Savannah Beach Wade-Ins

Savannah Beach Wade-Ins is a Georgia historical marker in Chatham County, dedicated 2022.

At the Tybee Island Pier at Tybrissa Street.

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On August 17, 1960, eleven African-American students were arrested six blocks north of here at Georgia's first wade-in protesting the Whites-only public beaches. During the era of segregation, Savannah's African Americans were forced to travel outside of the city for public beach access. NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins announced the wade-in as a desegregation tactic for public beaches following the April 1960 wade-in at Biloxi, Mississippi, where an angry White mob attacked protestors. An extension of the Savannah Movement, the Savannah Beach wade-ins were planned and implemented by the local NAACP Youth Council under the leadership of W. W. Law. The last wade-in at Savannah Beach was in July 1963. Savannah Beach and the city's other public places were integrated by October 1963, eight months before the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

TodayHistorical map

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OldInsuranceMaps.net — Sanborn Map Collection

Historical maps covering this location

1895 · Gen. map IX. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1920 · Wassaw Sound, Georgia (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1945 · Wassaw Sound, Georgia (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1955 · Sanborn Fire Insurance Map — Savannah, Ga. (1955) (OldInsuranceMaps.net — Sanborn Map Collection)
[Savannah River and Savannah Sound]. (University of Michigan Library)

Gen. map IX, 1895, covering the location of Savannah Beach Wade-Ins, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Gen. map IX, 1895, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

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On the National Register nearby

The Carbo House320 ft

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.