African-Americans Learn To Swim

CHARLOTTE– Evolutionary Aquatics is teaching adult African-Americans how to swim. According to the U.S. Swimming Association, 64% of African-Americans have little swimming ability or none at all.

This African-American swim class is getting more black people in the water. Dawn Patton, swim coach, says African-Americans have a history of being in the water. She says many slaves were able to escape by swimming up the Ohio River.

Through the decades of Jim Crowe and segregation, access to swimming pools were almost impossible to come by for blacks making it harder for blacks to learn to swim. Patton explains that if parents know how to swim, it’s more likely that kids will learn the life-saving skill. Any adult wanting to learn to swim can contact Evolutionary Aquatics.