Photos and article--JoAnne Young

When I saw her in 1999, MaVynne Betsch wore necklaces of shell, political buttons in her vast coil of hair, and a ring on every finger. She stood a regal six feet. A former Oberlin College graduate and European opera singer, she was the unofficial mayor of American Beach, an activitist promoting African-American culture, and an environmentalist trying to save her threatened community.

At that time there was a resurgence of interest in American Beach and in MaVynne. A host of media including the New York Times, Atlanta Journal, USA Today did stories about the beach just south of Fernandina in Northeastern Florida and CNN did a telecast about the community. Two books feature the settlement, An American Beach for African Americans by Jacksonville native Marsha Dean Phelts and American Beach a Saga of Race, Wealth, and Memoryby journalist Russ Rymer.

After reading both books, I traveled the 35 miles from Jacksonville to Fernandina to see American Beach for myself. My husband drove so that I could take pictures. Just as we got into the area, we saw a striking woman I knew from the book descriptions was MaVynne. She was leaving a small RV from which she ran a Black Heritage Museum.

I called her name and she turned to greet me as if we were old friends. I introduced myself telling her I wanted to take a few pictures. Her energy and a sort of happy radiance made all she said exciting as she pointed out historic houses and landmarks I might want to photograph.

"We in American Beach are living Democracy," she said as she showed me houses where judges lived on the same street as janitors.

In the 1930's, A. L. Lewis, president of the African-American Insurance Company in Jacksonville and MaVynne's great-grandfather, bought 200 acres of beach property including a half mile of ocean front as a place for "recreation and relaxation without humiliation" for his black employees. Eventually, his resort, American Beach, became "the beach" for all blacks. From 1930-1970, people from all over the USA vacationed there. It was the only resort of its kind. Many writers, artists, entertainment and sports celebrities enjoyed its good food and fun.

Phelts, who with her parents spent summer vacations at American Beach in the 1950's, says in her book, "going there was like going to Disney world today."

Phelts tells her story of American Beach as one who lived it. She gives a history of the area's development, and a great deal of the history of the families who settled there spiced with personal and archival photos.

Her book emphasizes the good times, the fellowship, the wonderful seafood catches and cooking. She gathered information in interviews with those who remembered the history or knew someone who had lived it. Each chapter is carefully documented in "Notes."

In the ending chapter, "Storm Clouds," she relates some of the negative aspects of her story: police killing local unarmed African-American men and the encroaching land development that has changed American Beach forever.

Rymer's book, on the other hand, is written with an outsider's view. He writes in great detail of the racism in the area and particularly of its motivation in the shootings by policemen of four young black men. He tells MaVynne's story and her struggle to save American Beach's environment as it was being bought up by land developer's building hotels, golf courses, and expensive houses and condos. He writes of the blacks in Jacksonville and in Eatonville, FL, another historic town for blacks being eaten up by development.

In a word, Phelt's book is a story of memory; Rymer's of outrage.

MaVynne told me that American Beach has shrunk to less than 100 acres, but application has been made to give it a place in the National Registry of Historic Places. When/if this happens, residents can apply for grants to restore houses and buildings more than 50 years old. Until the historic status is granted, American Beach is at risk.

I could see a golf course behind a fence to the south of American Beach and a line of condos and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel behind a fence to the north. American Beach has been squeezed in by developers who don't really want it there. What is left of it deserves to keep its historical place.

Related Internet Sites

"American Beach Cools Off"
Florida Times Union article about business and people returning to American Beach.

Florida Heritage Magazine
This issue features the Black Heritage Trail. The magazine features people, places, and events reflecting the impact of African Americans in Florida.

"Oceanfront hamlet has the right to exist"
Letter to the Editor commenting on the unnecessary heavy police presence and the lack of amenities at American Beach.