Virginia Key Beach: "for the exclusive use of Negroes," won by a wade-in (Miami, 1945)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1945 · Places: Florida, Virginia
SUMMARYVirginia Key Beach: "for the exclusive use of Negroes," won by a wade-in (Miami, 1945) [Connections: Miami & Lake Okeechobee, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDIn May 1945 seven activists backed by the local NAACP waded into whites-only Baker's Haulover Beach; the county then opened Virginia Key Beach on August 1, 1945, officially "Virginia Key Beach, a Dade County Park for the exclusive use of Negroes," a compromise that kept Miami's tourist image while keeping beaches segregated. The county transferred it to the City in 1982 with a deed restriction to stay a park; the city closed it soon after, for about two decades; NRHP and state marker 2002
PATTERNCounty law had to name a race to give people access to their own coast
LENS (WW9)On the Tequesta shore, the government drew a line called "Negro."
OPENNames of the seven wade-in activists; the county commission resolution text