Sand, Sunshine, & Black Leadership:
A tale of unity and resistance
How Black Americans created a beachfront oasis in the Hamptons, combatting segregation, housing discrimination, and redlining
Azurest, Nineveh, and Sag Harbor Hills are three historic Black beachfront communities in Sag Harbor, a village in the Hamptons. Collectively they are knows as the SANS community, and this website tells their story.
The story begins…
In the late 1940s, while staying in Eastville, a historically Black neighborhood in Sag Harbor, Maude Terry, a visionary Black woman and Brooklyn school teacher, stumbled upon 20 acres of undeveloped and undesired land. As the sun stretched its warm fingers across the horizon, Sag Harbor awakened with a gentle sigh, embracing the essence of summer with open arms. And so, amidst the idyllic backdrop of Sag Harbor, Maude Terry embarked on the extremely difficult endeavor of transforming the marshy and barren land into a summer oasis for Black Americans. During this time, racially restrictive covenants were rapidly spreading across the landscape; real estate agents wouldn’t show Black clients homes in many communities, and mortgage companies wouldn’t lend to them. Buying a home was difficult enough, let alone a second home in a summer resort town. Maude Terry found the property’s owner, Elise B Gale, whose husband owned what is now Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty, and they worked out an agreement to subdivide the parcel in partnership. In a concerted effort to confront the discriminatory barriers barring Black individuals from homeownership, Maude Terry, alongside her sister Amaza Lee Meredith, Dorothy Spaulding (a lawyer), and James P Smith (a civil engineer), created the Azurest Syndicate. This pioneering real estate consortium brokered deals, facilitated reduced down payments, offered loans, and arranged mortgages. Its creation was pivotal to Azurest’s development, and it resisted racism and segregation and promoted Black power and leadership. Following Azurest, two other Black Beachfront neighborhoods formed: Nineveh and Sag Harbor Hills. Collectively, these communities are known as SANS. Worries melted beneath the sun at SANS and washed away in the salty bay. Instead, the communities instilled a sense of belonging and the freedom to simply be.
Big Questions
Question 1
What were the driving forces behind the establishment of these communities, and what inspired their creation?
Question 2
What factors led to the choice of Sag Harbor as the location for these pioneering communities?
Question 3
How did these communities navigate and overcome the challenges of segregation to establish themselves?
Gallery
Current photos of Azurest and Nineveh
SANS-- Black Beachfront Communities 