For years, a favorite summer ritual in Black Chicago’s Black community has been to gather up
family and friends, head to the lake front, and splash around on the Lake Michigan beaches that line the east side of the city.
For years, a favorite summer ritual in Black
Chicago’s Black community has been to gather up
family and friends, head to the lake front, and splash
around on the Lake Michigan beaches that line the
east side of the city.
Many Black Chicagoans who enjoy the pleasures
of the beach know that years ago these very same
beaches were forbidden zones for Blacks. White
crowds physically prevented Blacks from using the
beaches, and police looked the other way when the
violence flared up.
Velma Murphy Hill will never forget that.
Hill, 21 years old at the time, and
former Chicago NAACP Youth
Council president, joined by her
now-husband Norman Hill and 30
other NAACP Youth Council members
waded onto Rainbow Beach on
August 28, 1960, determined to
make a difference.
“I thought we ought to do something
to make our voices heard in
Chicago,” Hill, now 71, told the
Defender. “When I joined the
NAACP Youth Council I heard
about the fact that Rainbow beach
was segregated but I also heard
about the fact that there were young
people down south who were standing
up for their rights and started the
whole sit-in movement,” said Hill.
And there were things going on in
Africa with people trying to get
their independence and I thought we
ought to do something to make our
voices heard in Chicago. We wanted
to show Chicago that the beach
should be for everybody.”
The “Wade-In” protests continued
throughout the summer of 1960
and well into the summer of 1961.
After weeks and months of protesting,
the council members gained the
support of hundreds of others who
joined them on the shoreline. After
a violent struggle, almost killing
Hill who was struck in the head by
a large rock and ended up hospitalized,
city officials stepped in to
declare Chicago beaches were
accessible for all.
“I remember getting hit and my
(now) husband and my brother
grabbed both of my arms to make
sure I didn’t fall down as I went in
and out of consciousness,” said
Velma Hill. But despite the violence
and the injury, she said she wasn’t
afraid.
“When you’re in a movement it’s
because you think it’s something
bigger than you,” she said. “So I
don’t ever remember feeling fear.”
“I remember coming out of the
hospital room and everybody was
waiting in the waiting room for me
and we decided at that moment that
we were going to go back to that
beach until anybody could use that
beach and we would do it together,”
she explained.
“I regret that it had to take something
like that incident and the
demonstrations that followed to say
to the city that you have to protect
anybody who wants to use these
beaches,” she said.
Fifty years later, the “Wade-In”
protest are celebrated and acknowledged
by the city of Chicago. On
August 20, the Rainbow Beach
Wade-In Coalition will be dedicating
a plaque to Hill and all the
members of the NAACP Youth
Council who took those brave steps
and ushered in the fight for equality
in the city of Chicago.
“This plaque symbolizes the
importance of the struggle being
non-violent and directly confronting
those things that affect our
t
otal communities,” Hill told the
Defender. “It shows that non-violent
direct action does work.”
“We wanted to use the beach in
peace,” she said. “That’s what our
goal was.”
Many Chicago organizations and
supporters will join the Rainbow
Beach Wade-In Coalition in the
unveiling and dedication of the
plaque. The coalition, by dedicating
this plaque, has a goal to not only
honor Hill and those 30 council
members but also to educate and
inspire the Black communities of
Chicago.
“It’s important to see the history
of Chicago,” Hill said. “We should
not be afraid of our history. We
should celebrate it and learn from
it.”
Copyright 2011 Chicago Defender
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