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Southern Heritage Tour Guide
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| The Segregated Past of Tybee Beach |
The Oldest inhabitants of Tybee Island were the Yuchi Natives,
existing long before the Spanish arrived, who were the first Europeans to
settle Georgia and called the island Los Bajos. These Yuchi were the
darkest skinned natives of the Southeastern woodland region. They called
themselves “Offspring of the Sun”. Another people of deep hue would be
banned from Tybee when it became a tourist getaway for rich whites in the
late 1800s. This past 2012 Spring Break seemed as though it would result
in yet another ban of black people from this beach when Orange Crush
Spring Break goers left it badly littered. Many residents of Tybee (95%
white) were so angry they want to close the beach off to next year’s Spring
Break participants. Tybee Beach has many celebrations, which leave the
beach filled with trash, but they are never threatened with exclusion.
Tybee was segregated until the 1960s. The current Mayor, Edna Jackson,
herself helped contribute to the end of this era. She along with other African
American young people organized a sit-in to de-segregate the beach. When
Tybee became integrated whites retaliated by burning down the Tybrisa
Pavilion built in 1891. It was replaced in the 1990s by the current Tybee Pier
and Pavilion.
existing long before the Spanish arrived, who were the first Europeans to
settle Georgia and called the island Los Bajos. These Yuchi were the
darkest skinned natives of the Southeastern woodland region. They called
themselves “Offspring of the Sun”. Another people of deep hue would be
banned from Tybee when it became a tourist getaway for rich whites in the
late 1800s. This past 2012 Spring Break seemed as though it would result
in yet another ban of black people from this beach when Orange Crush
Spring Break goers left it badly littered. Many residents of Tybee (95%
white) were so angry they want to close the beach off to next year’s Spring
Break participants. Tybee Beach has many celebrations, which leave the
beach filled with trash, but they are never threatened with exclusion.
Tybee was segregated until the 1960s. The current Mayor, Edna Jackson,
herself helped contribute to the end of this era. She along with other African
American young people organized a sit-in to de-segregate the beach. When
Tybee became integrated whites retaliated by burning down the Tybrisa
Pavilion built in 1891. It was replaced in the 1990s by the current Tybee Pier
and Pavilion.
