OnThisDay in 1960, a mob attacked about 125 protesters, including Dr. Gilbert Mason, after they walked onto “whites-only” Biloxi Beach. “We called it Bloody Sunday,” he recalled. “They were waiting for us with pipes and chains and baseball bats and pool cues.”
By the time dawn broke, more than 20 Black Mississippians had been injured. “Tetanus shots had to be administered, gashes were sewn, and eye and head injuries were tended to. Most of the demonstrators were beaten badly as onlookers, such as the law enforcement, stood watching,” the Mississippi Civil Rights Project wrote.
Police arrested protesters instead of their attackers. Before the week ended, two Black youths, Malcomb Jackson, a member of Mason’s scout troop, and Bud Strong had become victims of the racist violence. Less than a month later, the Justice Department sued the city of Biloxi for barring Black Americans from these nationally funded beaches.
In 1963, Mason and others conducted another wade-in to protest the segregated beaches, and dozens of them were attacked. That protest came 11 days after Mason’s close friend, Medgar Evers, was assassinated. Demonstrators placed black flags in the sand to honor the slain civil rights leader.
Mason told his story in his book, “Beaches, Blood, and Ballots: A Black Doctor’s Civil Rights Struggle.” A U.S. National Science Foundation ocean research vessel is named after Mason to honor his legacy. mississippitoday.org/2025/04/24/on-…
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