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ON APRIL 24, 1960, THE SEGREGATED BEACHES OF HARRISON COUNTY became the first battleground for integration in Mississippi when nearly 125 black men, women, and children walked upon the sand with the intention of holding a peaceful "wade-in" demonstration in the Gulf of Mexico. A large group of agitated whites met the protesters at the beach and attacked them with pool sticks, clubs, chains, lead pipes, blackjacks, and a wire cable fashioned into an eighteen-inch-long whip. The assault began what the New York Times called the "worst racial riot in Mississippi history," as at least fifteen African Americans sustained serious injuries inflicted by the white mobs who patrolled the area into the next morning.1 While historians have focused on other segregation protests in Mississippi during the civil rights era, they have paid virtually no attention to the integration of its coastal beaches. Yet beach desegregation in Mississippi is an especially compelling topic, not only as an example of grassroots black protest, but also due to the role played by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission in the episode. A cloud of secrecy has surrounded the commission since state legislators created it in 1956 to defend segregation throughout Mississippi. Its reticence regarding its activities during the civil rights era has been compounded by the fact that commission files remained sealed until 1998; scholars have consequently written little concerning the agency.2 Since the coastal protests provide insight into the commission's operation, tactics, successes, and failures in suppressing black equality during the late 1950s and 1960s, the process of Harrison County beach integration significantly illuminates the nature of white resistance in Mississippi during the civil rights movement.3
The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case played a crucial role in the solidification of white southern resistance to racial change. As Michael J. Klarman has argued, Brown "produced a southern political climate in which racial extremism flourished," catapulting into public office politicians willing to use any necessary means to preserve Jim Crow. This proved particularly true in Mississippi, where the decision instigated a new phase of organized white resistance characterized by an increased level of state-subsidized support. Public reaction to the case certainly influenced the 1955 Mississippi gubernatorial election's outcome, as candidate James P. Coleman's vocal opposition to forced integration...