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After visiting the Lighthouse Pier we decided to take a walk along Biloxi Beach and check out some of the beach dune fences and the remains of an old pier. We ended up walking about half a mile before the wind got enough to be annoying and the storm clouds got close enough that we decided it was time to leave if we wanted to do a little more exploring of the area before the weather hit.
Biloxi Beach Wade-In (Bloody Sunday)
Biloxi Beach is worth a visit. There are what’s left of the historic beautiful beach mansions (the ones remaining and not destroyed by past hurricanes), resorts/casinos, restaurants, museums, old Biloxi Cemetery, Lighthouse, and historical markers.
At the Lighthouse Pier, there are several historical markers including the Biloxi Beach Wade-in (Also referred to as Bloody Sunday). The marker was placed in 2009 to honor the Wade-ins.
In 1960 and earlier the 26-mile Biloxi shoreline was segregated. During this time African Americans were excluded from using the beaches. They were frustrated with restrictions and staged 3 different peaceful wade-ins. The first one was on May 14th, 1959. The public protest only had nine people but it was designed to see how the police would respond. The second one was a solitary protest by Dr. Gibert Mason who was well-known and respected in the community. The white community still refused his access to the beach.
The Final Wade-in happened on April 24th, 1960 (Easter Sunday) and was named Bloody Sunday. Dr. Mason and 125 people from the African American Community peacefully protested the segregated beach restriction. Children were swimming in the ocean while the adults enjoyed the beach. Everyone was prepared to be arrested. Instead of being arrested, the all-white police department stood and watched as an all-white mob attacked the peaceful protesters with pipes, chains, and lumber. During this time white mobs also began to move through African American neighborhoods firing guns and threatening violence.
8 years later a court victory lifted the ban on segregated beaches and everyone was allowed to use the beaches in Biloxi.
Our Visit
The Biloxi beach was peaceful but close to the highway. So at times, it was loud with vehicle noise. The beaches were clean with very little trash in most spots. We did notice certain areas of the shore had more trash than others. At the time of our visit, only a few homeless people were around.
The weather was in the 60s with storms rolling into the area and there were only a few people hanging out at the beach with plenty of people using the concrete walking paths. The water looked ok, but locals told us not to swim in it. Walking ankle-deep was ok (we didn’t) but the water isn’t clean enough for swimming.
From what I found, the beaches were closed for a while (2019) because of the algae bloom and bacteria (found in fecal matter) were present at dangerous levels in the water. I also read some official reports that say the water is safe. But I would follow the local’s advice before getting into the water and always check the official reports. If you are already in the area and really want to swim I would drive 2 hours east and visit Gulf Shores, Alabama. The water and the beaches always look good.
About Images
I used my Sony a6000 and my Sony SELP18105G E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS lens. The images were then edited with Adobe Lightroom CC, Topaz Labs Denoise AI and Topaz Labs Sharpen AI, Aurora HDR (no longer available but still a great product), and Luminiar Neo to clean up the images.
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