In 1957 many Black residents of Tampa, FL refused to swim in recently integrated pools, fearing retaliation they’d face from white swimmers.
David Isom wasn’t an activist. He was just a 19 year old who believed in his right to exist freely. And on what became an important day in Black history, he felt like going for a swim.
As 45 whites glared at him, Isom dove into the water. He swam for a while, and in the end no one approached him. He left the pool unharmed.
But just 20 minutes later, city management closed the pool because a “nigger had used the facilities.” The pool remained closed for years!
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, multiple swimming pools became sites of civil unrest, leading up to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
But white residents found other ways to exclude us.
Hundreds of public pools throughout the nation closed, and private, “white only” swim clubs were established, leaving Black Americans with little access to public swimming facilities, a legacy still affecting us today.
We still feel pressured to code switch or act differently in predominantly white spaces, and are even taught we don’t belong in these spaces. Like Isom, we must exercise our right to exist freely regardless of the space we’re in.