Wade On, Dr. Mason
by John Hawkins (with the choir of the First Missionary Baptist Church of Biloxi)
Am
The water in Biloxi is not too deep,
G Am
You can walk to the channel, barely wet your feet.
But if we all want to go for a swim,
G Am
We ought to thank Doctor Mason for what he did.
Chorus
Am
Wade in the water, Doctor Mason.
Em G Am
Wade in the water, Doctor Mason.
Wade in the water, Doctor Mason.
G Am
We’re not going to stay dry.
In Biloxi Beach, 1959,
The color of your skin had to match the sand.
But Doctor Mason did not give in,
He went down to the beach and he waded on in.
Chorus
The police and the Ku Klux Klan,
They did not appreciate the Doctor’s stand.
The police took him down to City Hall,
But they couldn’t find a book with Jim Crow’s law.
Chorus
Then the people came from miles around,
They waded in the water of the Mississippi Sound.
The police watched while the Klan got rough,
But Dr. Mason’s people, they did not stop.
Chorus
So Dr. Mason called upon the law
To open up the beach for everyone.
It took eight years, but the courts did agree
That the beaches in Biloxi must be free!
