Little Willie Adams and the Carr’s Beach Amusement Company

The experience of African Americans in the Jim Crow era included both the insults and injuries inflicted and the resilience and ingenuity employed to not just survive the indignities but to also thrive in the face of threats to lives and livelihoods. “Little Willie” Adams was an innovator and financier for a community shut out of mainstream access to capital, entertainment, and leisure. He was responsible for establishing the Carr’s Beach Amusement Company with four other investors and building Carr’s Beach as a major entertainment venue complete with slot machines and rental cottages that were Green Book destinations used by the traveling musicians who played Carr’s Beach. The legendary performers gracing the Carr’s Beach stage found that hotels and restaurants south of Philadelphia were “White only,” a situation known as “The Route 40 Problem.” The cottages solved the Route 40 Problem and ensured the top acts playing the “Chitlin Circuit” stopped in Annapolis. The cottages served as accommodation and as the “greenroom” for performers who would take the stage at Carr’s Beach, putting Annapolis at the center of the mid-20th century music revolution.

Hoppy Adams Bandstand on the Beach