This historical lack of access has another devastating impact. Nearly 64% of Black children can’t swim, compared with 40% of white children, according to a 2017 USA Swimming Foundation study.

The former collegiate swimmer at York College, in the Queens borough, tweeted in 2019 that she wanted to teach 30 Black people to swim ... as likely to drown than white children and overall ...

Here’s four ways Dawson’s book dismantles the myth claiming Black people can’t swim: Our swimming ability reigned supreme to white people The irony of the “Black people can’t swim ...