Located in Furnace Run Metro Park, Brushwood Lake was one of two public parks in Summit County (the other being Virginia Kendall Park) whose swimming areas were open to African Americans in the mid 20th century. Brushwood’s swimming area operated only for a few years in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Additional information coming […]
Swimming Pools
Garfield Park Pool
Garfield Park Pool was located in Garfield Heights and was a site of racial threats to Black swimmers in the late 1940s-50s. Additional information coming soon. Resources Seawell, Stephanie L. “The Black Freedom Movement and Community Planning in Urban Parks in Cleveland, Ohio, 1945-1977.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2014. Smith, Kelsey. […]
Virginia Kendall Park
Virginia Kendall Park is a section of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park originally developed in the 1930s for the Akron Metropolitan Park system (now Summit Metro Parks) by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Noted for its Ritchie Ledges rock formations, Virginia Kendall has long been a favored hiking and picnicking destination. Black groups and organizations enjoyed […]
Woodland Hills Pool
Woodland Hills Pool was located in Woodland Hills Park (now called Luke Easter Park) on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive just north of Kinsman Road. It was a site of racial threats against Black swimmers in the 1930s-50s. Resources “Luke Easter Park.” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. https://case.edu/ech/articles/l/luke-easter-park. Michney, Todd. Surrogate Suburbs: Black Upward Mobility and […]
Central Avenue Public Baths Pool
The Central Avenue Public Baths building still stands at 2526 Central Avenue. It housed a pool that was one of only two in the city where African American swimmers were openly welcome in the earlier decades of the 20th century. More information coming soon.
Forest Hills Park Pool
Forest Hills Park Pool was located at 12310 Arlington Avenue in the Forest Hills neighborhood between Glenville and Collinwood. The pool was the site of racial threats to Black swimmers in the 1930s-40s. Additional information coming soon. Resources Michney, Todd M. Surrogate Suburbs: Black Upward Mobility and Neighborhood Change in Cleveland, 1900–1980. Chapel Hill: University […]
Glenview Park Pool
Glenview Park Pool was located near E. 110th St. and Glenview Avenue and was a site and was a site of racial threats against Black swimmers. Additional information coming soon. Resources Michney, Todd M. Surrogate Suburbs: Black Upward Mobility and Neighborhood Change in Cleveland, 1900–1980. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017. Wiltse, Jeff. […]
Lincoln Park Pool
Lincoln Park Pool in Youngstown was open to African American swimmers in the pre-World War II years. When Black swimmers attempted to integrate the city’s North Side Pool in 1940, their effort met with white violence. To try to appease African American leaders, the city government hastily added a diving board and other basic equipment […]
Mansfield Pool
Mansfield Pool in Mansfield, Ohio, was the object of a 1940s court battle over segregation. Additional information coming soon. Resources “Mansfield Citizens Fight Swimming Pool Jim-Crow.” Call & Post. July 8, 1944. Wiltse, Jeff. Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007.
Northside Pool
Northside Pool in Youngstown was maintained as a whites-only pool into the 1940s despite African American attempts to integrate it. Additional information coming soon. Resources “Cleveland Sympathizers Trek To Youngstown For Riot Trial.” Call & Post. July 20, 1940. Wiltse, Jeff. Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America. Chapel Hill: University of […]