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The Biloxi Wade-Ins were protests that occurred on the beaches of Biloxi, Mississippi between 1959 and 1963. The demonstrations were led by Gilbert Mason, Sr. in an effort to desegregate the beaches of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Before the beaches were desegregated homeowners claimed the beaches as private property, and despite the fact the beaches were built by the Army Corps of Engineers using taxpayer funds, African Americans were restricted to designated areas of the beachfront. The effort to keep the beaches segregated was supported by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission. ==The first two wade-ins== On May 14, 1959, Gilbert Mason, a physician in Biloxi, went swimming at a local beach with seven other black friends. They were ordered to leave by a city policeman, who told them that "Negroes don't come to the sand beach." Mason and his compatriot, Murray J. Saucier, Jr., went to the police station to discover what law they had broken. They were told that the police couldn't show them the law until the next day but that "only the public could use the beach." When they returned to the station on the following day, Biloxi mayor Laz Quave told them "If you go back down there we're going to arrest you. That's all there is to it."〔 Mason's 1959 demonstration has been called "Mississippi's first public assault on racial barriers in its 15-year civil rights struggle." In June 1959, Mason's friend Dr. Felix Dunn wrote to the Harrison County Board of Supervisors, asking "What laws, if any, prohibit the use of the beach facilities by Negro citizens?" The Board president's response was that property owners along the beach owned both "the beach and water from the shore line extending out 1500 feet."〔 In October 1959 Mason and two other black residents petitioned the board to allow "unrestrained use of the beach." A supervisor asked the group whether they would be satisfied with the use of a segregated portion of the beach and Mason said that they would only be happy with access to "every damn inch of it."〔 On April 17, 1960, Mason returned to the beach and was arrested as a "repeat offender."〔 Dunn was also taken to the station but not charged.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Biloxi Wade-Ins」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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