The Richmond area recently endured a water crisis that left many residents without water pressure and forced a dayslong boil water advisory.

The crisis shed light on long-standing inequities in access to resources and facilities.

In a similar vein, swimming pools are also among those amenities that lack equitable access across the region.

Pool access is steeped in a history of segregation and inequitable urban planning — a legacy that continues to shape Richmond’s recreational landscape today.

For Richmond resident Pearl Emmanuel, 70, access to swimming facilities was a lifelong challenge. Born in Chester, she grew up without a local pool.

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“The only time we saw water was when my parents just took us to the beach,” she recalled.

Trips to Pocahontas State Park were a rare exception. Her story reflects a broader historical reality for many Black residents in the area, where public pools were either unavailable or segregated during much of the 20th century.

In the 1980s, Emmanuel moved to Richmond and later lived in a house with an in-ground pool. Ironically, despite her proximity to water, she never learned to swim.

“I used to tread water and float, but I worked so much that I really never enjoyed my pool,” she said.

It wasn’t until decades later, in 2023, when Emmanuel committed to learning to swim at SwimRVA . After a year of lessons, she finally earned her swimming certificate.

For Richmond resident Pearl Emmanuel, 70, access to swimming facilities was a lifelong challenge. In 2023, she committed to taking lessons at SwimRVA. After a year, she finally earned her swimming certificate.

For her, swimming became more than a skill — it was a way to exercise, alleviate arthritis symptoms, and conquer long-standing fears.

“It’s really important to learn, not just for exercise but for safety,” she emphasized.

The racialized history of swimming access in Richmond mirrors national trends. During the era of segregation, public pools in Richmond were reserved for white residents, while Black residents were excluded or relegated to substandard facilities.

Jacqueline Drayer, a historian at The Valentine, explained that many public pools in the city were closed rather than integrated after the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.

“In 1955 the city shut down Shield Lake, the whites-only pool, claiming that there are public health concerns, that there are repairs needed. Five years later, they say similar things about Brookfield pool,” Drayer noted.

For years afterward, Black Richmonders had limited access to safe and clean swimming facilities. It wasn’t until 1967 that three public pools — Fairmount, Battery Park and Blackwell — opened to serve a broader demographic.

Despite these developments, disparities remain entrenched. Today, private pool memberships proliferate in wealthier, predominantly white neighborhoods, while public pools in underserved areas struggle to meet the community’s needs.

According to the Richmond Department of Parks and Recreation, the city operates nine public pools. However, with a population of more than 226,000, this equates to one pool per 32,285 residents — a ratio that falls short of effectively serving the community. Recognizing these disparities, organizations like SwimRVA are working to bridge the gap.

Adam Kennedy, executive director of SwimRVA, highlighted the barriers many children face.

“We see a lot of inequities as it relates to who knows how to swim and who doesn’t know how to swim, and they fall really heavily along racial and economic lines,” Kennedy said.

He noted that 60% of Black Americans do not know how to swim, compared to less than 40% of white Americans — a disparity rooted in decades of exclusion and neglect.

SwimRVA’s Learn to Swim program aims to address this inequity by providing free swimming lessons to second graders across 12 school districts.

“Swimming is both a life skill and a vehicle for self-confidence,” Kennedy explained.

The organization also offers financial aid for ongoing swim lessons, water polo and competitive swimming programs.

However, Kennedy emphasized that systemic change requires more than individual initiatives.

“We need more pools that are open and accessible,” he said.

Kennedy pointed to the deteriorating infrastructure of neighborhood pools built in the mid-20th century and stressed the importance of investment in new facilities and programming.

The city has shown efforts to improve access to swimming. In 2025, it plans to reopen the renovated Calhoun Community Center pool, located near underserved communities. That’s according to an email exchange with Richmond Parks and Recreation.

Funded by $9 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, this facility aims to provide a fully operational indoor swimming option north of the James River.

Yet challenges persist. As Drayer observed, the placement of public pools often reflects the city’s segregated past.

“Many of these neighborhoods in the western part of the city, which are wealthy neighborhoods today, do not have public pools, but they certainly have substantial private pool access,” she said.

Pearl Emmanuel’s story reflects a broader historical reality for many Black residents in the area, where public pools were either unavailable or segregated during much of the 20th century.

For Emmanuel, ensuring equitable access to swimming is a matter of community will. She pointed to initiatives like SwimRVA’s programs for Chesterfield County students, where swimming is integrated into the school curriculum.

Expanding such initiatives citywide could make swimming a skill accessible to the majority, regardless of income or background.

The water crisis may have passed, but it has left Richmond with a reminder: equitable access to swimming is not just a recreational issue — it’s a public safety and quality-of-life concern.

