THE NATION'S LARGEST AFRICAN AMERICAN ORAL HISTORY ARCHIVE
July 20, 2018 - Vol. 1, Issue 42
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Above: Sammy Davis, Jr. and a bevy of fans on Chicken Bone Beach
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At the turn of the twentieth century, African Americans had been excluded from the majority of restaurants and entertainment venues in downtown Atlantic City. As a result, black entrepreneurs and entertainers were pushed towards the Northside neighborhood near Missouri Avenue. Ocean access and swimming were also relegated to one stretch of beachfront known as Missouri Avenue Beach, affectionately nicknamed Chicken Bone Beach, which was the designated area for African Americans.
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The locals named Chicken Bone Beach for the fried chicken bones left behind by out-of-towners who often traveled with homemade fried chicken, as food options were limited for blacks during segregation and chicken would not spoil in the heat.
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Prominent entertainers and celebrities also added to the growing mystique of the beach, actor
James Avery
recalled; “
Chicken Bone Beach, Missouri Avenue beach, where all the black people went…all the black entertainers that were in town, no matter where they were entertaining, they'd have cabanas along this beach.
”
4
[James Avery, THMDA, 1.1.6]
. The recollection of television producer and writer
Sheila Gregory Thomas
aligned with Avery’s sentiment; “
If my friends and I, when we were teenagers would go to another part of the beach, we'd say, "I wonder who's in town this weekend?" And the only way to find out was to go back to the Missouri Avenue Beach, and so we did that, because everyone went to Missouri Avenue Beach, all the entertainers went there.
”
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[Sheila Gregory Thomas, THMDA, 1.4.5]
. By the 1940s, black entrepreneurs began showcasing entertainment during the summers, putting on performances for black tourists and local residents.
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Iconic acts like Sammy Davis, Jr., Billy Eckstine, Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald staged evening shows throughout the summer. The Club Harlem showgirls who dubbed the beach “Sunshine Row,” also attracted visitors by performing brief skits and sunbathing on the beach.
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At Club Harlem, legendary promoter Larry Steele choreographed shows for many years, including the Sepia Revue, Smart Affairs, and Beige Beauties which featured the “fabulous Club Harlem girls,” performing dance numbers and show girl routines.
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Choreographer and dancer
Marla Blakey
recalled her first summer performing in Atlantic City; “
We were in a night club [Club Harlem], literally, three shows a night. We finished at four in the morning. Sunday mornings, we had to do what we called a breakfast show, which anyone who knows that life, knows about it. That's the big show at six a.m., where all the other entertainers in Atlantic City would be able to come and see your show. One of our first shows was with Sammy Davis. He was the headliner, he used to put us in these high heels, the producer Larry Steele. He was very, very hard on us. Because we were an all-black show we had to do everything better than anybody else.
”
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[Marla Blakey, THMDA, 1.2.8]
.
In 1964, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act, public beaches were desegregated in Atlantic City. By the 1970s, the city’s first major casinos began to transform the culture of the beach. Effectively, the Northside, including Missouri Avenue Beach, was no longer a place for working class patrons. Within the following decades, the trademark venues of Kentucky Avenue and the surrounding area were either closed or demolished to make room for resorts and casinos.
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However, due to the efforts of the Chicken Bone Beach Historical Foundation, Inc., the beach was declared a historical landmark in 1997.
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Additionally, recent initiatives have been undertaken by the Atlantic City Free Public Library to document and gather material and artifacts from historical Northside landmarks.
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The HistoryMakers Travel to
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
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On Thursday, July 26, 2018, for the first time in its eighteen-year history,
The HistoryMakers
, the nation’s largest African American video oral history archive, will pay homage to Winston-Salem area HistoryMakers in a reception at the historic Forsyth County Central Library.
The hosts for this reception, HistoryMakers and marketing experts
Lafayette Jones
and
Sandra Miller Jones
; radio owner
Mütter Evans
; and library director and executive producer of the National Black Theatre Festival
Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin
,
worked closely over the past months as organizers. “We are thrilled by what the host committee helped make possible. They helped guide our work here and we owe them an eternal debt of gratitude,” states Founder and President
Julieanna Richardson
.
Those being honored include political science professor
Melissa Harris-Perry
, TV journalist
Sandra Hughes
, former university president
King V. Cheek, Jr.
, U.S. Congresswoman
The Honorable Eva M. Clayton
, molecular virologist
Marian Johnson-Thompson
, bank executive
Lenny Springs
, and journalist
John X. Miller
. North Carolina HistoryMakers also include the late writer and poet
Maya Angelou
and historian
John Hope Franklin
. Over a hundred guests including local business, civic, and community leaders will be in attendance.
