PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A new exhibition at the Fairmount Water Works in Philadelphia, "POOL: A Social History of Segregation," shows how the fight against segregated swimming played into the larger civil rights movement, and correlates that history with present-day racial disparities in drowning. Many of the works on display do not hold back and could be described as unapologetically painful.
In an explosion of colorful videos, pictures, artwork and stories, the semi-immersive exhibit takes visitors on a tour of the history of segregated swimming and celebrates the victory of its abolition. For example, the first stop on the tour is a simulated wading pool, where visitors can sit and listen to stories told from several perspectives.
Philadelphia Water Commissioner Randy Hayman says the narrative arc of the show demonstrates how the fight for equal access to public pools led to greater steps in the wider desegregation movement in the United States.
Along the walls of the exhibit space are works by artists from Philadelphia and other cities, as well as photographs dating from the 1920s to present day. That’s where the pain comes in. As visitors continue through the tour, personal stories unfold. One photograph, taken at a park in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1948, shows a Black man sitting poolside — bloodied and beaten because he had been protesting segregated pools.
Hayman, who grew up in St. Louis, says he has a personal connection to the image. At a preview of the exhibit on Tuesday, Hayman showed pictures of himself with his father and his friends enjoying that very same pool.
“I learned to swim at that park in St. Louis,” Hayman said. “And because of his actions, by sitting down after he was beaten, he actually was standing up to push against segregation.”
Another striking image that truly stands out is of a white man pouring acid into a “whites only” pool, where Black children were swimming with a group protesting segregation. A group of 6th grade boys looked at the picture in disbelief.
“I just think it’s kind of crazy that Black people back then couldn’t even swim and have fun,” one of the boys said.
“It’s just a body of water. You should be able to have fun in it. Not just because you have a different skin tone,” said another boy.
“I’m glad I can swim freely today without someone pouring something on me to hurt me,” said a Black student in the group.
Unfortunately the prejudice of more than 70 years ago lives on today in some communities. Take the story of 9-year-old Payton Anderson, a competitive swimmer from Wisconsin, whose experience at a swim meet with mostly white children illustrates what prejudice looks like.
“I had to share a lane with another little boy,” said Anderson, who is Black. “I jumped into the pool, and he jumped out. He went and asked the coach, ‘Why is she in the water with us?’”
Clearly there is still work to be done.
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This exhibit is a masterful exploration into the correlation between systemic denial of access to swimming pools, and the startling statistic that Black children are six times as likely as white children to drown in one. Victoria Prizzia, creator of the exhibit, writes that 69% of Black children have little to no swimming ability, compared with 42% of white children.
Karen Young, executive director of Fairmount Water Works, says that separation from the water was historically a violent one for African Americans.
“It was deliberate and intentional, either to keep you from running away as a slave, or to prevent you from having fun,” Young said. “Learn to swim, teach your kids how to swim. It’s a life safety issue. It’s also relaxing and a way to transform. It’s in our DNA.”
Related Jawncast diving into the ripple effects of segregated pools:
The exhibit is free, open to the public and runs through September.
What a difference a year makes. The exhibition was scheduled to open the same day the remnants of Hurricane Ida hit the Philadelphia area back in September of 2021. The exhibit was rescheduled, and it took six months to clean and restore the more-than-150-year-old building so the space would be ready.