From the Archives: Richmond swimming pools

07-23-1979 (cutline): Dolphinas synchronized swim team demonstrate winning form.

In July 1967, a new pool opened in South Richmond. The Blackwell pool, at 15th and Maury streets, received a formal opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony led by Mayor Morrill M. Crowe.

In October 1948, families and city officials attended a program at the Mosque pool in Richmond, which had just opened for the season. Highlights included a synchronized swimming exhibition as well as swim safety instruction. The pool was in the basement of what is known today as the Altria Theater.

In June 1950, children prepared for lessons at Brook Pool in Richmond as part of Swim for Health Week. The program, sponsored by Thalhimers and directed by city’s recreation department and the YMCA, encouraged Richmonders to learn how to swim. During segregation, this was the only pool that served the city’s African-American population.

7-26-67: Prelude to a plunge - More than 100 youngsters were among a crowd attending the formal opening of Richmond's Battery Park swimming pool yesterday, but not for long. The applause had hardly died out for remarks by City Councilman B. Addison Cephas Jr. and Vice Mayor Winfred Mundle before the younger set was putting on some ceremony of its own. The facility is the first of three municipal pools slated to open around the city in the next several days. The other pools are located at Fairmount School in the East End and at Blackwell School in the South Side. The three pools were built for a combined cost of about $475,000.

In June 1969, youngsters celebrated the formal opening of the first of three swimming pools donated to the city. This pool, at the Webster Davis School in Fulton, and one at the Holly Street playground on Oregon Hill were donated by the A.H. Robins Co. The third pool was at Randolph Junior High School. Among adults watching in the background were (from left) Elsie G. Lewis, principal of Webster Davis; City Councilwoman Nell Pusey; and G. Mallory Freeman, a Robins vice president.

In June 1967, Richmond Councilman B.A. Cephas, Jr. looked over the first swimmers in the city swimming pool that just opened in Battery Park on North Side. Cephas was the principal speaker at ceremonies marking the opening, the first of three new municipal pools that were set to open that week.

In January 1954, the swimming pool in the basement of The Mosque (now the Landmark Theater) began being used by Richmond police and fire employees for recreation and training. The pool, which was installed when the Mosque was built in the mid-1920s, used colored tiles imported from Spain for the walls and from Italy for the floor. Known for a time as the Cavalier pool, it had many uses – and periods of no use – over the decades. This is a picture of the swimming pool at the Mosque. The pool is being used by the Police Academy.

Edward Coleman, Shirley Taylor, Helen Cosby, Viola Underwood, Furney Green and T. Arnold HIll. Arthur practice at Brook Pool before a swim meet. Arthur L. Gardner, the pool superintendent, is kneeling on the diving board.

08-12-1955 (cutline): Susan Gedney (left) and Sally Shepherd get set for a practice sprint at the Ginter Park pool as Shelburn Carmack, team coach, looks on. Both girls will figure prominently in the Parkers' try for an eleventh straight team championship at the State AAU meet in Norfollk Saturday.

05-31-1965 (cutline): The Memorial Day weekend was a time for fun, as well as solemnity, as shown in the picture at the opening of the Lewis Ginter Community Building pool. The pool was one of several that opened for the summer season in the Richmond area during the holiday weekend.

06-17-1977 (cutline): Neighborhood youngsters dive into the Bellemeade Community Center swimming pool following dedication of the facility yesterday. The Chimborazo community pool also was dedicated yesterday by the Richmond Departmet of Parks and Recreation, bringing the number of permanent city pools to nine.

07-11-1989 (cutline): After being closed for more than a week because of a shortage of lifeguards, the municipal swimming pool in the Blackwell area of South Richmond was reopened yesterday, to the relief of those seeking a break from the heat. Asiatic Allah was one of the lifeguards on duty.

06-12-1970: Randolph pool after the pool's opening.

05-26-1966: People celebrate holiday weekend with fun day at the pool at Hungray Creel Recreation Association in the West End.

07-29-1959: Pine Meadows Country Club pool in Hanover.

05-29-1973 (cutline): This was a big inflatable cover that goes over a swiming pool--it is to be used in case of rain.

05-29-1987: Swimming pool (location unknown).

08-13-1970 (cutline): Swimmers enter water in James River Aquatic League. Boys begin first leg of the 100-yard individual medley won by Salisbury's Doug Slater.

08-13-1966 (cutline): Helping hand for double winner. Marlene Langdale, Vaughan Howard each won twice. Marlene Langdale and Vaughan Howard, co-authors of a new senior division record book, led a field of 800 swimmers into today's final events of the Junior Olympic championship at Bon Air.