Historical accounts indicate that early modern African-descended people were significantly stronger swimmers than people of European descent. For instance, enslavers compelled enslaved Africans to serve as pearl and salvage divers. Twentieth century circumstances—namely Jim Crow era segregation and racialized violence, ongoing issues of access to public swimming pools, and perceptions that swimming is “un-black” or a “white” activity—discouraged black swimming, so, today African Americans are roughly 10 times more likely to drown than white Americans.

This roundtable session brings together scholars, community organisers, and artists to share their work in fighting the historic stereotypes and myths which cause so many drownings in the Black community. Our project empowers coaches and youth leaders in both the US and the UK to teach young people and their parents about the history of Black swimming, boating, and diving. Using interactive, puzzle-based works of art, the project shares empowering stories based in historical research about Black aquatics.

Black parents and youth often report a fear of swimming and the water that is based on the history and long legacies of enslavement and racism. Black youth and parents are told repeated historical myths about the water: “Black people can’t float and they always sink in water” and “Black people were trapped on slave ships because they can’t learn how to swim.” These myths are pervasive and damaging. The UK Black Swimming Association has determined that 95% of Black adults and 80% of Black children do not know how to swim; in the US, the Diversity in Aquatics/USA National Team Swimming partnership has shown that 64% of African American and 45% Hispanic/Latinx children have low or no swimming ability.

But as our research has shown, throughout history Black women and men have been renowned for their aquatic expertise. Drawing upon deep cultural knowledge and skill honed on the coasts of the African continent, Black communities in Britain and the Americas practiced boatbuilding, fishing, swimming, and diving. They employed water in their medical praxes, using mineral water springs to make plasters and poultices, and prescribing sea and river bathing for health and wellness. In enslaved and free communities alike, Black children were taught to swim from the time they were two to three years of age. For many, if not most, Black people throughout history, the water represented a site of power and safety, a place of self-care, autonomy, and pride. This makes the circulation of damaging myths about the history of Black aquatics all the more inexpiable and unfair.

Our project, funded by the University of Durham and the University of California-Merced, highlights this empowering history of Black aquatics, addresses community fears by offering education and inspiration in friendly, interpersonal interactions, where BAME youth and parents learn about Black aquatic history from trusted coaches and mentors. This project enables communities to feel pride in their aquatic history, helps dispel damaging historical myths, offers connection between the past and present, and encourages exercise, comfort, enjoyment, and the pleasure of placing bodies in motion.