It was July 1961, and if black residents of Broward County wanted to go to the beach, their only option was a one-mile stretch of sand south of the Port Everglades Inlet.
There was no road that led to “Colored Beach.’’ To reach it, blacks had to take a ferry. Once there, there were no restrooms, tables, shelter or fresh water.
A handful of leaders in the black community — local NAACP President Eula Johnson, black physician Dr. Von D. Mizell, four black college students and a third black adult whose name was not recorded in history — led a series of “wade-ins’’ at the whites-only Fort Lauderdale Beach.
On Monday, the city will post a historical marker at A1A and Las Olas Boulevard, the spot where Johnson and Mizell first led a small team of protestors onto white-only beaches on July 4, 1961.
“We want beach-goers who see the plaque to know they are standing on historical ground,” said Fort Lauderdale Vice Mayor Bobby DuBose.
The wade-ins, and their historic mark on Broward County, are being commemorated as part of the city of Fort Lauderdale’s year-long, centennial celebrations.
Johnson and Mizell knew the beaches were the public face of Fort Lauderdale and would provide a wide stage in their fight for equality, said Centennial Historian Susan Gillis.
“They wanted to make a very public statement that this isn’t right, and we need equal access and equal facilities,” Gillis said.
The six-week series of wade-ins, which brought national headlines, led to lawsuits against Johnson and the NAACP, as well as frequent threats against her life.
It took a year before a Broward judge refused the city’s request to stop the protests and the beaches were open to everyone.
The wade-ins gave life to a broader fight for civil rights in Broward County, Gillis said. Johnson and other local black leaders held voter registration drives, sit-ins, protests over segregated hiring practices, and pushed for the desegregation of local restaurants, hotels and within the police and fire departments.
“Eula Johnson was like our local Rosa Parks. What she did expanded beyond Broward County,” DuBose said.
The city will also mark the anniversary by cutting the ribbon on Johnson’s newly renovated former home, at 1100 NW Sixth St., where the wade-ins were organized. The home will now serve as the offices of the local NAACP chapter.
“It is going to be an awakening for the community to know what history was made in our community, in that house,” said Marsha Ellison, president of the Fort Lauderdale-Broward Branch of the NAACP.
Johnson moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1935. Widowed shortly after, she supported three children by doing domestic work, then by operating a service station in the front of her home.
Though she had no formal education, her family remembers her as a strong businesswoman, outspoken, with a passion for people and civil rights.
“I think the restoration is a real salute to her,’’ said grandson Gregory Johnson. “I don’t think she had it in mind, but I think she would have loved it.”
Eula Johnson passed away in 2001 at the age of 94.
The Northwest Community Redevelopment Agency bought the home in 2008, intending to tear it down. But the local NAACP had other ideas. After a $275,000 renovation, the house contains a welcome center, offices and a section dedicated to the struggles of Johnson and the local NAACP.
After the ribbon-cutting at the Johnson home, guests will board trolleys for a ride to Fort Lauderdale beach where they will be invited to re-enact the wade-ins.
Unlike 50 years ago, Ellison said they anticipate a much different reception.
“Fifty years ago, the police would not let us on the beach,’’ said Ellison. “This year, we will be escorted by the police to the beach.”
