Surfers and leisure: 'Freedom' to surf? Contested spaces on the coast

This chapter deals with individual notions and experiences of 'freedom' in relation to how we 'live with the seas' as surfers. The intimate connections surfers develop to surf breaks are often framed in terms of 'being local'. The intersectionality of gender, race, ethnicity, economic privilege, which draws on research exploring the experiences of African-American surfers in California. As several African-American surfers articulated, freedom at the beach was central to wider claims for recognition, for equality and for identity.' From the turn of the twentieth century through to the 1920s, the southern California beach was an important leisure space for the African-American community as well as for other minority groups in California. As A. R. Jefferson outlines, 'refusal to allow African Americans access to various places of leisure constituted an informal policy' along many stretches of the California coastline, which was vigorously 'enforced by many white citizens and policy makers'.