Virginia Key Beach Park

This guide to Virginia Key Beach Park in Miami follows a May 1945 wade-in at a whites-only beach, led by Black attorney Lawson Thomas with bail money in his pocket, meant to force an arrest and a court test of segregation. You'll hear how the sheriff responded instead, and the phone call that went to county commissioner Charles Crandon over what to do about it. Listen for the vintage carousel still turning where families once arrived by ferry.