North Carolina. Division of State Parks
Description
C. Payne Lucas and his wife, Freddie Hill Lucas, picnic on the beach, circa 1960. Payne Lucas, born in Spring Hope, N.C., was active in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s, served in the U.S. Air Force, and earned a master's degree in government, all before he joined the Peace Corps in 1962 for ten years of service in Africa. When he returned to the United States in 1971, he co-founded and served as president of Africare, a non-profit organization specializing in aid to Africa. Since his retirement from Africare in 2002, he has continued to be an AIDS activist, and has received several national awards for public service. Dr. William Sharpe of New York purchased Bear Island and a mainland site known as "the Hammocks" in the 1920s. At the suggestion of the estate caretakers, John and Gertrude Hurst, Sharpe donated the land to the North Carolina Teachers Association, an organization for African American teachers, in 1950 to manage as a beach for African Americans during a time when public beaches were segregated. The Hammocks Beach Corporation was then organized to develop the island for recreation, but after unsuccessful attempts to raise funds, negotiated with the state to open Hammoks Beach as a state park for African Americans in May 1961. Several years later, the park was integrated and opened to all.
Image
Black And White Photograph Photographs Image/Jpeg
Kibler
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