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In this excerpt adapted from Hannah S. Palmer’s new book, The Pool is Closed: Segregation, Summertime, and the Search for a Place to Swim, she explores how segregation in the South led to the privatization of pools and bodies of water. “When we talk about water, we’re talking about race and class,” she writes. “How we swim—and whether we have access to water at all—is tied up in the landscapes that shape our identity.” Palmer wonders where her two boys can learn how to swim, and where all people can come together and enjoy themselves in the water. She tours public pools in Atlanta and waterways across Georgia, investigating all that’s been lost to Black communities—pools filled, lakes drained, private beaches siphoned off.

I learned that there was a golden age of public swimming in this country, starting in the 1930s, funded by the federal government. The spring-fed, WPA-era pool in my own neighborhood that “fell into disrepair” after integration was one example, but they were everywhere. These pools showed how generous our social infrastructure was when it benefitted White people, and how difficult it is to restore once it is lost.

What I learned about pools could be extended to most public amenities—parks, buses, schools. Access remained restricted along racial lines. Our civic imagination has been stunted by persistent segregation.