The forgotten “wade-ins” that transformed the US

when you imagine the iconic moments of the civil rights movement what do you see maybe the march from selma to montgomery lunch counter sit-ins or bus boycotts across the country but what about this or this what happened in the waters of saint augustine florida was one of the most critical campaigns in the movement to desegregate the us i still have an eerie feeling when i'm in st augustine they did not like that idea of sharing water the idea that something that touched us is going to touch them american beaches and pools have long been flashpoints of racial conflict in the u.s historically many cities prohibited black people from stepping into public waters leisure is primarily a tool of capitalism leisure is also a tool of white supremacy and it articulates power in society in a certain way who has it um who does not who has the right to wield it and oftentimes this plays out in public spaces in the north and south white people fiercely opposed the integration of these spaces in some cases separate pools and beaches for black americans were established but they were often small far away and dangerous in new orleans for example the city's designated black beach was an area grossly polluted with sewage from nearby fishing camps [Music] that unequal access to recreation is how wadens were born weigh-ins were a spin on the non-violent lunch counter sit-ins that spread quickly across the country in the 1950s and 60s but instead of demanding access to businesses wading into beaches and pools demanded access to leisure on one hand it's to pronounce a sense of you see us um and you must sort of deal with us when you see us the other aspect or end of of a weight in is to invoke some sense of reaction so since you're unwanted either by law or by social behaviors people are going to react to your presence beaches became an important site for civil disobedience campaigns in the 1950s and early 60s from the shores of biloxi to chicago to fort lauderdale protesters gathered to demand equal access to city waters by the time weight-ins were organized in saint augustine a local movement and racial discrimination was already making headlines soon the campaign to desegregate these waters became the tipping point in a campaign to desegregate the entire nation the movement in saint augustine started with a local dentist and naacp youth council advisor named robert haling beginning in 1963 hailing mobilized youth in saint augustine to take part in civil rights sit-ins marches and boycotts i feel it is incumbent upon the city officials to make sin augustine a glaring example of democracy at work as the demonstrations picked up so did violence against them hundreds of protesters were beaten and jailed four teenagers who conducted a sit-in were ripped from their families and sent to reform school the homes of activists were also under constant threat a targeted shooting of hailing's home narrowly missed his pregnant wife and killed his dog so many houses were shot into we knew that anytime we had lights on in the house at night we'll run the risk of our house being fireballed so my breath and i still had to keep up with our studies when darkness came we would take turns going into that closet closing the door to study and we knew if we did not go into that particular area to study we were going to be shot and the house is going to be burned down the temple of violence increased rapidly in saint augustine the clan paraded in the streets unmindful of the rain ku klux klan rallies ramped up too at one rally hayling and three other activists were captured and brutally beaten later hailing was the one convicted for assaulting the klansmen after five minutes of deliberation by an all-white jury he was later forced to resign as an aide to the naacp after a grand jury accused him and other activists of being militant hayling and the other activists needed a new plan and new allies hailing reached out to the southern christian leadership conference a civil rights organization established by martin luther king jr at the time king's main focus was to pass the civil rights act of 1964. among other measures the bill aimed to desegregate public places but in the spring of 64 the bill had been held up by the senate stuck in a record-long filibuster king knew heightened tensions back in st augustine made it a segregated superbomb and believed high-profile acts of civil disobedience like the ones hailing organized could be the push needed to get the civil rights act passed king and several sclc leaders shifted focus to saint augustine and began a series of demonstrations that spring with the sclc's help hailing's movement gained organizers a financial boost and high profile supporters jackie robinson a black baseball star who pioneered integration of the sport came to a st augustine rally and mary peabody the 72 year old mother of the governor of massachusetts was jailed after a saint augustine sit-in which put the movement in national and international newspapers then in a demonstration on june 11th 1964 king attempted to enter the restaurant at the monson motor lodge a saint augustine hotel owned by this man james brock king and 17 others were barred from entering and arrested a week later protesters shifted their focus to the swimming pool at the monson motor lodge by june 18th two white protesters checked into the hotel five black demonstrators were to be their guests in the pool that day they drove up to the hotel but they knew they couldn't go in the front door so they found a way