Gulfport Civil Rights Wade-In

The sand where Gulfport's Black residents waded in during 1960 was public work. After the 1915 hurricane the county built a 26-mile seawall, finished in 1926, with the waterfront highway that became US 90 behind it. From 1951 engineers dredged sand from the Gulf to lay a long beach in front of the wall. Tax money, including a gasoline tax, and federal funds paid for it and county crews maintained it, which is why Dr. Gilbert Mason held that the beach belonged to the public.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Biloxi Beach Wade-In Marker — 11 mi
  The beachfront parking lot beside the Biloxi Lighthouse where state markers recall the 1959 and 1960 wade-ins that opened Mississippi's public beaches to Black residents.
• Biloxi Lighthouse — 11 mi
  A cast-iron tower lit in 1848 on the Biloxi beachfront, kept by women for most of its first century and still in service after Camille and Katrina.
• Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art — 12 mi
  Frank Gehry's pavilions on the Biloxi waterfront, built around the pottery of George Ohr, the self-styled Mad Potter, and the rebuilt Pleasant Reed House.
• Ship Island and Fort Massachusetts — 13 mi
  A barrier island twelve miles off the Mississippi coast with a brick fort burned half-built in 1861, a Union prison camp, and the garrison post of the 2nd Louisiana Native Guard.

More markers nearby

• Old Gulfport High School — 0.4 mi
• Soria City — 0.4 mi
• Gulfport-Harrison County Library — 0.4 mi
• 1863 East Pascagoula Raid — 0.7 mi