're not falling for the okey-doke. The city's efforts to steal the land are arbitrary, oppressive, and inspired by racial prejudice. We know how governments do, gaslighting us, trying to make us think their racism is justified. The legal battle drags on for years. White people who support the death of Bruce's Beach? No, they ain't gonna make all the Black people go away.

The council was going to make the land a garbage dump until the lawsuit hits their desks. Suddenly, the property took from the Bruces is going to become a parking stead. In February of 1927, Charles and Willa published a letter to their neighbors in the Manhattan Beach News. We have always felt

And we hope we will be pardoned for plainly and bluntly saying so. That the attempt to make a part out of these two blocks was a direct slap at us because we were not born white people.

In May of 1927, the Bruces surrender their land and consent to the city demolishing all their buildings. They ask for $70,000 for the property and $50,000 in damages, but the court only grants them $14,500. The refuge of thousands of black folks is destroyed. No more late nights in the dance hall. No more eating fried fish lunches after swimming on a summer morning.

No more fun family outings at Bruce's Beach. All that snatched away just to pad egos and satisfy prejudice. Petty and a damn shame. Perfect definition for white supremacy. George Lindsay, Manhattan Beach, and all the other conspirators have kind of won, or at least they did in their crooked minds. They've run Black people off the small plot of land.

Willa and Charles are now in their 60s and ain't here for the drama anymore. They're exhausted by the fight. They leave and purchase a home in another part of Los Angeles. Charles continues working as a dining car chef. The couple remain in LA until they die, less than a decade after their property was seized. Back in DC, Charles Douglas is dead by the time Bruce's Beach is shut down.

Over on the Chesapeake Bay, Highland Beach is now incorporated. Charles' son is in charge of the family business. The community's transforming. But Highland Beach still ain't seeing it for your average working class Black person. It don't help that the town's commissioners are still partial to the bougie Black folks.

Black beach resorts can be sanctuaries, but sadly, they can also be exclusionary. Class is nothing in the face of white supremacy. Segregation is still the law of the land. And those Jim Crow laws push Black people into dangerous waters. There's no truly safe place for Black people at beaches, but there are activists who are willing to fight for change. Soon the nation will have no choice but to wake up and pay attention.

The civil rights movement's on the way, and activists are ready to bring the battle to desegregate beaches from the margins to the main stage. If you like Black History For Real, you can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

This is episode one of our two-part series, Black Beaches. We use multiple sources when researching our stories, but Living the California Dream by Alison Rose Jefferson, The Land Was Ours by Andrew W. Carl, and the City of Manhattan Beach Records were extremely helpful. A note, our scenes contain reenactments and dramatized details for narrative cohesiveness. ♪

Black History for Real is hosted by me, Francesca Ramsey. And me, Conscious Lee. Black History for Real is a production of Wonder. This episode was written by Eve Shefko. Sound design by Ken Nana. The theme song is by Terrence Martin. Lindsay Gomez is the development producer. The coordinating producer is Taylor Sniffin.

Sophia Martins is our managing producer. Our associate producer is Sonya May. Our senior producers are Matt Gant and Morgan Givens. The executive producers for Wondery are Marsha Louis, Aaron O'Fleary, and Candice Mariquez-Rin. Wondery.

Hey, I'm Mike Corey, the host of Wondery's podcast, Against the Odds. In each episode, we share thrilling true stories of survival, putting you in the shoes of the people who live to tell the tale. In our next season, it's July 6th, 1988, and workers are settling into the night shift aboard Piper Alpha, the world's largest offshore oil rig.

Home to 226 men, the rig is stationed in the stormy North Sea off the coast of Scotland. At around 10 p.m., workers accidentally trigger a gas leak that leads to an explosion and a fire. As they wait to be rescued, the workers soon realize that Piper Alpha has transformed into a death trap. Follow Against the Odds wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music or the Wondery app.