Civil rights leaders remembered on Wade-In anniversary

A series of historic civil rights protests were remembered Saturday during a ceremony along Biloxi Beach, though some attendees said the civil rights battle didn’t end in the ’60s.

Those who participated in the Biloxi Beach Wade-Ins of 1959, 1960 and 1963 were recognized for their part in helping to ensure equal rights for black residents in the state. Mississippi’s beaches were not fully desegregated until 1968.

The late Dr. Gilbert Mason, a Biloxi physician, participated in the first wade-in in May 1959, when he and a friend tried to go swimming and were told they could not use the beach.

His son, Gilbert Mason Jr., also a civil rights activist, was the featured speaker at Saturday’s memorial. He was on the beach in 1959 with his father.

“I didn’t know what was going on, really; I was 5,” Mason said. “The 1960 and 1963 wade-ins were our versions of a sit-in, but I did not participate in those.”

Mason said the second protest was filled with violence.

“In the 1960 wade-in, it was set up strategically with a group on the beach in front of the Lighthouse and then further down the beach in front of the cemetery,” he said. “The police started beating people, including women and children.”

Civil rights icon Medgar Evers, Mason said, helped plan the wade-in scheduled for June 23, 1963.

“He had been working with my father along with the state NAACP to plan the wade-in, which was supposed to have been June 18,” Mason said. “Medgar Evers stayed at our home during the planning for the wade-in and then Mr. Evers went back to Jackson and was killed in his driveway.”

Mason said although much has changed since the wade-ins, he believes the state is now moving backward in the area of civil rights.

“Why would you want to have a Confederate flag placed in your state’s flag?” he said., “because that disrespects all of the people who gave their lives to keep the Union together.

“Put the flag in a museum where you can honor it in private and people that want to can stay away from it.”

He called HB 1523, the “religious freedom” act, a modern-day infringement of civil rights.

“The state isn’t going to get rid of it because they created it and it’s nothing more than creating a problem that didn't exist and indemnifies something that wasn’t causing anyone any difficulty,” he said.

This story was originally published June 25, 2016 at 1:52 PM with the headline "Civil rights leaders remembered on Wade-In anniversary."