A History of African American Swimmers: Overcoming Obstacles and Achieving Excellence

Nov 10, 2025 0

Black History Month, celebrated annually in February, honors Black and African American individuals throughout history. Black athletes boast a long list of swimming accomplishments, but they all have unique local origin stories. Every swimmer needs to join that first team before winning that first medal or setting that first record. And coaches play an integral role in shaping their athletes’ initial love for the sport.

This article delves into the history of African American swimmers, highlighting their achievements, the challenges they faced due to systemic racism, and the individuals who broke barriers and paved the way for future generations.

The Roots of the Stereotype

When we examine the roots of stereotypes about Black people, America’s history of racism is usually somehow involved. The stereotype that Black people can’t swim is no different. On National Swimming Pool Day, it’s important we talk about water safety and acknowledge the origins of a stereotype that has transcended generations, and put many of us at risk when it comes to enjoying water recreation.

Ongoing narratives about Black people being dirty, diseased, or otherwise infectious were pervasive during the 1920s and 1930s, the time when city pools were first flourishing in the US. The characterization of Black people being a sexual threat and overly sexualized influenced segregation laws for public pools and beaches across the country, according to history professor and author of Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters: The Struggle over Segregated Recreation in America, Victoria W. Wolcott.

Even after the swimming pool boom of the 1920s ended with the Great Depression, the Public Works Administration and Works Progress Administration received funding to build 1,000 pools across the country. However, many of those pools weren’t built in predominantly Black neighborhoods, according to history professor and author of Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America, Jeff Wiltse.

Along with the pool construction, the nation launched a “learn-to-swim” campaign, but with fewer numbers of pools for Black people, the resources weren’t as widespread. As a result of the systemic racism, many Black Americans who grew up during the time didn’t have access to learning how to swim.

Early Accomplishments and Pioneers

Despite the pervasive racism and lack of access, several African Americans made significant contributions to swimming history.

Milton Gray Campbell: An African American, was a high school All-America swimmer as a sophomore in 1951 for Plainfield High School in New Jersey.
Charles Chapman: Of Buffalo, N.Y., was the first African American swimmer to cross the Channel in 1981.
Sybil Smith: In 1988, Boston University’s Sybil Smith finaled in the 100-yard backstroke.

Jim Clarke: A Diasporic Pioneer

James “Jim” Clarke was a Guyanese-born celebrated swimmer and diasporic pioneer. I first learned of him through a photo at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool where he was presented alongside other honored Black figures from England and the diaspora. Clarke is pictured in black and white, fitted in what appears to be swimwear of his time that is pinned with medals from the height of his swim career (1908-1910). It is one of the few photographs of him in circulation in the few articles that tell of his life and his local celebrity.

Several scholars, including Jacqueline Nassy Brown and Ray Costello, briefly reference Clarke in their books on Black Liverpool. As a Black man who swam and saved drowning people, Clarke’s swimming skills endeared him to many; his Blackness accentuating his prominence. As an uncommon story in places like the U.K. The sparse accounts of Clarke’s life document his birth in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1886.

Presumably he first learned to swim in the country’s many waters. At fourteen, he stowed away on a cargo ship bound for Liverpool, arriving there in 1900. Priests found him alone and took him to the presbytery before the Crawfords, a white Irish family living in the Vauxhall neighborhood, took him in, applied for his residency, had him baptized as Catholic, and adopted him.

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Accounts of Clarke’s life in Liverpool document him as a runner and a boxer, but revere and remember him for his abilities in the water. He swam competitively for various clubs including Wavertree and Bootle, and helped win several North Lancashire League cups while swimming for Everton. Over his multiyear career he earned fame for his Scotland Road and Vauxhall area, a place that was known for its European immigrant communities. Presumably he also played water polo and captained the Woolton Polo team.

Clarke’s athletic notoriety also derived from the people he rescued. Because of his strength as a swimmer and his lung capacity, locals, including the police, called upon Clarke to retrieve people from the city’s many bodies of water. On the River Mersey where he worked as a docker, Clarke rescued fellow dockworkers and seamen; in 1911 he received an award for saving a man from the West Waterlook Dock. He also was known to aid children in his neighborhood struggling to stay afloat in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

Police used his skills for more somber tasks, summoning him to recover drowned bodies. Clarke’s skill as a swimmer, most importantly a Black swimmer, is commemorated in Liverpool. He died in 1960 reportedly from tuberculosis.

Racism, only briefly mentioned in these limited biographies, was presumably as omnipresent in Clarke’s life as the waters in which he swam. The city’s history as a port town with a diverse population may have buffered some forms of virulent racism, but both John Belchem and Jacqueline Nassy Brown document the particular trials of race relations in this international and migrant built city.

Clarke’s lung power acts as a metaphor for his capacity to withstand what inevitably was not an easy passage across the Atlantic and into his new life in early twentieth century England.

