What I’m Reading: Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters – 11 in a series – “Negro girls [cannot] swim in the YWCA pool.”

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“In 1924, when the educator and social activist Dorothy Height was twelve years old, she decided to learn how to swim. Height and a few friends traveled to Pittsburgh’s downtown YWCA and approached the front desk. The receptionist told them simply, “Negro girls [cannot] swim in the YWCA pool.”

From Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters: The Struggle over Segregated Recreation in America by Victoria W. Wolcott

Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters: The Struggle over Segregated Recreation in America by Victoria W. Wolcott

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