--- description: Short documentary about Velma and Norman Hill, who confronted mob violence to integrate Chicago's beaches during the civil rights movement. title: The History of the Freedom Waders at Rainbow Beach image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81607a69a8766370/698a59a3b3fce3e28e0cd760/Freedom-Waders-No-Title-Main-Photo.jpg?branch=production ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Civil Rights](/tag/civil-rights/) ## Civil Rights Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Segregated Beaches in Chicago; the History of the Freedom Waders at Rainbow Beach by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 8, 2024 3:00 PM CUT  by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 8, 2024 3:00 PM CUT Freedom Waders is a short documentary by Alex S. Hinton about Velma and Norman Hill, who confronted mob violence to integrate Chicago's beaches at the height of the civil rights movement. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7008124/history-segregated-beaches-chicago/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7008124/history-segregated-beaches-chicago/"},"headline":"Segregated Beaches in Chicago; the History of the Freedom Waders at Rainbow Beach","datePublished":"2024-08-08T15:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T18:05:45.176Z","description":"Freedom Waders is a short documentary by Alex S. Hinton about Velma and Norman Hill, who confronted mob violence to integrate Chicago's beaches at the height of the civil rights movement.","url":"https://time.com/7008124/history-segregated-beaches-chicago/","keywords":["Civil Rights","video"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81607a69a8766370/698a59a3b3fce3e28e0cd760/Freedom-Waders-No-Title-Main-Photo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81607a69a8766370/698a59a3b3fce3e28e0cd760/Freedom-Waders-No-Title-Main-Photo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Freedom-Waders-No-Title-Main-Photo.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/civil-rights/","name":"Civil Rights"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7008124/history-segregated-beaches-chicago/","name":"Segregated Beaches in Chicago; the History of the Freedom Waders at Rainbow Beach"}}]}] ```