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Charles Jackson French: A War Hero

Charles Jackson French, 23, a “Negro mess attendant” from Foreman, Ark., was commended by Admiral William Halsey Jr. and awarded the Navy Medal in 1943 for swimming six to eight hours in shark-infested waters, towing a raft filled with 15 wounded (white) sailors to safety, after their ship was sunk by the Japanese off the Solomon Islands. The raft was drifting toward Japanese-occupied territory, and if it had washed ashore, the sailors would have either been taken as prisoners of war or killed.

The raft was eventually rescued at sea by an American craft.

Breaking Barriers in Competition

As opportunities expanded, African American swimmers began to excel in competitive swimming.

Enith Brigitha: Holland’s Enith Brigitha placed third at the 1976 Montreal Olympics in the 100-meter free (56.65) behind the German Democratic Republic’s Kornelia Ender (55.65 WR) and Petra Priemer (56.49).
Chris Silva: UCLA’s Chris Silva of Los Angeles was a member of the World University Games in Edmonton, Canada, in 1982. The charismatic Silva was elected team captain.
Anthony Nesty: Suriname’s Anthony Nesty beat the USA’s Matt Biondi in the 100-meter butterfly at the 1988 Seoul Olympics by 1-hundredth of a second. Two years later as a sophomore swimming for the University of Florida, Nesty won the 100 and 200 yard fly at NCAAs. The 16-time Gator All-American also won the 100 fly and 4×100 medley relay in 1991, then the 100 fly in 1992.

Nesty swims to an epic Gold Win in Seoul 1988 | The Olympics On The Record

Modern Trailblazers

The late 20th and early 21st centuries saw a surge of African American swimmers making waves in the sport.

Sabir Muhammad: Sabir Muhammad became the first Black swimmer to set an American record at the 1998 NCAA Championships in the 100yd butterfly. He set 10 American records throughout his career and was the first African American to win a medal at a major international competition at the 2000 FINA Short Course Worlds in Athens.
Maritza Correia: University of Georgia’s Maritza Correia of Tampa, Fla. Olympic team in 2000. He was also the first to medal, tying Gary Hall Jr. Again…Maritza Correia. At the 2002 NCAA Championships, Correia broke two American and NCAA records. In the 50, she bettered the record held by four-time Olympic gold medalist Amy Van Dyken, and in the 100, she broke the record held by Jenny Thompson, the most decorated American swimmer in Olympic history.
Cullen Jones: That distinction goes to Cullen Jones of Newark, N.J., and North Carolina State. As a member of the 2008 Men's 4x100m freestyle relay, largely regarded as the greatest race in Olympic swimming history, Cullen Jones will always be synonymous with American swimming resiliency and determination. National Championships. Jones is a USA Swimming Foundation Ambassador and member of the USA Swimming Foundation Board of Directors. Sharing his story from a near-drowning experience in his youth to Olympic gold highlights swimming as the only sport that can save your life.
Simone Manuel: Stanford’s Simone Manuel tied for the gold medal with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak in the 100-meter freestyle at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Lia Neal and Natalie Hinds: Another shining example for Black girls and women in swimming, the trio of Simone Manuel, Lia Neal, and Natalie Hinds made history at the 2015 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving National Championships. Their 1-2-3 finish was the first time Black swimmers swept the podium at the NCAA Championships. Neal was also the first Black woman to swim in the final heat at an Olympic Games and the first Black woman to swim in multiple Olympics.

Organizations and Initiatives

Several organizations are working to promote diversity and inclusion in aquatics.

USA Swimming Foundation: In 2020, working with Jones and other Board members, USA Swimming and the USA Swimming Foundation introduced the Community Impact Grant program to increase competitive opportunities at USA Swimming member clubs. Selected programs receive $5,000 grants, eligible for renewal annually for up to three years. To date, the program has provided $315,000 to 32 member clubs nationwide.
Diversity in Aquatics (DIA): In 2022, USA Swimming forged a significant four-year partnership with Diversity in Aquatics (DIA), an organization committed to uniting diverse stakeholders in the aquatic community to elevate the critical importance of water safety.
Black Kids Swim: Additionally, organizations like Black Kids Swim, provide resources for families and Black competitive swimmers.

The Ongoing Need for Change

Despite progress, disparities persist. According to the CDC, Black children, particularly Black boys, are at higher risk of drowning than other groups. Accessible swim lessons and water safety training resources, experts say, can help reduce the rate of Black children and adults who drown each year.

Many cities have free or low-cost swim lessons available for youth during the summer. Contacting local parks and recreation authorities might be a good place to start.

As we turn our attention to Paris, Coach Anthony Nesty will be continue to make history as the first Black coach to be named the head coach of the 2024 men's Olympic swim team. As the first Black swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal in 1988 for his native, Suriname, he brings incredible experience and perspective to the team.