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Tony F. Sias
,
Steven A. Minter
(HistoryMaker),
George Cylie Fraser
(HistoryMaker)
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We are eager to follow up on our meetings while in Cleveland last week! Wednesday we met with Oberlin College’s Head Archivist
Ken Grossi
, Digital Initiatives Librarian
Megan Mitchell
, Head of Special Collections
Jessica Grimm
, and Outreach and Programming Librarian
Eboni Johnson
. On Thursday, we met with Cleveland State University’s Performing Arts and Humanities Librarian
Amanda Goodsett
as well as the Cleveland Public Library’s Executive Director
Felton Thomas, Jr.
and Chief of External Relations and Development
Shenise Johnson Thomas
. Additionally, Case Western Reserve’s University Library hosted a luncheon for us to announce their becoming our latest subscribing institution. This is thanks to the efforts of HistoryMaker
Dominic Ozanne
and
Dr. Marilyn Mobley
, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion. We also enjoyed speaking with the Western Reserve Historical Society’s CEO
Kelly Falcone Hall
, Vice President
Lisa Leaman
, and Research Library Reference Supervisor
Ann K. Sindelar
earlier last Friday. This was made possible due to the efforts of HistoryMaker
Steven M. Minter
, whom we also met with earlier in the day. We look forward to following up with each of these and other institutions to develop lasting partnerships in the area and are organizing a follow up visit this fall.
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The HistoryMakers Welcomes
Eastern Kentucky University
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Our community is growing! We are so glad to announce Eastern Kentucky University as our latest subscribing institution to The HistoryMakers Digital Archive, bringing our total to 47 subscribing institutions.
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"If you want to do something important, the very first thing you must do is get started."
-Ray Robinson
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Please share with us your stories of how you incorporate The HistoryMakers Digital Archive into your curriculum and research. We'd love to hear from you!
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NEW CONTENT IN
THE HISTORYMAKERS DIGITAL ARCHIVE
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This week, 1 new interview was added to The HistoryMakers Digital Archive.
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The Honorable James R. Spencer
Federal district court judge The Honorable James R. Spencer (1949 - ) served under civil rights activist Marian Wright Edelman at the Washington Research Project, and was the first African American federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia.
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[1] BANNER PHOTO: "Sammy Davis, Jr. and a bevy of fans on Chicken Bone Beach," Penn State University.
[2] Brain Alnutt, “The Negro Excursions: Recreational Outings among Philadelphia African Americans, 1876-1926,” The Philadelphia Magazine of History and Biography, 129, no. 1 (2005): 73-104, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20093765.
[3] “Chicken Bone Beach,” accessed July 19, 2018, https://www.chickenbonebeach.org/black-history.
[4] James Avery (The HistoryMakers A2003.138), interviewed by Julieanna L. Richardson, June 24, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 6, James Avery describes the smells and sounds of his childhood.
[5] Sheila Gregory Thomas (The HistoryMakers A2013.270), interviewed by Larry Crowe, October 25, 2013, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 5, Sheila Gregory Thomas talks about segregation in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
[6] Bryant Simon, Boardwalk of Dreams: Atlantic City and the Fate of Urban America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 51-53, 74.
[7] Ronald J. Stephens, “Chicken Bone Beach Atlantic City New Jersey, (1900 -)” accessed July 19, 2018, http://www.blackpast.org/aah/chicken-bone-beach-atlantic-city-new-jersey-1900.
[8] Ronald Bunn, “On Kentucky Avenue: A Celebration of Atlantic City’s Famed Club Harlem,” Routes, A Guide to African American Culture, (February, 2015), http://routes-mag.com/on-kentucky-avenue-a-celebration-of-atlantic-citys-famed-club-harlem/.
[9] Marla Blakey (The HistoryMakers A2005.191), interviewed by Robert Hayden, August 9, 2005, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 8, Marla Blakey remembers her early show business experiences in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
[10] Ronald J. Stephens, “Chicken Bone Beach Atlantic City New Jersey, (1900 -)” accessed July 19, 2018, http://www.blackpast.org/aah/chicken-bone-beach-atlantic-city-new-jersey-1900.
[11] “Chicken Bone Beach,” accessed July 19, 2018, https://www.chickenbonebeach.org/black-history.
[12] Michelle Brunetti Post, “Photos a powerful glimpse into Atlantic City's black history” last modified February 13, 2018, https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/atlantic_city/photos-a-powerful-glimpse-into-atlantic-city-s-black-history/article_c3ff8f17-c813-5be7-8a83-6b68fda33cc0.html.
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