1 minute read

AFRICAN AMERICANS AND GOLF ON JEKYLL ISLAND

Historic golf played by Club members is only part of the story on Jekyll Island. Bagwell, Tyler E. “The Jekyll Island Club” http://www.jekyllislandhistory.com/jekyllclub.shtml. Jekyll Island was also a refuge for club workers. Id. Earl Hill, a 1920s golf caddy for the club, asserted, "[i]t was only three months out of the year that [the members were] there, the rest of the year, why only the employees had the use of the island. That's where I got my jump in golf, because the million aires would use the golf course three months out of the year, the other nine months I would use it." Id. As a man of African-descent, Mr. Hill would eventually organize and host a professional golf tournament as well as become owner of several profitable businesses. Id. Photographic evidence from the same era also shows women, presumably of African-descent as well, playing golf on Jekyll Island. (See above.)