From Tom Chesek of the Asbury Park Historical Society:
An "Indignation Meeting," it was called, in handbills and announcements that circulated prior to the June 27, 1887 event at the A.M.E. Zion Church west of the railroad tracks. It was then and there that church pastor REVEREND JAMES FRANCIS ROBINSON found himself at the forefront of a movement…and caught the attention of The New York Times…when his bold opposition to Asbury Park founder James A. Bradley's segregated beach and boardwalk policies took a stand against "false religious sentiment" in the dry and stringently regulated resort.
While the west side (or "West Park") neighborhoods would not technically become part of Asbury Park until after the Founder's departure in 1906, the residents of that fast-growing community…many of whom assisted in the construction of waterfront infrastructure, or worked service jobs in local hotels, restaurants and shops…were largely denied access to the recreational pleasures of the beaches, lakefronts, boardwalk, and places of amusement. Even as private owners like Ernest Schnitzler of the Palace complex gradually relaxed their policies against admitting Black patrons, the Bradley-controlled beachfront would continue to operate under the assumption that the mere visible presence of the local Negro population would upset the town's cherished well-to-do white vacationers; restricting Black bathers' access to the surf and beach facilities to a limited window (during one particular interlude, only on a single designated stretch of beach between the hours of 5 to 7 am).The Asbury Park Journal…a newspaper established by James Bradley…regularly inveighed against the mixing of the races in public spaces; complaining of the "offensive and indecent" Black locals "intruding themselves in places designed only for guests," and asserting in one editorial that "We allow them to vote, to have full standing and protection of the law…but when it comes to social intermingling then we object most seriously and emphatically.”
Bradley himself maintained that the presence of the "servant" class threatened the economic viability of what was then an upscale resort, insisting to the press that some families had departed Asbury Park, so as not to "endure the crowds of Africans infesting every promenade and public space, day and evening with their presence.”The Founder…a staunchly Methodist man of industry, who increasingly found his vision for a virtuous seaside paradise eroding against the pushback from many of those who bought property from him and established homes or businesses…saw his attempts at an across-the-board ban on Black beachgoers roundly criticized, and ultimately thwarted.
Even those white locals who called for the construction of separate-but-equal seaside facilities were scarcely on the same page as Bradley…and when the west side of the tracks began to produce its own civic spokesmen, it was members of the clergy like Rev. Robinson who most effectively called out the hypocrisy of the town's self-appointed moral guardian."We colored people fought for our liberty…we will not be dictated to in this manner by Mr. Bradley," said Robinson in that June 27 meeting, adding that "(the) man who advocates the separation of whites and blacks from the equal enjoyment of civil prerogatives solely on the grounds of color places himself in a position to be questioned as to his patriotic proclivities and the genuineness of a Republic form of government."
For his efforts, the Reverend got himself branded an "agitator" by the Journal, leading him to comment that reading the local paper was sufficient for "one to think it was edited in Georgia." Robinson's cause found a more receptive forum in the Times, however, as the big-city daily reported frequently on the east side/ west side tensions of the greater Asbury Park area (often much to the consternation of locals)…and he would subsequently find himself invited to speak at venues like NYC's St. Mark's Church.
Founder Bradley would eventually surrender to pressure from the city government and local business interests, and divest himself of his beachfront properties shortly after the turn of the 20th century…and he had already declared his grand experiment in town building a failure, when in 1906 the West Park neighborhoods were officially annexed as part of Asbury Park. The move, however, had little in the way of significant impact on the Jim Crow-y practices along the waterfront, as even the "friend of the west side" mayor Clarence Hetrick would designate an official Negro Beach (this one largely hidden from view by the Power Plant building) in the early 1930s…and the family of movie-theatre mogul Walter Reade would continue to bar Black bathers from their Monte Carlo Pool swim club well into the 1960s.