Sixty-one years ago today - on July 23, 1963 - more than three dozen Black activists came to City Park in Baton Rouge to protest the injustice of segregation. Please join us in remembering and celebrating this pivotal moment that came to be known as The Baton Rouge Swim-in. Led by sisters Pearl George and Rev. Betty Claiborne, along with Rev. Arthur Jelks and others, their stand for equity is one we must not forget.
Built in the 1920s, the 20,000 sq/ft City Park Pool (the only public pool in the city when it opened), was a popular destination for white children for roughly 40 years. On the other hand, Black Baton Rougeans were barred from enjoying its waters, with dangerous rivers, drainage ditches, and creeks being their only swimming options (until Black philanthropists opened Brooks Pool in the late 1940s, just a mile from City Park Pool).
Last year BRG was honored to partner with Dialogue on Race Louisiana and BREC to share the exhibition “And We Went: 60 Years After the Baton Rouge Swim-In” with thousands of visitors. BRG has programmed City Park’s former pool house since 1984, so the exhibition was staged in the very space activists would’ve walked through in attempting to reach the pool. Curated by Jonell Logan and with assistance from the families of some Swim-In organizers, the show told the story of the event and the legacy of segregated swimming six decades later. It also featured numerous public programs that involved activists, the first Black man to hold a world record in swimming, and the daughter of Pearl George (who was at the Swim-In as an 11-year-old girl).
We invite you to learn more about the full story of The Baton Rouge Swim-In (as well as “And We Went”) by visiting https://lnkd.in/grMzPr3y.
Pictured:
(1) City Park Pool, following its closure
(2) Aerial view of City Park Pool, circa 1930
(3) Image of City Park Pool (June 10, 1953) alongside quote from Rev. Betty Claiborne reflecting on The Baton Rouge Swim-In in 2016
(4) Activists Pearl George and attorney Johnnie Jones, Sr. (who brought the case to end segregation in public parks following the Swim-In)
(5) Swimmers and instructors at Brooks Pool
(6) “Blanco Hands Pardon to Civil Rights Activist” from The Advocate (Jan. 5, 2005)
(7) And We Went curator Jonell Logan with Swim-In attendee Debra George (daughter of Pearl George) and her grandniece beside Aliyah Bonnette’s “Wading in the Waters of Oshun” (July 5, 2023)
(8) Kimberly Becoat, Exonerated Central Park Jubilee (2022), Acrylic, collaged painted graphix sheets on strathmore paper, 38 × 48 in. (one of more than two dozen works featured in “And We Went”)
(9) Installation view of “And We Went: 60 Years After the Baton Rouge Swim-In”
(10) Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones teaching swimming lessons at Brooks Pool in conjunction with “And We Went” (July 6, 2023)