As a summer resort, Highland Beach attracted prominent African Americans, particularly from Washington, D.C. Early residents included Paul Laurence Dunbar, the famous poet and novelist; Robert Terrell, the first African American municipal judge in Washington, D.C.; and Terrell's wife, Mary Church Terrell, educator, civil libertarian and author of A Colored Woman in a White World. Frequent visitors to the resort included Booker T. Washington, educator and founder of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama; Paul Roberson, a world famous singer and actor; and the poet Langston Hughes. Today, Highland Beach remains a unique community in African American history.