Idlewild
N 43° 54.051 W 085° 46.355
16T E 598571 N 4861592
Intersection of 10 & Broadway
Waymark Code: WMP6CY
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 07/09/2015
Views: 4
Beginning in 1915, African Americans from throughout the country, particularly the Midwest, came to Idlewild in the summer. During the early years the resort offered beaches, boating, and other typical summer diversions. By the 1920s and into the 1960s, however, Idlewild's rousing nightlife lured swarms of visitors to the community to see elaborate floor shows and some of Americas most popular black entertainers. The Arthur Braggs Idlewild Revue toured the country during the off-season, spreading the Idlewild name. The 1964 passage of the Civil Rights Act comprehensive legislation that prohibits segregation opened doors for blacks to stay at previously whites-only resorts. Idlewilds heyday ended, but it remained the largest African American resort in the nation.
Prior to 1964, segregationist policies limited African Americans' options to where to spend vacation time. In 1915 white developers, Adelbert and Erastus Branch of White Cloud and Wilbur Lemon and Alvin Wright of Chicago, established a summer resort for blacks here, which they named Idelwild. Stories in magazines like Ebony, and advertisement in national newspapers such as the Chicago Defender promoted Idlewild as "They only place where Colored people get all they pay for and pay for only what they get." The resort drew African American members of the middle and professional classes, as well as black intellectuals such as Charles Chestnutt. Idlewild grew to encompass roughly four square miles. During the early 1960s, summer holidays drew more than 25,000 people to Idlewild.
Parking nearby?: yes
Registered Site #: S0713
Historical Date: Not listed
Historical Name: Not listed
Description: Not listed
D/T ratings: Not listed
website: Not listed
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