Black Residents Expelled from Beaches, Parks, and Public Spaces Throughout Florida

Throughout Florida in the early twentieth century, Black residents were systematically excluded from beaches, parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, and public recreational spaces by both law and violence. Florida beaches were entirely white; any Black person appearing on a white beach risked assault or arrest. The state's new tourist economy was explicitly built on white leisure and explicitly excluded Black citizens from its benefits. The exclusion from public recreation was one of the most psychologically damaging aspects of Jim Crow — the denial of the right to simply exist in public space.