Race Divisions on Public Beaches

Oak Street Beach, 1952 and 1960

Photographer: Henry Dieterle
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-37339)

Photographer: Edward F. Kloubec
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-37329)

At the mid-twentieth century, white Chicagoans still dominated the use of Oak Street Beach, located north of the Loop.

See also: Gold Coast; Leisure; Near North Side

Beach on the Near South Side of Chicago, late 1980s

Photographer: Thomas Arndt
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-37330)

Even in the late 1980s, de facto segregation continued at many Chicago beaches.

See also: Leisure; Near South Side; Racism, Ethnicity, and White Identity

Calumet Park Beach, 1987

Photographer: Antonio Perez
Source: Chicago Historical Society (ICHi-37331)

The Hispanic ice cream vendor in this 1987 beach scene from Calumet Park illustrates a diversity of Chicago residents that exceeds a simple black and white division.

See also: East Side; Leisure; Racism, Ethnicity, and White Identity