Delray Beach's Desegregation Story Delray Beach
Instructor
Program Details
Course Description
James "Bay" McBride drowned on Mothers' Day 1956 while saving his brother from a rip current south of Delray Beach's municipal beach. McBridge and his family lived in Delray, but could not use the city's beach because of the city's segregation ordinance. McBride was not Delray Beach's first Black citizen to drown in the rough, unguarded waters south of town, but community members struggled to make sure he'd be the last. This lecture explores the long struggle to desegregate Delray Beach's famous white sands in the middle of the twentieth century while placing it in the context of Black Floridians' longer struggle to unseat Jim Crow.Course Info
- Time: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
- Date: Tuesday, March 12
- Location: The Field House at Old School House Square, 51 N. Swinton Avenue (at Atlantic Avenue) in downtown Delray Beach
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Fees:
Member - $30
$100 for any combination of four events, members only
Non-member - $35
One-time guest pass, Member or Non-member at the door - $35.
About the Instructor
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Evan P. Bennett, Ph.D. is a historian of the American South whose research focuses on the intersections of rural, environmental, and labor history. His most recent book is "Tampa Bay: The Story of an Estuary and Its People" (University Press of Florida, 2024). He is the author of “When Tobacco Was King: Families, Farm Labor, and Federal Policy in the Piedmont,” (University Press of Florida, 2014). He is also co-editor of “Beyond Forty Acres and a Mule: African American Landowning Families Since Reconstruction,” (University Press of Florida, 2012).