Every spring in the tourist mecca of Myrtle Beach, SC two motorcycle festivals are held on back-to-back weekends. Both festivals have a long, rich history in the area. Both festivals attract attendees that number in the 6-digits from all over the country. Both festivals bring millions of tourist dollars to the area. One festival attracts a primarily white audience; the other, a primarily black audience. The manner in which these two festivals are treated by the participants, local business owners and residents are vastly different which highlights the racial tensions boiling under the surface in this southern beach town.

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Located at the edge of the deep south, Myrtle Beach also has a long history of racial tension. Not long ago, the area was segregated as black people were only allowed to use a four-block strip of beach called “Atlantic Beach”. During segregation Atlantic Beach became a vital spot, attracting black patrons far and wide every summer to enjoy the sun, sand and surf. It became known as “The Black Pearl” as black tourist dollars fueled the local mom-and-pop tourist industry. Nationally known black recording artists such as James Brown, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell performed to packed houses in white Myrtle Beach, but were not allowed to actually stay the night there so they came to Atlantic Beach.

After segregation, Atlantic Beach’s prominence declined as black tourists shifted over to other, fancier parts of Myrtle Beach. By the 1980s it had fallen into disrepair, was poor and abandoned. In an effort to revitalize the area’s sagging prospects, the Atlantic Beach Memorial Day Bike Festival was born. From humble beginnings of a few hundred participants, it grew into a formidable national festival known as “Black Bike Week” boasting attendance figures in the 300,000s every year. Ironically, however, it quickly outstripped the ability of Atlantic Beach to support it and moved to Myrtle Beach, again leaving the area destitute; receiving little income from the festival that was envisioned to revitalize the area.

Meanwhile, Harley-Davidson aficionados had been gathering in Myrtle Beach since the 1950s. This festival had also grown in stature and audience steadily throughout the years, becoming known eventually as “White Bike Week”. It too has an uneasy relationship with the town of Myrtle Beach that has become the reluctant defacto host of both festivals.

Director Ricky Kelly also has a personal history in this area. His parents, like many black people in the south, also came to Atlantic Beach in its segregated heyday. As Ricky puts it, “I think I was conceived in Atlantic Beach.” In addition, as a motorcycle enthusiast he has come back to the area to attend both festivals as an observer and participant. His unique perspective on these two events help to underscore the growing racial tensions of both festivals, the disparity in which they are treated by the city and the love of motorcycle culture that bonds the riders, white and black.

Black Beach/White Beach: A Tale of Two Beaches tackles the many issues involved in these events, the history of racial tension of the area and the national implications of racial disparity throughout the country, from Ferguson to the White House. Using these events as a microscope to examine the broader issues at play, the film hopes to shed light on the growing problem of race relations both in Myrtle Beach and the country as a whole as we transition from the Obama era to the Trump era.