Summer was fulfilling for several area youths as partners, Indy Parks, NAACP Education Committee and The Historic Journey Project and First Baptist Church provided private swim lessons. Children were given six weeks of free opportunities to learn how to swim along with educational Black history lessons on African and African-American swimming at Douglass Park located on the eastside of Indianapolis. The program ran from June 26-July 31.
For centuries, Africans were regarded as the world’s greatest swimmers and enslaved African swimmers and divers created enormous wealth for their masters by harvesting pearls, recovering sunken treasures and working in and around water.
Nineteenth and 20th Century racism excised this rich aquatic legacy from Black culture with tragic consequences. Today, as many as 80 percent of African-Americans are incompetent swimmers. African-Americans are three to four times more likely to drown than whites.
Children who participated in the swim lessons became competent swimmers by learning the flutter kick, freestyle, breaststroke and floating. This was the first time the project was put together by community leader and longtime swimming instructor, Reginald Jones.
Many parents are not teaching their children to swim and some might assume the fundamental reasons would be lack of money for swimming lessons or living in areas where pools aren’t available. Typically children who could not swim also had parents who could not swim. Another reason behind the problem could lie in the era of segregation. Blacks were largely and systematically denied access to swimming pools and municipal pools became a low public priority.
The focus on history and education also was at the top of the list of what partners wanted youth to learn. Producer of the Historic Journey Resource Curriculum Garry Holland provided Black History lessons which covered geography, language arts/vocabulary, and science.
Historic Black facts in swimming history were given weekly to the participants. The areas of West Africa and “Soloman Islands” were covered as well.
A sample of a Black swimming history fact given out was: Who was the first Black swimmer to win the Navy Medal for heroism for swimming 6-8 hours in shark-infested waters while pulling 15 sailors to safety on a life raft in 1943? The answer is Charles Jackson French.
Children wrote essays on the Black history of swimming and awards in the amounts of $20 through $50 were given out at the end of the program.
Garry Holland commented, “Our goal is to engage children where they are, encourage reading, vocabulary strengthening and critical thinking while infusing culture and history at the same time rewarding them for their excellence.”
For more info about the Historic Journey Resource Curriculum, visit Thehistoricyjourney.org.
