During the month of February, a Sankofa Special Exhibition at the A.L. Lewis Museum at American Beach will “explore 90 years of resilience, joy, and community at the historic Black-owned beach,” says A.L. Lewis Museum at American Beach founding director Carol J. Alexander. Because MaVynee Osun Betsch was born just 18 days before American Beach was founded in 1935, the two are celebrated together. Indeed, neither would be celebrated today without the work of the other.
This story begins with Abraham Lincoln “A.L.” Lewis (1865–1947), who went from Jacksonville sawmill water boy to Florida’s first African-American millionaire. In 1901, Lewis and six others founded the Afro-American Life Insurance Company, known as AFRO. Lewis became company president in 1919 and was board chair until he died.
A man of connection, ideas, and generosity, he envisioned a place where AFRO employees could enjoy “recreation and relaxation without humiliation” despite the Jim Crow strictures of the South. Founded on January 31, 1935, the American Beach Resort quickly became an enormous triumph for all African Americans.
Beyond just Georgia and Alabama, Black people drove there from San Francisco, Detroit, Washington, DC, and the Northeast to have fun. Celebrities who frequented American Beach include Zora Neale Hurston, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Hank Aaron, A. Phillip Randolph, Mary McCloud Bethune, James Brown, and Joe Louis. For more on the life of A.L. Lewis and American Beach, visit the museum that bears his name.
One celebrity was descended from A.L. Lewis himself: his great-granddaughter MaVynee Betsch (1935-2005.) In 1977, MaVynee ended her run singing opera in Europe to return to American Beach and fight for what she loved most. A natural diva and attention-getting virtuoso, she used her abilities and power to fight for her causes, mostly environmental and natural. She was christened Marvyne Elizabeth, but she removed the R sound from her name in protest, added an E to the end of her name to honor the environment, and switched the queen’s name Elizabeth for Oshun, the Yoruba goddess protector of waters and women.
MaVynee Oshun fought hard to preserve American Beach, especially its beloved sand dune, which she named NaNa, the Twi name for grandmother. Better known as “The Beach Lady,” she was admired worldwide. My relative even encountered the children’s book about her in the Seattle Public Library! You can experience The Beach Lady’s style, learn her story, hear her sing, and even go on a short film tour with her at the A.L. Lewis Museum at American Beach.
A.L. Lewis and MaVynee Betsch dreamed big! They also inspired others to join in their optimistic efforts. MaVynee did not live to see her dream of an official museum fulfilled, but when the doors opened on September 5, 2014, many who shared the dream were there. The works of those who grew up going to or living at American Beach have inspired others to understand, visit, study, support, film, write about, and otherwise preserve the memory of A.L. Lewis, American Beach, and MaVynee Betsch.
This is SANKOFA: to understand our present and ensure our future, we must know our past. Despite ongoing threat of those who would end American Beach, it has prevailed. Smaller than Lewis’ original 216 acres, American Beach is today recognized internationally, and its history is preserved in the A.L. Lewis Museum. See the SANKOFA Special Exhibition during the month of February or visit the museum any time during the year.
The A.L. Lewis Museum at American Beach is open Friday & Saturday 10 am – 2 pm, and Sunday from 1 -5 pm. It is located at 1600 Julia Street in American Beach. For more information, visit allewismuseum.org.