St. Andrews Beach

Jekyll Island opened as a state park for Georgia citizens on March 6, 1948, but segregation initially barred African Americans from many parts of the island, including the beach. In 1950, African Americans from Brunswick asked that part of the island be set aside for black visitors, and an area on the South End was reserved for their use and named St. Andrews Beach. It became the only public beach open to African Americans in Georgia and one of only a few such beaches on the East Coast. On September 24, 1955, a Beach Pavilion originally known as the Colored Beach House opened there with dressing rooms, a concession stand, and a covered picnic area. Soon afterward, the St. Andrews Beach Corporation formed to develop a black-owned beach resort, and in 1959 the Dolphin Club and Motor Hotel opened. The Dolphin Club Lounge became a popular music venue for local dance bands and entertainers including Percy Sledge, Clarence Carter, and Millie Jackson. In 1960, Dr. J. Clinton Wilkes invited the black Georgia Dental Society to meet on Jekyll Island, prompting the rapid construction of the St. Andrews Auditorium, which then hosted family reunions, dances, and concerts that added to the resort's popularity. In 1964, a federal court order integrated Jekyll Island's public facilities, giving the black community full access to amenities across the island for the first time. As African Americans began using recreational facilities elsewhere on the island that had previously been denied to them, St. Andrews Beach declined, and the resort closed in 1966. The site became a Group Camp and Youth Center in 1968, and since 1983 Georgia 4-H has operated it as a year-round environmental education center.

Jekyll Island, Georgia · United States