USA Swimming and the USA Swimming Foundation are committed to creating more opportunities for athletes from under-represented communities in the sport we love.

Historical Context: Segregation and its Impact

“As an example, across the country, public accommodations like parks and public swimming pools were segregated by Jim Crow laws in the south, or by less overt means in the northern and western parts of the United States. Though Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders succeeded in the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, whereby discrimination in housing and public accommodations became illegal, those practices continued in less obvious ways.

When segregated recreational facilities were ordered by the courts to be open for people of color, the integration was rarely peaceful. People of color seeking to use these facilities were met with hostile resistance, force and violence (Wolcott, 2012). Rather than embracing a spirit of advocacy, openness and inclusion, some cities shut down their public pools rather than allowing mixed-race swimming, while in other cities Whites moved to pools that were located in more racially homogeneous White neighborhoods or used private pools, where racial discrimination was still legal.”(Five-Racial Equity Plan, Furthering Citywide Racial Equity Goals and Strategies September 2017; Portland Parks and Recreation)

Timeline of Segregation and Desegregation in Swimming

The following timeline was condensed from the “POOL: A Social History of Segregation” exhibit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, created in collaboration with Dr.

1913: St.
1914: The municipally funded Brookside Plunge opens in Pasadena. All non-white swimmers are relegated to a single day of use each week before the pool is cleaned in the morning. The Black community protests the decision on the basis that the pool is paid for by taxes from all citizens. City officials respond by prohibiting all non-white people from the pool on the basis that “If the Plunge is opened up for mixed bathing, most will cease to allow their families to use it.” This pool would not desegregate until 1947, closing the following year.
1919: Eugene Williams, a Black teenager who cannot swim, is killed by a group of white men in Chicago after floating on a raft with friends from a beach for Black swimmers to a whites-only beach. Williams’ death began a wave of riots that left dozens dead and 1,000 Black families homeless as a result of arson. This photograph was taken at the corner of Thirty-sixth and State streets, Chicago in the heart of the race-riot district. The motorcycles were left by policemen who were summoned to quell disturbances nearby.
1935: Samuel Ridley, NAACP chapter president, files suit against Newton, Kansas for excluding “identifiably” Black people from the city’s lone public swimming pool.
1945-1960: Pools close across America as a result of pressure to integrate public pools.
1948: Federal District Judge Ben Moore orders Montgomery, West Virginia to stop denying Black swimmers access to its one publicly funded pool. The suit, brought by Black attorney and legislator T.
1949: White residents of St. Louis riot outside Fairground Park Pool after city officials end its racial segregation policy from 1913.
1962: A federal judge orders desegregation of public swimming pools in Birmingham, Alabama.
1964: A group of civil rights activists of all races stage a “swim-in” at the Monson Motor Lodge in St. Augustine, Florida.
2010: Six Black teenagers die in the Red River in Louisiana while attempting to save their cousin from drowning.

Influential Black Swimmers

Black Kids Swim is proud to share the story of seven influential Black swimmers! Black History Month is a time for celebration and reflection. From past to present, our adversity and successes represent the strength of the Black American spirit. Our contributions in politics, entertainment, science and other avenues have made an impact throughout society. The competitive swimming world is no exception. In past decades and recent years, influential Black swimmers such as Chris Silva, Sybil Smith, and Cullen Jones have made their mark in the history books. But, many others should be celebrated and recognized in the sport. Here is our list of seven influential Black swimmers in the Black Kids Swim community you should know. Check them out below!

Swimmer	Accomplishments
Enith Brigitha	First woman of African descent to win a swimming medal at the Olympics. Represented the Netherlands at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, she won bronze medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle.
Charles Chapman	Achieved several firsts in open water swimming. Nicknamed “Charlie the Tuna,” the Buffalo, New York, native became the first Black swimmer to cross the English Channel in 1981.
Tice Davids	An enslaved man living in Kentucky, Tice Davids, swam across the Ohio River to escape to freedom in 1831. His owner was chasing close behind him before losing sight of him as he trekked further into the water.
Charles Jackson French	Once named “Hero of the Year” by the Chicago Defender, Charles Jackson French’s story is triumphant from start to finish. French was an American war hero from Foreman, Arkansas, who enlisted in the Navy in 1937.
Natalie Hinds	Natalie Hinds is a 20-time All-American competitive swimmer from Midland, Texas. She is best known for her 1-2-3 in a single event at the 2015 NCAA Championships alongside Simone Manuel and Lia Neal.
Pauline Jackson	Pauline Jackson was a pioneering open water swimmer from New York. She launched a stable and successful professional swimming career in the early 20th century.
Reece Whitley	Named 2015 SportsKid of the Year by Sports Illustrated Kids, Reece Whitley is definitely one of the brightest influential Black swimmers. Specializing in the breaststroke, the 6-foot, 8-inch competitive swimmer secured a silver medal in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2015 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships.