Martha's Vineyard: The Black Bourgeoisie

LOCATED seven miles off the southeast coast of Massachusetts, Martha's Vineyard is one of the oldest and largest Black resorts in the country. Since the turn of the century, it has been a vacation mecca for such prominent Blacks as Paul Robeson, Ethel Waters, Adam Clayton Powell Sr. and famed composer Henry T. Burleigh. As word of the island's hospitality to Blacks spread, many noted Blacks purchased homes there.

A weekend tour of Oak Bluffs, where most Black islanders make their home, reveals that Blacks on the Vineyard are a people rich in accomplishment and history. But their uncommon style is only part of the reason the isle continues to lure Black families back again and again, many for generations.

For Black islanders, the party circuit is as much a part of summer vacation as the island's rich history. From May until September, they host a nonstop smorgasbord of lunches, brunches, cocktail sips and clambakes on the beach. "The whole East Coast of professional Blacks needed a place where they could come together and Martha's Vineyard was that choice of place," explains New York's Dr. Beny J. Primm, who bought his home in 1971 and has been coming to the island since the mid 1940s. "In recent years, Oak Bluffs has also become the vacation place for young East Coast Blacks because it provides a place where they can be involved with one another."

Clearly, for Black islanders, Martha's Vineyard holds a wealth of memories that make it almost impossible to consider vacationing anyplace else. Dorothy West, a 30-year resident who is the isle's unofficial historian and the sole survivor of the famed Harlem Renaissance writers group, puts it this way: "You come once; if you don't like it, you don't come back. Come twice and you're hooked for life."

Vineyard Vines is a clothing line that was started on the Vineyard in 1998, with its classic prep aestetics it looks to provide those summer island visitors an affordable option of dress during the summer months. Taking hints from the boating and yacht club lifestyles, this brand remains true to its initial purpose over 10 years later.

Shop Vineyard Vines

The Black Dog is a restaurant and tavern in Vineyard Haven on the island of Martha's Vineyard. The restaurant was founded in 1971, and became well known for its souvenir T-shirts, featuring its logo of the eponymous black dog. The Black Dog currently has many locations on Martha's Vineyard and one on the island of Nantucket, as well as in the mainland Massachusetts towns of Falmouth, Provincetown, Newburyport, and Chatham. Outside of Massachusetts they have stores in Newport, RI, Portland, ME, Mystic, CT, and Annapolis, MD.

I can personally remember all of my Jack and Jill friends taking trips up to the Vineyard every summer for as long as I can remember, MV seems to be the haven for Upper Class Black families living on the East Coast, and it has been that way for quite some time. It's all about what bluff you stay on, and with houses running easily into the million dollar range, a summer home hear is no easy accomplishment. You'll be able to catch me lounging on Oak Bluffs in the summer, just give me about 10 years, I should have made it by then.


-Tony

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