An untold story of unsung heroes
Rainbow Beach
Rainbow Beach, one of the more beautiful beaches on Lake Michigan, has a park dedicated to the soldiers of the U.S. 42nd Infantry Division. Nicknamed the ‘Rainbow’ division for its ethnic diversity, the 42nd is remembered by most for its role in the liberation of Dachau in 1945.
What few care to recall is that the same beach, less than twenty years later, became the fulcrum for different battles, as thousands of furious whites stoned black families as they bathed. Spanning two decades in post–World War II America, Rainbow Beach is the moving story, with music, of one sharecropper family’s struggle for survival — first in Mississippi, and later in the ‘promised land’ of Chicago.
In their words
“I was impressed by the project, its inspirational music and the moving performance.”
Chris Hodgkins, Director of Jazz Services
