I was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, and as a child, I spent countless summer days on Historic American Beach — a place founded in 1935 by A.L. Lewis, Florida’s first African American millionaire. For my family, and for so many others, it was more than a beach. It was freedom, joy, and belonging — a sanctuary built on the promise of “Rest and Relaxation Without Humiliation.”
Years later, life brought me back home. Today, I live on this very stretch of sand that once echoed with the laughter of generations before me. I walk the same dunes that The Beach Lady, MaVynee Betsch — A.L. Lewis’s great-granddaughter — fought so passionately to protect.
