Chicken Bone Beach In Images of America. The short local photographic histories in the Images of America Series have taught me a great deal about places I know well and places I don't. Chicken Bone Beach is in the latter category. I was moved in learning about Chicken Bone Beach and its environs in Atlantic City, New Jersey in this new (2023) book by Ronald Stevens, Professor of African American Studies at Purdue University and Henrietta Sheldon, the cofounder and current president of the Chicken Bone Beach Historical Foundation, Inc., (CBBHF), founded in 1997 to preserve the history of Chicken Bone Beach and of the adjacent Atlantic City Northside, long home to the city's African American population.
Atlantic City historian Heather Perez writes in her Foreword to the book that "images of the beach are often about fun -- the sand, the sea, the surf." This book certainly portrays the fun and joy of a day at the beach but as Perez says it goes deeper. It captures a part of America's and Atlantic City's past in showing the resilience and accomplishment of the Black community in the face of Jim Crow.
From 1900 to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Atlantic City the Atlantic City beach was de facto segregated. In about 1930, under pressure from the hotel industry, the portion of the beach for African American use was moved to an area roughly in the center of the beach between Missouri and Mississippi Avenues. Although segregated, the beach was prime real estate. The Missouri Avenue beach became known as "Chicken Bone Beach" largely because its visitors, denied the use of restaurants, brought chicken with them to the beach, often leaving the bones behind.
The book is divided into four chapters. The first chapter focuses on the beach and includes, together with much else, the letters from the hotel industry that lead to the establishment of this area of the beach for Black people. The second part of the book is devoted to the adjacent Northside area of Atlantic City which was home to a large African American community with business leaders including Madame Sarah Spencer Washington, the founder of a series of beauty and hairdressing colleges. The book shows much of Black city life with a focus on the entertainment and music industry with the famed Club Harlem. For years, Club Harlem featured famed jazz musicians together with beautiful showgirls. Chapter 3 focuses on Atlantic City during the Civil Rights Movement, centering upon the Democratic National Convention held in 1964 in Atlantic City. But the images don't stray far from Chicken Bone Beach during its later years. The book's final chapter discusses the activities of the Chicken Bone Beach Historical Foundation. The Foundation preserves the memory of the beach and the Northside largely through music. It sponsors a series of jazz concerts on the Boardwalk every summer and operates a music school to encourage young people to play and to appreciate jazz. The images and commentary in this portion of the book display an obvious love for and knowledge of jazz. Chicken Bone Beach was designated in 1997 as an Atlantic City Historical Landmark. The book includes a brief bibliography for those wishing to learn more about the beach and about the African American history of Atlantic City.
The book is meticulously researched with beautiful images and insightful commentary. The book focuses on the members of the African American community who made the beach a success, the Beach Patrol, police and fire department officials, doctors, and many others. Those involved with the beach are pictured and named, as is appropriate in preserving their memory. The music in the book sings, particuarly in the chapter devoted to the Northside and in the concluding chapter.
The centerpiece of the book lies in the images of the many people who enjoyed their time at the Chicken Bone Beach. African Americans came to the beach from throughout the Eastern seaboard and elsewhere in the United States as well as from Atlantic City itself. While many celebrities visited the beach over the years, it was largely an attraction to the rising Black middle class. The book includes images of the beachgoers including images of many lovely women.
I learned though this book about the self-taught African American photographer John W. Mosely (1907 -- 1969). Mosely worked largely in Philadelphia for many years where he took many photographs showing the details of African American city life. He also took many photographs of Chicken Bone Beach. Many of the images in this book are by Mosely. The book deserves praise for bringing recognition to this gifted photographer. It was special to get to know his work.
"Chicken Bone Beach" is a wonderful book in Images of America that preserves the memory of a unique place and time. I was glad to have the opportunity to learn about the beach, the Atlantic City Northside, and about the photography of John Mosely.
