The echo of Virginia Key’s fight for racial justice can be heard 75 years later | Opinion

Nearly 25 years into the 21st century, the struggle for equality continues in America.

The 75th anniversary of Miami’s Virginia Key Beach is a classic example of the Black community’s persistence, resilience and promise “in the land of the free.”

Prior to Virginia Key, it was 56 years ago, Aug. 22, 1964, when Black civil rights activist, Mississippian and former sharecropper, Fannie Lou Hamer, spoke in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at the Democratic National Convention before the Credentials Committee. After describing the injustices she and others in the community endured fighting for the right to vote, she said: “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

In Miami, nearly two decades earlier on May 9, 1945, a group of Black residents including the Rev. Otis Mundy, Father John E. Culmer, dentist Dr. Ira P. Davis and attorney L. E. Thomas (in 1950, he became Miami’s first black judge) protested at Haulover Beach over being denied access to the beach.

Several of the protesters defied Jim Crow segregation laws by wading into the water of a “white-only” designated beach. Their action eventually led to the establishment of the Virginia Key Beach for “Colored Only.”

On Aug. 1, 1945, the county opened Virginia Key Beach, aiming for it to be as nearly equal as possible to the county’s “white-only” beaches like Crandon Park on Key Biscayne.

Now 75 years later, Virginia Key continues to forge a sense of community. The Florida House of Representatives and Florida Senate proclaimed Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020, and each Aug. 1 thereafter, as “Historic Virginia Key Beach Park Day.”

As a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the 75th anniversary celebration of the park was held virtually.

Three documentary shorts highlighting the critical stories of Miami’s history were narrated by Nathan Connolly, associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. Presenters included Gregory Bush, professor emeritus, history department, University of Miami; and Marvin Dunn, professor emeritus, psychology department, Florida International University. Native Miamians and community activists, Thelma Gibson and Enid Pinkney, were featured.

Video excerpts are available on the Historic Virginia Key Beach website.

In June 1999, a group of citizens including Gene Tinnie, Eugenia Thomas, Bernie Sawyer, Mark Walters, Richard Townsend, Miguel Germain, Enid Pinkney, Maud Newbold and M. Athalie Range formed the Virginia Key Beach Park Civil Rights Task Force. Range was the founding chair of the task force, which was concerned about a movement to privatize the park.

The group conducted a successful charrette planning process that set the stage for a master plan to restore the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park and the creation of a restoration management trust, the Virginia Key Beach Park Trust (VKBPT).

The mission of the Trust is to carry forward the vision of Virginia Key Beach Park. That includes promoting the park’s public ownership and access, fostering its perpetuation as a passive open green space that includes nature tails, recreational facilities and museum structures, and honoring the park’s rich historical legacy of the social and civil rights history of South Florida.

“Segregation was a day-to-day reality throughout America’s South,” said Guy Forchion, the Trust’s director. “It was a reality that systematically excluded all people of color from Miami-Dade County’s most famous attractions, including miles of beaches. The Florida House and Florida Senate proclamations speak to the systematic racism that people of color battled with for decades and continue to face even today.

“The current international mass demonstrations as a result of the tragic and unnecessary death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police show the resilience and sense of community of millions of fair-minded people across the globe. The Virginia Key Beach Park Trust (VKBPT) has always stood for social justice, community inclusion, equality and uplifting the important contributions of African Americans in South Florida.”

Dorothy Jenkins Fields, Ph.D., is a historian and founder of the Black Archives, History & Research Foundation of South Florida Inc. Send feedback to djf@bellsouth.net

This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 6:00 AM.