in through the hedges around the pool as the group waded into the monson swimming pool other organizers including a group of 16 rabbis invited by king formed a prayer circle around the monsoon to join in the civil rights demonstration with the rabbis outside king marching down the street with others and the weighed in at the pool the demonstration was designed to grab attention at first james brock the hotel owner tried to use a cleaning pole to get the swimmers out but when that didn't work brock tried something else he came out with a bottle of hydrochloric acid a corrosive pool cleaning chemical and threw the acid toward the protesters in the pool to drive them out mimi jones one of the protesters in the pool that day recalled her experience in a 2017 interview and all of a sudden i the water in front of my face started to bubble up like volcanic like a volcanic eruption i could barely breathe it was entering my nose and my eyes it was just very frightening and terrified because i really didn't see him coming soon after a fully clothed police officer jumped into the pool to arrest us to usher us out of the pool and there were other policemen there waiting for us and carted us off to jail the goal of the waden was to make the news and photographers captured every moment our whole foreign policy and everything else go to hell over this yesterday in the swimming pool sat augustine i started pouring acid in the pool the very next day after a 60-day filibuster the u.s senate passed the civil rights act of 1964 making way for it to get signed into law by the president as the nation waited for the bill to get signed the saint augustine wadens continued on the beaches day after day dozens of black and white demonstrators showed up to the shore and were met with brutality from white supremacists we went to saint augustine beach and then all of a sudden they started hitting us and just punching anybody who got in the way and i was one of the ones who was punched my nose was broken the violence peaked on june 25th when 75 people peacefully entered the water highway patrol was sent in to keep the peace but violence quickly broke out and they arrested both black and white demonstrators notice the speed at which the action develops and the need for officers to pursue the attackers the demonstrations continue the fighting continued the bullying continued and it wasn't just about us and integrating that beach we knew we knew about the bigger picture later that night hundreds of white supremacists rallied in saint augustine and attacked civil rights protesters on a march the clash led to 19 black people being hospitalized with many more injured on the night of june 25th 1964 the fuse burned down and the racial bomb exploded but they tell me that i don't even have the right to fight to protect the white race a week later on july 2 the civil rights act of 1964 was signed into law congress passes the most sweeping civil rights bill ever to be written into the law the civil rights act of 1964 is signed at the white house by president johnson to back what he calls a turning point in history this moment was monumental but in the years that followed weigh-ins continued cities used different strategies to keep their hold on segregation for public beaches and pools that meant many whites only signs were simply replaced with private club signs and high fees to enter and as white people started fleeing cities for the suburbs local governments neglected many urban pools and eventually shut them down as for saint augustine the passing of the civil rights act didn't change the minds of white residents there either in the years that followed dr haling left saint augustine he could no longer make a living in the city or feel safe there saint augustine is still roughly [Music] the saint augustine that i remember from the 60s u.s beaches and pools remained battlegrounds today in pennsylvania black and brown children were kicked out of their rented pool space because management feared it could change the complexion of the private club in texas white residents called the police on black teens trying to enjoy the neighborhood pool and in north carolina a white hotel employee called the police on a black family using the pool during their stay all of what happened in the 60s you see some of it come back it's like deja vu i asked you to leave politely simple as that and i heard this lady she was like what are all these black kids doing here she's like i'm scared they might do something to my child [Music] you're not having any [Music] here [Music] hi everyone thanks for watching this episode of missing chapter if you want to know more about st augustine and the waydens we have something special for you the first ever missing chapter in podcast form we dive deeper into cynthia's experience as a local activist and speak to a protester who is at the monson motor lodge pool you can find a link to that podcast in the description below

Channel: Vox

Views: 925,127

Keywords: St. Augustine, Robert Hayling, Mimi Jones, Monson Motor Lodge, segregation, desegregation, civil rights, martin luther king jr., SCLC, racial justice, racial integration, civil rights act of 1964, summer of 1964, Cynthia Mitchell Clarke, sit-in, wade-in, racism, Vox.com, vox, explain, explainer, St. Augustine Beach, Biloxi Beach, Rainbow Beach, swim-in, James Brock, wade in, segregated pools, segregated beaches, civil rights movement, florida history, peaceful protest

Id: Wk0872XhnHk

Length: 13min 43sec (823 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 01 2020