Families enjoy a day's outing at the beach, July 4, 1955, in the separate areas on Hunting Island State Park set aside for African-Americans. New facilities were built for African-Americans in a number of state parks after World War II to avoid lawsuits charging that there were no comparable facilities to those provided for whites. When the federal courts ruled that segregation in state parks was unconstitutional, no matter how equal the facilities, the state closed the parks for two years rather than submit to integration.
Courtesy of the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism.
