Nearly 50 years after she was hit in the head with a rock while leading an effort to integrate Chicago’s Rainbow Beach, Velma Murphy Hill stood there again Saturday, speaking with the same fiery conviction that drove her that steamy summer day.
“I’m sure if we had to do it again, we’d do it again,” Murphy Hill told about 200 people who gathered at the beach’s fieldhouse for the unveiling of a plaque honoring the “wade-ins.”
A nearly forgotten chapter in civil rights history, the early 1960s lakefront protests helped end decades of unofficial segregation at many of Chicago’s beaches.
“No beach, no apartment, no place in this city should discriminate against anybody,” Murphy told the standing-room-only crowd, which included about a dozen people who had joined her in the original protest.
Murphy Hill was a 21-year-old NAACP volunteer when she organized the wade-in on Aug 28, 1960. She and a group of other young black people, as well as some white activists, spread out blankets, played games and swam as dozens of white beach-goers stared at them in shock.
By law, Chicago’s public spaces were open to all in 1960. But many of the city’s beaches nonetheless remained off-limits to blacks, kept segregated through tradition and intimidation. Almost all the white beach-goers left soon after Murphy Hill and her group arrived. But a mob of young men soon surrounded them.
Some in the mob began hurling rocks at the activists, with one stone striking Murphy Hill in the head. That caused a wound that required 17 stitches and led to temporary paralysis. A limp in her walk today is an after-effect.
Despite the violence, the wade-in worked. Similar protests were held the next summer — this time with police protection — and the longstanding practice of beach segregation soon crumbled.
Murphy Hill and her husband, Norman Hill, now live in New York. The couple said they hope the new plaque will prompt visitors to learn more about the wade-ins and the history of race relations in Chicago.
“Hopefully (they’ll) be inspired to be a part of the effort to continue to make Chicago a better, more inclusive city, as well as the state and the country,” said Norman Hill, 78, who helped carry his then-girlfriend off the beach after she was struck by the rock during the wade-in.
Linda Wallack was 15 when she participated in the original wade-in. She flew back to Chicago from her home in Massachusetts for Saturday’s ceremony. Describing her journey as “a pilgrimage to a sacred place,” Wallack had tears in her eyes as she prepared to leave the beach.
“It was an honor and a privilege to be part of it,” she said.
“I’m sure if we had to do it again, we’d do it again,” Murphy Hill told about 200 people who gathered at the beach’s fieldhouse for the unveiling of a plaque honoring the “wade-ins.”
A nearly forgotten chapter in civil rights history, the early 1960s lakefront protests helped end decades of unofficial segregation at many of Chicago’s beaches.
“No beach, no apartment, no place in this city should discriminate against anybody,” Murphy told the standing-room-only crowd, which included about a dozen people who had joined her in the original protest.
Murphy Hill was a 21-year-old NAACP volunteer when she organized the wade-in on Aug 28, 1960. She and a group of other young black people, as well as some white activists, spread out blankets, played games and swam as dozens of white beach-goers stared at them in shock.
By law, Chicago’s public spaces were open to all in 1960. But many of the city’s beaches nonetheless remained off-limits to blacks, kept segregated through tradition and intimidation. Almost all the white beach-goers left soon after Murphy Hill and her group arrived. But a mob of young men soon surrounded them.
Some in the mob began hurling rocks at the activists, with one stone striking Murphy Hill in the head. That caused a wound that required 17 stitches and led to temporary paralysis. A limp in her walk today is an after-effect.
Despite the violence, the wade-in worked. Similar protests were held the next summer — this time with police protection — and the longstanding practice of beach segregation soon crumbled.
Murphy Hill and her husband, Norman Hill, now live in New York. The couple said they hope the new plaque will prompt visitors to learn more about the wade-ins and the history of race relations in Chicago.
“Hopefully (they’ll) be inspired to be a part of the effort to continue to make Chicago a better, more inclusive city, as well as the state and the country,” said Norman Hill, 78, who helped carry his then-girlfriend off the beach after she was struck by the rock during the wade-in.
Linda Wallack was 15 when she participated in the original wade-in. She flew back to Chicago from her home in Massachusetts for Saturday’s ceremony. Describing her journey as “a pilgrimage to a sacred place,” Wallack had tears in her eyes as she prepared to leave the beach.
“It was an honor and a privilege to be part of it,” she said.
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