The former Carr’s Beach resort, where thousands of black Annapolitans enjoyed rhythm and blues during the Jim Crow era, will be recognized as part of the Annapolis Charter 300 celebration.

A waist-high plaque will be installed at the resort’s former entrance, and at 16 other sites, to reveal more of the city’s history, according to Chuck Weikel, the executive director for the celebration.

Former Anne Arundel County schoolteacher Phillip Brown, 97, told the Baltimore Sun, ”It played such an important part in the lives of colored people in Annapolis, Washington, Maryland and Virginia when segregation was in full force.”

The resort had a Ferris wheel and attracted well-known musicians such as Ray Charles, James Brown, Lionel Hampton, the Shirelles and Little Richard.

The plaque beside the Edgewood Road bike path will include a sidebar on racial segregation but won’t mention Annapolis specifically. The resort has been replaced by a gated community.

”So much didn’t reach books and classrooms and it helps perpetuate the memories of those times. A lot of people would like to forget, but this will remind others just what it was like,” Brown said.

The 300-year-anniversary celebration will end in 2008. The other 16 sites haven’t been chosen yet.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press.

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