“Located on the long stretch of the Atlantic City, New Jersey, shoreline just south of downtown, Chicken Bone Beach was designated as the exclusively African American section of the beach around 1900. It remained a blacks only beach until the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed. During the segregation era, the beach provided recreation and later stellar entertainment for African Americans, both tourists and local residents. Ironically, before 1900 blacks and whites in Atlantic City lived side-by-side and African Americans used the beaches without restriction. By 1900 hotel owners pushed black beach-goers from the fronts of their establishments down to the Missouri Avenue beach south of the Million Dollar Pier. This move was done to appease a growing number hotel guests from the Jim Crow South.”

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“By the 1940s, black entrepreneurs began to provide entertainment during the summer evenings. Leading black performers such as Sammy Davis, Jr., Louis Jordan, the Mills Brothers, Jackie “Moms” Mabley, and the Club Harlem showgirls, staged shows for black tourists and local residents. The showgirls dubbed the beach “Sunshine Row” and soon began attracting other visitors by alternately sunbathing and putting on brief skits.  Visits from prominent figures such as Sugar Ray Robinson and singer, Peggy Thomas, added to Chicken Bone Beach’s growing mystique.”

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